MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 5, 2013) - Big Switch Networks today announced the appointment of Douglas Murray as Chief Executive Officer. Murray comes to Big Switch from Juniper Networks, where he held various roles including senior vice president and GM of the data center security business and senior vice president of Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China. A seasoned general manager with broad data center expertise and a successful background in advanced technologies, Murray will guide the company's strategy as its bare metal switching-based SDN products launch into a rapidly growing market. Current CEO and co-founder Guido Appenzeller will continue with the company as Chief Technology Officer and board member, working closely with Murray on the next chapter of Big Switch.
Murray has a reputation as a transformational leader with a proven track record of growing revenue and market share while competing against large incumbents. In his most recent role leading Asia Pacific at Juniper, he architected a significant restructuring effort that resulted in visible wins across a fiercely competitive region. While leading Asia Pacific, enterprise switching grew by over 25 percent in 2012, and routing revenue in the latest quarter grew by double digits both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. During his tenure as GM of Juniper's data center security business, the company's market share in data center firewalls grew from 28 percent in 2008 to 52 percent in 2011, earning Juniper the position of market share leader while expanding into the virtual network security market with the acquisition of Altor. Prior to joining Juniper, Murray was the General Manager of the Volume Products Group at Extreme Networks where he led the transition to Broadcom based silicon that resulted in VPG revenue growth of 30 percent in 2008, and the launch of 12 new products. Before Extreme, he held various positions in business development, marketing, sales and product management at Sun Microsystems and AT&T.
In addition to his successes in large organizations, Murray has helped guide multiple startups to success, serving as a board member at Altor Networks (acquired by Juniper in 2010), FireEye (IPO in 2013) and Jaega Software (current).
Supporting Quotes
"With Doug, we have found the right CEO to take Big Switch to the next level," said Big Switch Networks co-founder Guido Appenzeller. "His breadth of data center expertise led him to resonate with our goals for SDN, and his go-to-market experience is just what the company needs in this next phase of growth. His recent Asia experience has given him a front row seat to the most highly evolved market for SDN, and we could not be more thrilled with our choice. We are confident he is the right person to lead us forward."
"We chose Doug not only due to his broad background in data center technologies, but also because of his reputation for aligning organizations to execute on a unified strategy," said Mike Volpi, partner at Index Ventures and Big Switch board member. "The board would like to thank Guido for his service as CEO, and we are looking forward to working together in the next chapter at Big Switch."
About Big Switch Networks
Big Switch Networks is the leader in Open Software-Defined Networking. The company's Open SDN solutions embrace industry standards, open APIs, open source, and vendor-neutral support for both physical and virtual networking infrastructure. Big Switch Networks Open SDN solutions support a broad range of networking applications, including network virtualization for public and private cloud data centers built on OpenStack and other platforms. Big Switch Networks is privately held and has raised over $45M from Intel Capital, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Goldman Sachs and others. For additional information follow us @bigswitch or visit: bigswitch.com
Big Switch Networks, Big Network Controller, Big Tap, Big Virtual Switch, Switch Light, Floodlight and Open SDN are trademarks or registered trademarks of Big Switch Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered marks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.
Big Switch Networks - Data center Background
Big Switch Networks Previews Application-Aware SDN Cloud Fabric Using Bare Metal Switches
http://news.bigswitch.com/press-releases/big-switch-networks-previews-application-aware-sdn-1063604
Big Switch Networks Fuels OpenFlow Adoption with Switch Light, the Industry's First Open Source Thin Switching Software Platform for SDN
http://news.bigswitch.com/manual-releases/2013/Big-Switch-Networks-Fuels-OpenFlow-Adoption-with-S
Big Switch Networks Extends Software Defined Networking Controller to OpenStack Developers
http://news.bigswitch.com/manual-releases/2012/Big-Switch-Networks-Extends-Software-Defined-Netwo
Big Switch Networks - Asia Background
Big Switch Networks Expands Japanese SDN Market Presence Through New Partnership With UNIADEX
http://news.bigswitch.com/manual-releases/2013/Big-Switch-Networks-Expands-Japanese-SDN-Market-Pr
Yahoo! JAPAN Demonstrates an Array of SDN Solutions From CTC and Big Switch Networks at Interop Japan
http://news.bigswitch.com/press-releases/yahoo-japan-demonstrates-an-array-of-sdn-solution-1025773
Big Switch Networks and Dell Enable SDN-Based Private Cloud Network for Chinese Customer CSM Media Research
http://news.bigswitch.com/press-releases/big-switch-networks-and-dell-enable-sdn-based-priv-1025382
Big Switch Networks Enters Rapidly Developing Japanese Market with Software Defined Networking (SDN) Partners CTC and Net One Systems Selected to Distribute Big Switch Networks Open SDN Product Suite to Cloud Data Centers in Japan
http://news.bigswitch.com/manual-releases/2013/Big-Switch-Networks-Enters-Rapidly-Developing-Japa
Contact Information:
Big Switch Networks Contact:
Ellen Roeckl
ellen@bigswitch.com
(408) 857-9718
