Gittins joins Imagine Communications to lead playout and networking sales

Imagine Communications has appointed Tom Gittins as its new senior director of sales UK, Ireland and South Africa, for its playout and networking business. He was previously chief executive of Pebble Beach Systems.

In his new job, Gittins has been tasked with expanding Imagine Communications’ presence across these markets and supporting broadcasters and media companies as they migrate to IP, cloud and virtualisation.

“I am delighted to join Imagine Communications, one of the broadcast industry’s IP transformation market leaders, at such an exciting time in the journey towards IP-connected solutions,” said Gittins.

“The fundamental challenge facing broadcasters and content providers in the UKISA market is that viewers want content on demand, delivered over IP. Having an IP-based back end for production and transmission makes it simpler and much more cost-effective to meet this demand.

“Broadcasters moving towards the all-IP environment have to determine their own path at their own pace through the transition,” he added. “These projects require very high-quality, long-term planning and support, and I look forward to being part of the team that helps broadcasters define their transition plans, delivering productivity, scalability and flexibility in their operations with minimal risk and high operational performance.”

Imagine Communications’ Mathias Eckert, SVP & GM EMEA/APAC, Playout & Networking, said “I am thrilled to have Tom join our team, as he brings with him extensive experience developed through strong customer relationships, along with a solid understanding of the broadcast technology market. His expertise and knowledge align perfectly with our strategy, which is to take leadership of the broadcast migration towards next-gen technologies and workflows. This significant appointment illustrates our clear commitment to strengthening the UK, Ireland and South Africa team and expanding our market share in these territories.”

Gittins will be based at Imagine’s Thames Ditton facility in the UK and will drive sales through the direct and indirect channels in the UKISA region.