WAN optimizer Silver Peak has tapped Bob Bruce, a 30-year industry veteran and former top Cisco (CSCO) executive, to lead its global channel sales efforts.

Bruce, whose official title is channel sales senior vice president, is tasked with crafting the vendor’s sales strategy and developing its channel with particular regard for the emerging software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) market, where Silver Peak is looking for future growth. Bruce, who reports to Chris Helfer, Silver Peak worldwide sales senior vice president, is Silver Peak’s first ever channel chief.

Silver Peak’s new channel chief also will be responsible for promoting awareness in the channel of the Santa Clara, CA-based vendor’s portfolio and sparking new sales opportunities for partners in WAN optimization and SD-WAN technology. Silver Peak positions itself to the channel as fulfilling exclusively through partners with a focus on a limited number of partnerships to optimize solution providers’ profit potential.

“Bob joins us at a crucial time in our growth trajectory,” said David Hughes, Silver Peak founder, chairman and chief executive. “The increased use of cloud services has made the WAN a focal point for how enterprises connect to the cloud and internal applications,” he said.

Bruce’s background most recently includes a stint at Aruba Networks (ARUN) as channel sales vice president, where he gained recognition as a top channel executive for landing new distribution deals and implementing business growth programs for partners. Prior to his Aruba post, Bruce served as Meru Networks’ North American Sales vice president, responsible for managing domestic sales operations.

Bruce also has served as Juniper’s (JNPR) Americas Channels vice president and head of western enterprise sales. His longest tenure was the 10 years he spent at Cisco, serving as U.S. channels and worldwide service provider vice president.

“Bob’s expertise will be instrumental in strengthening our channel program and helping partners realize the unique advantage they have to grow their business through Silver Peak’s differentiated WAN solutions,” Hughes said.

Bruce said he was intrigued not only by Silver Peak’s technology but also by the vendor’s channel commitment.

“Silver Peak’s technology innovation and customer-proven success in wide area networking deployments truly sets it apart from the competition,” he said. “With more resources being injected into Silver Peak’s channel programs, I look forward to expanding the market opportunity for the Silver Peak channel and contributing to the company’s future growth.”