A Short Synopsis
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Ok…maybe not that long ago and still within the Milky Way Galaxy..
As far back as I can remember I always knew I would work within Information Technology. I started off with primarily Cisco-based work (CCNA/CCNP/CCDP) but began to shift gears about 7 years ago. While working for a company in Peoria, Illinois, I began to play a much larger role within the Microsoft Infrastructure and slowly moved away from route/switch. I still strongly believe that any Microsoft engineer should have a firm grasp of core networking concepts learned through the CCNA/CCNP programs, but I grew tired of building the highways and instead wanted to focus on the traffic that flowed through them. As a result of this shift I began working with Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2, and even more important, the migration to each. I served as principal architect and engineer for those technologies, and eventually led the way through upgrades of both products to Exchange Server 2010 and Lync Server 2010. Microsoft Exchange 2010 was the first site-resilient technology deployed at the company and paved the way for drastic changes to how disaster recovery was implemented throughout the enterprise. Shortly thereafter I began a plunge into a PBX upgrade deployment to modernize and replace an decentralized TDM Inter-tel PBX infrastructure. With this project came my chance to “live” in the IP Telephony world and did so with Lync Server. For over a year I worked hand-in-hand with our TDM PBX administrator in planning and deploying a centralized Lync Server 2010 environment with a migration to Lync voice. At the same time the company invested in Crestron conference room systems and Polycom HDX VTC that all tied into the Lync Server environment, in one way or another, in which I was heavily involved in the architecture and design of those components as well. The experience was hugely valuable and helped to solidify my skills with Lync, and more generally VoIP, which eventually led to a new opportunity.
For the past two years I’ve been working with a Microsoft partner, helping customers navigate the complexities of the Microsoft Unified Communications stack. I’ve been through countless designs and deployments, of all shapes and sizes, and met hundreds of people. The experience has been one of the most fulfilling professional opportunities in my life and I truly enjoy every single day of what I do. My focus now is primarily with Office365, but if the project involves any online or on-premises Lync or Skype4B or Exchange Unified Messaging environment, I’m typically involved. The blog that follows is an attempt to put on paper the thoughts and helpful tidbits I’ve accumulated through my time as an IT professional. I will admit that it is largely Microsoft focused but I will include information for non-Microsoft products from time-to-time. To think that Microsoft is the only solution out there is woefully naïve and simply unrealistic, so to that end I want to try and give everyone a fair share of attention. All that being said, this blog is representative of my own thoughts and do not represent the thoughts of Microsoft or any other organization. Use the information here at your own risk!
Personal
For nearly all of my life I lived just outside of Peoria, Illinois, up until August 2015. I currently reside just outside of Nashville, TN and have no regrets about the move. When I’m not working, I am a musician, a singer and guitar player, so the musical personality of Nashville is almost a dream come true. I also enjoy running, having completed my first 10K last year and aiming for the Music City Half-Marathon this year. If I’m not out on the road in my running shoes, I keep the rubber to the road taking long rides on my Honda motorcycle. Y’all can easily find me on LinkedIn or Twitter for any communication needs.