Bangalore: Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi and the provider of services oriented storage solutions, appointed Vivekanand Venugopal as Vice President (VP) and General Manager, India. Vivekanand's new leadership role would encompass growing the business, extending partnerships and accelerating expansion of the company's revenue, customers and market share in India. Previously, as Vice President of Hitachi's Asia Pacific (APAC) Global Solutions Services and the Product and Solutions Group, Vivekanand played a significant role in Hitachi's market-leading growth in the Asia Pacific region. Being a senior veteran in various roles at Hitachi Data Systems, Vivekanand has achieved numerous accolades in his career. In his previous role, he was responsible for helping to make Hitachi the number one virtualized storage solutions supplier in the world. He takes over from Natarajan Viswanathan, who left recently to pursue his own interests after a two year successful stint. On his new appointment, Venugopal said, "My new role will give me a great opportunity to integrate my earlier experiences as Vice President of Hitachi's APAC global solutions services and the solutions and products group into the Indian market. We will continue to leverage our unique storage and services solutions to help our clients in India to meet their changing business requirements." Vivekanand joined Hitachi Data Systems in India in 2001 as Business Development Manager, and later handled sales across India. In 2004, he was responsible for driving the storage management solution business line across Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Hitachi Data Systems, he worked with a storage integration company based in Bangalore, India. He holds a graduate degree in computer science and engineering and a post graduate degree in Marketing Management.