Datapipe Recruits Former IBMer to Lead Cloud Marketing

The former IBM (IBM) executive who led the cloud marketing and brand management for Big Blue’s cloud initiatives has joined managed services and infrastructure provider Datapipe as the new senior vice president of Global Marketing. In his new role, Craig Sowell will help to support the growth of Datapipe’s initiatives in the growing cloud market.

Sowell will be responsible for maintaining Datapipe’s “voice in the market” and pushing its brand marketing, as well as helping to evolve Datapipe’s cloud strategies. As a 15-year veteran of the technology industry, Sowell’s most recent role was with IBM, where he led cloud marketing and brand management. Sowell built out his cloud resumé there, managing Big Blue’s marketing programs for the channel and CIOs, as well as the marketing that developed as IBM built out its design and integration of its cloud offerings.

At Datapipe, Sowell will take the reins of Datapipe’s marketing regarding its public, private and hybrid cloud strategies. It doesn’t sound as though Datapipe is planning on making sweeping changes to its marketing program under Sowell, but instead is continuing to do marketing support for its cloud and managed services offerings, including Datapipe’s Managed Cloud for Amazon Web Services and its own Stratosphere private cloud offering.

“Datapipe is a company that understands enterprise demands and works to help companies effectively deploy and manage cloud environments,” Sowell said in a prepared statement. “For Datapipe to continue to take advantage of the exponential growth in cloud adoption it will be crucial to build upon three key marketing elements—reach, relationship and depth—especially as new markets and opportunities emerge.”

IBM made significant strides in not only its cloud initiatives, but also the marketing that has brought it to the eyes of major enterprises and the public sector. Sowell should be able to bring the lessons he learned about marketing IBM’s cloud solutions to Datapipe, possibly building on its existing cloud strategy.