Big Switch Networks today announced the appointment of Steve Coad as managing director for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

The data center networking company affirms this move reflects its ongoing investment and continued traction in the region.

According to Big Switch Networks, Coad's primary role will be to support channel partners in creating end-user demand, in addition to growing the company's existing ANZ business.

Coad will report to Big Switch Networks' managing director for Asia Pacific, Mario Vecchio – who says Coad will play a significant part in the continued expansion of Big Networks' footprint in ANZ.

“I've always believed that to build a smart, successful team you must hire people who are brighter than you and bring a different set of skills to the table,” Vecchio says.

“Steve is an industry stalwart with extensive experience in networking, virtualisation and storage, which will lend itself well as customers continue to select Big Switch for their next-generation software-defined data centers.

Coad has certainly been in the industry for a decent period of time, with more than 30 years of experience in technology sales and leadership with companies, including HPE's Aruba Networks, Cisco, EMC, and VMware.

His most recent role was with Aruba as managing director for the South Pacific region. Coad lead a team of more than 70 employees, and he asserts that he will apply his extensive experience in managing large teams to support Big Switch Networks as the company scales in ANZ.

“I am thrilled to join Big Switch at such an exciting time in the company's journey,” says Coad. “I am passionate about building teams and look forward to playing a meaningful role in scaling Big Switch in the ANZ market.

Big Switch officially launched in Australia in Q3 2016 and has customer wins in verticals that include government, financial services, service providers and telecommunications carriers.

Big Switch's key partners in ANZ include Newgen Systems, Dell EMC Networking and Edge-Core Networks.