BEA appoints appoints former IBM sales exec

BEA Systems today announced that it has appointed former IBM sales executive, Charles Ill, to run BEA's sales organization. Ill spent 24 years at IBM where his last post was vice president of worldwide geography sales of the company's Software Group. He will report to BEA's CEO Alfred S. Chuang.

The hiring underscores the rivalry between BEA and IBM in the server software business. The two companies are battling for the lead position in the Java application server marketplace, which companies use to build and release custom-built business applications.