Oracle stakes claim on local storage market; seeks new partners

Oracle is gearing up to stake its claim on the local storage market, with the appointment of a storage channel business development manager.

Frank Zanotto has been appointed to the role of storage channel business development manager for Australia and New Zealand, and is charged with identifying new regional partners to grow the company's storage business across public and private sectors.

Oracle says it sees the Australian and New Zealand channel as an opportunity to accelerate the solid growth it has experienced globally with its storage business.

The vendor says the region's appetite for deploying solutions to maximise the return on investment from the proliferation of both customer and company data, means the storage opportunity is strong locally.

Sam Voukenas, Oracle ANZ director business development, storage, says the company is placing 'a major emphasis on growing new relationships and galvanising existing relationships' with channel partners.

"Our channel partners are a critical part of our go to market approach in Australia and New Zealand," Voukenas says.

"Partners offer customers fantastic in-depth industry expertise and intellectual property as well as specialised knowledge of Oracle technology and applications. As a result, they can provide a broader range of solutions, maximise the value of our customers' investments and achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Zanotto, who will be Sydney-based, has more than 15 years experience in IT sales, channels and operations roles with companies including Actifio, VMware and Symantec. Prior to joining Oracle he was Actifio's channel and service provider manager for Asia Pacific and Japan.