Peres: King of Cisco channel jungle

Edison Peres promoted to role overseeing all channel management duties worldwide

Top dog: Peres has been appointed 'channel chief' for Cisco

Cisco has revamped its top-level partner team and unveiled Edison Peres as the global leader of all things channel.

Keith Goodwin, senior vice president of Cisco's worldwide partner organisation, revealed in his blog yesterday that the vendor has created a team focused purely on resellers and distributors.

As senior vice president of worldwide channels, Peres will be Cisco's ultimate channel manager, overseeing all partner programmes, training, marketing and distribution. He previously held the post of senior vice president of Cisco’s worldwide partner organisation go-to-market group.

"As our new 'channel chief', Edison will lead the next evolution of our industry-leading channel partnerships," wrote Goodwin. "I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for us to continue to invest in and innovate with our current partners, and there is no more qualified leader than Edison to take our channel relationships to the next level."

Cisco has also created the Worldwide Commercial Sales unit, which will focus on SME and mid-market sales. Addressing customers with up to 1,000 staff, the team will be led by Dave O'Callaghan, who assumes the newly created role of vice president of worldwide commercial sales. He arrives from a position as vice president of worldwide distribution.

"The SME market is a tremendous growth opportunity for Cisco," wrote Goodwin. "We are confident that, together with our partners, we can accelerate growth thanks to the creation of a focused Worldwide Commercial Sales team."

Another new organisation has been created to focus on "global and transformational partnerships". Former North American channel top dog Wendy Bahr will head up this unit. She has been asked to facilitate "a broader focus on verticals/solutions and emerging countries".

Goodwin claimed Cisco is already "actively searching" for leaders of its US and Canadian channel and its worldwide distribution channel.

"I am truly excited about the potential this new leadership team offers both Cisco and our partners as we accelerate growth in FY11 and beyond," he wrote.