Tag Archives: Secure-24

Pure and San Fran

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This past week (June 11 – June 15) I had the opportunity to attend one of my vendor conferences for the first time in my career, and to make it even better, the conference was held in San Francisco! The conference was Pure Storage’s //Accelerate 2017. This was a three-day event filled with a lot of information and collaboration with other vendors. I’m told that this is smaller than other vendor conferences, but seeing as I have nothing to compare it to personally, it seemed pretty large to me.

First, I’d like to get the negatives out-of-the-way.  The venue was…interesting. They held the event in what was previously an empty warehouse at Pier 70 (2), which gave it a nice juxtaposition with all the new high-tech hardware that was brought in for the conference; including the miles of cables and audio-visual equipment retrofitted for the presentations. The downside was that there was no running water within the building. As such they had to bring in portable toilets, albeit upscale ones, they were still undersized and not maintained very well; and at the end of the day they were still porta potties. Additionally this venue was rather far from the hotels they suggested that we book, which meant that we were relying on the bus schedule to go to and from the event. I feel it would have been better if the venue were more accessible to the accommodations. The session breakout rooms were an interesting take on the open concept that under other circumstances would probably have worked well. They were basically open sided shipping containers, which was a very nice tie in to the piers shipping history, but a poor choice for the sessions due to the high traffic area they were in. Sitting in one of these and attempting to listen to the presenter(s) was often difficult due to the high volume of background noise, even with their being some speakers configured within the space for amplification.  

On the upside, I felt that the content provided, at least in the sessions I attended, was solid. I sat in on multiple sessions presented by industry experts such as Cody Hosterman (Twitter) and Pete Flecha (Twitter), both of whom I was looking forward to meeting, and was not let down. Additionally the third-party vendors that attended were all a good fit with the technology that Pure Storage develops, and the representatives that were on site for those vendors were all technologically knowledgeable for their respective products. In other words, they weren’t simply sales guys. The vendors all had some interesting swag and giveaways as well. I scored a couple of shirts (which make me a walking billboard, but still worth it) and some more interesting items; like an RC Car and a really nice UE Boom Bluetooth speaker that I am really looking forward to using. As I mentioned earlier the location of the venue in relation to the hotels was not ideal, and this lead me to believe there would be an issue with food as well; this was not the case however, as each day they had a number of food trucks that we could choose from. We were provided with tickets that we could redeem at the trucks for lunch. Later in the afternoon different trucks would return and provide strolling hors d’oeuvre that allowed for a further sampling of local street cuisine, and honestly, the food was incredible.

During the conference Pure also handed out the Accelerator Award:

The award recognizes Pure customers whose business transformation is accelerating the adoption of new storage infrastructures and operating models in their respective industries.

While I was attending as an employee of AAA-ACG, I could not help but feel a sense of pride when my former employer, Secure-24, was presented with this award. After all, I was part of the company last year when they adapted and implemented the technology, and honestly I still feel very close to the team their.

Secure-24 … for delivering the highest levels of secure application hosting while providing one of the industry’s most stringent SLAs to a steadily expanding customer base.

Secure-24 is an industry leader in IT operations, application hosting and managed cloud services to enterprises worldwide. It has standardized on Pure Storage, and every time a customer is moved onto Pure, performance improvements of 3x-10x have been realized. This has allowed Secure-24 to strengthen its SLAs, encouraging customers to confidently outsource additional workloads.

Recipient: Scott McIsaac, Chief Infrastructure Officer

In total I was in San Francisco for four days. This could have been cut down but there was some miscommunication and understanding about the conference in general. While the conference was three days long, the first day (Monday) was vendor and partner only, of which we are neither. This meant that I ended up with Monday to myself as I do not yet have the ability to work remotely, both in terms of not having a laptop and not having VPN access. So I was able to take in some sightseeing on Monday, and considering this was my first time in California as a whole, i did take advantage of this. I took a guided bus tour of San Francisco which included a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge. I also visited the famous Pier 39 and FIsherman’s Wharf, both of which were pretty neat and would require further exploration. While on Pier 39 I also took advantage of (thanks to Melissa’s persuasion) a boat tour of the San Francisco Bay which included a closer pass by of Alcatraz Island! The next time I get to take a trip out to San Fran. I fully intend to take a tour of Alcatraz in addition to spending more time on the piers! Also on this short boat tour we went over to K Dock and saw the famous Sea Lions!  Additionally, I would like to have the time to look around the fort locations near the Golden Gate Bridge, this alone could take multiple days! I also saw, but did not ride, the cable cars. I think I made the most of the unexpected free time that I had, but it made me realize that I need to add San Francisco to the long list of places to visit with Melissa and Kylie!

All in all I’d say it was a very good trip. The conference, overall, I thought was very good. That being said, I am not sure if I would attend this one again next year. While I am a huge fan of Pure Storage and their products, their products are currently limited. They perform great, and are very easy to use in comparison to other vendors, but it will take some new products or maybe additional industry disruptions on their part to deem a trip to this conference necessary again. What it has done, however, is made me even more interested in attending other vendor conferences. Both for the comparison and the networking and knowledge acquisition. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next year brings and how the industry evolves.

The Start of a New Journey

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Today I suffered a pretty big blow as I was let go from my job. I had been working at Secure-24, a Managed Service Provider, for a little over 4 years and I really enjoyed it there. In addition to the excellent salary, benefits, and culture; I had the opportunity to work with some really great people. In fact, some of the smartest people within their respective IT fields work there. I was let go for budgetary reasons, which is tough to wrap my head around but I guess that’s the nature of business. The shock of this happening was slightly lessened because I had received a heads up from someone that it was possible, however, I still was not fully prepared mentally. I don’t think it will take me too long to find a new position, but I am worried about finding a place that will be as good of a fit as it was here. I legitimately enjoyed coming into work everyday, and a huge part of that had to do with the culture, atmosphere and people. My team members were pretty close-knit and we watched out for each other like family. I wish them, and Secure-24 as a whole, all the best. I am determined to stay positive about this change of events, though, and I will not view this as an ending or a failure, but rather as the start of a new journey. Now it’s time to look ahead, move forward, and find that next opportunity. Though I do think some well deserved time off may also be in order….

A Grey Company Picnic

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Today was the annual Secure-24 Company Picnic, and this year we had it at Heritage Park in Farmington Hills. It was the first time we have had it at this location and it was a nice change. I feel like this location was more family friendly in terms of the playground for the kids. I know Kylie enjoyed this park over the previous ones. Additionally there was more shade available at this location than at the previous sites. Though we didn’t have much need for shade most of the day due to the light rain in the morning and then the general overcast later in the day. Despite the weather not being the greatest it was still a very nice day and as the weather broke the turnout increased, though it was still less than previous years. I have no doubt that if the weather had been nicer there would have been more people in attendance. I think my favorite moment was watching Kylie participate in the watermelon eating contest! I hope they have the picnic here again next year and that the weather is better. Regardless, I think I will be back in the spring to explore more as there are hiking trails and other activities available.

Bring Your Daughter to Work Day 2016

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Today was the day that Kylie had been waiting for just about a year. It’s take your daughter to work day! Last year was Kylie’s first time participating in this event and she had so much fun that she has been asking about it ever since. So last night after work I went over and picked her up so she could spend the night at my house to make the morning a bit easier. Seeing as the events started with breakfast at 9am I decided it would be best to not go into work at 6am like I normally do, so we both got to sleep in a little later than normal, which is always a good start to the day. Traffic on the way to work was a little heavier than I am accustomed to, and even Kylie commented on it, which I thought was funny. Regardless, we made it to the office with plenty of time and Kylie was amazed that since last year I have moved my desk and now have a standing desk instead of a sitting desk. She seemed shocked to find out that I literally stand around all day. Even more exciting for her though, was that I actually do have a chair, one that adjusts to a higher height to allow me to sit at my standing desk if I so choose. She had a lot of fun sitting in such a high chair. After about 15 minutes we went over to the main gathering area where breakfast was being provided and found ourselves a seat. After breakfast there was some dancing (though Daddy doesn’t dance) and general goofing around, and shortly after it was time for the kids to go off with their groups for a day full of activities. Due to a customer issue I was, unfortunately, not able to actually sit and have lunch with Kylie. This upset me greatly, in fact, I think, a lot more than it did Kylie. Thankfully she was able to sit with Nicole and Kira so she was not alone. I was able to at least quickly go over and let her know I wasn’t going to be able to eat with her and let her know how sorry I was so she wasn’t just sitting there wondering if I forgot or something. After eating Nicole brought her over to my desk so I could see her for a few minutes before she went off to her next activity. At the end of the day we met back up and she told me about all of the cool things she did. She said she really enjoyed the programming class and that the day in general was a lot of fun. I am very fortunate to work for a company that participates in these events and grateful to have a job where I can actually bring her in for the day. We are both already looking forward to next year’s bring your daughter to work day!

Fourth Annual Holiday Party

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Last night was the annual S24 holiday party, and once again it was a great time. Unfortunately Nicole and Alex were not able to make it due to Nicole not feeling well. That was the only low point of the night. This year the party was at the Tam-O-Shanter Country Club, which is different from previous years, but was decided via a company wide vote. I guess the majority of the company was ready for a change of scenery. There was no live band this year, instead there was a DJ playing music. There were also four bars around the perimeter of the of the venue along with side rooms for quite conversations. They also brought back the caricature artists this year, so Melissa and I made sure to get another one of those done, as they are usually pretty good. I have to admit, I drank a bit more last night then I normally would or I intended too, but there was no driving as we relied on the provided shuttle to bring us back to the hotel. Melissa is definitely more comfortable with the atmosphere and people in the company now as well, as we spent a good portion of the night walking around and mingling separately. I think the way the venue was set up, that of a multi-room hall layout, lent to more of a wandering and mingling atmosphere opposed to just sitting at a table. I do feel that fewer people came this year though, I think the change of venue made some people feel like it was out-of-the-way, or perhaps that there wouldn’t be anything to do in the area after the party. I know a lot of people will leave the party at the end of the night and then go to the casino or a Coney Island. We didn’t have this problem though, as we typically just go back to the hotel and sleep by that time. Despite all this I think this may have been the best year yet, because of how comfortable we both were with knowing more people and such. I hope they change the venue back next year, just so more people will come, but if they don’t I think this venue worked out very well. Here’s looking forward to next year already!

Bring Your Daughter to Work Day 2015

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Today was the first time that Kylie and I have gotten to participate in bring your daughter to work day, and I have to say it was pretty cool. Kylie and I arrived at work a little later than I normally do, just because of the timing for when the day’s events were scheduled to start, but still early enough that I was able to show her around a bit. As always, she was very interested in my white board, so I thought she would get a huge kick out of our technical engineering room, which is a room where three of the walls are floor to ceiling whiteboards, and man was I right! Thankfully the boards were empty and the room wasn’t in use, so she had a blast drawing and writing on the walls for about fifteen minutes, and then it was time to start the day. The day began with us going to have breakfast together, which consisted of a catered buffet of french toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, juice, and toast. During this time some of the committee members gave a small presentation outlining what the day was going to consist of and telling the kids how to find out what group they were a member of. Then she joined her group, met her group leader, and went off for a day of adventure. The day was broken down into about 7 activities that the kids rotated through. Each activity was presented by a member of our staff and the topics ranged from learning to code, to building wooden cars depending on the age range of the groups of kids. We then all went back to the meeting area and met for lunch, which was the always popular pizza. Kylie told me about some of the things she had done so far and that she was having a really fun time, and then ran off to her next set of activities. About 3:00 we met back up again for the end of the day and I got to hear all about the fun that Kylie had. Even though she had liked all of the activities and said she had a blast at all of them, her favorite part remained the “drawing room!” She is already asking if she will be able to come back next year! I’d say today was a pretty successful day, and I hope I will be able to bring her again next year!

S24 Parties at The Fillmore

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Last night was the annual Secure-24 Holiday party. This marks the third year that we got to attend this amazing event. Once again the company rented out The Fillmore so, naturally, we got a room at The Westin Book Cadillac. The Killer Flamingos once again graced the stage and provided the evening’s entertainment, and once again they did a fantastic job! As usual the food and beverages were outstanding and they did a great job with the raffles and prizes. Though we kicked around the idea last year, the guys never did get our act together to wear bow ties! It was another fun night though. I really appreciate that the company has these parties for us, it really does show that they appreciate everything we do all year-long. It’s a high stress, fast paced environment and the ability to just let loose for the night is great. Already looking forward to next year’s party!  

Let the good times roll

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Today I did something for the first time in over 10 years, and it’s something I honestly didn’t think I would do again; I joined a bowling league. As it turns out Secure-24 has a mixed league that has a pretty good participation. There are about 10 4 person teams and we bowl bi-weekly at a place that is only a few minutes from the office. I’ve known about the league for a while now, but when I was living in the apartment it was just too far to participate due to the hour I’d get home due to the length of the commute. Since buying the house has cut that commute in half in terms of distance, however, I feel it is easier to participate in these things now. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked, and I can tell this is going to be difficult physically considering the added age, weight, and back issues, but it was still a lot of fun and I realized just how much I have missed bowling. It also made me realize just how old my equipment is and if I really want to get back into this seriously I am going to need to get some new gear. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there though, for now I intend to just have a good time.

Second Annual Secure-24 Holiday Party

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Tonight was my second S24 Holiday Party, and once again it was a blast! Once again it was at The Fillmore and we had 2013-12-15 20.33.19a room at The Westin Book Cadillac, which means the venue was awesome and our room was amazing! The party, like last year’s, was incredible. The Killer Flamingos performed all night, and they rocked! Like last year there was an excellent open bar, delicious food, and some pretty sweet raffles. However, due to the economy and some budgeting issues, there were some differences as well. This year there were no professional photographers roaming the party, no caricatures, and no delectable donuts at the end of the party to take home. That being said, the party was still a blast! In fact, this year might have been better than last year on a personal level because this year I knew more people in the company, so we felt more included. We are already looking forward to next year, and there is even talk about Ren, Alex, and I all rocking out bow ties! While I am not certain if that will actually happen, I am certain it will be another blast!

One Year at Secure-24

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Today marks my 1 year anniversary at Secure-24. I can honestly say it seems like it has been a lot longer. When I first started working here everyone referred to time in S24 years, and I found out that it was a running joke amongst the engineers. It is in reference to how the years at S24 seem to be much longer than at other places. This is due to the constantly changing environments due to the nature of business that a Managed Service Provider runs. I laughed it off for the first few months until I slowly began to feel it too. Now, here I am, one year later and I find it hard to believe that it has only been one year. During this time I even managed to meet a personal goal, and  change teams. I’m not even sure I could manage to list all of the new things I have learned between the two positions, or the things I have had access to here that I would never had had access to at my old company. The people I have met here are all incredibly talented and great to be around. The company culture is amazing and the events that encourage us all to come together outside the office are terrific. What I am most thankful for though, is the fact that it has been a year and I still enjoy coming to work everyday; with the exception of the commute anyway! I’m working on that…