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Network World, 03/26/01
We tracked down
a handful of subscribers who have been with us from the start in 1986 and asked
them where they came from, where they are today and for their thoughts about
milestones along the way.
Loren Wagner |
|
Then
|
| Title: |
Computer systems administrator |
| Employer: |
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. |
| Job
duties: |
Supported the mainframe systems. Also responsible for data communications,
which evolved into networking and network security. Shared responsibility
for disaster recovery. |
| Computer/
network environment: |
Distributed mainframe. Centralized financials, ordering, billing,
production planning and inventory control. Beginnings of PCs
on the desktop, still mostly terminals. Networking just emerging.
|
| Now |
| Title: |
Manager, network services |
| Employer: |
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. |
| Job duties: |
Responsible for telecommunications infrastructure at
the company headquarters. Coordinate international WAN design activities
and vendor contract negotiations. Share responsibility for Internet connectivity,
security, monitoring and reporting. Chair the Network Services Team, which
is responsible for defining standards, procedures and appropriate technologies.
|
| Computer/ network environment: |
Fewer mainframes. Servers run rampant. Terminals used
as point solutions, PCs on the desktop very prevalent. Still centralized
financials, ordering, billing, production planning and inventory control.
Almost everything is networked. Proprietary protocols almost nonexistent.
TCP/IP has evolved to be the protocol of choice. |
| Opinions |
| The most significant industry event of the past
15 years: |
Introduction of the World Wide Web. Few things have
contributed so much to bring the rewards of IT to the masses. |
| The most significant technology development of the
past 15 years: |
The sheer growth of and our dependency on networked
systems of all types. |
| One technology you thought would make it but didn't:
|
Manufacturing Application Protocol. At the time, and
given the support of some very large companies, I thought they would find
a way to make it a success. |
| One technology you thought wouldn't make it but
did: |
Biometrics in the mainstream. Certainly not infallible
but appears very promising. |
| Proudest network achievement: |
Leading the Network Services Team. Established almost
10 years ago, it has become the catalyst for recognizing the business needs
for networking technologies and the forum for communicating those needs
throughout the organization. We have made a conscious effort to make technology
a facilitating rather than an inhibiting influence. |
| Worst network disaster: |
A nasty lightning strike hit our manufacturing
plant in 1996. The electrical impulse followed a copper path
back into our PBX room, taking out a major portion of our voice
and data services. It was nearly 24 hours before critical services
were restored and three days before most of the damage was repaired.
The severity of the damage was due largely to inadequate protection
and grounding in some areas. The positive side is that it was
a wake-up call for many.
To Top |
 Jim Kerlin |
| Then
|
| Title: |
Director of automation headquarters, Military Airlift
Command; Colonel |
| Employer: |
U.S. Air Force |
| Job duties: |
Supervised 520 personnel who provided automation support
to the Military Airlift Command for 35 locations worldwide. Responsible
for the development and maintenance of 2,500 unique applications running
on $60 million worth of mainframe, mini- and microcomputer systems with
an annual operating budget of $80 million. |
| Computer/ network environment: |
Ethernet, TCP/IP, Xerox Star |
| Now
|
| Title: |
Director of Education Outreach Services, Center for
Education Technology |
| Employer: |
Pennsylvania State University Job duties: Technology
in teaching/ learning liaison with faculty, students, campuses and colleges.
Also, instructor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
|
| Computer/ network environment: |
FDDI, ATM, TCP/IP, AppleTalk, Ethernet and token ring.
|
| Opinions
|
| The most significant industry event of the past
15 years: |
The emergence of industries that have evolved into
significant providers of IT resources. For example, virus protection software,
Linux, handheld devices and PC manufacturers. |
| The most significant technology development of the
past 15 years: |
The evolution of the Internet. |
| One technology you thought would make it but didn't:
|
The evolution of the paperless office. One technology
you thought wouldn't make it but did: Voice recognition seemed a far-off
dream. However, significant advances in software over the past five years
indicate that in the first decade of the 21st century, voice recognition
will be replacing many manual data entry systems. |
| Best technology decision you made in the past 15
years: |
Replacing mainframe computers with networks of PCs.
|
| Worst technology decision you made in the past 15
years: |
Assuming that computer technology would become so user-friendly
that people could teach themselves by logging on to the Internet for tutorials
and help. |
| Proudest network achievement: |
Early use of an Ethernet network using Xerox Star computers.
|
| Worst network disaster: |
Assuming that there would be a gradual growth in e-mail
rather than an exponential growth.
To Top |
 Arne Francis
Photo
by: Steven
Borns
|
| Then
|
| Title: |
Manager, data center operations Employer: Paramount
Pictures |
| Job duties: |
Computer operations manager for 24-7 data center. Responsible
for shift leaders, computer operators, I/O clerks, network management, batch
processing schedules, online systems and help desk. |
| Computer/ network environment: |
IBM 3090 mainframe with a simple SNA network that connected
the CPU in New York to the interactive users and programmers at the Paramount
Studio in California. Also, a few Wang VS6 minis for word processing. |
| Now
|
| Title: |
Network analyst |
| Employer: |
J.P. Morgan Chase |
| Job duties: |
Design, implement and support corporate client network
connectivity for the treasury services business. Currently involved in convergence
projects, SNMP network management and designing a client extranet. computer/ network
environment: IBM mainframe, Unix, Windows NT, Windows and others. Network
operating environment is SNA/SDLC, TCP/IP, NetWare and others. |
| Opinions
|
| The most significant industry event of the past
15 years: |
The adaptation of the Internet for commercial purposes
and e-commerce. |
| The most significant technology development of the
past 15 years: |
The development of the PC and the spawning of the software
industry. This engaged all company employees in productivity, creativity
and development. |
| One technology you thought would make it but didn't:
|
DSL. Hasn't made it yet. |
| One technology you thought wouldn't make it but
did: |
IP telephony. |
| Proudest network achievement: |
At the time, getting TCP/IP to work on a mainframe
and building the first IP network connection to a client. Worst network
disaster: The infamous backhoe cable cut in Chicago. Learned what route
diversity really means and the value of a solid dial back-up plan.
To Top |
Robert Denison |
| Then
|
| Title: |
Lead systems programmer |
| Employer: |
Wausau Insurance |
| Job duties: |
Responsible for various word processing
and distributed system initiatives. Set personal computer direction
and strategy. |
| Computer/ network environment: |
An IBM mainframe for core insurance applications.
Distributed IBM 4300s for data entry. Wang and IBM system for
word processing. IBM PCs and 3270 terminals to access mainframe
and distributed systems. Point-to-point lines linking our major
offices over an SNA network. Our LANs were token ring. |
| Now
|
| Title:
|
Principal software engineer |
| Employer:
|
Wausau Insurance/Liberty Mutual |
| Job
duties: |
Acting as a systems architect and systems integrator for various
Web and business-to-business initiatives. |
| Computer/
network environment: |
IBM mainframes, AIX/Solaris/NT distributed servers and Windows
95 desktops connected via a TCP/IP network. The LANs are composed
of primarily 10 and 100Base-T Ethernet. The WAN is composed
of frame relay, ATM and dedicated services. Some business-to-business
and business-to-consumer through the Internet, using Secure
Sockets Layer 3 or VPN to protect sensitive data. |
| Opinions
|
| The
most significant industry event of the past 15 years: |
The widespread acceptance of the Internet. This has become the
killer application, driving millions of people to lose their
fear of technology. |
| The
most significant technology development of the past 15 years:
|
The continuing enhancement and cost reduction of microprocessing
technology, enabling all other technologies. |
| One
technology you thought would make it but didn't: |
ISDN - before it achieved full geographical penetration, it
was surpassed by superior technologies. |
| One
technology you thought wouldn't make it but did: |
Microsoft's suite of office tools becoming the de facto standard.
|
| Best
technology decision you made in the past 15 years: |
Standardized on TCP/IP networking. |
| Worst
technology decision you made in the past 15 years: |
Attempted to implement a lowest-cost Ethernet switching solution
for our Home Office LAN. |
| Proudest
network achievement: |
Implemented a full-function Internet-enabled customer service
site, seamlessly integrating new Java, client/server and legacy
mainframe applications. Implemented single sign-on to five different
security systems. Used remote-control servers to enable the
client/server applications. Used VPN to securely deliver these
technologies through the Internet and a variety of customer
firewalls. |
| Worst
network disaster: |
We've built in a lot of fault tolerance and been lucky to avoid
any major disasters.
To
Top
|
 Dan
Williams |
| Then
|
| Title:
|
Senior data communications analyst |
| Employer:
|
CF, Inc. |
| Job
duties: |
Responsible for WAN design and provisioning projects, establishing
network disaster recovery options and managing the growing expansion
of international network services. |
| Computer/
network environment: |
Primarily an IBM host mainframe. Low-speed (4800 bit/sec) multipoint
circuits typically shared by 10 offices and tied to a regional
answering service office where we located our remote multiplexers.
IBM's BISYNC (3270) and SNA/SDLC were the predominant transport
protocols. |
| Now
|
| Title:
|
Senior manager, telecommunications & engineering services
|
| Employer:
|
CNF, Inc. (successor to CF, Inc.) |
| Job
duties: |
Responsible for enterprisewide voice, data and wireless services.
Biggest challenge is leveraging the combined buying power from
a corporate perspective while tailoring telecom and network
services for independent operating business units. |
| Computer/
network environment: |
Primarily a host- centric (IBM) database and application environment.
We do little distributed computing. The network is frame relay
to ATM using TCP/IP. Support SNA devices through Data Link Switching
on the frame relay links. |
| Opinions
|
| The
most significant industry event of the past 15 years: |
The advent and proliferation of the Web. |
| The
most significant technology development of the past 15 years:
|
The expansion of fiber bandwidth technologies as a result of
wave division and dense wave division multiplexing. |
| One
technology you thought would make it but didn't: |
Wireless local access (bypass). I'd still like to see some "real"
competitive pressure in the local access arena, but it's just
not there yet. |
| One
technology you thought wouldn't make it but did: |
xDSL - or at least it appears that it might make it. |
| Best
technology decision you made in the past 15 years: |
Selecting Newbridge T-1 multiplexing technology to deploy in
a nationwide private backbone network. After 10 years with no
major outages (and less than 10 component failures), we are
now decommissioning the equipment. |
| Worst
technology decision you made in the past 15 years: |
I thought we might use some ASYNC multiplexing technology to
support our growing DEC/VAX applications back in 1990 and bought
16 units that never got out of the box. |
| Proudest
network achievement: |
Deploying, with the help of a co-worker, the nationwide Newbridge
backbone ahead of schedule and under budget.
To
Top
|
 Carl
Jackson |
| Then
|
| Title:
|
telecommunications analyst coordinator III |
| Employer:
|
Great American First Savings Bank (San Diego) |
| Job
duties: |
Designed, ordered and implemented data networks. I also developed,
wrote and supported a work order and trouble report tracking
system on VM/CMS for telecommunications-related work/troubles.
|
| Computer/
network environment: |
Approximately 205 branches with more than 3,500 terminals. Multiple
IBM mainframes, 3270 protocol, point-to-point and multipoint
2,400-9,600 bit/sec analog-leased lines. |
| Now
|
| Title:
|
Network infrastructure supervisor |
| Employer:
|
East Bay Municipal Utility District (Oakland, Calif.) |
| Job
duties: |
Manage and supervise a staff of seven who manage, install, repair
and monitor computer networks, voice systems and wireless communications.
|
| Computer/
network environment: |
IBM mainframe and DEC/VAX for legacy applications, three Hewlett-Packard
platforms for Oracle databases and applications, 20-plus Novell
file servers, five Microsoft Exchange e-mail servers, numerous
Web servers. LAN backbone is full-duplex 100Base-T over fiber,
while desktop connections are 10Base-T Ethernet. WAN is point-to-point
T-1 and T-3. |
| Opinions
|
| The
most significant technology development of the past 15 years:
|
Open Systems. We all know what this did for networking. No more
dual networks, and communications equipment is easier to install,
easier to maintain and easier to troubleshoot. |
| One
technology you thought wouldn't make it but did: |
Open Systems! I had my doubts about this when I first became
aware of what the International Standards Organization was talking
about in the 1980s. What dreamers! No more proprietary protocols?
Yeah, right! |
| Best
technology decision you made in the past 15 years: |
Moving to a routed network. |
| Worst
technology decision you made in the past 15 years: |
Although it was the "best" way to do it when we started
in the early 1990s, a "bridged" WAN was nothing but
trouble when traffic was at its peak. |
| Proudest
network achievement: |
Installing the right tools for the job. Having the right monitoring
hardware and/or software and the proficiency to use it to identify
problems is invaluable. |
| Worst
network disaster: |
Backbone router failure in the mid-'90s. Three days of outage,
companywide. This caused us to reevaluate manufacturers, leading
to our current platform.
To
Top
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