Blue Coat appoints new country manager

BANGALORE, INDIA: Blue Coat Systems, Inc, the leader in WAN Application Delivery and Secure Web Gateway has announced the appointment of Balakrishnan Anantharaman as country manager for Blue Coat India. Balakrishnan comes on board post Packeteer’s acquisition where he was regional director, South Asia region. In his new role Balakrishnan would be responsible for driving the India business strategy. 

Commenting on the appointment of the new country head, Matthew Young, vice president sales for Asia-Pacific said, “We are pleased to have such a seasoned professional heading the India geography.” He added, “Bala has an impressive track record. He has an in-depth understanding of technology and combined with sales experience, I am confident Bala will help grow Blue Coat’s business in India.” 

According to the latest IDC report, Blue Coat is the market leader with 29.4 percent market share over the last one year. This can be attributed to a new and improved product line including MACH5 and also more competitive branding and marketing. The sectors in which Blue Coat made significant headway were Finance, Manufacturing and ITeS. Packeteer was a close second during the same period with a market share of 29.389 percent.Thus, the acquisition of Packeteer gives Blue Coat the clear lead in the Indian market. 

Blue Coat’s share in the WAN application delivery market in the country grew to 23 percent in the first half of 2007. Blue Coat managed this by implementing a dual-pronged strategy for growth consisting of in-house development and third-party acquisitions. The acquisition of Packeteer by Blue Coat extends intelligent application delivery solutions to its customers everywhere. Blue Coat now holds approximately 60 percent of the Indian market for WAN Optimization.

Blue Coat India will operate out of 4 new offices and with local partners like Datacraft, Wipro and Apara. 

Commenting on his role at Blue Coat, Balakrishnan said, “Blue Coat is a pioneer in the WAN optimization and security industry. It has earned the trust of its clients worldwide by providing high quality innovative solutions. I look forward to taking the brand to the next level.” 

Balakrishnan has over 15 years of experience in the IT industry with a special focus on sales management. He has held senior positions in leading companies like Sun Microsystems and IBM and has an in-depth understanding of Singapore and India markets. 

Balakrishnan holds an MBA degree from Narsee Monsee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and a B.E (Electronics) degree from Nagpur University.