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This award honors Bill Maynard who has made the most effective combination of the ideals of professionalism and the innovative use of networking technology and/or products for a particular networking project.

Bill Maynard - CIO/COO, NetCom America, Carlsbad, California
In his leadership role at NetCom he is responsible for the corporate infrastructure and California operation. Bill chairs the technology committee for the San Diego Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is a co-chair of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce technology committee. Bill has a BS degree and MBA.

Bill took a new private 7-12 grade school's technology from blank paper to implementation in approximately 8 months, including plans to grow from 150 students to 600 in four years. He was responsible for the design approval, coordination and management of the complete project, encompassing everything from fiber optic networks to battery backups. The school opened as planned and all the technologies implemented were fully functional. Through the careful selection of the technologies and technology partners the school will be able to scale their solutions to the mature state without replacing any of the technologies that were implemented

In our interview with Bill, he says. “I’m very excited and honored for winning this award and am also extremely proud of how well it’s working for my customer.  That’s the bottom line, it works and the customer is happy.” 

How long have you been a network professional? What other IT jobs have you had, including your first IT job?
I’ve been a network professional for over 20 years now. I would really consider my first IT job when I worked for General Electric as an applications engineer for their CAD/CAM software division we used to go two customer site as install the software train on the software can show them how to use it.  These are old data general and the digital VAX platform machines.

What other jobs have you had?
I have been a program manager for several software development companies implementing knowledge based expert systems for customers. Also at that time I ended up doing most of the IT support for our Unix platforms and PCs since I’ve had a lot of experience building Unix Systems. 

How and why did you get into this field?
I got into this field not by training or schooling but through an interest in technology.  My education had taught me how to design and manufacture parts.  When I worked for GE supporting their factory of the future initiative he gave me a lot of insight to where computers were going to drive business.  So take every initiative that it could to learn more about how about computers software there was a lot of fun making solutions for customers that they could never do before.

What is your best source to keep abreast of new technology?
I find the best source to keep up with new technology is the Internet reading a lot of articles and how people are using technology. That combined taking vendor training and certification programs is extremely helpful.

What do you think the most exciting new technology?
For the next couple of years I think voice over IP will be the technology that has a lot of excitement around it because it’s fundamentally changing the way we communicate.  The integration of voice and data is a tremendous benefit to business that they can now we can have its single platform for voice, data, video, security.

What technology are you glad to say goodbye to?
Since I’ve been involved in the telecommunications world who would be happy to see traditional TDM phone systems go away.

What is your specialty or field of expertise?
I would say that my specialty is be able to look at all the pieces and parts put a strategic plan together so that they’ll play nice.

Would you encourage others to join this profession? 
Absolutely, maybe it’s because I love technology and what it can do.

What goals do you have for the upcoming year / 5 years?
This year I am working on completing my PMI certification, as well as force10networks and extreme networks certification. Five years a long time to look out but I would like to start to have more time away from the 12+ hour work days to do some teaching on technology.

What do you see in the future for network professionals?
I see their future for network professionals being extremely bright, there a shift going on right now where data center functionality and requirements from moving out to the edge or the network closet.

What is the most challenging thing about your career?
The most challenging that thing about my career is trying to keep that all the activities that on a daily basis on track.

What are some other interests you have?
The outdoors hiking, kayaking, going to the beach

PC or Mac?  Windows or Linux?
On a daily basis I use multiple windows based computers as well as linux for web server and some specific applications.

Bill’s story:

Pacific Ridge School, a new private, non-profit 7-12 grade school which opened in August of 2007 located in Carlsbad CA. They provide a small classroom environment from a “world view” perspective.

The campus is comprised of four buildings and will add new buildings over the next few years as the need for the school grows. It’s not very often that you can start with a blank piece of paper in defining the complete infrastructure for a school projected to grow from its initial state of 150 Students and faculty to over 660 students and faculty in four years. The project took approximately 8 months to complete all aspects of design through implementation. All technology selections were measured against the following criteria.

Main technology selection criteria:
Scalability: each implemented technology had to be scalable for initial opening to maturity.
Flexibility: the school had no history or use model to measure the solutions against, so sizing servers, network equipment, bandwidth, etc. This posed an extra challenge.
Manageability: The school was not going to have a full time IT staff, so all technologies had to be extremely easy to administrate.
Cost: This is a new private school so the IT budget was limited.

The Technology Solutions:
Carrier Services – Voice and Data
Reviewed: Solution offerings from ATT, PaeTec, TelePacific, Cbeyond for T1 services, selected two based on customer service and expansion, and overall package. In the end selected the following for the initial implementation.
T1 for Data with DSL backup
T1 PRI for Voice –with Business continuation service
Network Infrastructure - Structured Cabling
Reviewed: Only enterprise grade solutions for the cabling from vendors that provide and certify from end to end. Looked at solutions from Belden, Commscope, Avaya, and Corning. In the end selected CAT6 plenum cabling for the copper transport and Fiber Optics between buildings. Deployed a gigabit Ethernet fiber optic network between its four main, single-story buildings as well as Category 6 Ethernet cabling throughout each building. Implemented:
CAT6 – Copper Transport
Fiber optics
Networking Equipment
Reviewed: enterprise class switching solution from leading vendors that could grow with the schools needs. Looked at solutions from Juniper, Extreme Networks, Cisco, and Foundry Networks. Designed the end state for the network and then scaled back for the initial implementation. Implemented:
Edge Switch’s with expansion to Core switches in future.
Wireless Network
Reviewed: several wireless solutions from leading vendors that could handle the increasing needs of a more mobile student and faculty users. Looked at solutions from Extreme Networks, Cisco, Meru Networks, and Ruckus Wireless. Implemented:
8 AP and Controller
Phone System – VoIP
Reviewed: Traditional TDM and VoIP telephone technologies and selected VoIP as the core technology for the schools phone system. Looked at solutions from leading venders Nortel, ShoreTel, Cisco. Implemented: lowest total cost of ownership and maintenance west
VoIP switches
85 phones throughout campus.
Battery Backup –
Reviewed: The power backup needs for all installed equipment. Reviewed leading vendors that could handle the increasing needs of a more mobile student and faculty users. Implemented:
APC equipment, sized and selected the appropriate UPS systems for;
Main UPS,
Secondary UPS – each building
Metered Power Strips
Servers
Reviewed: the needs of the school and recommended configurations for the following
Servers
Desktops
PC Laptops
Apple Laptop
Apple Workstations
Citrix Servers with Wyse Thin Clients
HP printers

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