Cloud Hosting

Global hyper-scale cloud provider staffs US executive team with industry veterans

RESTON, VA--(Marketwired - Mar 14, 2017) - OVH, a global hyper-scale cloud provider, today announced the addition of seasoned executives to lead OVH US with a mission to bring best-in-class products and support services to the largest cloud computing market in the world. OVH US is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the France-based OVH Group, the largest European cloud hosting provider since 2011. Russell P. Reeder, veteran chief executive in the cloud services and hosting industry, takes the helm as president and CEO of the new organization.

In late 2016, KKR and TowerBrook invested $250 million to support OVH's global expansion, including the US market. To date, OVH owns 26 data centers across four continents, thousands of miles of dark fiber, which deliver a capacity of 10+ Tbps, and 32 points of presence worldwide.

"Today, companies see no borders and must deliver great performance globally," said Reeder, president and CEO of OVH US. "The US cloud market is ripe for disruption -- companies deserve better service at an affordable price. We will bring the same innovation to the US market that led OVH to its position as one of the top five hosting companies in the world, while also delivering best-in-class services and support for small, medium, and large enterprises. With our experienced and respected executive team, which helped to grow many cloud and technology companies to record revenues, including Media Temple and GoDaddy, I have no doubt we will duplicate our past success and exceed customer and shareholder expectations while disrupting the cloud hosting market."

Known for its vertical integration of data center infrastructure, OVH owns its data centers and uses proprietary water-cooling technology that more efficiently cools servers and optimizes energy usage while simultaneously increasing performance. In February, OVH announced the acquisition of its second US data center, located in Hillsboro, Ore. A facility in Vint Hill, Va., is currently under construction. Initial offers for businesses interested in expanding to the US data centers are targeted to be available in summer from the Vint Hill location.

"OVH has long been a leader in cloud and hosting services across Europe, known for unique energy efficiency in its data center operations and competitive pricing," said Liam Eagle, Research Manager, Hosting and Cloud, at 451 Research. "The US market for cloud infrastructure is dominated by a handful of large players. However, there is an opportunity to win market share and impact the existing cloud space through a combination of proven leadership and true technology differentiation."

The new US team will establish offices in Reston, Va., dubbed the Silicon Valley of the East, Vint Hill, Va., and Hillsboro, Ore. OVH US is a separate legal entity and wholly owned subsidiary of OVH, and will have a independent board.

The OVH US executive team includes:

Russell P. Reeder - President, CEO, and Member of US Board A veteran technologist and chief executive to software and cloud businesses with more than 25 years of experience, Russell P. Reeder joins OVH US from icitizen, where, as president, CEO and co-founder, he led the creation of a software platform to increase civic engagement. He has a history of building businesses that achieve successful exits, including acquisitions with LibreDigital to RR Donnelly and Media Temple to GoDaddy. Reeder specializes in leading high-growth, disruptive businesses that marry a customer-centric vision and strong technology innovation -- ranging from his enterprise software experience at Oracle to ebooks, IPTV, and web hosting. His breadth of experience, including sales, branding, and programming, enables Reeder to build teams that execute market-impacting business plans, consistently generating value for customers and shareholders.

Dean Gels - Chief Financial Officer and Member of US Board Dean Gels brings more than 15 years of financial experience in technology M&A, equity and debt financing. As an investment banker for RBC Capital Markets, Gels completed more than 40 deals, amounting to $17 billion in transaction value. He was instrumental in the sale of Media Temple to GoDaddy in 2013 and in RBC's role as joint bookrunner and lead arranger for GoDaddy's $2.25 billion recapitalization in 2011. Most recently, Gels served as the VP of corporate development at Borderfree, managing the sale of the business to Pitney Bowes for $489 million in 2015.

Brian Kuhn - Chief Digital Officer Brian Kuhn is a product and marketing executive with almost 25 years of experience focused on creating right-fit solutions to customer problems. His tenure with industry giants including YP, AT&T, ebay, Palm and HP led him to building brand experiences for millions of users and managing critical Fortune 100 customer relationships, including a strategic relationship with J.P. Morgan Chase. As VP of product and user experience at Media Temple, Kuhn built product and marketing organizations that scaled quickly to put customer needs at the forefront of the business. He created a managed service offering around AWS that quickly generated a multi-million dollar business.

Robert Gregory - Chief Customer Officer Robert Gregory joins OVH from GoDaddy, where he served as senior director of hosting support. A global customer sales and support executive with 13 years of experience, Gregory has devoted his career to fostering employee growth, optimizing customer satisfaction, and increasing profitability. Over the last 10 years, he grew Media Temple and GoDaddy's hosting and sales support teams from 100 to 600 employees, and drove revenues from $3 million to $100 million annually. As VP of customer support at Media Temple, Gregory developed managed service programs, growing revenues from $3 million at Media Temple to $20 million annually at GoDaddy.

Scott Brown - Senior Vice President Engineering & Operations With more than a decade of experience launching innovative products and services in the hosting industry, Scott Brown has a proven track record of product innovation and revenue growth. As VP of engineering at Media Temple, Brown oversaw software engineering, architecture, quality assurance and operational support of cloud services, shared hosting, dedicated hosting and more. He led development of new PaaS offerings that resulted in $725,000 in new bookings in a single year. At GoDaddy, Brown led a team of more than 150 to expand web hosting offerings from 500,000 hosted sites to more than 5.5 million sites.

"When I started OVH 18 years ago, my focus was to create a way for customers to take advantage of then-nascent cloud computing technology," said Octave Klaba, CEO and Chairman of the Board of OVH Group. "Today, customers face a different challenge -- buying cloud services from any one of a number of identical companies. OVH US will challenge what businesses believe to be the industry norm for cloud services, and exceed their expectations for value. Russell and the OVH US team have the industry pedigree and market expertise to start a ripple that becomes a tsunami as we take the US IaaS market by storm and set a new industry standard."

Join OVH US OVH US is hiring for multiple roles based in the US. To learn more, visit: https://www.ovh.com/us/careers/available-positions/?country=we

About OVH US OVH US is a global, hyper-scale cloud provider that offers businesses industry-leading performance and value. Vertically integrated to own its network, server technology and green data centers, OVH US operates more cost effectively and passes these benefits back to customers. Controlling each step in the global solution allows OVH US to provide the best performance, price, security, and customer service in the industry. OVH US is a subsidiary of OVH Group, the largest European hosting provider, with more than one million customers across 138 countries and four continents. Thus, OVH US customers join a global network with 26 data centers, 32 points of presence, and thousands of miles of dark fiber.Learn more about OVH US.

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