New Logicalis boss places bets on SDN, cloud and mobility

Former BT, Logicalis and IBM man Garry Bullard to take the reins from outgoing boss Ian Cook next March

Logicalis has selected a former Logica, BT and IBM bigwig as its next boss as current chief executive Ian Cook gears up to retire.

Garry Bullard, who was most recently UK chief executive of Logica, will join Logicalis as "chief executive designate" in December before formally assuming the hotseat in March, after Cook relinquishes his executive duties.

Bullard also includes stints heading up BT Global Services and IBM Global Services in EMEA in a CV that caught the eye of the integrator's recruitment bods.

"Gary has led some significant IT services organisations that deliver long-term complex services to their clients," said Cook.

Cook, who oversaw a more than doubling in Logicalis' revenue during his six-year run as chief executive, will assume the non-executive role in March.

He bequeaths to Bullard a business that appears to be in solid shape, with Logicalis' performance for the six months to 31 August meeting parent Datatec's expectations. Revenue rose 12 per cent to $767m (£479m), year on year, partly thanks to its acquisition of 2e2's mainland European operations.

Logicalis recently launched a specialist team focused on the emerging industry buzzphrase of software-defined networking, which Bullard pinpointed as one of three key areas of investment for the 3,500-strong firm.

"I am excited to be joining Logicalis and see a strong foundation on which to build momentum for growth, specifically in the areas of software-defined networks, enterprise mobility and cloud solutions," Bullard said.

"Logicalis is very well positioned to exploit these fast-growing areas and I am grateful for the opportunity to lead Logicalis into a new era of growth and success."