NetApp channel director jumps ship to Avaya

Avaya has hired former NetApp ANZ channel sales and alliances director Todd Parsons to replace David Elliott, who moved to Aruba Networks in May.

Parsons joined NetApp in 2010, where he was responsible for the local company's evolution from a direct to indirect model, according to Avaya.

In an IT career spanning more than two decades, Parsons held senior roles at Sun Microsystems and HP. In the late 1990s, he was commercial channel manager at HP and later he was responsible for HP's consumer marketing.

Avaya's ANZ managing director, Tony Simonsen, described the appointment as a "statement hire".

"It was important to me to send a strong message to our channel community that we were absolutely committed to it," he told CRN.

"He's got that transformational background. Great operational experience, a good strategic thinker," Simonsen said. "He has great relationships with many of our existing partners, that's also very attractive for us."

He said there had been an "awful lot" of interest in the role, with Parsons' name turning up via a recommendation.

Simonsen only joined Avaya in April, leaving his post as managing director of Equinix Australia to take up the role following the departure of Tim Gentry.

Earlier this year, Gentry told CRN that Avaya had increased its channel focus from 65 percent of the business to 100 percent during his tenure.

Speaking to CRN before the news of Parsons' hire had been revealed, Distribution Central managing director Nick Verykios called the appointment "a real coup".

"Avaya are attracting good people. An inspired choice again, they seem to be pulling some real talent and I can see why."