EMC man defects to run Pure Storage's UK channel

Gary Matson joined rival storage firm this week

An EMC manager has left the firm after just four months to lead Pure Storage's UK and Ireland (UKI) channel.

Gary Matson began working at EMC in October as district manager, according to his LinkedIn page, after joining from Arrow.

Neither Pure Storage nor EMC were immediately available to confirm the move or comment, but Matson updated his LinkedIn profile this week. On the page, it says he started the new role this week.

Pure Storage and EMC are fierce rivals, and a number of the latter's staff have defected to the fledgling flash firm over the past year or so.

Most notably, this time last year, EMC's former UK boss James Petter defected to Pure Storage after 11 years. Last summer, EMC's chief marketing officer Jonathan Martin left the company to take on the same role at Pure.

Pure Storage recently talked up its commitment to the channel in a 10-Q filing published last month. It promised to continue to invest in the channel programme and boost its global channel network.