Former Juniper channel boss Andy Travers is to head up F5 Networks’ UK business following the recent departure of Paul Coates.

Travers was UK and Ireland channel manager for Juniper Networks before he took charge of the networking vendor’s enterprise sales at the start of the year. He will start his role as country manager for application delivery specialist F5 at the beginning of April.

Before Juniper, Travers worked at distributor EquIP.

F5’s UK and Ireland team have been reporting into EMEA vice president of sales Thorsten Freitag since February, when Coates left for personal reasons.

Partners welcomed the arrival of a full-time country manager.

Bruce Hockin, head of business strategy at F5 distributor Avnet Technology Solutions, said: “Avnet has a long history working with Andy. During his time at Juniper he has achieved a great deal in both channel development and direct touch engagement.”

Dave Ellis, e-security director at F5 distributor Computerlinks, said it would be a good chance for Travers to take the step up to country manager level at a fast-growing vendor. F5 grew revenues 24 per cent to $650m for its fiscal 2008.

Nick Garlick, managing director of F5 Gold partner Nebulas Solutions Group, said: “We have had a long history working with Andy when he was at Juniper and EquIP. It is good news they’ve got someone who understands the channel and our business.”