Kristian Thyregod VP EMEA Region, Silver Peak

Silver Peak Systems, Inc. appointed Kristian Thyregod as VP for EMEA region and
Allan Paton as regional sales director to lead UK and Ireland sales.

Thyregod will be responsible for sales operations, including the company’s go-to-market and channel strategies, to accelerate customer acquisition and partner engagement across the region. The firm currently has more than 600 global production customer deployments of its industry leading Unity EdgeConnect SD-WAN solution.

With the SD-WAN market projected to surpass $8 billion worldwide in 2021 according to IDC, Silver Peak is positioned to empower enterprises to rearchitect their conventional router-centric WAN architectures in favor of a centrally orchestrated application-driven WAN edge. To capture this position in the market, Silver Peak is making investments in regional expansion beginning in Germany, France, the UK, and Ireland. These new appointments mark a milestone in attracting the seasoned talent to lead the company through its next phase of growth.

Thyregod joins Silver Peak from Riverbed Technology where he most recently ran the EMEA business. He has worked in technology for more than 20 years, previously serving in sales and marketing positions at Riverbed, CA Technologies, Dell/EMC and IBM. He is a graduate of the Copenhagen Business School and Henley Management College with advanced degrees in organization, strategy and business administration.

“Silver Peak is a company that I have respected for many years as a formidable competitor with integrity and technology leadership. The growth prospects for SD-WAN across EMEA present a tremendously unique opportunity to fundamentally change the way enterprises architect their WANs and connect users to applications. With the most robust and mature SD-WAN solution on the market, I look forward to expanding the Silver Peak team across the region and delivering real business value to customers,” said Thyregod.

He will be based in Geneva, Switzerland and will report to Chris Helfer, SVP of WW sales.

Paton joins Silver Peak from Riverbed Technology where he most recently served as a regional VP, driving the strategy across the UK, Ireland and South Africa. He has worked in technology for more than 15 years, serving in sales positions at Riverbed and Opnet Technologies. He holds a B.S. from the University of the West of Scotland.

“After competing with Silver Peak in the emerging SD-WAN market over the past few years, it’s clear to me that enterprises are seeking to retire their router-centric WAN architectures in favor of an application-driven WAN edge. With Unity EdgeConnect, customers get the best of both worlds, an SD-WAN that’s centrally orchestrated and managed and a solution that integrates core network functions to simplify and consolidate the branch. It’s a win-win,” said Paton.

He will be based in London, England, and will report to Thyregod.