Hosting provider Fasthosts Internet has netted Andy Burton for the role of chief executive, for the company as a whole as well as its US subsidiary.

Reinforcing the firm’s management team, Burton will be responsible for Fasthosts’ direct sales, reseller web hosting, dedicated and managed server operations. Burton’s appointment is designed to support the company’s international expansion strategy.

With 20 years of industry experience, Burton joins Fasthosts from IT asset discovery vendor Centennial Software, where he was chief executive. Previous positions include chief operating officer of content management vendor Clearswift and chief executive roles in subsidiaries of Baltimore Technologies and Chubb Security.

Burton said: “I join Fasthosts at an exciting time in its development, and look forward to playing a part in building its services further and sharing its excellent propositions with new markets.

“There is a significant and increasing demand for IT services and operations to be hosted and Fasthosts represents a significant opportunity for its customers by enabling them to control costs, reduce risk and improve service levels in a trusted partnership.”

Burton is also chairman of the Software Industry Research Board (SIRB) and a board director of the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast).