Astute Networks, which manufactures fabless semiconductors for the storage network market, has named Clark Masters as its new president and chief executive.

The appointment marks the sixth CEO for Astute in as many years. Masters, who took the position in September, replaced interim CEO George Schneer, partner with Sevin Rosen Funds, who stepped in when Michael D. Heil left in May for "another opportunity...more along his capabilities," said Mike Heumann, vice president of sales and marketing for Astute. Heil joined the company in September 2004, taking over from Bill Atkinson, who started in October 2003. Atkinson had replaced Tom Sennhauser, who resigned in the spring of 2003, only a few months after taking over for co-founder Roger Moyers.

Masters was previously chairman and president of Sun Microsystems Federal Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Microsystems Inc., and executive vice president of global industry sales. He was also executive vice president and general manager of Sun's Enterprise Systems Products Group. Prior to Sun, Masters served in multiple leadership positions at Cray Research's Business Systems after its acquisition of Floating Point Systems Computing in 1991, where Masters was vice president of engineering.

Separately, Astute has introduced a new product called Caspian. The company said Caspian is the first 10Gb iSCSI storage blade for the AdvancedTCA market.

In 2001, Astute raised $23 million from Dali Hook Partners, Scale Venture Partners, U.S. Venture Partners and Windward Ventures, according to VentureWire records. Those firms returned for a $15 million round in 2004 joined by ComVentures. In late 2005, Astute raised a $25 million from new investors Sevin Rosen Funds and Tallwood Venture Capital with participation from Bank of America and KeyNote Ventures, Heumann said.

Astute was founded in April 2000 and is headquartered in San Diego.