Tod Nielson has taken the job of COO at VMware. This isn't another executive shuffling story, but a major management change for VMware. I found a couple quotes by Nielson discussing Paul Maritz and VMware in this article from a couple months ago.
“Paul is not one of those Ballmer types who says, ‘We’re going to
destroy and gut them,’” says Tod Nielsen, CEO of Borland Software
(BORL), who spent 12 years at Microsoft in the ’80s and ’90s. “He likes
to be behind the scenes.”
“They have elements that can define the next computing platform,” Nielsen says. “That’s what Paul loves.”
“They have elements that can define the next computing platform,” Nielsen says. “That’s what Paul loves.”
So, Maritz will focus on the product strategy and execution and Nielson has the responsibility of managing sales and marketing. I don't know that much about Nielson, but I suspect he understands the dynamics of the software business very well and having worked for Maritz in the past he can probably move quickly to get in the flow at VMware. This looks to be a very good hire for VMware as they continue to build their virtualization business.
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