Author: Oxfordadmin@878

Flash storage maker Virident Systems has tapped Dawn Ruszel, a former EMC (EMC) partner sales manager, as Worldwide Channels senior director.

With flash storage gaining in the marketplace as prices come down, the technology is fast becoming a must-have for solutions-oriented partners. VIrident is moving from relying on its direct sales team to incorporating partners into the sales mix. Ruszel, with some 10 years of channel sales experience, is tasked with building out Virident’s partner ecosystem to extend the company’s sales reach to new accounts, vertical markets and additional geographic regions. In addition, she will oversee Virident initiatives to find new routes to market for its flash storage products such as partner-built solutions and appliances.

“Forming strategic partnerships will be critical to continuing the success that the company’s been achieving,” said Mike Gustafson, Virident chief executive. “Ruszel’s experience in building and growing successful channel strategies is the perfect fit to maximize Virident’s routes to market.”

Ruszel’s background includes stints at BMC Software (BMC), VCE and EMC, where she spent the better part of her channel career. Most recently at EMC, Ruszel served as national channel manager and partner team lead for the Software division, and is credited witdh building a sales accreditation program and on-boarding and enabling the channel community. She also served as regional channel manager for enterprise accounts, managing some $100 million.

“I’m excited to join Virident’s management team and look forward to building a diversified partner ecosystem,” said Ruszel. “As the flash storage market continues to rapidly grow, I’m thrilled to get in on the ground floor and help shape Virident’s channel program. The market traction that the company has accomplished with the direct sales team has been impressive and I can’t wait to see the results from a fully deployed and executed channel strategy,” she said.

Cisco Systems  (CSCO) has tapped Andrew Sage, its former worldwide Partner Led vice president and Small Business Sales vice president, as its new Americas Distribution vice president, taking Julie Hens’ former post when she was elevated to Worldwide Distribution vice president last week.

Wendy Bahr, Cisco Americas Partner Organization senior vice president, in co-authoring a blog post with Hens to announce Sage’s ascension, wrote, “Last week it was announced that Julie would be taking on the role of Vice President of Worldwide Distribution here in Cisco’s Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO). We are now happy to confirm that Andrew Sage is our new Vice President, Americas Distribution.”

Sage, a 14-year company veteran who is known as a staunch channel advocate both inside and outside Cisco, will oversee sales, marketing, operations and logistics for the vendor’s Americas distribution channel. The unit, which accounts for some $6.3 billion in revenue, is “a cornerstone of our Partner-Led sales strategy,” said Bahr and Hens. Cisco’s worldwide distribution channel generates about $13 billion in annual revenue for the vendor.

“Andrew’s team has driven a cohesive strategy, including the launch of programs such as Partner Plus, and has brought to the market a bold message about how we’re targeting midsize customers through our partners, which was a major theme at this year’s Cisco Partner Summit,” said Bahr and Hens.

As worldwide Partner Led vice president, Sage is credited with building a team to craft a go-to-market sales model and a portfolio of initiatives that played to partners’ strengths and mapped to Cisco’s Commercial sales teams. In his prior small-business sales role, Sage managed Cisco’s go-to-market strategy for SMBs, including channels, field coverage models and sales programs. He also has served as Worldwide Channels Marketing vice president, handling global channel partner marketing in concert with Cisco’s central marketing organization and global field organization.

IT solutions and services provider Dimension Data has named Mark Slaga, a 13-year company veteran, as chief executive of its Americas operation.

Slaga, who was promoted from his chief operating officer (COO) slot, will succeed Jere Brown, who is retiring at the end of the year after seven years in the Americas top slot and 10 years with the company. Scott Macfee, who has served on the Johannesburg, South Africa-based company’s Americas operating committee for the past three years, will take Slaga’s former job and oversee Dimension’s operations in North and South America.

“Mark’s proven track record of strategic leadership, successful execution, high performance and team building made him the obvious choice to take up the reins from Jere,” said Brett Dawson, Dimension’s group chief executive. “He and the Americas team will play a critical role in helping us deliver on the Group’s global growth and revenue goals.”

In his new job, Slata will be charged with tripling Dimension’s Americas revenue over the next five years. To reach that high-water mark, he’ll be expected to provide strategic leadership for Dimension’s business in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Chile and to develop, communicate and implement effective growth strategies.

Dimension said Slaga is well-suited for his new responsibilities, bringing a wide range of operational, business, sales and technical skills to the role. As COO, Slaga handled Dimension’s operations in North and South America, including professional services, consulting, managed services, IT outsourcing and vendor alliances. He also has held the company’s senior vice president slots in operations and solutions and served as its chief information officer and chief technology officer for the Americas.

As for Macfee, a 14-year company veteran, he brings to his new post experience in organizational transformation, planning and managing business operations and developing talent, Dimension said. He most recently served as Dimension’s country manager for Brazil and led the Americas procurement and logistics team.

On the departing Brown, Dawson said, “Jere’s strong leadership and vast contributions during the last 10 years have been instrumental in growing and transforming the Americas business and have set the stage for continued success in the Americas.”

Cisco Systems (CSCO) last week promoted Julie Hens to handle its distribution-related programs and relationships worldwide, a responsibility Edison Peres, the vendor’s worldwide channels senior vice president, called a “critical piece of our go-to-market channel strategy, representing $13 billion a year in revenue for Cisco.”

Hens, whose new title officially is Worldwide Distribution vice president, succeeds Scott Brown, who Cisco recently promoted to APJC Partner Business Group vice president. Hens has been handling Cisco’s distribution in the Americas, but now has a much wider field of view along with more responsibilities. Cisco just began looking for her replacement, said Peres, in a blog post.

Hens, a 14-year company veteran who joined Cisco’s Distribution group in 2005 from its Service Provider Sales organization where she held sales, field operations and sales productivity jobs, was promoted to distribution unit vice president in 2008. She is credited with leading her team in 2010 to its first billion-dollar quarter and for doubling distribution sales, Peres said.

“We need a strong leader to continue the tradition of programs and relationships we’ve established with our key distribution partners,” he said. “Julie is a familiar face to many of our distribution partners and I’m confident she will be a fantastic leader in this global role thanks to her depth of experience and strong relationships.”

Hens is tasked with leading Cisco’s sales efforts through distributors, collaborating with the vendor’s operations in other regions of the world and overseeing supply-chain efficiency and inventory management, as well as ensuring global governance and compliance.

“In the last few years, distribution has been one of the fastest-growing routes-to-market for Cisco, helping to fuel our double-digit growth rates in the midmarket, and we will continue to leverage distribution to innovate, transform and grow revenue,” Peres said.

Peres also issued a nod to Brown’s tenure, thanking him “for his strong leadership over the past three years and for leaving our distribution organization in great shape for the next leader.”

Linux vendor Red Hat (RHT) has dipped into VMware’s (VMW) executive ranks to nab Scott Musson, a seven-year veteran of the virtualization vendor, as its new Global Strategic Alliances vice president.

Musson, formerly VMware’s Global Strategic Alliances senior director, steps up in rank to take the Red Hat job, where he will handle Red Hat’s global alliance, system integrator and independent software vendor (ISV) relationships. Red Hat’s Global Strategic Alliances team will take his direction to develop joint business plans with partners and build assets around the vendor’s technologies.

He also will be responsible for managing Red Hat’s strategic relationships with heavyweights Dell (DELL), Cisco Systems (CSCO) Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and IBM (IBM). Inasmuch as VMware also maintains key relationships with those vendors, Musson likely has a leg up on those tasks.

“Scott and his team will continue to develop and nurture our key strategic alliances as we deliver our award-winning solutions to the channel,” said Mark Enzweiler, Red Hat global channels and alliances vice president. “Scott’s proven ability to lead and his far-reaching expertise will benefit Red Hat as we work to offer the best resources, tools and assets our partners need to succeed. We welcome Scott to the Red Hat team.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Musson already has been on the job for a month.

“I’m honored to join a passionate team that has built strong relationships with and continues to show commitment to their partners,” said Musson. “Red Hat’s leadership in key technology areas, including cloud, Big Data and application infrastructure and modernization, offers some exciting opportunities to make an impact. I look forward to finding new ways to further Red Hat’s industry leadership together with our partners.”

While at VMware, Musson was responsible for developing and executing a strategic and technical alliance collaboration model, leveraging key partner strengths and initiatives. Before joining VMWare, Musson served as scalable enterprise director at Dell, Microsoft (MSFT) sales and marketing director at HP and worked in pre-sales, alliances and services at NCR.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) and McAfee Channel Veteran Alex Thurber, most recently at TripWire, is joining Watchguard Technologies as VP of sales. Watchguard, a firewall and unified threat management (UTM) specialist, is a 100 percent pure channel company.

We could not reach Thurber, a former CRN Channel Chief, for comment. Nor did our resident blogger call Watchguard for comment because, um, the weekend has started. Besides, Thurber doesn’t officially start with the company until Monday — leaving us plenty of time to relax this weekend at Dorney Park (two great destinations for the price of one).

Perhaps between roller coaster rides we will call Thurber to see if he can confirm the rumored career change. But then again, our sources are rock-solid on this item. No need to check PRISM or Verizon phone records on this one, folks. Just call the main Watchguard phone number on Monday. Perhaps Thurber’s name will surface in the system…

VMware (NYSE:VMW) has officially named Dave O’Callaghan as its senior VP of global channels and alliances. The move, first reported by CRN earlier this month, arrives as VMware marches channel partners toward software-defined data centers; hybrid cloud services and mobile management opportunities.

O’Callaghan is well-known within channel circles, having previously held senior sales and indirect sales positions at Cisco Systems, Hitachi Data Systems and Memorex Telex. His experience, VMware notes, extends across small, midsize and large enterprises. His expertise also involves worldwide distribution.

O’Callaghan arrives at VMware amid several major market inflection points. They include:

• The push beyond virtualized servers toward virtualized storage and networking. The result, VMware asserts, is the so-called software-defined data center.
• The push beyond on-premise systems toward cloud services. VMware will launch its own vCloud Hybrid Service on May 21, countering Amazon Web Services, Windows Azure and other public clouds.VMware has also launched a cloud credits program to reward VARs that work with VMware’s vCloud service providers.
• The push to extend corporate applications out to smartphones and tablets, even while while end-users embrace BYOD (bring your own device) approaches. A recent VMware-Verizon partnership promotes Horizon desktop as a service (DaaS) capabilities across Google Android-based smart phones.

O’Callaghan also is surrounded by a deep bench of channel talent — including Frank Rauch, VP of VMware’s Americas Partner Organization.

So what is O’Callaghan’s first order of business? Like most of the VMware partner ecosystem, it’s safe to say he’ll tune in the big vCloud Hybrid Service launch on May 21. We will be tuning in for updates as well. 

Rackspace (NYSE:RAX) remains in growth mode. The company’s OpenStack initiatives are gaining momentum and the company has a successful channel partner program. Now for the challenge: Wall Street wants the cloud services provider (CSP) to grow even faster. And Rackspace has had some executive turnover in its channel partner program. So who’s driving the Rackspace partner program going forward? The answer has not been disclosed. Hmmm…

First, the background: Former Rackspace Channel Chief Chris Rajiah recently joined ViaWest as senior VP of sales and marketing — where he oversees that company’s partner program. Rajiah apparently exited Rackspace back in December 2012 — vacating the company’s channel chief position. Today, Rackspace still has no comment about who will lead the channel partner program going forward.

Our partner programs are more than a single person. As of June 2012, Rackspace had roughly 50 employees (“Rackers”) who focused entirely on channel partners. Around the same time, the CSP launched the Rackspace Partner Leadership Council — featuring executives from CMIT Solutions nGenX, Razorfish and more.

More Growth (Please)

Those are all promising moves. But here’s the thing: Rackspace is under intense pressure on  Wall Street right now. Many investors are worried about potentially slowing grow and intensifying competition in the cloud market — where Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN) remains king and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Azure is now a $1 billion cloud business.

The result: Rackspace shares have fallen from $74.98 on February 12 to $48.89 on May 1, 2013. (Disclosure: We have been long on Rackspace shares for about three years, and continues to own fewer than 100 Rackspace shares.)

The channel is only one piece of Rackspace’s sales strategy. But it’s an incredibly important piece. It’s therefore time for Rackspace to clearly articulate who is driving the company’s channel partner program going forward — while describing how the next wave of VARs and MSPs will benefit from that leadership.