Former Cisco Execs Join Global VAR EOS IT Solutions: Exclusive

‘We're not just expanding in numbers. We have become a VAR that looks at things differently and critically so we can problem-solve for companies,’ one of the newest EOS IT Solutions executives tells CRN.

EOS IT Solutions, a global solution provider and logistics firm, is growing its U.S.-based sales team with the addition of three former Cisco Systems executives.

The expansion will let the company take on new business and maintain the high level of service its customers across the globe have come to expect, the Banbridge, U.K.-based solution provider told CRN exclusively.

"The company is very passionate about making sure we do everything extremely well, we do it on time and we do it with respect [for] our customers,” said Gerard Lithgow, who has joined the company as its new chief revenue officer.

Bryan Osoro also has joined the company as vice president of sales on the West Coast, and Tim Shockley has come on as vice president of sales on the East Coast.

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Lithgow has more than 25 years of sales leadership experience with global enterprise, service provider and cloud companies. Prior to joining EOS, Lithgow held various executive roles at Cisco, including vice president of global competitive strategy.

Osoro served as director of sales engineering at Cisco for four years and as director of competitive intelligence, focused on software-defined networking and network functions virtualization, for nearly three years. Prior to that, Osoro had a short stint as a senior systems engineer for Nicira after spending seven years with Cisco as a solutions architect. The holder of four CCIE certifications, Osoro is "amazingly capable" of helping customers on the West Coast with their IT strategies, Lithgow said.

Shockley, also a Cisco veteran, spent about two decades at the tech giant as a director and general manager for Cisco and Cisco Capital, the company's financing arm. Shockley comes with experience in leading tech teams focused on hardware and software, as well as financing services and as-a-service solutions.

"We're not just expanding in numbers," Lithgow said. “We have become a VAR that looks at things differently and critically so we can problem-solve for companies."

EOS, which got its start in Banbridge, was established from one of several companies owned by the Strain family that provided white-glove logistics to now being a separate entity as a global VAR, said Daniel Strain, EOS' CEO.

After getting its start with videoconferencing and collaboration installation and support services, the company moved into adjacent services based on customer demand, including network monitoring, cloud backup, and Internet of Things services such as asset tracking. The company today provides collaboration deployment and IT support services to large, global enterprises including some Fortune 500 companies, according to the company. A Cisco Gold Partner in the U.K. and the U.S., EOS operates in 156 countries and has between 450 and 500 employees with plans to aggressively grow that number on the managed services side, Strain said.

In addition to Cisco, EOS partners with several other tech giants, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise and VMware.