New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS): Canadian wireless handheld devices and services company BlackBerry on Tuesday said that it has appointed Narendra Nayak as its new managing director in India.

Nayak will be responsible for driving BlackBerry's software and services business through all channels in India - direct enterprise customers, network operators, distribution partners and BlackBerry's growing ecosystem of indirect channels in India, which include value-added reseller (VAR), systems integrator and reseller partners.

"Narendra joins us at a pivotal time, as we continue to transform our business from one fueled by the sale of smartphones, into the leading enterprise software provider focused on cross-platform mobile security and productivity," said BlackBerry's president, global sales, Carl Wiese.

"These are exciting times for BlackBerry in India, and I look forward to Narendra motivating our team and driving our business in the market forwards," he added.

Nayak, who has over 30 years of experience in IT and telecom business management, joins BlackBerry from venture-funded software company Linguanext Technologies, where he was responsible for growing the business in India and across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to Linguanext, Nayak held executive roles at organisations including CSC, IBM, Motorola and Digital Equipment India.

"I look forward to building our business here in India by ensuring we are helping enterprise and government organisations select and implement an end-to-end mobile security strategy - whatever the device or devices they are using," he said.