Storage tech veteran Steve Murphy has returned Hitachi Data Systems as a vice-president following a brief flirtation with rival HP.

Murphy rocked up at HDS in early 2007 and spent four years in various senior positions in the UK and elsewhere. Then in April 2011, he was persuaded to work for HP to oversee its major accounts biz from Blighty.

He opted to take voluntary redundancy, and left HP in October along with other staffers who preferred to grab a cheque and run.

Under the new role at HDS, Murphy is regional veep for Sub-Saharan Africa reporting to EMEA boss Niels Svenningsen.

HDS has been recruiting for the past twelve months, snapping up Computacenter storage boss Neill Burton and former Dell UK channel head Paul Harrison among others.

Burton, who is steering the channel and alliances business, claims to be gradually overhauling HDS's historic direct sales culture to become more relevant to channel partners. ®