Cato pushes ANZ expansion with new exec hires

Cato Networks has expanded its operations in Australia and New Zealand with new executive appointments, increased platform access and increased support.

The Israeli networking vendor has appointed Brett Waddington as its new regional sales director for ANZ and Thanh Khong as sales engineer for the region.

Cato is at the forefront of an emerging cloud-based security technology known as secure access service edge (SASE) and said in a statement that its investment also includes expanded SASE service footprint, channel recruitment, and expanded marketing efforts.

The vendor’s SASE platform, Cato Cloud, is also getting a local boost with new points of presence (PoPs) in Australia and New Zealand. A PoP has been set to launch in Auckland, New Zealand. The company has existing PoPs in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.

“We’re excited to welcome Brett and Thanh to the Cato family,” said Cato’s APJ head of sales Daniel Lee.

“They bring a unique set of skills that enable Cato to continue doubling down on the ANZ region, with new investments in sales, marketing, channels, and the cloud service infrastructure. With the leadership of Brett and Thanh we will continue our rapid business expansion in the region.”

Waddington will lead the company’s sales efforts locally and has previously worked at VeloCloud Networks, Riverbed Technology, Juniper Networks and Cisco.

“CIOs and IT leaders in the region are looking for alternatives to the high cost, poor performance and rigidity of carrier SD-WAN offerings and managed services,” said Waddington.

“With Cato they get a perfect combination of affordability, agility, ease of use and superior performance and security.”

Khong will be in charge of sales support and brings experience from telco vendors Verizon, Telstra and Alcatel-Lucent.

“I’m thrilled to offer ANZ enterprises a powerful, easy-to-deploy cloud alternative to the complex WAN and security solutions they were limited to in past,” Khong said.

“I’m also excited to work for the premier SASE solution vendor in the industry and the future of SD-WAN.”

The company has master agent agreement with Tradewinds and distribution agreements with Westcon and Orca Technology.

Its current reseller partners include: Coevolve, Cythera, CyberRisk, Emsec, and Opia Technology.