Welcome to a new series of partner stories focused on some of Extreme’s most exceptional partners. Why are these folks so exceptional?
Extreme Champions are partner sales professionals who have successfully completed our Customer Vision Selling training. That means they can expertly help customers build bold visions for their evolving networks by positioning themselves as trusted advisors.
Extreme Heroes are technical sales professionals who have successfully completed our rigorous curriculum of technical specialist training. They have access to our global technical community, and we rely on them for input on products and solutions.
In this snapshot, Extreme Hero Terry Dorricott, a technical account manager and pre-sales engineer at London-based Charterhouse Voice & Data, talks about the new normal, rugby, British music, and more.
Meet Extreme Hero Terry Dorricott of UK’s Charterhouse Voice & Data
Q: Can you tell us what it was like to start at Charterhouse Voice & Data soon after the coronavirus outbreak in Europe and then get your Extreme certifications to acquire Hero status.
It certainly wasn’t the start I expected. It was a challenge initially, as I prefer to meet people face to face, but the company started virtual town halls and virtual quizzes and one of the account managers even organized virtual drinks every Friday, which really helped.
Not having worked with Extreme products before, I needed to get up to speed quickly. After passing a couple of certifications I was told about the Hero program and made it a personal challenge to become a Hero. The structure of the online learning program Extreme has developed is fantastic, which made it that much easier.
Q: You’ve worked as a Technical Account Manager and Pre Sales Engineer for more than two decades now, delivering networking solutions for global clients. Is approaching new customers any different now from what it was 20 years ago?
This market moves so quickly and there are dramatic shifts and turns. The most dramatic changes I’ve seen are around Wi-Fi, which continues to evolve rapidly, along with virtualization, cloud, and cybersecurity. I think approaching customers has become more sophisticated now as a result of a highly-competitive market.
Q: What project in your career are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the design and delivery of a network for a brand-new hospital that was built in the north of England. The network was used as a template for another facility not far from the first. During the project, a few of my colleagues commuted to work past both hospitals so we would get regular updates on how things were progressing with the entire project.
Q: You live in London and Londoners love their football. If you were to work on a large venue network design and deployment, which club would you want to work with?
Whilst I love football and watch the major competitions, the sport I follow most passionately is Rugby and the team I support is Harlequins, based in Twickenham. I’d love to help design network solutions for them.
Q: What would you advise their IT team?
The biggest issue today is crowds not being allowed into venues due to the pandemic. A solution for the IT team could be building an app for supporters that would require details of your health, specific to COVID-19, and you would be required to keep this app up-to-date to be allowed into a stadium. When approaching the stadium, the app would automatically authenticate the user onto the Wi-Fi network and allow entry via automated doors. Obviously, they would need an industry-leading network management platform to automate this ingenious solution, so this is where ExtremeCloud IQ would come into play.
Q: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Queen… The British music scene has produced some of the world’s most iconic rock bands and artists. If you had to compare modern networking technology vendors to the classic British acts, which band would Extreme be?
My safe answer is Queen. They have been at the very top of their industry for a long time and every so often something comes along to thrust them back into the limelight. Similarly, Extreme has always been a top networking vendor and the ExtremeCloud IQ solution has pushed them ahead of their competitors.
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