Linux vendor Red Hat (RHT) has dipped into VMware’s (VMW) executive ranks to nab Scott Musson, a seven-year veteran of the virtualization vendor, as its new Global Strategic Alliances vice president.

Musson, formerly VMware’s Global Strategic Alliances senior director, steps up in rank to take the Red Hat job, where he will handle Red Hat’s global alliance, system integrator and independent software vendor (ISV) relationships. Red Hat’s Global Strategic Alliances team will take his direction to develop joint business plans with partners and build assets around the vendor’s technologies.

He also will be responsible for managing Red Hat’s strategic relationships with heavyweights Dell (DELL), Cisco Systems (CSCO) Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and IBM (IBM). Inasmuch as VMware also maintains key relationships with those vendors, Musson likely has a leg up on those tasks.

“Scott and his team will continue to develop and nurture our key strategic alliances as we deliver our award-winning solutions to the channel,” said Mark Enzweiler, Red Hat global channels and alliances vice president. “Scott’s proven ability to lead and his far-reaching expertise will benefit Red Hat as we work to offer the best resources, tools and assets our partners need to succeed. We welcome Scott to the Red Hat team.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Musson already has been on the job for a month.

“I’m honored to join a passionate team that has built strong relationships with and continues to show commitment to their partners,” said Musson. “Red Hat’s leadership in key technology areas, including cloud, Big Data and application infrastructure and modernization, offers some exciting opportunities to make an impact. I look forward to finding new ways to further Red Hat’s industry leadership together with our partners.”

While at VMware, Musson was responsible for developing and executing a strategic and technical alliance collaboration model, leveraging key partner strengths and initiatives. Before joining VMWare, Musson served as scalable enterprise director at Dell, Microsoft (MSFT) sales and marketing director at HP and worked in pre-sales, alliances and services at NCR.