Cisco Names Insider to Fill Distribution Role

O’Callaghan, a seven-year Cisco veteran, fills the role vacated by John DiLullo, who left Cisco in December to become vice president of worldwide sales at SonicWall.

O’Callaghan said he is now in the process of transitioning out of his former role as area vice president of commercial sales for the western region, a shift he expects to complete in April.

One challenge he plans to tackle is to make Cisco an easier partner for distributors to do business with.

“Our systems are not as linked as they could be,” O’Callaghan said in an interview with CRN at the Cisco Partner Summit in San Diego.

Overseas, Cisco is looking to expand its distribution capabilities in emerging markets.

In the U.S., the San Jose, Calif.-based vendor has no current plans to expand its distribution partnerships, which include D&H Distributing, Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Westcon Group’s Comstor division, O’Callaghan said. Cisco plans to continue efforts to recruit new SMB-focused channel partners through its U.S. distributors, he said.