December 16, 2009

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson and the global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity, has engaged Rice Communications as its PR agency for Southeast Asia (SEA).

Rice will work with Emerson to raise awareness of their latest IT infrastructure and telecom technologies that enable efficiency without compromising availability. Part of their role includes strengthening the company’s profile in key market segments in IT and telecommunications as well as emerging audience groups.

“Rice comes with extensive knowledge of the ICT market and by working with them we can effectively communicate our solutions and services to our market. Aside from their capabilities, we look forward to leveraging their understanding of Emerson’s business and goals,” said Katrina Tirante, SEA marketing manager, Emerson Network Power.

Rice Communications will work with the company’s Asia Pacific marketing team in six key markets in the region, namely: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“As a full-service consultancy, we have been proving strategic, insightful and customized professional communications services to our clients, both on a global and regional scale. We accomplish this through a combination of professional skills and extensive knowledge in the ICT industry, “said Sonya Madeira Stamp, managing partner, Rice Communications. “With Emerson, we intend to work hand-in-hand in strengthening their communications efforts and support them on various in-market initiatives they will be rolling out over the coming months.”

Based in Singapore, Rice was established in January 2009 and is headed by Sonya Madeira Stamp, who has over 15 years of experience in communications.

December 8, 2009

Iomega, an EMC company and a global player in the data protectionmarket, announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with MSI-ECS (Phils.) to market and distribute Iomega’s consumer, SOHO (small office/home office) and SMB (small-medium business) storage solutions for the Philippine market.

“The Philippines is fast becoming an IT-savvy population as broadband penetration increases, and the need for safeguarding personal digital data becomes a key customer concern,” says Rajeev Mukul, Iomega’s Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan. “This represents a huge market opportunity for Iomega’s simple-to-use, reliable and feature-rich personal storage devices for PC users in the country. Similarly, with exponential data growth of data in the SOHO and SMB environment, there is a pressing need for easy-to-install, inexpensive and high-performance network storage solutions.

Under the agreement, MSI-ECS will market and sell Iomega’s full range of smart storage solutions, including the Portable and Desktop drives for both Windows and Mac users, Multimedia & Optical drives, and desktop and rack-mounted network storage solutions.

“Iomega’s full suite of storage products adds to our impressive portfolio, creating new business opportunities for our resellers to capture the fast-growing demand for simple and affordable personal storage solutions,” says Jimmy Go, MSI-ECS President and CEO.  “In a country where the economy is largely driven by small- and medium- size business sectors, offering Iomega’s full range of storage line enables us to broaden our offerings for these segments, allowing us to increase our customer reach.”

MSI-ECS will soon be able to offer a wide selection of Iomega products and solutions through its reseller network in the Philippines, giving customers more choice to match their application, industry and budget.

October 8, 2009

APC by Schneider Electric, a global provider of integrated critical power, cooling and management services, has appointed Philippe Reveilhac as country general manager for the Philippines. In this role, Reveilhac will be responsible for leading the local team to drive growth for the company in the Philippines, and to further strengthen APC’s position as a trusted advisor to businesses looking for innovative and energy efficient solutions for their data centers, server rooms and even wiring closets.

APC vice president for ASEAN Teng Seen Khoo said, “It’s a great pleasure to welcome Philippe Reveilhac to APC, and we are pleased to have a proven leader with solid industry credentials to take over operations in the Philippines. His experience, maturity and profile will ensure our customers, and partners continue to enjoy energy savings but also improved manageability and performance of their data centers.”

Reveilhac has more than 15 years of IT industry experience as well as a strong background in business and people management. His career initially started with parent company Schneider Electric prior to the APC-MGE merger in 1994. Since then, he has held regional positions with the company. Prior to this appointment, he was the vice president of Central Europe for APC by Schneider Electric where he managed the merger and integration of APC and MGE entities, and improved the profits in the region.

“APC by Schneider Electric has been committed to the Philippine market for over 13 years, and will continue doing so in the years to come. I’m looking forward to working closely with the local team to cultivate long-term and trusted relationships with our customers. I am confident we will see a greater drive towards energy efficiency in businesses,” said Reveilhac. “APC is in a strong position to deliver innovative solutions that will not only help these businesses make the most of their energy consumption, but save on their operating costs as well.”

September 22, 2009

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson and the global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity announced the promotion of Arunangshu Chattopadhyay to power product and engineering manager for Asia.

Chattopadhyay is a seasoned industry expert in the power quality solutions field. He joined Emerson in 1990 and has been involved in the development and design of customized solutions for customers’ most complicated power issues throughout the region. Working with a team of design engineers that form the core of Emerson Network Power’s centralized technical services, he ensures that all design systems provide customers the appropriate power availability and efficiency for their business processes.

Chattopadhyay observes that IT organizations are increasingly focused on energy as more than just a “green initiative” but also as a cost reduction opportunity. Before purchasing IT equipment, decision makers need to consider the cost of powering the equipment along with traditional attributes, such as reliability, scalability and flexibility. He further states that it’s not only because power costs are skyrocketing but IT organizations are becoming concerned about their return on investment and are beginning to look more heavily at energy-efficient features and design configurations that offer a higher degree of equipment utilizations for their facilities.

“Decisions are leaning more toward early replacement of old equipment in favor of more energy-efficient devices. Companies that keep their energy strategy moving forward experience attractive paybacks, “says Chattopadhyay.

“Using high-efficiency power supplies, power management, innovative cooling solutions, sizing them up to actual load and configured for improved utilization increases efficiency. Emerson Network Power’s new power product technology platform has taken a lead role in creating a new industry standard that delivers 96 percent efficient power uninterruptible power supply (UPS) products within the boundary of on-line double conversion UPS technology” says Chattopadhyay, noting further “thereby improving data center efficiency, which in turn enables companies to save on operating costs without compromising availability.”

“Over the years, Emerson Network Power has been the recognized industry leader in reliability. As we leverage our extensive experience in the global deployment of enterprise solutions, we develop and deploy integrated best-of-breed solutions that enable our customers to get more out of their mission-critical facilities,” says Chattopadhyay.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India. He is based in the Philippines.

August 12, 2009

Sangoma Technologies Corporation, provider of PC-based telephony hardware and software products for proprietary and open source networking and telephony solutions, announced that they have partnered with Lamco International to expand distribution of Sangoma’s premium telephony and data cards in the Philippines.

Lamco International has played a key role in bringing diverse and unique VoIP communication solutions to the market. As an ‘Empowered by Sangoma’ distribution partner, Lamco International is authorized to sell Sangoma products, project based solutions and new developments that can benefit customers.

Photo shows Anjo de Jesus, AVP Sales ang Marketing, Lamco International; Allan Sio, SVP Sales and Marketing, Lamco International; Doug Vilim, VP Sales, Sangoma Technologies Corporation and Rachelle Alcantara, business unit manager, Lamco International.

Microsoft has announced the appointment of John Bessey as the new managing director of its Philippine subsidiary.  Bessey will officially take on his new role on October 1^st2009.

Bessey will be taking over from Rafael “Pepeng” Rollan who has been Microsoft Philippines’ managing director since 2007.  Under Rollan’s leadership, the local subsidiary experienced consistent growth and saw the expansion of its citizenship initiatives aimed at enabling underserved communities to get access to technology, as well as the implementation of projects dedicated to enhancing local education.

“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to lead a very strong and dedicated team in the Philippines,” said Bessey.  “At the same time, I am excited at the prospect of further exploring opportunities where our customers, partners and the country can benefit from technology.  Over the years, we have seen how technology can impact people’s lives and we will continue our initiatives in empowering the underserved sectors and helping improve the Philippines’ IT infrastructure.”

With a career spanning some 20 years in the IT industry, Bessey joined Microsoft New Zealand in 2006 as partner director for small and medium-sized businesses.  As part of the leadership team, Bessey was instrumental in making New Zealand a successful Microsoft subsidiary.

Prior to Microsoft John spent more than 10 years at Gen-i, one of Microsoft’s largest partners in New Zealand, working in both New Zealand and Australia. John was involved in running every part of the large systems integrator, giving him deep insights into how Microsoft can really connect and add value to our partner business.

John has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Auckland University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business (Marketing) from the Auckland University Business School.

Ken Wye Saw, Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Microsoft Asia-Pacific said: “John possesses the skills and capabilities needed to take the company to greater heights.  With his passion and dedication, I am optimistic John will significantly contribute to the growth of our business in the Philippines and lead in delivering our mission of empowering people and businesses all over the world to realize their full potential through technology.”

EMC Corporation, a global provider of information infrastructure solutions, announced the appointment of  industry veteran, Kevin Lee, as its general manager of Channel Sales and Partners for South Asia.  Kevin brings more than 20 years of IT experience in channel sales, marketing and entrepreneurship to the role.

In this role, Kevin and his team will be responsible for bringing EMC’s portfolio of information infrastructure solutions to more customers through the company’s channel partners, expanding the company’s channel business and driving partner profitability across South Asia. Based in Singapore, Kevin will report to Ron Goh, President, EMC South Asia.

In addition, Kevin will also focus on the ongoing success of the EMC Velocity Partner Program that features training and enablement programs that accelerate the ease and convenience for partners to work with EMC.

“The EMC Velocity Partner Program and EMC’s commitment to building long term relationships with the channel has resulted in a world-class partner program that brings maximum benefit to our partners, EMC, and most importantly, our customers,” said Goh. “Kevin’s strong track record and extensive channel and partner experience, will help us build upon the success of our partner program and bring EMC’s information infrastructure message to customers across some of the world’s most dynamic markets in South Asia.”

Prior to joining EMC, Kevin was the Asia Pacific head of Channel Sales and Marketing at Seagate Technology where he managed a network of channel partners including distributors, channel original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and resellers to grow Seagate’s business in both traditional and new market segments.

Previously he held sales, marketing and channel leadership roles at several multi-national companies including Motorola, AT&T, Intel and Iomega. He also established two software companies in China.

Kevin holds an MBA from the University of Hull and a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University. He also attended the Strategic Leadership Development Program at Harvard Business School.

AMD has announced that industry-veteran Tomo Kamiya has been appointed regional VP-Sales and Marketing for South Asia. Under this designation, Tomo will oversee all sales and marketing activities for Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN countries.

Tomo will also continue to drive AMD’s regional business forward through the engagement of the various business partners and stakeholders towards closer collaboration to meet the technology needs of the end-user.  This is in line with the company’s unique proposition of delivering unparalleled, industry-leading GPU and CPU technology to meet the technological demands of today’s end-users.

Prior to his current appointment, Tomo was sales development director for Asia Pacific and Japan at AMD, where he managed the company’s business engagement with Dell across Asia Pacific and Japan.  During this time, he successfully led the charge of rolling out commercial product launches in the various regional markets, including the launch of AMD’s first 45-nanometer processor, Shanghai, in late 2008 and most recently, Istanbul, the company’s six-core AMD Opteron processor.  Tomo expanded his responsibilities in January 2009 to include managing relationships with many of AMD’s strategic OEM customer accounts.  He supported the overall business development efforts undertaken by the respective teams throughout the Asia Pacific region, as well as developed key solutions and partnerships that enabled customers to position their AMD platforms competitively in the market, including strategic account wins in China.

Tomo began his career at AMD at its Japan office in 2005, where he headed the marketing group consisting of product marketing and key go-to-market elements.  Prior to joining AMD, Tomo held a number of positions in sales, business consulting and marketing management positions in IT, which included leading the Server Product and Alliance Solutions group at Dell Japan.

For his latest appointment, he will continue to be based at AMD’s office in Singapore.

AMD has announced a new operating model that centers the organization on four equally critical functions: products, technology, marketing and customers.  The new structure is designed to better optimize AMD’s operations to drive industry-leading performance graphics and microprocessors and further integrate the company’s x86 processor and graphics technologies. 

“We are tightening our focus on delivering the winning products and platforms our customers want based on AMD’s industry-leading microprocessor and graphics technologies,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD President and CEO. “The next generation of innovation in the computing industry will be grounded in the fusion of microprocessor and graphics technologies.  With these changes, we are putting the right organization in place to help enable the future of computing.”

Meyer organized the company around these four operating teams.  The rest of Meyer’s direct reports remain unchanged.

•           A products group led by Rick Bergman, 45:  This new group is responsible for delivering all of AMD’s platforms and products and aligning the graphics and microprocessor product development groups into a single unified organization. Jeff VerHeul, 50, will head the Processor Solutions Engineering team, to deliver AMD’s platform silicon and improve time-to-market and innovation for near-term roadmaps.
•           An Advanced Technology Group, led by Chekib Akrout, 51: This new group will focus on developing AMD’s future technology innovation.
•           A marketing group, led by Nigel Dessau, 44:  The singular marketing group will drive cohesive and consistent external messaging across all of AMD’s products and platforms.
•           A customer group, led by Emilio Ghilardi, 51:  The sales organization is responsible for expanding AMD’s customer relationships globally.

AMD announces another key appointment – that of Corporate vice President Ben Williams, as general manager of the Asia Pacific (APAC) region sales and marketing, based in Singapore. Countries under Ben’s responsibilities include Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN, India, Japan and Korea.

“I am excited to be given the opportunity to lead a dedicated team in this vibrant region,” said Ben Williams.  “Singapore offers an excellent business environment and is in close proximity to our customers in the region. This is a significant move as it illustrates our continued commitment to our customers in the region who continue to look to AMD to deliver the fusion of next generation of computing and graphics solutions at home, at work and at play.”

The company also announced that Randy Allen, senior vice president, Computing Solutions Group, has decided to leave the company.

“Randy has been an important engineering and business leader who has played a key role in many of AMD’s most significant achievements in recent years,” said Meyer.  “We wish him well in his future endeavors.”