Former VMware executive Tom Gillis has made his way back to Cisco, taking over as SVP and GM of the vendor’s Security Business Group just weeks after leaving VMware.
Gillis departed the vendor last month along with several other top executives including Mark Lohmeyer, who was SVP and GM of VMware’s Cloud Infrastructure Business Group; and Ajay Patel, who was SVP and GM of Modern Apps at VMware.
Cisco and VMware are both top vendors in the networking and security markets. In an earlier interview, Gillis claimed VMware won the SDN war over Cisco.
referring to IDC’s market share data showing VMware NSX’s market share continued to grow while Cisco application-centric infrastructure (ACI)’s share has been declining for the last few years.
On the security side, Gillis led VMware to converge its networking and security services for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, and strengthen its endpoint security services.
including the introduction of Carbon Black XDR [extended detection and response] built on its endpoint detection and response (EDR) and Contexa threat intelligence capabilities
As Cisco’s new security chief, Gillis will drive the networking and security giant’s security business strategy, including Cisco’s platform and holistic approach to security, and unifying the security product and go-to-market motions.