ADARA Networks has appointed sales management veteran Steven Garrido as the company’s latest director of Global Accounts to oversee management of the company’s global customer base. Garrido will be in charge of ensuring ADARA’s enterprise customers have access to the company’s software-defined networking (SDN) technologies as well as premium support and services for their investments.

“We’ve seen unprecedented demand for ADARA’s SDN technologies since we expanded our market beyond the federal sector, such as the Department of Defense, and commercialized our services for the enterprise,” said Eric Johnson, CEO of ADARA Networks, in a prepared statement. “Steven is one of the most successful sales professionals in the networking industry. His accomplishments stand on their own and his presence at ADARA is a testament to the products, the company and the ADARA team.”

Garrido has more than 30 years of sales and sales management experience in the IT channel, working extensively in the enterprise networking, security and services markets, according to the release. During his time in the channel, Garrido has earned a reputation for large opportunity creation, strategic management, collaboration and ecosystem development. He previously held senior sales positions at MileStone Tech, Trend Micro (TM) and Cisco Systems (CSCO).

“ADARA has been growing at a rapid clip, offering actual production-ready SDN to a market that has only dreamed about ready-to-go-to market solutions,” said Garrido. “I’m excited to have this unique opportunity to help change the face of enterprise networking through ADARA’s SDN technologies.”

Software-defined networking is increasingly becoming a vital part of the IT channel, with the industrywide move to cloud based as-a-Service models in full effect. Earlier this week, Brocade Networks announced it had hired SDN expert Colin Dixon as the company’s new Principal Engineer, where Dixon will focus on the company’s software-defined network business and its open source projects. In April, Dell and Big Switch announced a new open networking deal in which Dell will deploy Big Switch Networks’ Switch Light Operating System as part of its open networking initiative.