Barracuda Strengthens Executive Team with New Security and Channels Leadership

Hatem Naguib, Former VMware VP of Networking and Security, Appointed SVP & GM, Security Business; Former Barracuda VP of Sales Ezra Hookano Returns to Barracuda as VP of Channels, to Accelerate Company Growth

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Barracuda Networks, Inc.

May 25, 2016, 08:45 ET

CAMPBELL, Calif., May 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA), today announced that it has strengthened its executive leadership team with the appointment of Hatem Naguib as senior vice president and general manager, security business, and Ezra Hookano as vice president of channels. Naguib joins Barracuda from VMware, where he helped NSX become one of the industry's fastest growing infrastructure software products growing to $300 million over three years. Hookano, who was vice president of worldwide channels for Fusion-io, returns to Barracuda where he served as the original vice president of sales, growing the company from inception to $100 million. The new leaders will help guide Barracuda's overall strategy to support customers looking to simplify their IT security and data protection infrastructure on-premises, in the cloud, and in hybrid deployments.

Hatem Naguib, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Security Business, Barracuda.

Ezra Hookano, Vice President, Channels, Barracuda.

Hatem Naguib, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Security Business
As SVP & GM, Security Business, Naguib has global responsibility for leading Barracuda's security product strategy to simplify security management for IT professionals. He brings more than 25 years of experience with high-tech companies building innovative products in enterprise software, cloud services, data center virtualization, software defined networking, and cybersecurity. Most recently, he was vice president of networking and security at VMware, where he was responsible for the product, technical marketing and business development teams of VMware NSX, a leading software defined networking and security solution. Naguib joined VMware in 2006, and held several leadership positions there, including managing the global partnerships with Cisco, EMC and HP. He also served as the VMware executive leader for VCE, the converged infrastructure startup founded by VMware, Cisco and EMC. Prior to VMware, he held engineering and sales leadership positions at several startups and global corporations including CenterRun (acquired by Sun Microsystems), GE, The Walt Disney Company and Accenture.

Ezra Hookano, Vice President, Channels
As VP of Channels, Hookano is responsible for leading Barracuda's worldwide channel strategy. He brings more than 20 years of sales experience in the high tech industry. Prior to joining Barracuda, he was vice president of channels for Exablox and vice president of worldwide channels for Fusion-io. Previously, Hookano launched the business division of Drobo, and he spent nearly six years at Barracuda as vice president of sales, North America, growing the company from inception to over $100 million in revenue. Earlier in his career he held executive sales positions in fast-growing, successful startups that were acquired by Symantec (Clyde Digital/Raxco), Intel (Dayna Communications) and SonicWALL (Phobos Corporation).

Quotes:
"With the dynamic changes in the IT landscape, sophisticated security threats, and ongoing demands on IT professionals to affordably manage the ever-expanding network, our customers face enormous challenges. Both Hatem and Ezra bring the right mix of leadership and experience to accelerate growth, drive innovation in our portfolio, and continue building out our world-class channel organization – all to better meet the diverse needs of our customers and partners," said BJ Jenkins, president and CEO, Barracuda. "Hatem's experience in building a fast growing security product line at a growing technology company, coupled with Ezra's extensive knowledge of the channel, undoubtedly will give us the opportunity to continue to strengthen Barracuda's position as the go-to provider of security and data protection."

"As customers look to cloud and virtualization as a way to maximize their IT investment, the demand for simplifying the security of those deployments has never been greater," explained Naguib. "Security is tasked with protecting businesses from major threats across every connected device, and doing so in a way that ensures network access and efficiency isn't compromised. Barracuda is successfully solving these challenges today, and I see a great opportunity to leverage their experience, resources and talent to push innovation as a one-stop shop for customers looking to protect their users and assets – on-premises, in the cloud, and in hybrid environments."

"From the time Barracuda first set out to solve email security challenges over a decade ago, channel partners have been integral to the company's success," commented Hookano. "Coming back to Barracuda and to work with the channel community that I helped develop is truly special. We're in a new era of challenges, where customers are looking to solution providers to not only protect their organizations but also to further empower them with cloud and virtualization technologies that make business better. I look forward to helping our channel partners solve these challenges while growing their businesses with Barracuda solutions."

About Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA)
Barracuda (NYSE: CUDA) simplifies IT with cloud-enabled solutions that empower customers to protect their networks, applications, and data, regardless of where they reside. These powerful, easy-to-use and affordable solutions are trusted by more than 150,000 organizations worldwide and are delivered in appliance, virtual appliance, cloud and hybrid deployments. Barracuda's customer-centric business model focuses on delivering high-value, subscription-based IT solutions that provide end-to-end network and data security. For additional information, please visit barracuda.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the potential benefits and functionality of Barracuda's security and data protection products and the opportunities for further sales of the products through channel partners. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and that could cause the Company's results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could materially affect the Company's business and financial results include, but are not limited to customer response to the Company's products, as well as those factors set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update the forward-looking information to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date of this press release.