Cisco man pops up as VMware's UK channel boss
Cisco veteran Alanzo Blackstock has left the firm to head up VMware's UK channel business
Cisco veteran Alanzo Blackstock has left the firm to head up VMware's UK channel business.
Blackstock said in a post on LinkedIn that after 12 years at the vendor - where most recently he was senior manager for UK partners - he wants to move on to another firm.
"It's me who has changed," he said. "Now in my forties, I have solid sales and management experience and I am fortunate to have a loving and stable family. My family, my MBA, my work experiences and the relationships that I have developed at Cisco and elsewhere have helped me define my core strengths. I know more clearly my key values and who I am, more so than I ever have. My goal is to be more confident of and more focused on the value that I bring to organisations. So the opportunity I have with VMware provides a perfect transition for me."
As of this month, Blackstock is VMware's director of partner organisation for the UK and Ireland, according to his LinkedIn page.
"VMware is also number one in their market in an industry that is rapidly changing," he added. "I think that VMware is on the right side of the changes and I sense the culture is similar to Cisco. It seems to be very people-focused and I am told it feels a bit like a start-up. I have an opportunity to lead the UKI partner organisation and be part of some major shifts in our industry. It's exciting times at VMware and I am confident I can help contribute to VMware maintaining its leadership in virtualisation over the coming years."
VMware's UK channel was run by Phil Croxford until last October, before he moved to another side of the business, focusing on EUC alliances and channels across EMEA.
Rumours surfaced before Christmas that Kevin Sparks - who ran EMC's UK channel before it merged with Dell, and its channel chief Sarah Shields was put in charge of the combined organisation - was making a move to Cisco, but Sparks, Cisco and Dell EMC did not comment.