DataCore Software, the leading provider of storage virtualization software, has appointed Christian Hagen as its new Vice President of Sales for the Americas & EMEA. Hagen, the former Vice President of Sales and Partner Development EMEA, is now also responsible for all DataCore sales and channel activities in the Americas. With this appointment, DataCore aims to leverage its European distributor and channel partner programs in the US as well as in Europe. The partner enablement model has proven itself in Europe, where it has successfully empowered distribution and reseller partners.
"Christian has an impressive track record and he understands what it takes to work hand-in-hand with partners to achieve mutual success,” says George Teixeira, president and CEO, DataCore Software. ”Furthermore, we know that Christian will accelerate the success of DataCore’s SANsymphony™ and SANmelody™ platforms in the Americas because he knows how to create the win-win situation our partners are looking for. “
During his tenure as Vice President of EMEA Sales and Partner Development for DataCore, Christian Hagen led DataCore’s EMEA business to record growth rates by nearly doubling annual sales and doubling the number of business partners on a yearly basis. The 46-year-old German successfully broadened the company’s market footprint with a two-tier distribution model – targeting distribution partners and value-added resellers (VARs) with strong technical expertise in virtualization markets. The company has also aligned its sales and support organization in order to better enable channel partners to multiply their business with virtual platforms like Citrix XenServer, VMware, Microsoft VS, Oracle VM, Sun VM, Virtual Iron, etc., in conjunction with DataCore storage virtualization.
"DataCore remains 100 % committed to the channel,” says Hagen. “We are in a unique and exciting position, because we deliver the industry’s best storage technology, which complements and enhances the other virtualization layers – from the server to the desktop. I'm looking forward to my new challenge and am convinced that we will benefit from unifying our channel approach worldwide.”
Christian Hagen joined DataCore Software in 2000 and directed the company’s activities in Central Europe from 2004 on. In 2007 he was appointed Vice President of EMEA Sales and Partner Development and extended the successful central European approach into the European markets, as well as the Middle East and Africa. Christian Hagen has 20 years experience in the storage industry and is recognized as expert in virtualization, storage management, business continuity and disaster recovery. He held various positions in sales, engineering, support, and business development at Deutsche Bank, Sterling Software, Computer Associates and IBM.
A “Perfect Storm” of Opportunity for Partners
DataCore’s growth has been especially strong in the VMware, Citrix and Microsoft channel. The success reflects the fact that storage virtualization – originally adopted in the enterprise data center – is becoming accepted as a mainstream technology in the SME market, where DataCore established itself as the perfect complement server, application and desktop virtualization. In the growing market for the total enterprise virtualization (TEV), DataCore Software maximizes the value of IT assets and boosts business productivity. At the same time, DataCore technology helps users get the most out of their investments with Virtual Machines (VMs) by eliminating the inflexibility of physical storage.
“Any partner serving the virtualization market knows that virtual servers drive the need for business continuity and those partners that can meet this need are reaping major rewards,” summarizes Hagen. “We have an incredible market offering for partners through our high availability solutions that enable true automatic failover and failback recovery at affordable prices.”