New broom at Blue Coat after revenue plunge

Q1 revenue drops by double digits as CEO Michael Borman exits

Blue Coat has switched chief executives following a "disappointing" quarter in which revenue declined by double digits.

The security and WAN optimisation vendor has announced the departure of chief executive Michael Borman after just 11 months in the role.

For Blue Coat's fiscal Q1 ending 31 July, revenue tumbled 11 per cent year on year to $109.5m (£66.4m), while GAAP net profits fell from $13.9m to $2.7m.

The vendor also expects to report a small loss for its current quarter beginning 1 August.

Gregory Clark, who founded IBM conquest Dascom, has been drafted in to fill Borman's shoes from 15 September.

David Hanna, chairman of the board of directors, admitted the results were disappointing and trailed expectations.

"We are taking the necessary actions to reinforce our leadership position in the web security market, while capitalising on opportunities in the WAN optimisation market based on our strong competitive advantages," he said.

Chief financial officer Gordon Brooks added: "While we continue to address our go-to-market challenges, product revenue was also impacted by weakness in the US Federal vertical."