From 80 people at the start of the year, Netezza has added 25 at midyear, and will finish 2004 with 150 employees, Saxena said.

Netezza has raised three rounds of venture financing, most recently last summer. Saxena would not say whether the company is contemplating making an initial public offering of stock. It is hard to say how much Zander adds to a startup that is going through the development and marketing grind, but he certainly knows a thing or two about running a public company.

In a way, Netezza inherited Motorola's CEO. Zander initially became a director just after resigning as president of Sun Microsystems Inc. and probably thought he was going to have time on his hands. But Motorola tapped him to lead its turnaround effort, and he has kept his board seat at Netezza, somehow shoehorning time for trips east into his busy Motorola calendar.

Saxena initially established a connection with Zander at his own prior company, Applix Inc., which sold customer management and data integration software often riding on Sun systems.

Doubtless on Zander's trips east, he visits other Motorola properties locally, particularly the company's big Mansfield office where its Vanguard network services operation is based.

Getting face time with the big boss is always helpful, and one can bet that Netezza's other external board members probably enjoy making contact with the Motorola chief, as all are venture capitalists from local firms Battery Ventures, Charles River Ventures and Matrix Partners.

These guys are used to dealing with our local hotshots, such as über-board member Desh Deshpande, the Cascade Communications founder who has lent his name and advice to several local startups.

But while time can be had on Deshpande's schedule to talk about the local scene, Zander is a tougher get. Saxena thought time could be arranged to get me together with Zander to hear his view of Netezza and its place in the business world, but a spokeswoman later touched base to say, alas, it ain't happening -- Zander is just too swamped.