Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has appointed Juniper Networks' SVP of sales to lead its channel and partner networking sales as it continues its integration efforts following the recent $14 billion acquisition.

Gordon Mackintosh moves across to Juniper’s parent, having spent more than five years as a sales leader at Juniper. He was also previously VP for partner-led sales at Extreme Networks and spent almost two decades at Cisco, respectively.

The appointment, first reported by Channel Futures, sees Mackintosh serving as VP of worldwide channel and partner ecosystem networking sales, where he’ll work with HPE to help build out a partner platform.

“My top priority is to build on that momentum and work closely with the HPE channel team to shape a clear path forward for bringing our partner programs together,” he said. “The goal is simple: to deliver a partner experience that’s easier to navigate, more profitable, and more impactful.”

Mackintosh’s move across comes as HPE wastes no time in integrating Juniper and its executives after its acquisition closed earlier this month.

Rami Rahim, who was Juniper's CEO, is now president and GM of HPE’s Juniper-integrated networking business, with the pair hard at work to iron out how an integrated offering will look.

HPE and Juniper executives offered a high-level outline in a post-close call to press earlier this month – though that provided a minimal amount of actual insights into long-term plans, with both Rahim and HPE CEO Antonio Neri repeating the need for a “thoughtful” integration process in order to reduce market disruption.

While the integration process gets into gear, some tension is already bubbling away under the surface, with HPE creating a “strategy committee” focused on driving “shareholder value.”

The creation of such a board aims to ease tensions and provide “an ongoing dialogue” for investors Elliott Investment Management, who, after taking a substantial stake in HPE, called for Neri to be ousted amid uncertainty over whether the Juniper deal would come off.