EMC announced the appointment of Vishwanath Ramaswamy as Director, Channels & Strategic Alliances for India and the SAARC region as the company aims to strengthen its channel and partner model for local and global system integrators (SIs) in the region.

The new Director will also be responsible for EMC’s distribution and Systems Integrators strategy, strengthening existing partnerships and alliances and establishing new ones to increase EMC’s coverage of diverse markets across India, said EMC.

The move is part of the company''s earlier announced strategy of increasing its channel and Value Added Reseller (VAR) network from 100 o 200 by 2009. The company claims to have already identified 20 partner clusters across 40 cities to expand its presence through its partner network.

Viswanath has more than 13 years of experience in the IT industry and comes from IBM where he handled various job responsibilities.

On Viswanath's appointment Alok Ohrie, President, EMC India & SAARC, said, “Over the last nine years, EMC has made significant market share gains and has helped shape India's information infrastructure market. EMC’s partner initiatives and relationships have been extremely critical in ensuring our success in India. With our focus on the commercial business for growth, channel relationships will be even more crucial going forward.  I am confident that Viswanath, who has a strong track record in strategic partner relationship management, will play a pivotal role in strengthening EMC’s partner-centric model to drive the next phase of growth for EMC in the region.”