BS People: Anil Valluri

Audiophile joins NetApp

For many the announcement of Anil Valluri being appointed as the President of India and SAARC Operations of NetApp did not come as a surprise. For them, it was just a matter of time till Valluri would come back to the tech industry.

With 25 years of industry experience, Valluri joined NetApp from Artiman Ventures—a $750 million Bay Area venture capital firm—as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. His stint at Artiman was short, having spent about two years with them.

Valluri grabbed headlines when he quit Sun Microsystems, after a stint of 11 years. He was India Managing Director for Sun. His resignation from Sun coincided with the company’s integration with global technology firm Oracle. Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in 2009.

Valluri joined Sun Microsystems India in 1999 as its director—Systems Engineering and CTO, responsible for all technology, product and solution consulting. He is an avid DIY (Do It Yourself) Audio enthusiast who designs and builds his own high end ‘Audiophile’ systems. In fact his engagement with electronic and audio components goes back a long way, starting from the time he would hang around his father, an electronics hobbyist, and watch him create electronic ‘objets d’art’ as he fondly puts it. Even today, much of the customised electrical and electronic outfitting in his home bears the Valluri stamp. Given a chance, he probably would continue to service his own car, something he used to do in his younger days. It comes as no surprise that he is also a Formula1 Fan.

Valluri’s expertise is his understanding of the Indian market. For NetApp he will bring in the crucial expertise required to expand into the market and the region as well. He takes over the position left vacant by Rajesh Janey, who joined EMC as President for India and SAARC.

Valluri started his career with DCM Data Systems in 1985 and moved on to head the Tandem server business at Digital Equipment India in 1990s. He then became a part of Compaq as it acquired Digital. He was the Country Business Head, Enterprise Systems at Compaq India. He quit Compaq when it merged with HP. He then joined Sun Micorsystems. Valluri is an alumnus of Stanford University.