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Updated: Williamson to lead Cisco’s newly created Asia Pacific area

A new A/NZ head will be appointed in the near future

Cisco A/NZ lead, Les Williamson, is the new man at the helm of Cisco’s newly created Asia Pacific area.

The new area will include South East Asia - Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Responsible for driving growth, Williamson will still report to Edzard Overbeek, president of the overall Asia Pacific, Greater China, India and Japan region.

“Les is a proven leader with a strong commitment to customers and partners who consistently delivers results,” Overbeek said in a statement. “I am confident that under his leadership Cisco will expand its position as trusted advisor to businesses, governments and people in the Asia Pacific region.”

Williamson is no stranger to the networking giant, having been with the company for ten years. Prior to joining Cisco, Williamson held management positions at Ericsson, both in Australia and Sweden.

The successor as the head of Cisco A/NZ will be appointed in the near future and will report into Williamson, along with the existing Cisco Southeast Asia leadership team.

“I am very excited personally and professionally with this expanded opportunity. The mix of hyper growth economies along with developed economies and the diversity of social and political influences is a great challenge and opportunity for Cisco’s value to customers and partners – and ensuring we have the team to deliver upon it will be first and foremost,” Williamson said in a statement.

The newly created area raises some key questions for the local Australian channel.

Asked what this means for Australia and whether sales expectations are about to take a significant shift, given the local market is very different to the rest of South East Asia, a spokesperson said:

"Whilst Cisco does not speculate on sales, clearly the new expanded area has a mixture of hyper growth economies, emerging economies and mature economies. Whilst Cisco’s absolute potential may vary in each of these, the common thread is our ability to align to the broad business and social themes of each country and prove out the notion that by utilising ICT as a platform to drive productivity and innovation in a sustainable manner, this impacts positively on broader social and economic factors for the respective population."

As Cisco completes its global realignment to streamline its operations and improve the customer and partner experience – which is expected by the end of August 2011 – the company will have more details to share, the spokesperson said.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Cisco, Ericsson
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