Graham Hayes, former MD of JSE Securities Exchange-listed storage vendor Maxtec and an industry veteran with a quarter century`s experience, has been appointed as MD of Storage Solutions at MGX.
Storage is central to the overall success of MGX, and Hayes` track record in and understanding of this market will be vital in fulfilling its potential, says Dan McMahon, CEO operations and sales at MGX.
"Graham comes to MGX with a deep understanding of the storage market and what customers are looking for," says McMahon. "Graham appreciated and bought into our long-term vision, which is to be the single source of storage solutions for our clients and to become the number one storage solutions integrator in the market."
Storage constitutes around 20% of MGX`s overall revenues.
Hayes entered the IT market 24 years ago at Anglo American where he held various management positions, from technical development to facilities. After a stint at Productivity Software, he joined Master Computer Systems, SA`s first IBM RS/6000 reseller, as operations director and shareholder, later becoming MD.
Master Computer Systems was later sold to ABS, which in turn became part of EDS. He started EDS`s Africa initiative in Zimbabwe, outsourcing its largest milling operation before leaving to form Triadic Integrated Solutions, which became SA`s largest RS/6000 reseller and pioneered the concept of selective outsourcing. Triadic was later sold to iFusion prior to its listing. He was subsequently made group MD of Maxtec, a position he held for 30 months before joining MGX.
"Management has done a good job in bringing MGX and CCH together," comments Hayes. "Now we need to leverage our combined skills, products and mutual strengths and take these offering to market."
As part of his strategy, Hayes will use products and services from other MGX divisions so as to reflect MGX`s position as a solutions-based company. This will embrace StorageTek`s tape and disk offerings, Sun Microsystems` T3 disk, Hitachi disk through the Sun relationship, Veritas for backup management, DataCore for virtualisation, and Sun and BMC for systems management.
Through these products and a well-defined storage architecture, MGX will provide every layer of storage as required by business: continuity, recovery, virtualisation, availability, management and delivery.
"Storage has become enormously complex," says Hayes. "It`s beyond most companies to have an in-depth understanding of all the issues and technologies in this market, which is where we`ll be applying our breadth of experience and knowledge, to our clients` advantage."
Storage Solutions` Professional Services will act as the spearhead of the division, designing and delivering storage solutions that boost long-term return on investment.
"Data is the lifeblood of business today," comments Hayes, "which puts storage at the heart of any IT operation. We expect continued growth in this market, with no slowdown in sight. Between 50% and 70% of corporate IT budget will be spent on the storage, manipulation and management of data, making this an ideal market for us to target for growth."
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MGX is a JSE Securities Exchange-listed listed IT organisation headquartered in Johannesburg, employing 2 754 people. MGX`s mission is to deliver world-class technologies through its strategic relationships with leading international technology suppliers, using its own intellectual property in the form of established methodologies, best practices, business models and software. The company defines its business space and its value proposition offered to clients in terms of three key strategic requirements - improving enterprise performance, containing business costs and reducing business risk.
In turn, MGX has focused its activities into the following five business value domains that comprehensively address these concerns: storage management, business availability management, content management, enterprise value management and software development.
These domains are offered by operating divisions MGX Storage Solutions, MGX Enterprise Solutions, MGX Content Management and MGX Business Continuity Solutions, with Software Futures delivering packaged and turnkey software solutions. These business units have strong functional and operational synergies in developing and integrating solutions for clients. The company`s client base is sourced from the top 200 companies in SA. MGX has operations in SA, Botswana, Australia, the UK and the US. During its five-year history as a listed company it has delivered consistent growth to shareholders. For more information, visit www.mgxgroup.com.
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