Symbolic IO becomes Formulus Black

Symbolic IO has changed its name as part of “complete rebranding” months after its founder was arrested on a domestic violence charge.

Symbolic IO is now called Formulus Black. The company made no formal announcement, but the old Symbolic IO web site redirects you to formulusblack.com. LinkedIn lists several former Symobilic IO employees as now working for Formulus Black. That list includes Carr Bettis, who became Symbolic io’s executive chairman last August and is now Formulus Black chairman and CEO. Rob Peglar, formerly Symbolic IO CTO, is also working for Formulus Black in a similar role but as a consultant.

“Formulus Black is a complete rebranding, including new management,” Peglar wrote in an email in response to the new name. “Big win for everyone involved. I am no longer an employee (by choice) but am consulting back to them, as well as another company.”

Symbolic IO Corp. filed a trademark registration for the name Formulus Black in January, five months after the arrest of Symbolic IO founder and CEO Brian Ignomirello in New Jersey in connection with an alleged physical attack of his girlfriend. Thomas Cowan became interim CEO of the Holmdel, N.J.-based company in August at the same time Bettis came in. Cowan is not part of Formulus Black.

Symbolic IO came out of stealth in May 2016 with a “computational-defined” IRIS storage system, which it claimed can shrink data stored in RAM by changing the way it processes binary bits.

The bare-bones Formulus Black site identifies the vendor as providing “Software for greater computing.” It describes its technology as: “Next-gen persistent in-memory computing, without peripherals or application changes.”

Besides a brief description of the technology, the site has a leadership page listing Bettis, chief architect Steve Sicola and senior chief technology officer fellow Peglar.