A10 Nabs Former Big Switch Exec As New Global Marketing Head

Matlof, a 17-year technology industry veteran, has been appointed A10's vice president of worldwide marketing. He will report directly to A10 founder and CEO Lee Chen.

In his new role, Matlof will lead A10's global marketing organization, drive brand awareness around its growing lineup of application delivery controllers, and fuel market expansion by working alongside the company's global sales and engineering teams.

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Matlof could not immediately be reached for comment but said in a statement that he looks forward to joining the A10 team. "A10 has the unique technology foundation to enable a significant disruption in the application networking industry, and we are one of only a select class of vendors that can do this," he said.

Prior to joining A10, Matlof was vice president of marketing at Big Switch Networks, where he helped drive the startup's marketing efforts since its commercial launch in November 2012.

Before his stint at Big Switch Networks, Matlof was an early stage investor and partner at venture capitalist firm Battery Ventures, where, according to A10, he helped build eight tech startups. Matlof started his career at Cisco, where he led the product management team for Cisco's Ethernet switching portfolio.

A10's appointment of Matlof comes roughly a month after the San Jose, Calif.-based company appointed Ray Smets, a former McAfee and Cisco executive, as its first-ever vice president of worldwide sales.

A10 said Smets' role was created to help fuel the "rapid growth" it is seeing in the application delivery controller market. Smets, in a recent interview with CRN, said investing in A10's channel -- which, in North America, consists of about 100 solution providers -- will be a priority moving forward.

A10, founded in 2004, has revamped its partner program and compensation structures over the past two years, offering partners new spifs and other incremental incentives.

PUBLISHED SEPT. 24, 2013