Alex Hervey Systems Engineer TEC Communications Alex joined the TEC Communications engineering team in 2015 after completing a highly successful internship with us and earning an Undergraduate degree in Computer Science and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace University. SPECIALIZATIONS: Wireless & Mobility Cloud Video, Voice & Messaging Collaboration Cybersecurity Routing & Switching CERTIFICATIONS: Cisco Express Network Engineer Cisco Express Security Engineer Certified Meraki Network Administrator CCNA Routing & Switching Q: What sets you apart from most of today’s IT engineers? What motivates you to continue to improve in today’s world of technology? A: I like having a command on varying technologies to understand how they all fit within an organization. Plus, when they integrate with each other, it makes all of our jobs easier. When asked about a product I’m unfamiliar with, I’m willing to research and take on the challenge of figuring out how to make this new product function properly. To me, it’s like a puzzle. Revealing the final picture is what motivates me to find how each piece fits to create the best chance for success. Q: What IT missteps do you encounter most frequently? A: Sometimes, our customers’ IT departments are the last to know about their company’s IT-related projects. Other times, we’re not brought into the loop early enough in the planning and design processes, which can make it tougher for us to be as thorough as we would like during configuration and deployment. Q: What do you see as the most significant IT development by 2020? Beyond? A: A continued decrease of the traditional ‘office worker.’ As internal/business-critical applications continue to migrate to a private cloud and wireless standards continue to improve, more employees will be mobile while working in the office with a laptop and smartphone. They’ll then take these devices to work remotely, creating the need for a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution to manage these mobile devices as they come and go from in-house domain controls. Regarding wireless, I can’t wait to see how well the 802.11ax standard handles congestion and density – not to mention 10 Gbps speeds. Q: Tell us about one of your proudest accomplishments at TEC. A: I took a wireless environment with over 20 Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs) scattered across multiple controllers and consolidated them to just 4 SSIDs on each. Then, I moved all 500+ APs into flexconnect mode, to allow corporate traffic to remain locally switched on the LAN and keep guest traffic tunneled back to the DMZ at the data center. This solution made it easier to manage for the IT staff and more secure and convenient for corporate users with AD authentication and digital certificates. Q: What would our partners and customers be surprised to know about you? A: I actually came from a hacking/security background in college. I competed in the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition while at BW. My team won State and placed 4th in the Midwest Regional Finals. Two things that people find interesting about me: I can’t stand the taste or smell of popcorn, and I’ve never been to Disney World or Disneyland. Have an IT question for Alex? Maybe a problem he might be able to help solve? Email him at ahervey@tec4it.com, or he’s just a phone call away at (440) 333-5903.
