Hogan also changed the sales philosophy in his group, encouraging reps to court high-level executives at big accounts rather than the managers often relegated to buying hardware.
Chuang won't know how he is doing with 8.1 until the end of the fiscal quarter--that's when most large deals close in software--but says "the buzz in the field (from sales reps) is extremely high...so is the number of beta customers we're crossing" into actually purchasing the product.