Whale Surpasses 500,000 EMEA Enterprise End-Users.
Fort Lee, NJ, July 7 – Whale Communications today announced the appointment of industry veteran Michael Betz as Managing Director EMEA to build on the leading SSL VPN vendor’s success in Europe. Whale also announced that it has surpassed 500,000 enterprise end-users in EMEA.
These announcements build on Whale’s continued expansion in EMEA. Whale has been growing its EMEA sales over 65% annually, has tripled its European channel partner base over the past six months and is increasing its presence throughout the region, which currently accounts for over 45% of the company’s global sales.
Betz brings to Whale an extensive executive, sales and operations management background in the networking, applications and telecoms industries. Most recently Betz served as VP Central Europe Operations for SMARTS where he extended the company’s European reach, building a cross continental direct sales and channels operation leading to a fivefold increase in sales. Prior to SMARTS, he served as Managing Director EMEA for Concord Communications, where he was responsible for 35% of Concord’s global revenues. He has also held management positions at E.piphany, Compuware, Oracle and IBM.
“By appointing Mike to head EMEA, Whale is ensuring that it will continue to lead the region as the best-of-breed provider of secure SSL Remote Access solutions,” said Roger Pilc, Whale’s CEO. “Mike’s skills in implementing highly effective business strategies will accelerate Whale’s EMEA growth and extend our position at the forefront of the industry.”
Recognized as a leader in the SSL VPN space by industry analysts, Whale’s SSL VPN is being used by Fortune 1000 and Global 1000 companies around the world including: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mutual of Omaha, Loews, Virgin Atlantic, Hasbro and Krispy Kreme.
“It’s an exciting time for me to join Whale,” said Betz. “Whale’s impressive growth and outstanding customer roster gives me a great foundation to build on and I welcome the opportunity to continue Whale’s expansion in EMEA.”
About Whale Communications
Whale Communications is the leading enterprise-class SSL VPN vendor, enabling companies to provide employees, business partners and customers secure access to corporate data and applications from any web browser. Named a leader, visionary and tier-one SSL VPN player by major analysts such as Gartner, META Group, Forrester and Frost & Sullivan, Whale’s SSL VPN products have also won numerous industry awards such as Network Computing magazine’s Best SSL VPN for 2004. Its solutions have been securing enterprises worldwide since it was founded in 1998. Privately held, Whale is funded by prominent venture firms and industry leaders, including Goldman Sachs, Soros Private Equity Partners and the BRM Group, the founding investor of Check Point Software Technologies. The company is headquartered in Fort Lee, New Jersey and has international offices in Israel, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Whale Communications, e-Gap, Application Aware, Attachment Wiper, Whale and the Whale logo are trademarks of Whale Communications Ltd. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders. For more information about Whale visit: www.whalecommunications.com.
Aimee Rhodes
e-mail: aimee@whale-com.com
201-947-9177 ext. 1528