VMware says it is close to finding Dodds' successor

A new EMEA channel boss will be in place 'by the end of the year'

VMware's UK channel chief, Phil Croxford, has said partners have not been unsettled by the departure of EMEA channel boss Scott Dodds.

Dodds, who joined VMware from Microsoft in February, is leaving the vendor to join reseller Ultima as its chief executive on 20 October, CRN revealed last week.

Speaking with CRN at this year's VMworld in Barcelona, Croxford said this has not been seen as a major blow for VMware and its channel.

"Because he has gone to Ultima as its CEO, you could argue it's a bit of a win-win for VMware," he said. "Ultima are one of our fastest-growing partners of last year, we have a great relationship and now we have got Scott [Dodds] in there accelerating it."

When asked if his departure has caused any discomfort to partners, he said "not at all".

"Most partners see it as an opportunity for Scott [Dodds] to take a role at a partner that is growing fast, and he took that step.

"We went to the rugby on Sunday and Scott was hosting with me, and now we are hosting him," he added.

VMware has appointed Jean-Philippe Barleaza on an interim basis following Dodds' departure, but according to Richard Kerr, VMware's Northern Europe channel director, the search could be over sooner rather than later.

"We will definitely put somebody in place by the end of the year," Kerr said.

Join the NSX train?
In July Croxford said he was looking for partners to embrace VMware's portfolio around software-defined datacentre (SDDC), such as software-defined networking. Now he said that partners are beginning to cash in from this offering.

"[In July] we talked about NSX - network virtualisation - as an area of focus. I don't know what the statistics were at the time, but we now have 21 partners in the UK who have NSX competency. We now have 450 individuals certified in NSX in the UK, from a sales and technical perspective, and we are getting some real traction."

He said that a lot of VMware partners focused around security and networking that are new to the vendor, are enjoying success through NSX.

"A great example was Gyrocom - a networking specialist partner - they went from a VMware relationship of zero to their first six-figure licence deal in less than six months. It was a great example of an organisation who came to us with a niche set of knowledge but [who] were able to leverage NSX into their customer base to great effect."

Kerr also echoed Croxford's points about the opportunity of NSX.

"We have a huge wave of partners coming to us and wanting to get on the NSX bandwagon," he said. "Right now we are doing a lot of enablement, but there is a huge amount of interest both from resellers and also from service providers and other vendors."