Q-layer announced that it has expanded its operation into the United States. Founded in 2005 in Belgium, the company has experienced great success in the European market with the Virtual Private Data Center software targeted at Service Providers. With the opening of the new office in Mountain View, CA, Q-layer also announced the worldwide appointment of Matthew Powell to president and chief executive officer. As President and CEO, Powell will provide strategic direction and management as Q-layer continues to establish itself as a high standing enabler of cloud computing.

"Matthew is a proven industry veteran with an exceptional history of leading companies through high-growth stages, and we are excited to bring his talents to Q-layer," commented Nicolas El Baze, partner at Partech International, a current investor in Q-layer. "This is an exciting time in IT, with the maturing of virtualization technologies and the advent of true cloud computing. Matthew brings the necessary technology vision and business expertise to capitalize on the market opportunity for Q-layer, as it pursues its next phase of growth and innovation."

Powell has a history of developing new, innovative software products, and he brings a wealth of high technology and business experience to Q-layer. Powell was most recently CEO at Determina, a security and vulnerability protection software company which was acquired by VMware in 2007. Before joining Determina, Powell was President and CEO of Vernier Networks, and Interim CEO at Siliquent Technologies. In addition, he was an Entrepreneur-In- Residence (EIR) at both Greylock and Benchmark Capital, and was an early member of Stratacom, acquired by Cisco.

"Having Matthew join the Q-layer team at this key stage of the company's evolution is a clear vote of confidence from a top executive in the industry," said Kristof De Spiegeleer, founder and chief technology officer, Q-layer. "With this strategic appointment, Q-layer is well positioned and poised to realize its market and growth objectives."

"I am delighted to join and lead the Q-layer team at this exciting time in the IT industry," said Matthew Powell. "With our team's extensive background in data center management, Q-layer is poised to be a leader in enabling Next Generation data centers through software that enables true cloud computing for both enterprises and service providers."