Storage systems vendor Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) created a singular product and services
organization as its next step to improving operations.
Ken Beaudry, formerly senior vice president and general manager of HDS’ Global Solution Services,
will run the unit as executive vice
president and general manager of the organization under HDS President and
COO Dave Roberson.
According to an HDS statement, Beaudry will work with the staff to plan, develop and deliver hardware and
software, global services, technical operations and technical response
centers.
HDS tapped Beaudry for his successful track record, which, according to the company’s
statement, included doubling the size of the Global Solution Services unit
by expanding its professional services offerings and triggering content archiving services.
The Santa Clara, Calif., unit of Japanese giant Hitachi had
kept products and services separate, with Beaudry running services and
Marlene Woodworth, executive vice president and general manager of Global
Marketing and Operation, helming the products side.
But the company, perhaps
acknowledging the trend among storage vendors to move toward a more
integrated approach to selling storage systems, decided to meld the units.
Woodworth recently left the company to pursue other interests and her assistants, Jack Domme, vice president of Storage Management Software and Steve TenBarge, vice president of Storage Infrastructure Management, work under Beaudry.
Other companies, such as HDS rival EMC, have streamlined their approaches by
making acquisitions and putting products and services under the company’s
overarching information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy for managing
content. Earlier this week, EMC upgraded
its replication software and other products in the name of ILM.
HDS is coming off the successful launch of its next-generation storage
system launch,
the TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform, which analysts see as the
company’s attempt to vault past rivals EMC and IBM
in the high-end space.
IBM is expected to announce several major storage upgrades in a press event
in New York next Tuesday.