Brocade has announced that Ari Bose has been appointed as chief information officer (CIO). Responsible for the strategic transformation of the global Brocade IT organisation, Bose will report to Gale England, vice president of customer advocacy and operational effectiveness.

In his new position, Bose will leverage Brocade's world-class portfolio of data center networking solutions and partner solutions to create an IT function that can drive the company forward and become a showcase for the industry. Specifically, Bose is tasked with standardising the company's internal IT systems to support cross-functional collaboration and manage information security and risk. One major initiative is to continue expanding the company's network-centric virtualisation strategy in which Brocade currently operates at more than 70 percent virtual workloads.

With more than 30 years of experience in the high-tech industry, Bose has held a number of CIO positions at networking and other high-tech companies. Most recently at Polycom, he served as senior vice president and CIO, where he led the transformation of the global IT organisation. He was also responsible for overseeing the company's internal global visual communications network. Prior to that, Bose was senior vice president and CIO at UTStarcom, and he has held senior IT positions at companies such as 3Com, Bay Networks and Apple.