Avaya has announced the appointment of a new head of networking for Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Maan Al-Shakarchi will be responsible for driving sales of the business communications software firm's networking solutions across the regions, focusing on the company's SDB Fx networking technology, Avaya says in a statement.

Al-Shakarchi has been with Avaya since 2005 as part of the Nortel team, and most recently led Avaya's networking business for the Global Growth Markets Theatre, overseeing key networking implementations with customers such as Al Noor Hospital, Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Financial Market.

“As today's businesses transition towards cloud and software-based models, Al-Shakarchi will be heavily involved in building momentum for one of the company's most strategic and exciting areas for growth,” says Nidal Abou-Ltaif, president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific, Avaya, who Al-Shakarchi will be reporting to.

“Since joining Avaya, Maan has played a vital role in transforming the company into the software and business collaboration powerhouse it is today,” Abou-Ltaif says.

“With his impressive track record in driving adoption of our leading SDN Fx networking technology, Maan is also one of the main reasons that Avaya is currently leading the networking industry as a whole towards fabric-based architectures,” he says.

“I have every confidence he will continue to drive our networking business forward in this new position.

Al-Shakarchi says a flexible and reliable network is essential for forward-looking businesses that want to capitalise on current and future trends, including network virtualisation, cloud, mobility, and video – to drive competitive advantage.

“In my new role, I'll be supporting Avaya customers in achieving their ambitions to become digital businesses, and helping them to future-proof their technology investments by adopting what we believe is the most advanced fabric-defined networking solution on the market today,” he says.