Infoblox expands in NZ with senior appointments, new suite

Infoblox has expanded its New Zealand operations with the appointment of two senior executives in response to the mounting demand for its cloud networking and security services from various sectors.

The company has brought on board Hamish Soper as an Enterprise Account Executive. Soper boasts over two decades of experience in enterprise technology leadership, having previously worked with noted entities like Westpac, Vodafone, Check Point, Cisco, and Tesserent.

In conjunction with Soper's appointment, Hayden Poh has been appointed as the Solutions Architect and Technical Lead for New Zealand. Poh brings more than 15 years of experience from roles at companies such as Dimension Data, ANZ Bank, Cisco, and Zoom.

The leadership team in New Zealand will closely collaborate with regional heads including Scott Morris, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, Rob Partington, Head of A/NZ Channels, and Tim Hartman, Head of A/NZ Solutions Architecture, along with local distributors Tech Data and NEXTGEN.

Scott Morris commented, "New Zealand enterprises, government and critical infrastructure providers are challenged by a sharp rise in logging requirements to meet compliance and a lack of visibility over their increasingly complex multicloud environments. Our technology addresses and automates that and can remove major pain points while distilling organisations' threat environments to see more needles, and less hay. Having experts like Hamish and Hayden on the ground will accelerate the growth we're already seeing in New Zealand as the country raises its cyber posture."

Lynne Jeffery from NEXTGEN added, "This is an exciting milestone for Infoblox, and we are thrilled to support this expansion. Together, we're strengthening our commitment to delivering innovative solutions across the region, while empowering New Zealand government, enterprises and businesses with cutting-edge cloud networking and security solutions."

The formal expansion comes during a period when New Zealand is intensifying its focus on cybersecurity and preventative measures against financial scams. In 2023, New Zealanders reportedly suffered losses amounting to NZD $200 million due to scams, prompting the government to launch new anti-scam initiatives along with boosting cyber support and educational resources, particularly for small businesses.

Infoblox's expansion coincides with the introduction of its Universal DDI suite, a first in the industry, which provides integrated management of DNS, DHCP, and IP address management. This product suite aims to enhance visibility and security while facilitating collaborations across different operational teams by eliminating silos and offering flexible deployment options.

As part of its strategic expansion, Infoblox plans to host its Exchange series in Auckland and Wellington in February. The event will feature prominent figures such as Cricket Liu, Executive Vice President, acknowledged as one of the founding figures of DNS, and Chris Usserman, a former intelligence officer with the US Airforce and now the Chief Technologist at Infoblox. The series will cover a range of topics, including the current state of DNS technology and the cybersecurity landscape in New Zealand, while also providing insights into the integration management of DNS systems across diverse cloud infrastructures.