NetScout Channel Sales Leader Jumps To Apstra

Intent-based networking pioneer Apstra plans to accelerate growth on a global scale with the hiring of NetScout’s former executive vice president Jeff Jones as its new worldwide sales leader.

Apstra, whose flagship Apstra Operating System was named a finalist in CRN’s 2018 Tech Innovator Awards for data center infrastructure, hired Jones as the startup looks to scale its sales efforts around intent-based networking and data center automation.

“It’s an exciting time at Apstra and I am looking forward to helping to leverage our deep expertise in intent-based networking to transform data center operations,” said Jones, Apstra’s new vice president of worldwide sales in a statement. “Apstra has an impressive set of marquee customers and I look forward to working with this passionate team to scale our sales efforts and to help enterprise, service provider and cloud providers worldwide realize massive TCO savings through data center network automation solutions.”

[Related: Apstra Eyes Growth As Vendor-Agnostic Intent-Based Networking System Gains Traction]

Jones was previously executive vice president of Global Sales, Alliances and Channel of Netscout’s PFX and Tools Division. Jones also had a 17-year tenure at Apple from 1996 to 2013 in various sales, operation and leadership roles. Jones could not be reached for comment by press time.

Apstra said Jones brings 30 years of expertise in scaling businesses, driving revenue growth and creating strategic partnerships to build cross-functional team leadership to the Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup.

Apstra, which made CRN’s 2018 Data Center 50 list, was founded in 2014 by Mansour Karam, who has executive experience with the likes of Big Switch Networks and Arista Networks.

“It is the right time for Apstra to invest in scaling our sales efforts to capitalize on the global demand for Intent-Based Data Center Automation,” Karam in a statement. “Jeff is a proven executive with deep experience in scaling sales teams to deliver results in a fast-paced and high growth startup environment.”

Apstra’s Operating System (AOS) automates data center operations across the network regardless of customers’ vendor mix. Its API-driven software features intent-based analytics and extensible telemetry that continuously monitors the network.