Former general manager for Novell's Central European region promoted to oversee all European, Middle East and African business
Novell today appointed Volker Smid as president, Novell EMEA. With a long career in the software industry, including serving as general manager for Central Europe for Novell since May 2005, Smid brings to the new role strong experience in enterprise software sales. Smid will oversee the full range of Novell's sales and consulting business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, a key region for Novell. He succeeds Tom Francese, who was promoted to executive vice president of worldwide sales for Novell in October 2006.
"EMEA is a very important region for Novell, and we need a seasoned sales executive to handle this area,” said Francese. “Volker has done a tremendous job for us in Central Europe, and I expect him to expand that success to the EMEA region as a whole. He is a great customer advocate, with a deep understanding not only of customer challenges, but also how Novell's Linux* and management solutions can help meet those challenges.”
Smid was named general manager for Central Europe for Novell in May 2005, responsible for Novell's overall business in Germany, Austria and Eastern Europe. Prior to joining Novell, Smid was senior vice president, EMEA and Asia Pacific, at PTC, where he was responsible for the product life cycle and enterprise content management company's mid-market business. Smid also served as vice president for North America at POET AG, a platform provider for B2B eCommerce and supplier relationship management, and CEO of Prompt Medizinische Informationssysteme, a German software vendor.
“EMEA is an important growth area for Novell, and we seen tremendous opportunities for delivering our Linux, open source and management solutions to customers across the region,” said Smid. “Novell has a long and strong history in EMEA, which was only enhanced by our purchase of the Germany-based SUSE Linux AG in 2004. I'm looking forward to helping EMEA customers get the most out of their IT systems, and making EMEA an engine of growth for Novell.”
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers infrastructure software for the Open Enterprise. We are a leader in enterprise-wide operating systems based on Linux and open source and the security and systems management services required to operate mixed IT environments. We help our customers minimize cost, complexity and risk, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com .
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