Duncan Bennet to lead VMware Australia

Former Sun Microsystems executive Duncan Bennet has been named managing director of VMware Australia after a re-shuffle that sees current MD Paul Harapin take on a wider Asia Pacific role.

Harapin’s new title will be vice-president of business development and cloud for Asia Pacific and Japan. He will continue to report to APJ general manager Andrew Dutton.

Bennet joined VMware Australia in January 2010 to lead small business and commercial sales. He was previously the vice president and managing director of Sun Microsystems Australia for close to ten years (1999 – 2009) prior to the vendor being acquired by Oracle.

Bennet will also report to Andrew Dutton.

Speaking to iTnews today, Bennet described VMware as “one of the most fascinating organisations” he had ever worked for.

“I spent a fair bit of time looking at the industry for my next challenge and I am glad Duncan and VMware found each other," he said. "VMware is such an exciting, dynamic organisation to work for.”

Bennet said his experience running both software start-ups and large vendors with multiple product lines should help him steer VMware Australia as the vendor expands into new markets.

“VMware is a very fast growing company,” he remarked. “Even as a $2.4 billion company it grew by 41 percent last year.”

Bennet paid tribute to Harapin’s “passion” for the business. “He is a hard act to follow,” Bennet said. “He has that ability to articulate the corporate position and strategy for all levels.”

Paul Harapin

Joining VMware in 2005, Harapin was one of the vendor's first four staff in Australia and has led the local operation during a period of triple-digit growth.

During his tenure as Australia's managing director, Harapin's team signed VMware's first major global Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) with the Australian Taxation Office, its first "Whole-of-Government" deal with the Tasmanian Government, and an OEM enterprise licensing agreement with IBM, among other achievements.

VMware Australia now has 8,000 customers in Australia and New Zealand, including 95 percent of ASX-listed companies.

Harapin, currently in Hanoi, told iTnews this afternoon that working with the team at VMware Australia and the “large ecosystem that has sprung up around VMware” products continues to inspire him.

“These new areas provide me opportunity to think strategically across the APJ region and hopefully take some of our local success and continue to replicate it in new growth areas," he said.