Brocade, a leading networking solutions provider, has appointed a number of regional senior executives to drive growth in the Middle East market and consolidate its leadership in strategic areas.

The company is transforming enterprise networks with its portfolio of Ethernet Fabrics, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) technologies, a statement said.

IT infrastructure spending, comprising storage, server, and enterprise networking equipment, in the Middle East and Africa is forecast to reach $3.47 billion, a 4.1 percent increase from 2013, according to a report by Gartner.

The report states that ‘IT infrastructure spend in this region will be driven by data centre modernization efforts, coupled with new data centre build out, by local, as well as international companies.’

“The Middle East is one of the fastest growing regions for Brocade,” said Marcus Jewell, vice president, EMEA at Brocade.

“With the emergence of smart cities across the region and state-run mega projects requiring the latest networking infrastructure, as well as the need for regional enterprises to overhaul their existing legacy networks in order to support cloud, mobility and big data trends, there is immense potential for Brocade to play a big role in the area’s transformation. As such we need a strong leadership team that can execute on the company’s vision. We believe we now have that team in place.”

The appointments include:

•    Fayez Eweidat has been named regional sales manager, Mena. He has more than 13 years of IT industry experience in senior sales management positions in companies including Apple, Cisco, Foundry Networks (acquired by Brocade) and Emirates Computers. He has been tasked with expanding Brocade’s footprint in the region, especially in emerging technology areas such as data centre Ethernet fabrics, Software-defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV).

•    Abdul Reham Tariq has been named regional channel manager, Mena. In this role he is responsible for spearheading Brocade’s local channel strategy, which includes driving channel partner enablement, accelerating channel recruitment and sales, ensuring partners are able to fully leverage the unique differentiation delivered by Brocade’s Alliance Partner Network (APN) programme.

•    Hesham El Komy has assumed the post of regional marketing manager, MEMA. He is a marketing and business development veteran, having set up marketing and channel operations for the last two companies he worked for, EnterpriseDB and Red Hat. Hesham is responsible for creating marketing and lead generation programmes that enhance the corporate image of Brocade in the region and support overall sales objectives.

“While we are now capable of offering end-to-end support for OpenFlow 1.3, we realise that the SDN momentum in the Middle East is still gaining pace and customers will need to gradually adopt this technology while ensuring a continued quality of service from their existing networks,” said Yarob Sakhnini, regional director MEMA at Brocade.

“The hybrid port mode means they can enjoy a steady and cost-effective migration instead of having to opt for a rip-and-replace approach.”

“We want to establish a strong identity in the region as a market leading networking solutions provider so that when enterprises begin to transition to future-proof networks based on Ethernet Fabric technology and start embracing software-defined technologies, Brocade will be their first port of call. I am fully confident in this leadership team’s ability to position Brocade well for success in the near term and beyond,” concluded Sakhnini. – TradeArabia News Service