Maritz out as VMware CEO?

Reports claim EMC president Pat Gelsinger is in line to take top job at virtualisation giant

Paul Maritz is heading for the exit doors of VMware after four years helming the virtualisation vendor, according to a report last night on CRN US.

The report, which cited multiple but unnamed sources familiar with the situation, said Maritz is to be replaced by Pat Gelsinger, president and chief operating officer of EMC's Information Infrastructure Division.

Maritz's next move is unknown, although the article speculated that he may be in line to replace Joe Tucci if and when he retires from the helm of EMC, which owns VMware.

According to Tech Crunch, Maritz has also been mentioned in connection with the top job at Cloud Foundry, VMware's platform-as-a-service venture, although the rumour mill suggests it is also possible he could leave the EMC-VMware family altogether.

Born in Zimbabwe, Maritz (pictured) spent 14 years at Microsoft, where he oversaw the development of various software products including Windows 2000. He joined the EMC family in 2008 after the cloud-oriented firm he founded, Pi Corporation, was bought by EMC, taking the VMware top job in July that year.

During his tenure, VMware has almost doubled revenue, from $1.91bn (£1.22bn) in 2008 to $3.77bn in 2011.