Blue Coat brings in new CEO

Blue Coat Systems has brought in a new CEO, spinning the change as a way to free up outgoing boss Brian Nesmith from the daily grind of managing the company to instead work on product strategy.

Blue Coat introduces cloud-based analysis system

Michael Borman, who most recently was CEO of Avocent, says he doesn't plan to change the overall strategy of Blue Coat, which focuses on security and improving performance of applications on networks.

"We have more opportunities than we can ever go after," Borman says. "I don't have to worry about a new strategy here."

Nesmith says the company had been looking for someone to replace him since January, not to steer the company in a different strategic direction but to create greater depth in the management team.

Needham analyst Scott Zeller says the appointment acknowledges that operations had faltered at Blue Coat, citing weak quarterly results and warnings that operations in Europe and the Middle East will produce less than expected in the next quarter.

But Blue Coat says the move is not in response to performance in the quarter ended July 1, as evidenced by the company starting its CEO search nine months ago.

In a conference call, Borman said he was not brought in to effect strategic change or to negotiate sale of the company, both of which happened on his watch at Avocent. The circumstances were different there, with the company's KVM switch business running dry, requiring a shift in focus.

Borman worked at IBM for 30 years and held senior executive positions there in products and sales. Later he was president and CEO of Blue Martini, which made intelligent sales software.

Read more about wide area network in Network World's Wide Area Network section.

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