Managed SD-WAN and secure access service edge (SASE) provider Aryaka has hired Lumen Technologies (formerly CenturyLink) veteran Craig Patterson as channel chief and vice president of sales, Americas.
Patterson now leads strategy for sales and revenue within Aryaka’s channel partner program. That includes go-to-market strategies within the agent, resell and distribution channels, the company said.
Prior to Aryaka, Patterson was the west division vice president for Lumen’s indirect channel, where he oversaw 100 salespeople.
Earlier, Patterson was one of the founding members of the Level 3 channel partner program, where he built revenue to $500 million over 15 years, Aryaka notes. His channel partner efforts have spanned North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Amid the move from Lumen to Aryaka, Patterson shifts from a mature telecom company that's selling off some assets to a growth-oriented, software-defined network connectivity business.
Indeed, privately held Aryaka has more than $100 million in annualized recurring revenues, and ranks on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing privately held businesses, the technology company disclosed in early September 2021. Look a little closer, and revenues apparently have grown a total of 93 percent since around 2018., according to that September 2021 statement. Key Aryaka investors include Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing.
Craig Patterson Joins Aryaka: Executive Commentary
Ian McEwan, chief revenue officer at Aryaka, commented on Patterson's appointment:
“Craig has demonstrated himself to be a collaborative, out-of-the-box leader with a talent for motivating his teams to consistently deliver above expectations. He has nearly 20 years of experience leading Fortune 500 channel organizations and has spent his career building and growing indirect programs. We look forward to leveraging his cross-functional collaborative network to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the managed WAN and SASE space and are pleased to welcome him to the team.”
Patterson added:
“I am truly excited to be joining Aryaka at what I consider to be such a pivotal time in our industry. As customers continue to evolve, our partners are seeing exponential demand for cloud-based solutions and security. I believe Aryaka is uniquely poised to help partners deliver a best-in-class experience through our managed WAN and security offerings. Aryaka’s year-over-year growth trajectory, predominantly driven by partners, has been phenomenal, and I look forward to capitalizing on that momentum and taking the partner program to the next level.”
SD-WAN Market Share
Although Aryaka is growing quickly, the top five SD-WAN vendors (in terms of 2020 revenues) Cisco Systems, VMware, Fortinet, Versa, and HPE/Silver Peak, according to Dell'Oro Group research.
