Readers that have been with us from the beginning.
In honor of the Network World’s 25th anniversary, we went back through our list of readers to see who has been with us all along. Here are just a few of our loyal long-time followers.
Network World’s 25th anniversary package
Dr. Lawrence E. Day, PhD, PMP, CSQA
Job 25 years ago
Title: Software Development Manager
Employer: Boeing
Job duties: Manage radar software for the B1-B bomber
Computer/network environment: DEC cluster with dumb terminals at the desk.
Job today
Title: Software Process Analyst
Employer:Boeing
Job duties: Develop common software development processes and metrics
Computer/network environment: Dell/Microsoft/cell phone
Companies you never thought would go bust, but did: Digitial Equipment Corp.
Best technology decision you made in the last 25 years: Focusing on software development methodologies and quality
Proudest achievement: Program manager of autonomous satellite program
Best career move you made: Getting advanced degrees (MBA and PhD)
25 years ago, did you have the sense that information technology would lead to as much change as it has?I did know that computing, networking and software would one day control us as prophesied in the Bible (Revelation 13:16-17), but I wasn’t aware of how omnipresent it would be in everything we did and how socially transforming it would be in the area of individual, group and corporate social and working interactions.
Robert S. Logan
Job 25 years ago
Title: Assistant Director / Facilities Management
Employer: Caltech Campus Computing Organization
Job duties: data center and network management
Computer/network environment: Dec VAX VMS and BSD Unix, IBM 370 VM/CMS. Ungermann-Bass broadband backbone connecting a dozen Ethernet LANs. External connections were point-to-point. We were just starting to hook the campus net to ARPAnet.
Job Today
Title: Senior Director
Employer: Caltech Information Management and Services
Job duties: All aspects of computing/networking systems and services
Computer/network environment: Moving to all Linux and the cloud, wired and wireless everywhere. About 36k switch ports, 700 wireless access points. For Internet connections we are members of Cenic, Internet2 and Los Nettos.
The most significant technology development of the last 25 years: Cheap, reliable, and fast storage
Companies you never thought would go bust, but did: DEC in the early 1970s
Worst disaster: At least a near disaster: moving into a machine room before it was really completed. Contractors have a poor concept of ‘clean’. Also a strange interpretation of ‘do not cut’ signs on network cables. A cut at least one foot from the sign would be OK, right?
One technology you thought would make it but didn’t: Magnetic bubble memory which was swamped by cheap hard disk storage. We had a research group here working on it and it looked very promising.
25 years ago, did you have the sense that information technology would lead to as much change as it has?I had a pretty good sense for where the hardware was going and thought it would lead to instant access to information but had no clue about the rise of e-commerce and social networking.
Craig M. Zurek, CRISC, CCP
Job 25 years ago
Title: Sr Programmer/Analyst
Employer: Agency Management Systems (Subsidiary of Commercial Union Insurance), Columbia, S.C.
Job duties: Design & development of automated computer systems for General Insurance Agency Operations
Computer/network environment: IBM Series/1
Job today
Title: Assistant Vice President/Information Technology Audit
Employer: NBT Bank, Norwich, N.Y.
Job duties: Direct, manage and evaluate adequacy, effectiveness and efficiency of IT and process control systems.
Computer/network environment: Windows Active Directory/Virtual Machine/Cloud Computing
The most significant technology development of the last 25 years: Internet
One technology you thought wouldn’t make it but did: E-mail
Best technology decision you made in the last 25 years: Move to cloud computing
Best career move you made: Making the change from IT staff to IT management
Career you considered other than IT: Human Resources
25 years ago, did you have the sense that information technology would lead to as much change as it has?Not at all. I knew technology was where change would happen, but never at this pace. Nor to the level of impact on all aspects of society.
Dave C. Bolen
Job 25 years ago
Title: Senior Systems Administrator (Unix)
Employer: Simmons Foods
Job duties: Unix System Administrator, DBA, telecom and private microwave system maintainer
Computer/network environment: AT&T 3B15, dumb terminals, MSDOSJob today
Title: IT Infrastructure Manager
Employer: Simmons Foods
Job duties: Manage DBAs, System Administrator, Technology Manager
Computer/network environment: Sun, Dell blade server mix with Linux and VMware. Multiple MPLS including international connections.
The most significant technology development of the last 25 years: Given we already had decent CPUs and memory (for the time), I am going to say Ethernet. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to move data around before Ethernet.
Companies you never thought would go bust, but did: DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation)
Best technology decision you made in the last 25 years: Embracing Ethernet in all its forms rather than the competing technologies.
Worst disaster: Going to work sick and typing “rm *.*” on the root console.
Best career move you made: Going back to school and getting a MSCS degree.
Dumbest (or slowest) technology: The ever elusive paperless office!
25 years ago, did you have the sense that information technology would lead to as much change as it has?Absolutely! I feel like all of the promise that I saw long ago is just now beginning to come about. Tell your cell phone (through Google) what to search for?…and actually have it understand you fairly well?….priceless! Virtual machines are another on that list. There are a lot of other things that it seemed like we waited for forever and are just now getting here…have a 3TB drive anyone?
