Nimble Storage launches ANZ assault

Silicon Valley data storage company Nimble Storage, which claims to be the fastest-growing data storage company in history, has launched its assault on the ANZ market, opening its Asia Pacific headquarters in Australia, with aggressive plans for New Zealand.

The ANZ operations will be headed up by a team of well-known faces, including two former NetApp staff: Peter O'Connor, previously NetApp ANZ and South Pacific vice president, who steps in as Nimble's Asia Pacific vice president; and Gavin Cohen, previously NetApp APAC CTO, now Nimble's Asia Pacific director of marketing. Also leading the charge will be former EMCer, Rob Barton, who takes on the role of director of sales for Australia and New Zealand.

The company, whose technology combines flash with high capacity drives, expects to announce its first ANZ customer – a New Zealand business – next week, and its first New Zealand partner on the back of that.

O'Connor says he and his team will be proactively targeting New Zealand resellers in the coming weeks as it aims to gain a quick foothold in the market.

“The plan for both markets is to run with a reseller network to begin with," he says.

We may look to add a distributor in 12-18 months, but our offering is easy to configure, with lead times of two to three days from the US, so there's no need for a distributor from the start and we would rather put the margins the distributor would take into the resellers to gain mindshare.”

O'Connor says the company will look to resellers in the mid-market space, rather than tier ones who are more likely to already have 'a whole swag of vendors' on their books.

“We're looking for the CCLs of the world," he says.

The ANZ expansion comes days after the company announced another US$40.7 million round of venture capital funding, which O'Connor says is earmarked for field expansion. The company has garnered more than 500 customers since it began shipping in late 2010, with more than 1000 installations.

Just three days into his new role, O'Connor says the team 'isn't here to take it easy'.

“We're going to be going at it pretty hard and pretty quickly and believe there will be great outcomes for partners as well as for customers," he says.