VMware executives Shekar Ayyar and Sanjay Mirchandani have been promoted to corporate senior vice president, with Ayyar to lead the creation of a new network functions virtualization (NFV) "vertical market team," the company announced Tuesday morning.

The new team will apparently target major carriers, pushing products designed to help telecoms virtualize their core networks and network functions. A VMware spokesperson declined to comment when asked for further details on the new NFV unit.

Both Ayyar and Mirchandani now report to VMware President and COO Carl Eschenbach.

Since joining VMware in 2007, Ayyar has led strategy and corporate development; he's also overseen acquisitions, including the purchase of Nicira in 2012. The former McKinsey & Co. consultant previously held senior roles at BindView, Instantis, and Lucent.

Mirchandani has led Asia Pacific and Japan for VMware since joining the company in 2013. A former senior executive at EMC, Mirchandani has held regional leadership roles at Microsoft.

Eschenbach in a statement credited Ayyar for helping "identify the right inorganic innovations that complement VMware's organic growth," also citing strong results in the Asia Pacific region under Mirchandani.