UC vendor recruits ex-FireEye exec to burst into Australia

US unified communications vendor Fuze has set up shop in Australia with a new office in Sydney and an executive hire for the region.

The company provides cloud-based VoIP and PBX solutions, video conferencing and other collaboration tools for enterprise customers.

Former FireEye Asia-Pacific director of product sales Charlie Cote has been recruited to lead Fuze’s local operations as area vice president.

Cote's resume shows a track record of opening the Australian market to US vendors. He was regional sales manager for Extreme Networks from 1998 to 2002 and later country manager until 2006. He joined Fortinet in 2007 as regional director for the South Pacific region.

In 2010, he helped launch FireEye into the Australian market, becoming its first regional director. Cote was also managing director for Wyse Technology ANZ, Solera Networks and Blue Coat Systems before joining FireEye again in 2014.

Cote said there was a strong demand for unified communications-as-a-service in the Australian market.

“Fuze offers a pure-cloud solution, enabling fast-moving companies to scale quickly, benefit from a cost-predictable environment and integrate easily in the cloud with other business-critical applications,” he said.

Fuze also announced that the establishment of three new data centres in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

The company was founded in 2006 as Thinking Phone Networks but rebranded to Fuze in February 2016 after acquiring San Francisco-based cloud voice and video conferencing company FuzeBox.