VMware (Re)Hires Ex-Apple iPad Product Marketing Manager To Help End-User Computing Push

Noah Wasmer, a former VMware end-user computing product manager, has rejoined the company after a two-year absence that included a stint leading Apple's worldwide marketing for the iPad.

Wasmer's new title at VMware is vice president of end-user computing product strategy, and he'll report to Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager of VMware's end-user computing business.

While at VMware from 2007 to 2012, Wasmer played a big role in developing its strategy for "securely connecting users to diverse apps and data across any device," Poonen said in a blog post Tuesday.

[Related: VMware Partners Aren't Putting Much Stock In AWS, Azure Cloud Benchmarking Comparisons]

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Wasmer left VMware to become vice president of product management at MobileIron, a mobile device management vendor. He stayed there just over a year before jumping to Apple, where he spent eight months as worldwide product marketing manager for the iPad before leaving last month, according to his LinkedIn profile.

VMware wasn't a big player in end-user computing during Wasmer's first stint with the vendor, but that has changed a lot in the past couple years.

End-user computing is one of the three growth areas VMware is focusing on -- along with software-defined data center and hybrid cloud -- in its search for its next cash cow. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor hired Poonen away from SAP last August to lead the charge.

Since then, VMware has been aggressively building out its end-user computing portfolio, acquiring desktop-as-a-service vendor Desktone last October and paying $1.5 billion for mobile device management vendor AirWatch.

VMware also poached highly regarded executives Sumit Dhawan and Bob Schultz from Citrix last November, and added Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services (RDS) technology to its Horizon View 6 release in April, taking aim at Citrix XenApp customers.

VMware doesn't break out end-user computing revenue, but in its fiscal second-quarter earnings last month, it said the unit, excluding AirWatch, saw licensing bookings growth of 50 percent compared to last year's quarter.

In a statement, Wasmer sounded thrilled to be returning to VMware.

"It is a tremendous honor to return to VMware with this amazing team. I am excited to see how far market leading solutions like VMware Horizon View 6 and AirWatch by VMware can take our original vision. It is incredibly rewarding to see desktop administrators delivering direct value to their businesses by modernizing employees’ desktops, apps and content. I look forward to working with the VMware team to continue providing the very best enterprise solutions that both modernize access to existing apps and processes while seamlessly embracing cloud services and mobility," Wasmer said in the statement.

PUBLISHED AUG. 12, 2014