Nutanix appoints Steve Coad as head of new enterprise division
Nutanix has announced the appointment of Steve Coad as head of its newly created enterprise division for Australia.
Coad joins Nutanix following his role as Cohesity's managing director for ANZ, a position he has had since January 2020.
Coad remains in Melbourne for his new role at Nutanix, where he will be responsible for the expansion of the company's footprint among 'Australia's top-performing companies'.
The newly created position follows a recent segmentation of Nutanix's ANZ business, undertaken to capitalise on the expanding hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) market – which is expected to grow by a factor of four to A$37 billion in 2025.
"HCI is not just another way to store and manage data – it's a business enabler at a time when enterprises and whole industries are playing innovation catch-up in a new world," says Nutanix managing director Lee Thompson.
"Steve brings a wealth of enterprise experience to this role and comes to us at a pivotal time for the company.
"We will create new value in terms of flexibility, cost and data control for customers and partners and drive the business to its next level in Australia.
While Nutanix's segmentation strategy targets the enterprise sector, the Nutanix's new phase will also target the federal government, commercial and territory sectors in Australia.
The company aims to gain further market share from companies still wedded to outdated three-tier infrastructure environments.
Coad brings 35 years' business and technology experience to the role, with prior experience coming from a slew of management roles at HPE-owned Aruba, Cisco, VMware and EMC.
Before Cohesity, Coad was managing director for Australia and New Zealand for Big Switch Networks, during which time he drove the company's regional business strategy for growth and oversaw channel partner growth.
He also previously assumed senior regional leadership positions at Cisco, including country manager for New Zealand, sales director for the company's service provider business in China, and director of customer advocacy in South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
"I've been really impressed by the leadership and vision of Nutanix, at a global level and locally by Lee Thompson," says Coad.
"If enterprises here were concerned about digital disruption before, the pandemic has increased that tenfold.
"Crises tend to bring out new innovators and a willingness to challenge the status quo, a major concern for established enterprises in Australia.
"I believe Nutanix is in an ideal position to provide the right platform to enable a new rationale and 'disrupt from within' mindset, while solving the hybrid cloud equation, for those companies.
