A start-up founded by veterans of Sun says it is developing a data access product, apparently targeted at the Web 2.0 and cloud computing realms.

Schooner Information Technology, which is in stealth mode, was founded by CEO John Busch and CTO Thomas McWilliams. Busch was research director of computer system architecture and analysis at Sun laboratories from 1999 through 2006, where he led research in chip-multi-processing and multi-tier clustered systems, Schooner states on its Web site.

McWilliams was a distinguished engineer and principal investigator for Sun from 1996 to 2001, handling server architecture. He has founded three companies, most recently PathScale, an InfiniBand vendor acquired by QLogic in 2006.

Schooner describes itself as "an early stage start-up focused on delivering next generation data access solutions for Web 2.0 and enterprise customers," further stating that "Schooner's scalable data platform will provide businesses with significant immediate improvements in scalability, performance and affordability, while enabling the creation of innovative new business applications."

Schooner's not saying much beyond that, but a beta program is available on the company's Web site, and Schooner is also recruiting new talent. One job listing seeks a principal engineer with clustering or cloud computing experience, and another seeks a senior software engineer with extensive experience in database internals.

Redpoint Ventures and CMEA Ventures have both invested in the company, Schooner says. A round of funding announced last October amounted to US$3.33 million, according to a BusinessWeek report.