Virtual Iron Software (www.virtualiron.com), a provider of enterprise-class server virtualization and virtual infrastructure software, today announced the hiring of former EMC and McData sales executive John McCarthy to lead its worldwide sales, channel and field operations. As senior vice president of sales, McCarthy will report to new president and CEO, Ed Walsh at the fast-growing company.

McCarthy brings over 20 years of experience leading sales and channel efforts in the technology field to Virtual Iron, including McData Corporation, Computer Network Technology (CNT), Hewlett Packard, Storage Apps and EMC. He has also contributed to a number of early-stage technology companies as a board member and advisor. His expertise includes operational management and shaping and managing sales forces made up of direct, indirect and OEM channels.

“Having worked with John directly in the past, I am very familiar with the exemplary track record of sales success he brings to Virtual Iron,” said Ed Walsh, new president and CEO at Virtual Iron. “His combination of strategic partner, channel go-to-market and sales leadership will help us quickly expand on the company’s early success and position it for rapid growth going forward. He’ll add tremendous value for our strategic partners, channel partners and end-users.”

Most recently, McCarthy ran his own consulting firm, JEMO LLC., assisting companies with their sales, channel and go-to-market strategies. Prior to that, he was with Computer Technology Network (CNT) where he helped increase sales by 20% and gross margins by over 50% in just six months before the company was acquired by McData Corporation in 2005. At McData, McCarthy helped create the new McData/CNT sales organization in North America, integrating two different direct and indirect sales teams. Before joining CNT, McCarthy was president and chief operating officer of StorageApps, a pioneering technology company in the fast growing data storage management market. While at StorageApps, John grew sales from $30 million to $50 million before the company was acquired by Hewlett Packard in 2001.

McCarthy launched his career at EMC when he joined as its 139th employee in 1986. Throughout his 14 year career there, EMC grew from $30 million to $8.7 billion and McCarthy held a variety of progressive sales positions including working directly for EMC’s president and co-founder. As senior vice president of sales, systems engineering and professional services for the Americas, McCarthy managed $5.6 billion in annual sales and a team of 3,200 employees. He also played a key role in defining EMC’s entry into the value-added software space, helping drive software sales at EMC from $10 million in 1994 to more than $1 billion by the end of 2000.

McCarthy has also contributed to a number of early-stage technology companies as a board member and advisor including Avamar Technologies, a data protection and data de-duplication software company acquired by EMC in late 2006; Archivas, a digital archiving company acquired by HDS in early 2007; Index Engines, an enterprise-wide indexing search provider; and Stripes Group, a private equity firm specializing in minority investments in rapidly growing, profitable companies and buyouts of niche market leaders.

Virtual Iron competes in the rapidly growing server virtualization market where industry experts expect software sales to grow as high as to $7 billion in 2011 from $800 million in 2006. Current penetration of virtualization on installed x86 servers is estimated at just 6% today and Virtual Iron has quickly positioned itself to get its fair share of the untapped market. By combining ease of use with advanced capabilities, the company has doubled its number of customers and revenues every quarter since its launch in Q4, 2006. The company has also dramatically expanded its worldwide distribution channel including Tier 1 distribution agreements with Tech Data in North America, Avnet in Europe and reseller agreements with HP and Dell. In addition, the company recently announced the availability of bundled offerings with HP and IBM through Tech Data in North America.