Elastica nabs another Palo Alto Networks big shot

Ex-Palo Alto EMEA boss Karl Driesen follows former colleague Alex Raistrick to start-up cloud security vendor

In a move it bills as a "real coup", cloud security vendor Elastica has landed former Palo Alto Networks big hitter Karl Driesen to be its vice president for EMEA.

Driesen has followed his former colleague Alex Raistrick to Elastica after six years at the next-generation firewall vendor, where he also held the title of vice president of EMEA.

Raistrick – who was regional vice president of western Europe at Palo Alto before he left to become sales director at Elastica in December – said Driesen's arrival would be a boost for the firm.

"He and I worked together over the past six years at Palo Alto and his history speaks for itself, and it's a real coup to have him on board," Raistrick said.

"There are a lot of people out there who would want him."

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, Elastica uses data to provide visibility and control within cloud applications. It is partnered with distributor Exclusive Networks and about 10 partners in the UK.

Raistrick said Driesen decided to move across because it represented a new opportunity in a market "that is going to explode", and that he felt six years at a company is quite a long time.

"He sees a great opportunity with the technology here and it's building really well and what he brings is the ability to deliver an EMEA-wide channel and sales team that can create a very efficient and successful business," Raistrick said.

Driesen (pictured) is not the only Palo Alto UK exec to depart the vendor in recent weeks, with CRN reporting earlier this week that enterprise sales director Scott Cutler has also left.

Driesen started in his new position at Elastica last week.