20 Nov 2009

 Harald Zander from Panasonic
Milestone Systems hired Harald Zander as Country Manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Milestone Systems, the open platform company in IP video management software, has hired Harald Zander as Country Manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland and Roger Meier as Regional Sales Manager in Switzerland, Austria and southern Germany.

Strengthening its presence in the core of the European market, Milestone Systems today announced two new managers for the DACH region whose focus will be to support and further develop the Milestone partner channel and sales of its globally leading XProtect™ IP video surveillance software. They will officially begin these duties as of January 2010.

"Milestone heartily welcomes the addition of Harald Zander and Roger Meier to Milestone Systems in the DACH countries. This dynamic and experienced duo will serve as the new commercial nucleus for our aggressive plans to expand our open platform VMS business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland," states Lawrence de Guzman, Sales Director - Northern Europe for Milestone Systems.

Harald Zander comes to Milestone with a rich background in the security market. His latest position was as the Manager of Germany and Austria for Panasonic System Solutions Europe for several years, having been the Product Manager for Marketing CCTV & Security for six years at Panasonic Marketing Europe GmbH. Prior to that he was the German Sales Manager at I-to-I GmbH, producer of a number plate recognition system, after more than eight years as the Regional Sales Manager for Sanyo Video Vertrieb GmbH.

 Roger Meier from John Lay Electronics
 Roger Meier from John Lay Electronics
move to the global leader for open platform IP video software

"The market is changing and IP is the new language in video surveillance. For me, moving from a hardware manufacturer to the world-leading IP video management software company is a natural path where my background can support the transitions from CCTV to IP solutions now and in the future," says Harald Zander. "The German speaking area has always been a strong place for mature solutions developed by camera suppliers and software companies in strong partnerships. I now look forward to working with the Milestone open platform, which is on the forefront with the widest choice in such relationships."

Roger Meier also brings a wealth of video surveillance experience for supporting the Milestone partner channel, coming from a number of management positions in product management and technical services over thirteen years at John Lay Electronics, the Swiss region's leading Panasonic distributor. Meier has been trained and certified in all of the Milestone software offerings. He spearheaded a special initiative at John Lay Electronics to use the Milestone SDK to integrate a new module for mapping functionality in XProtect, which has been demonstrated at numerous international partner events.

"At John Lay I supported customers on all elements of designing video surveillance solutions: gathering requirements, doing quotations and product dispositions, providing expertise during setups, as well as controlling performance and results," says Roger Meier. "When I started working with Milestone IP video software it was very exciting to unlock the door to limitless options through its open platform. Now I will spread this further in the Milestone channel, helping partners to develop new business opportunities."