Unisys taps VMware exec to drive regional channel push

Unisys has appointed former VMware Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) senior partner business manager, Murray Whitlocke-Jones, as its first Asia Pacific partner and alliance director.

In this newly created role, Whitlocke-Jones will work with local and global partners to develop and implement plans to sell the vendor's portfolio of solutions, products and services across the region, with a focus on the government, financial services, transportation and healthcare sectors.

According to Whitlocke-Jones, he aims to utilise his experience and Unisys’ industry and business knowledge, combining this IP with its partners’ technology or specialised capabilities to deliver a compelling joint proposition into the market.

“Asia Pacific offers great opportunity and working together we can build mutual success,” he said.

“I’m excited to join the Unisys Asia Pacific team and this is a great time to be with the company.  Developing strategic, trusting and enduring relationships with our partners is a key platform for growth and for the success of our customers.”

Whitlocke-Jones brings to the role more than 20 years' experience in sales, business development and channel management within the solution integrator / strategic outsourcing (SISO) industry.

Before his tenure at VMware, he served at CA Technologies as its strategic outsourcing account director for almost two years and was also in the company in a regional indirect sales role between April 2009 and September 2010.

Whitlocke-Jones was also the owner of his own IT outsourcing and IT management consulting company, Barracuda Consulting for about 16 years, while some of his other stints include working at Suncorp and HP Managed Services.

Whitlocke-Jones was also recognised with the Highly Commended award for Channel Management in the 2015 ARN ICT Industry Awards.

Unisys Asia Pacific vice-president and general manager, Tony Windever, said with the region represented 14 per cent of the vendor’s global revenue in 2016, with plans in place to drive further growth through Whitlocke-Jones’ appointment.

“Clients look to Unisys to provide independent advice, best-fit solutions and services, to secure their business future," he added. "Our strategic partner and alliance program enables us to innovate, develop new technologies and offer clients cutting-edge products and services.

“Murray’s appointment highlights the importance we place on partners for our growth in Asia Pacific."

In building on this growth, the company appointed Aquion as its first security value added reseller (VAR) for the A/NZ region in February and collaborated with Data61 in March to develop a data analytics solution for automated security risk assessment of travellers and cargo at air, land and sea borders.