VMware has appointed a new vice president and managing director for the Australia and New Zealand region.

On April 1st of this year, Alister Dias will join VMware and effectively replace Duncan Bennet, who left the company December 31, 2015.

Dias has more than 30 years of experience with business leadership, sales, as well as technical and channel management roles. His most recent role was vice president and managing director for EMC Australia and New Zealand.

He also held management positions within the ANZ market at various companies, including EMC, CA Technologies and Soft Centre.

Currently Sharat Sinha, vice president, GTM and general business for VMware Asia Pacific and Japan, has taken on the role as interim general manager in the ANZ region, working with the local team.

Under Bennet's leadership, VMware focused on broadening its offerings, expanding its portfolio from only delivering server virtualisation services to the entire software-defined data center.

Sanjay Mirchandani, VMware corporate senior vice president and general manager for Asia Pacific and Japan, says Dias' appointment comes at a time when VMware is working at the forefront of the virtualisation and mobile cloud era.

He says Dias will help VMware to evolve its diversified business portfolio and drive innovation in the data center.