Cisco Recognizes Winners

Each year the CCI team gets amped up for the first week of March. A week known to the select few as Cisco Partner Summit, a premier event attended by over 1,000 top Cisco partners from 75 different countries, to celebrate success and chart the future.

To CCI, the Partner Summit is an opportunity for gathering with friends, elbow rubbing with executives, strategic discussions, technology updates and recognition of top preforming partners. A week to reflect on the past year, and build a plan to accomplish even more the following year; goals are set, commitments are made and achievements are recognized.

Attempting to leave IMT Sunday afternoon

This year, the CCI team consisting of John Jamar, CEO; Joe Smith, CSO; Matt Reath, CTO; Bill Peters, director of strategic sales;  Eric Hiatt, director of sales; and Kae McGuire, director of sales operations, made the journey to San Diego (a two day trip for some due the unforeseen Upper Michigan weather).

Day 1 consisted of a keynote presentation by the newly appointed CEO of Cisco, Chuck Robbins, where he discussed digital transformation and Cisco's strategy in getting there. 

Day 2 was the day we were waiting for, the Global Awards Reception. CCI Systems was recognized with the Architectural Excellence US: SP Architectures award for our innovation, leadership and best practice as a Cisco business partner across the US. CEO, John Jamar and CSO, Joe Smith accepted the award on behalf of CCI which recognized CCI for our commitment and innovation in the SP market space.  

Cisco Partner Summit Theatre awards reflect the top-performing partners within specific technology markets across the US. All award recipients are selected by a group of Cisco Global Partner Organization and regional and theatre executives. 

 

CCI & Cisco Teams celebrating success

Day 3 of the summit continues today and wraps up Thursday afternoon. As the team heads home from San Diego there will be many takeaways and action items that have developed over the course of a few short days. In the coming weeks CCI will be collaborating to develop strategies on how are we going to not only continue our success together with Cisco, but how we will grow, powered by partnership.

Follow our live summit updates on Twitter @ccisystemsinc or Facebook .

NTCA & Rural Wireless Association Seek CCI for Wi-Fi Expertise

 

Keith Jones to Join Panel Discussion at 2016 Wireless Symposium & WiExpo

 

Keith Jones, PSS Wi-Fi

January 4, 2016 - CCI's Product Sales Specialist, Keith Jones, has been asked to join a panel of experts at the upcoming Wireless Symposium and WiExpo sponsored by the NTCA and the Rural Wireless Association (RWA). The event will take place January 25-27 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Jones and Managing Partner at Pivot, Bernie Arnason, will be discussing how broadband providers are maximizing the value of  Wi-Fi networks, tips on generating new revenue, explain how costs can be reduced and give you a strategy to successfully deploy a Wi-Fi network in your footprint.

For more information visit the NTCA website or join Keith and Bernie at 9:15 a.m. on January 26th as they discuss "Carrier Grade Wi-Fi -- Smooth Sailing".

To discuss your network's Wi-Fi options, contact Keith at keith.jones@ccisystems.com or check out what we did in Sturgis, SD.

Managed Service Operations Expands at CCI Systems

John Steele, NOC Manager

IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich., August 1, 2015- CCI recently announced the addition of John Steele to the team to lead the Managed and Hosted Services Tier 2-3 and Network Operation Center (NOC) teams.

As NOC Manager, Steele is responsible for operating and managing the implementation of CCI’s Managed Services NOC operations

“With John’s experience, we are looking to drive our Network Operations Center into the next phases of development by offering better defined systematic problem resolution to a variety of service provider networks,” said Director of Managed Services, Brian “Sparky” Farwell.

Steele’s past history and 25 years of experience in the Information Systems / Technology and wireless industries will prove to be beneficial to CCI customers. He is a technology leader known for requisite strategic vision to achieve business goals.

Steele notes that he plans to “utilize strengths to innovate and develop to meet “the standard that others are measured”.

Prior to CCI Systems has held positions of Director of Engineering and Network Operations, Network Operations Manager for Element Mobile, Alamosa PCS, Sprint and Einstein Wireless, Technical Support Engineer for US Cellular, and IT Project Manager for Ericsson and Madison College.

Steele holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Business / Information Systems and currently resides in Appleton, WI.

Cisco live! Recap from San Diego

The world's best minds let loose

The CCI engineering team set off last week to San Diego for Cisco's yearly event, Cisco live!, where the World's smartest minds converged for a week of training, education and certification testing.

When they weren't off rocking with Aerosmith at Petco Park, or mingling with customers at our appreciation event at Dick's Last Resort on Monday night, CCI was hitting the books and taking in as much knowledge, keynotes, and learning sessions as any engineer can, in one week.

Derek with "The Stig"

Derek Schaefer, CCI's consulting engineer and data center expert, noted, "From a data center perspective, Cisco was heavy on showing the evolving role of automation in programmable networks and the operational efficiencies gained. Core to that is Cisco UCS, virtualization, and update of core route/switch infrastructure. CCI will be folding this into our core business to assist our SP customers to advance their businesses into the future."

Also a notable accomplishment, Nick Gifford,operations engineer, took his Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification test and passed, earning another plaque for his "wall of fame". Nick's accomplishment adds to the already 20 CCNA certified engineers at CCI.

Overall, it was another great event that our customers will benefit greatly from as CCI implements new solutions and strategies learned in San Diego. We pride ourselves on staying on top of emerging technologies, and attending Cisco live! each year helps to keep our engineering team on their A game.

Another side note from the team...they're all very much looking forward to Vegas next year! Thanks for another great event Cisco!