EMC Australia boss moves to VMware as local chief

Virtualisation giant VMware has enticed the local head of its parent company EMC, Alister Dias, to become its new managing director across Australia and New Zealand.

Alister Dias

The company was left without a chief last month when Duncan Bennet announced his resignation and subsequently departed on December 31.

It today announced Dias would join VMware - which is 80 percent owned by EMC - from April 1 as its new managing director for A/NZ.

Dias spent 16 years at EMC, and took over control of its Australian operations in mid-2012.

He will be replaced at EMC Australia in the interim by David Webster, EMC's head of Asia Pacific and Japan, as the company searches for a new chief.

VMware and its EMC parent are currently in the final stages of being acquired by Dell for US$67 billion (A$97 billion).

EMC last week reportedly started laying off staff as part of a US$850 million cost-cutting initiative.

The layoffs are expected to be mostly completed by the end of the first quarter and continue throughout the year, according to several reports, but the company has not confirmed how many of its 50,000 employees will be affected.