[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]sTec, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC), a leading global provider of solid-state storage solutions, today announced a major expansion to its Asia-Pacific (APAC) operations through three key additions to its regional sales and support team. Michael Burnie joins the company as senior vice president of sales for APAC, while Shigeo Kimura and George Thomas become country managers for Japan and India, respectively.

Kimura and Thomas report directly to Burnie, who is based in the sTec® Malaysia office. Combined, the three new additions bring more than a half-century of sales, marketing and management experience in the enterprise-storage industry, and are focused on enabling sTec to meeting the growing regional demands for its solid-state storage solutions.

Burnie has over 25 years of enterprise-storage experience and was formerly vice president and general manager of APAC operations with Isilon Systems, a specialist in clustered storage and data management. Previously he was with NetApp, where he served as managing director for that company‘s Australia, Southeast Asia and India operations. Prior to NetApp, he was managing director for APAC at EMC, after having served in the same capacity with that company’s Australia-New Zealand operations.

Kimura comes to sTec from APC Japan, a provider of data center solutions where he was executive vice president of sales. Prior to APC Japan, he was senior director of the semiconductors division at Philips Japan, after having served in various sales management positions with Dell, in Japan. Kimura has previously held sales and marketing positions at VeriFone Japan, EMC Japan, CLC Corp., and Jardine Matheson & Co.

Thomas brings to sTec nearly two decades of experience in the IT industry. He was most recently a director at Rivendale Software, focused on enterprise information protection. He was previously country manager for India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at Tibco Software, after serving as managing director for India and SAARC at NetApp. Prior to NetApp, Thomas held sales and management positions at Apara Enterprise Solutions, PCS Industries, Zenith Computers, and India Telecomp.

“We‘ve had great success in APAC over the years developing relationships with many of the region’s top enterprise-systems players,” said Nader Milani, managing director of sTec Malaysia. “With the additional focus and capable team of Shigeo and George, led by Michael, we'll be well poised to further build on our success throughout the region.”