VMware Cloud Foundation Sales Superstar Jumps Ship To HPE

HPE partners said the addition of Peter Brennan, who was VMware’s vice president of worldwide sales- hyperconverged and Cloud Foundation for the last two and and a half years, is a major “coup” as HPE steps up its Cloud Foundation sales charge against Dell Technologies.

Peter Brennan, who was heading up worldwide sales of VMware’s fast growing Cloud Foundation private cloud business, has jumped ship to return to Hewlett Packard Enterprise as vice president and general manager of the West/Central Enterprise accounts business.

Partners said the addition of Brennan, who was VMware’s vice president of worldwide sales- hyperconverged and Cloud Foundation for the last two and and a half years, is a major “coup” as HPE steps up its Cloud Foundation sales charge against Dell Technologies.

[HPE Takes Aim At Dell With VMware Cloud Foundation On GreenLake]

Under Brennan’s leadership, VMware Cloud Foundation became the number one private cloud in the industry, growing 200 percent year over year.

Brennan also led the sales offensive for VMware vSAN – a critical component to HPE’s hybrid cloud charge. VMware vSAN sales soared under Brennan growing 70 percent year over year to a $1 billion annual run rate.

CRN reached out to VMware for comment but had not heard back at press time.

Steve Tepedino, president and CEO of IT Partners, an HPE Platinum partner based in Tempe, Ariz., said Brennan’s VMware Cloud Foundation expertise is going to be a big boost to HPE as it moves to accelerate sales of HPE GreenLake VMware Cloud Foundation on Synergy.

“Peter had a big job at VMware,” said Tepedino. “His experience at VMware with VMware Cloud Foundation and vSAN is going to be invaluable to HPE. Enterprise accounts are very strategic in how they think about IT infrastructure. Peter’s background with deep expertise in both VMware and HPE is going to be a real asset in helping HPE gain some share in that space. Having someone who is steeped in understanding the VCF message as HPE battles it out with Dell is a real coup for HPE.”

Brennan’s appointment to oversee the West Coast and Central Enterprise business marks a return to HPE. Brennan, an eight year HP veteran, was vice president of the Americas Commercial segment business in 2015 and before that spent two years overeing Western HP sales.

Partners said they see Brennan as a channel sales superstar who forged deep relationships with partners to drive robust sales growth with strong partner engagement. They credited HPE North America Managing Director Dan Belanger for recruiting Brennan. They said Brennan’s appointment combined with the recent appointment of former HPE Channel Chief Terry Richardson to lead the East Enterprise business provides HPE with a knockout one two enterprise channel punch.

“Having Terry in the East and Peter in the West there is no question about HPE’s commitment to the channel in the enterprise space,” said Tepedino, who has known Brennan for several decades. “Peter is a known quantity. No one is going to be wondering where his head is at with regard to the channel.”

Tepedino expects Brennan to act as a Cloud Foundation “thought leader” who will be at the forefront of helping partners drive pay per use GreenLake Cloud Foundation deals on Synergy.

Brennan’s appointment comes even as HPE announced that it has won a blockbuster HPE GreenLake VMware Cloud Foundation deal on Synergy with Porsche Holding Salzburg’s in-house IT service provider, Porsche Informatik.

The deal, aimed at building a next-generation digital foundation for Porsche, represents one of the biggest GreenLake VMware Cloud Foundation deals since the new HPE private cloud as a service pay-per-use offering was unveiled in August.

Tepedino sees Brennan helping customers understand the benefits of the hybrid cloud model compared to a pure public cloud view of the market.

“Sometimes people mean public cloud when they say cloud,” he said. “Having Peter driving VCF wins is going to be fantastic for the private portion of the hybrid cloud. VCF makes it a simple reality for customers. We are seeing a lot of traction with VCF across all of our customers. When HPE hires someone like Peter there is a halo effect that says HPE is doubling down on this market. It makes customers feel more confident about HPE. It should help everybody win more deals.”

Al Chien, president of Dasher Technologies, one of Silicon Valley's top system integrators and No. 161 on the 2018 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Brennan’s appointment is a “huge win” for the channel and HPE.

“Peter has the unique experience of not only having experience with both HPE and VMware, which is also very channel-centric,” said Chien. “Peter sees the big picture and appreciates the value that the channel brings from a scale and solution selling perspective.This is going to help drive GreenLake VMware Cloud Foundation sales.”

Chien said he sees Brennan and Richardson combining to drive stronger enterprise channel engagement in the sales trenches. “Peter and Terry really get the channel and how to sell,” he said. “This is a great move by Dan Belanger and HPE.”