Brocade hands EMEA reins to former ProCurve boss

Vendor describes Alberto Soto appointment as "key step" in building Ethernet business

Strong foundation: Brocade said Soto appointment is key step in efforts to build a strong Ethernet business

Brocade has enlisted another former top executive of rival HP ProCurve to help bolster its underperforming Ethernet business.

The storage and networking vendor has handed the reins of its EMEA sales organisation to ex-HP ProCurve EMEA general manager Alberto Soto.

Soto’s appointment comes just months after the "godfather of ProCurve" himself, John McHugh, took up the chief marketing officer role at the vendor.

Brocade recently admitted it had struggled to build its Ethernet business to the levels it expected following its 2008 acquisition of Foundry. Soto’s appointment is “another key step” in its efforts to build that part of its business worldwide, the vendor said.

“Veteran leadership like the kind Alberto brings to Brocade is crucial for our company to separate from the pack in a hyper-competitive yet strategically important market that EMEA is,” said Ian Whiting, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Brocade.

Soto will begin his role on 1 July. He will replace Ulrich Plechschmidt, who is taking up a post at Brocade’s corporate headquarters in San Jose.