Allot Announces $40 Million Financing

On the 15th of February, Allot Ltd. announced that it had entered into a $40 million private financing with Lynrock Lake Master Fund LP, a fund managed by Lynrock Lake LP (“Lynrock Lake”), an investment management firm with approximately $1.3 billion of assets under management. The financing consists of $40 million principal amount of a convertible promissory note (the “Note”).
Erez Antebi, President & CEO of Allot, commented “We appreciate the trust our long-term shareholder is demonstrating in our company and our strategy. This financing provides us additional flexibility in executing our security-as-a-service (SECaaS) strategy and enables us to pursue growth while maintaining a strong balance sheet.”

“As a long-standing investor in Allot, we have been impressed by the scalability of the Company’s technology and the robustness of its security offering for communication service providers and enterprises,” said Cynthia Paul, Chief Investment Officer of Lynrock Lake. “We are excited to increase our investment in Allot as the Company executes its strategic plan to grow its SECaaS recurring revenue stream.”

Backbase appoints Chris Vanden Berghe as Regional Vice President of Technology in APAC

On the 8th of February, Backbase announced Chris Vanden Berghe as Regional Vice President of Technology for Asia Pacific. The new role is based in Singapore and will drive the company’s product localisation and development, implementation success, and international expansion.

“I am thrilled to join Backbase, the market leader in engagement banking platforms, enabling the disruptors of the banking industry and incumbents, alike,” said Vanden Berghe, “With over 120 strong team members in the region, we will continue to ramp up investments in the next several months, hiring for key roles in ASEAN, Australia, Japan, Korea, and India. “I look forward to growing and leading the team to more impactful developments across the region.”

McAfee Announced Appointment of Gee Rittenhouse to CEO

On the 27th of January, McAfee announced that former cisco security senior vice president and general manager, Gee Rittenhouse, to lead McAfee Enterprise’s Security Service Edge (SSE) Business. “The SSE architecture is one of the most important markets in security, requiring intense focus, investment and skillsets,” said William Chisholm, STG Co-founder and managing partner. “Gee is a proven technology leader with a distinguished track record of innovation, talent development, and a deep knowledge of cloud security. We’re excited to partner with him in leading a separate entity focused on this very distinct customer problem.”

As CEO, Rittenhouse will be focused on scaling the growth business. McAfee Enterprise currently has approximately 3,000 SSE customers and 700 employees.

“Business-critical data is everywhere,” said Rittenhouse. “It resides in cloud applications, cloud infrastructure, data-centers and devices. It is essential for companies to know where their data is, who has access to it, and protect it. Our unique, data-centric approach simplifies these essential functions and allows companies to accelerate their digital transformation and secure their hybrid workforce. It is a privilege to join this amazing team.”

Avaya Named ‘Exemplary Vendor’ by Ventana Research – Recognizing Avaya OneCloud CCaaS for Best Performance in Product and Customer Experience

On the 25th of January, Avaya announced its distinguished performance in ranks ahead of Cisco, Five9, 8x8, RingCentral, among others. it has been rated an ‘Exemplary Vendor’ and a Value Index Leader in the Ventana Research ‘Agent Management Value Index 2022 Vendor and Product Assessment.’ Avaya OneCloud™ CCaaS helps organizations deliver effortless experiences for their customers and employees at every touchpoint by making it easy to connect everything – voice, video, chat, messaging, and more – and by bringing together teams, resources, and insights to maximize contact center performance and experiences. The 2022 Value Index for Agent Management identifies the vendors that deliver the highest value based on an overall weighted evaluation and the rating of the vendor for product and customer experience. According to the report, in addition to being categorized as an Exemplary Vendor, Ventana Research ranked Avaya second in Customer Experience and as a Value Index Leader in Validation and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Return on Investment (ROI).

OpenText Announces Strategic Appointments

On the 24th of January, OpenText announced certain strategic appointments and changes to its Executive Leadership Team. “I am very excited about OpenText’s cloud led growth strategy and our ambitions to continue our successful profitable growth in the future,” said OpenText CEO & CTO Mark J. Barrenechea. “We have the strongest leadership team in our history, and as we continue to implement and execute against our strategic plan, I am pleased to announce these strategic appointments.”

The outline of the new leadership team: Sandy Ono has been appointed as Chief Marketing Officer; Michael Acedo has been promoted to Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary; Doug Parker has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Corporate Development; Gordon Davies, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Development has decided to retire effective September 2022. Until such time, Mr. Davies will act as Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer.