It\u2019s funny where our passions take us. My passion has always been looking ahead at what\u2019s next in networking technology to help improve our lives. No matter how we connect and communicate today, I can\u2019t help but wonder about tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I come to Zayo having partnered with like-minded visionaries to establish and build successful networking technology companies, pioneer the network-as-a-service (NaaS) movement, and merge common visions among companies through corporate acquisitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, I\u2019m thrilled to be the new Senior Vice President of Packet and Product Software Engineering at Zayo, and I can\u2019t wait to realize Zayo\u2019s mission \u2013 to connect what\u2019s next \u2013 to build tomorrow\u2019s networking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, a little bit more about the journey that led me to Zayo. In 2003, when the Internet was still in its youth and largely unregulated and unprotected, I was part of the team that founded Prolexic Technologies, the first commercial DDoS Protection service. We thwarted DDoS attacks from bad actors like the Russian mafia and worked with the FBI to profile cyber criminals \u2013 to name a few notable accomplishments. Prolexic was eventually acquired by Akamai in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following Prolexic, I led the security product team at Terremark, a data center, disaster recovery, and cloud computing company acquired by Verizon in 2011. From there, I led engineering at 6connect, a company that helped enterprises and ISPs automate transactional and provisioning activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My final stop before Zayo: I co-founded PacketFabric \u2013 one of the industry\u2019s first NaaS companies ever \u2013 in 2015. It was at PacketFabric where we turned a stagnant and monopolistic industry around. In eight short years, PacketFabric became the industry\u2019s model for automation, customer service, and usability. We cracked the user experience code, and we did it all without our own network assets!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was my passion for NaaS that ultimately landed me at Zayo. Because of Zayo\u2019s huge fiber footprint, we have a unique opportunity to achieve real scale in offering NaaS to our customers. Customers have been demanding to interact with their network providers like they do cloud providers for years \u2013 and that\u2019s exactly what NaaS allows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cloud service providers allow customers easy access to their services and applications, self-service options, flexible cost structures, nearly limitless scalability, reliability, security, automation, and centralized management. NaaS swiftly answers the question: if cloud providers can offer this frictionless customer experience, why can\u2019t network providers? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Offering NaaS drives us toward my goal to make Zayo a more customer-focused organization. The customer calls the shots, and NaaS is a cornerstone of delivering the optimal customer experience. NaaS allows customers levels of scalability, cost efficiency, centralized management and control, agility, and security unattainable in traditional networking service models. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s about time the telecommunications industry puts the customer first, and I want Zayo to be at the forefront of that movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aside from my passion for NaaS, I\u2019ve been eyeing a few other technology trends that I plan to watch and tap into in my role at Zayo. Some of these trends include migration to and from the Cloud and automation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, the Cloud. For a while, it was all about migration to <\/em>the Cloud. And for good reason \u2013 the Cloud is easier to use and manage than on-prem solutions, enables business continuity and seamless experience regardless of location, and offers scalability and flexibility innovative enterprises need to pivot quickly as technology changes. There is no doubt we\u2019d be leagues behind technologically without the Cloud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, while the Cloud is great for a lot of things, it isn\u2019t the perfect foundation for everything. It\u2019s lost a lot of its shiny newness over time, and the realities of the economics of the Cloud are starting to set in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Egress fees, for one, can be astronomical \u2013 especially if you\u2019re running two or more clouds. Some companies also complain of vendor lock-in \u2013 being trapped by a single vendor controlling your whole Cloud environment. Data can be a goldmine for modern businesses, but if you can\u2019t easily move it and analyze it, it becomes more of a cost than a benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, companies are beginning what some call \u201crepatriation from the Cloud,\u201d accepting that some applications simply do better on a bare metal cloud or an on-prem solution. Some applications require lower latency, decreased cost, and increased security on-premises solutions have to offer. It will be interesting to watch this evolution unfold, and I want to ensure that Zayo is there to support our customers to help them simply click and connect whether they opt for on-premises or cloud-based solutions \u2013 or a combination of both.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAutomating (almost) everything<\/h3>\n\n\n\n