Microsoft Australia has announced that Fred Viet will join the company as its first-ever Surface commercial channel lead – with the news coming just days after it was revealed that Viet was leaving his previous role as Lenovo Australia's channel sales director.
Viet had served 11 years at Lenovo and was channel sales manager since 2011 before his promotion to director in July last year.
“Fred brings a wealth of channel experience to this role and will drive our Surface commercial channel expansion strategy.” a Microsoft spokesperson said.
CRN broke the news last month that Microsoft was on the hunt for a Surface-specific channel manager. The position is within Microsoft’s team that oversees the enterprise channel – the Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners (SMS&P) group.
"The leader will have overall ownership and accountability for Surface sales strategy and results for the commercial channel in their market," said the job advertisement on LinkedIn at the time.
Microsoft Australia was seeking an executive with more than 10 years of experience in enterprise sales and channel, to be "a Surface visionary in terms of where customers and partners… are heading [in] the market so we can get there first and lead them to victory".
CRN contacted Viet but had not received a response at the time of writing.
At the end of last year, Microsoft partners complained of stock shortages for the popular Surface convertible tablets. Microsoft Australia director of partner business and development Philip Goldie told CRN at the time that the shortages were "a good news story because the demand is massive".
The channel for the Surface expanded further last month with more than 150 new resellers added for access through Ingram Micro and Synnex.
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