Qing “Ken” Yang, serial entrepreneur and URI computer engineering professor, founded VeloBit, Inc., which has attracted more than $5 million in venture capital and counted more than 500 customers around the globe. In July 2013, it was acquired by HGST, a Western Digital company. The roots of VeloBit – a play on “velocity” and “bit” or “fast information” – reach to 2010 when Yang met former venture capitalist Duncan McCallum, who would become the startup’s co-founder and CEO.

The firm created patented software based on Yang’s algorithm to speed up servers processing data such as customer information, financial records, inventory and other data that keeps Corporate America humming. VeloBit’s software software – installed in under a minute – identifies frequently accessed files and places them in cache closer to the central processor. The software saves companies money by minimizing the need to buy pricey new hardware.