Movers and shakers: New leader for partner program

The unified threat management (UTM) solutions company, Fortinet, has named Timothy Strachan as channel sales and distribution manager for Australia and New Zealand. Fortinet has directed its focus to its channel partner program in the region, recently handing over the reigns to Strachan.

The main aim is to assist systems integration partners to build their business by offering unified threat management solutions and managed security services.

Strachan comes to Fortinet following a stint at Lan 1, where he held a position as product manager covering data security.

“Timothy has a lot of experience dealing with channels and partners, and we believe that he is the right man to run our recently launched FortiPartner Program, which already has 55 partners in Australia and five in New Zealand,” said Charles Cote, country manager for Fortinet A/NZ.

Prior to Lan 1, Strachan was national sales manager for the PC division of TPG and held a channel sales role at Epson.

The FortiPartner Reseller Program aims to provide resellers with effective sales and marketing programs, tools, training and support services needed to ensure their business success. “Timothy will show our partners how to build recurring revenue streams from security solutions,” said Cote.

Fortinet asserts that the program delivers value to partner members by rewarding them for their commitment with a number of incentives. The objective is to encourage partners to engage with Fortinet in joint business opportunities. It is clear that the company appreciates the value of strong partner relationships within the channel and are focusing their efforts on developing them.


Now selling in NZ
Chris Gray has been appointed sales director of Adobe New Zealand, part of a greater movement to establish Adobe Systems’ presence in the region. Chris will be responsible for defining and executing the company’s sales strategy locally. He previously held the position of sales director for A/NZ at Borland and has also worked as a business development director for Genesis Consulting Group, national sales manager at CSC and general manager of McDonnell Douglas.

Sound strategy
LogicaCMG has announced the appointment of Sean Newell as head of spatial strategy in Sydney. As a member of LogicaCMG’s Spatial Practice, Newell will be in charge of developing strategies that help LogicaCMG customers maximise the advantage of spatial data. He brings 16 years industry experience gained in both Australia and the UK. Most recently, he worked with a venture capitalist firm focused on fostering spatially-based early stage businesses.

The WAN way
Exinda Networks, unified performance management (UPM) solutions provider, announced the appointment of Mark Geddes as Australian and New Zealand country manager. He will be responsible for growing the company’s distribution and reseller channel in the region and supporting existing channel partners to fulfill growing customer demand for wide area network (WAN) optimisation and application acceleration solutions.

On board
Ian Smith, chief executive officer of Yahoo!7, has just joined the Engin board of directors as a non-executive director. Smith brings experience in the media and communications industry, with over 20 years in advertising prior to joining Yahoo!7. Smith’s previous roles include chief executive officer of Communications Group Ltd, president of international for Bates Worldwide and a board director of Cordiant Communications PLC.

Double dose
Attachmate has recruited Kevin Van Gils as manager, southern region, for its NetIQ range of solutions. Bradley Dunn has also joined the company as an inside sales representative. Van Gils will be responsible for business development in Vic, Tas and SA, while Dunn will focus on lead generation across the A/NZ region. Prior to joining NetIQ, Van Gils spent five years as business development manager for Macquarie Telecom. Dunn was account manager for L7 Solutions.

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