Rock cooks up business for VMware

Rock Regan, who was Connecticut's chief information officer for seven and a half years before stepping down last August, is now director of business development for state and local government with VMware.

VMware, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is an independent subsidiary of EMC and develops virtual infrastructure software to manage storage, network and computing resources in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.

The company, which was founded in 1998 and acquired by EMC last year, is an innovator and market leader in this area, Regan said. He added that the technology "addressed so many of the problems I faced as a state CIO," such as budget and workforce issues, business continuity, and security and proliferation of servers.

"The state was a customer in 2003 and early 2004, and I was very impressed that VMware not only did what they said, but exceeded my expectations in its capabilities and performance," he said.

Such qualities attracted him to the company, Regan said. The company has been incredibly successful with Fortune 100 companies and has made inroads with the federal, state and local government markets, he said. But the technology has even greater potential in the state and local arena in terms of raising the level of awareness among CIOs and showing the technology’s strategic value.

Regan, who lives in Massachusetts now, said he started working for the company a couple of weeks ago.

"It's a little different," he said, referring to working for the private sector again. "I'm not the boss. But I'm real excited about the tremendous opportunities with the company and what it could do for the state and local market."

Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell fired seven former officials, including Regan, who worked for former Gov. John Rowland, who is serving a one-year prison sentence for a corruption charge.

Regan, who helped establish many statewide technology initiatives in Connecticut, is also a former president of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers.