Our Employees Share How They’re Thankful

As we wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving, we wanted to share the many different reasons that our CTG team members are thankful this year:

Grace SunDance, administrative assistant:

“I am thankful for the amazing opportunity that Convergent Technologies Group has given me, and everything that they continue to give. I am also very thankful for my two compassionate, loving, and caring beagles, Odie and Cabella.”

Jeff Joyner, network architect:

“I'm thankful for my wonderful family and having a passion for my chosen vocation.”

Scott Haizlip, SMB account manager

 “I am thankful for my beautiful fiancé, Christi, our golden retriever, Ranger, and for all of the help and opportunities CTG has given me.”

Chastity Loving, purchasing manager

“I’m thankful for my two children and for loving everything in and about my life.”

Alexandra Suder, marketing director:

“I’m thankful for my mother and father, my two sisters, Julz and Camille, my brother-in-law, Tom, and my boyfriend, Kevin. I am so thankful for our pets, Maverick and Malo, and for each and every one of my guardian angels (furry or not) watching and protecting me. I am so thankful for CTG and for the intelligent and amazing people I work with. I’m thankful for being excited to go to work every day and for loving my job. I’m thankful for all of my friends and family – close or far, new, old or rekindled – because their positivity, support, generosity and kindness has shaped me and helped me discover who I am, which has allowed me to better myself.”

Brandon Samuel, assistant manager:

“I’m thankful for the growth and relationships that I have built while at CTG, as well as the flexibility and personal understanding that CTG provides.”

John Monahan, co-founder:

“I am thankful for my staff, and all their hard work. I am thankful for the year that CTG has had and our accomplishments. I am thankful for my family!”

Jeff Garell, co-founder:

“I'm thankful for the many opportunities I have been afforded in my life and those that gave them to me.

“I'm thankful to be living in a country that offers the ability to take your life in any direction and to any height (or depth) you choose.

“I'm thankful for the generations and generations of brave men and women who have given us the ability to make those choices.

“I'm thankful for the rights that give everyone the voice to say what they want and for me to choose whether to agree or not.

“I'm thankful for everyone I've ever worked with and the examples, good or bad, I've witnessed and learned from.

“I'm enormously thankful to have two beautiful, intelligent and caring daughters that have changed my life so dramatically for the better. They have plumbed the depths of my heart further than I ever thought possible.

“And most importantly, I'm thankful for my wife without whom I would be a much lesser man.  Who showed me that the third time really is the charm.”

Solutions Lab Lets You See IT in Action

By Jeff Garell

Nearly every new technology acquisition is surrounded by unanswered questions, hopeful expectations and more than a little nervous concern before the purchase order is signed. Will this perform the way my sales guy says it will? Is this a gamble? How much will this change our operational processes? Should I update my resume just in case?

Yeah, I've been on both sides of that thought process in the past 33 years, first as the purchaser and now as the provider and consultant. There is a lot of gut-check that happens on that road depending on the scope of the change, the criticality or newness of the service needed, or sometimes just the dollars involved. We all have customers and don't want to let them down.

For these reasons and many more, CTG has been building up an infrastructure that will hopefully ease some of these concerns about potential RGEs (Resume-Generating Events).

Currently in our Solutions Lab, we have a variety of gear that lets us either demonstrate the potential and advantages of various tech or configure and use to mirror your planned infrastructure. The Solutions Lab currently houses the following “toys:”

• C7000 Bladesystem with 10 Blades and VirtualConnect 20/40 Modules 
• HP StoreServ 7200 with both 10GB iSCSI and FiberChannel connects (currently FlatSAN connected to the C7000). The StoreServ has 2 tiers of storage, FastClass (10k SAS) and NearLine (7.2k SAS).
• HP 5900 Core Switch with 48 10GB ports and 2x40GB ports that each connect to the StoreServ and to the BladeSystem for some pretty blazing throughput.
• Proliant DL360p with 3TB of internal disk and 196GB RAM. We often use this for onsite Proof of Concept (PoC) when you want to keep your information at your own site. These PoC are generally function-based more than performance-based. 
• OneView/IMC gives us the management and monitoring we need to keep things humming along smoothly.

This setup has allowed us to not only quickly reconfigure for a variety of customer challenges but also keeps us proficient on the platforms we stand behind. This has served us well for several years, but the times they are a-changing.

The current trends regarding the expansion of cloud adoption includes the growing understanding that often the cloud is really just another resource and may not be the full solution for everyone. The things we all like about cloud-based infrastructure is that we can shortcut the acquisition process by simply logging in to a portal and clicking a few buttons. A few minutes later we have a server spun up. I'll save the economics and potential lock-in conversation for another post, but I will stipulate that the speed and efficiency in firing up infrastructure is incredibly enticing. Thus the hybrid cloud is born.

With that in mind, we have begun the process of retooling our Solutions Lab. (You were wondering when I was gonna get back to this topic, weren't you?) We're adding several components listed below, but we will be augmenting the infrastructure with HP's Helion products that will include an OpenStack based set of services, Cloud Service Automation/Operations Orchestration (for that nice clickety-click spin up a server feel), as well as Eucalyptus that will allow us to seamlessly move workloads back and forth from our infrastructure to Amazon Web Services and back. The "and back" is what makes Eucalyptus full of awesome. Of course, we'll have accounts setup at both Amazon and Microsoft's Azure in order to demonstrate the hybrid-cloudiness.

In addition to being able to demonstrate hybrid-cloud and automation capabilities, the new setup will let us prepare for your demo workloads even faster. To facilitate this, we will be augmenting our lab with:

• HP StoreServ 8000 series - All Flash Array
• HP CS-250 Converged System
• Dual HP 16GB Fiber Channel Switches
• A pile of HP Helion Software
• HP Aruba Wireless

We'll also have the ability to demonstrate HP Catalyst, StoreOnce (Virtual Appliance), Veeam, and a variety of Fortinet products both physical and virtual.

So to sum up, we're working hard to reduce the stress, uncertainty and general guesswork that comes with any of these strategic technology changes we all get to shepherd. I'll continue to provide updates as we get the gear and integrate it into our Solutions Lab. If you see anything I've missed or that you would be interested in seeing, just drop me a line at jgarell@ctgva.com.

Jeff Garell is a co-founder of Convergent Technologies Group.

Celebrating Our Milestone 10th Anniversary

By Jeff Garell

Flash back 10 years ago, and I remember the fledgling days of our business that we first operated out of my basement, which was lovingly referred to as The Bunker. I was living in an 80-year-old house in Richmond Museum District, and if you've ever seen a movie where London is getting bombed and everyone hides in the underground, it was kind of like that. Pretty dark, a little cold in the winter and a little warm in the summer.

When John and I finally moved into “real offices,” it felt like our business was growing up. Of course, like most people's first apartments, our home for the business was not in a glamorous part of town. In fact, our neighbors in adjacent buildings included a parole office and methadone clinic.

We had a very conservative growth and spending plan in that we wouldn’t take on debt just to build quickly. We saw far too many in our industry spend themselves into bankruptcy. Besides just not wanting to lose the company, we feel an absolute obligation to our employees and can proudly say in 10 years we’ve never had to lay someone off, reduce pay or downsize because of financial difficulty.

Since that first office, we've moved a few more times – always to a little better location with a little more room for our growing number of employees. We landed at our current location about five years ago and just recently expanded to nearly double our existing space. 

We can look back fondly at the challenges and the risks and the excitement that comes from being in startup mode. But I assure you there were times that we wondered if we would make it, if we would be working for someone else again, if we could afford to add a much-needed employee, and if we would ever get a full night’s sleep again.

As we celebrate our 10^th anniversary this month, we wanted to share some important ingredients in our success.

We’ve developed a core network for our business.

We’ve had a lot of help and guidance along the way from our distributors and manufacturers as we navigated the rocky shoals of our growth. For that, we’ll always indebted and grateful to them. 

We’ve continued to invest in our knowledge.

Without question, this is an ever-changing industry. When we opened our doors, we were guiding our clients through windows-based solutions and hardwired networks; today, we’re in cloud discussions and looking at more creative ways to increase security for those businesses. We’ve grown with those partners and we’ve earned a competitive edge by staying at the leading edge, so we can deliver the best.

We’ve proven ourselves with our customers.

I can't say enough about our customers, many of whom have trusted us for more than the 10 years CTG has been in business. Without them, we most certainly wouldn’t have made it to this milestone. We will continue to earn your trust as we all move forward into the future.

We’ve built a solid team that delivers every day.

I can't even begin to adequately thank and recognize our amazing employees, who bring our vision to life everyday in their work with our clients. Many of our people have been with us for more than five years, with several reaching the eight- and nine-year mark. Without question, they are our not-so-secret weapon in this first 10-year run, and we are grateful for having the opportunity to work with each and every one.

We’re ready for the next 10 years.

As we look to the future, we will continue to offer what we hope are the best solutions, services and support to help our customers continue their own growth story. I can assure you that we revel in our customers’ successes more than our own, because that demonstrates that we are delivering value with our IT leadership and work. Thank you all for your part in helping us reach this milestone.

Jeff Garell is a co-founder of Convergent Technologies Group.

Major Deals, Splits Will Transform IT Industry

By Brandon Samuel

Anyone who has been reading our blog posts or following CTG on social media channels knows by now that Nov. 1 will mark the end of one era and the beginning of a new one for HP. While the news will usher in a new era in technology, it has not been the most impactful news of this month – at least not in the eyes of the end user.

Last week, Dell announced its purchase of EMC, after reaching a $67 billion agreement. In this most expensive technology purchase in history, two giants in the IT world are coming together at a time when our industry as a whole is in the midst of a major shift. As with any big news in my industry, I spent much time after hearing the news going over the pros and cons of the deal, with hopes of better understanding how it would affect my goals of making Convergent Technologies Group and HP the platinum standard in manufacturer/reseller relationships.

When I meet with clients who use Dell products within their infrastructure, I always ask two questions: What do you like about buying Dell? And what do you dislike about it? The answers – although often varying in length – are almost always the same. Clients like the fact that Dell has a direct purchasing model because they believe that they are getting better discounts because of that agreement. Their dislikes always center on support, whether it be for warranty issues or implementation of new solutions.

Along with the Dell-EMC announcement came another announcement that I believe is equally important. Dell and CDW announced a partnership that will allow CDW to begin selling Dell products, virtually eliminating the direct model that so many customers are so fond of. Dell is not well-known to have a strong reseller focus, and this shift will have major impacts on clients who aren’t fond of change. Perhaps the reason behind the deal is that HP’s numbers with CDW were down 6 percent over the past year, a result, in my opinion, of HP’s increased focus on bringing deals to partners such as CTG that bring value throughout the entire sales process.

You might be asking yourself, “How does the merger affect either of these things? Shouldn’t two goliaths in the IT world coming together be a good thing for EMC and Dell clients alike?” Not from our market analysis.

The deal between Dell and EMC is one that has major financial ramifications. At $67 billion, the deal could prove very costly in the short term. Dell will be responsible for paying upward of $2.5 billion dollars annually in interest alone, which will cause a major disruption when it comes to support and R&D, both areas in which Dell has struggled as of late. You must also take into account that these are two very large companies coming together, with very different sales models. The integration of products and sales/service teams will be time consuming and cause major interruptions for the combining businesses for some time. In short, I believe that it will take these companies quite a bit of time to get it right, leaving the door open for companies such as HP to show the value that their products and partnerships can bring to the table, particularly for clients that have flown the Dell flag for quite some time.

Dell has always been a strong company with a loyal following. The move to purchase EMC has allowed them to expand its Enterprise storage portfolio with an EMC product that has been one of the top three Tier 1 solutions for many years. However, the EMC solution has become stagnant of late, as can be noticed by HP’s 3Par offering earning top ratings for the past two years. This deal will likely to cause loyal EMC customers to take a look at their architecture, which could likely lead to an increase in conversations around 3Par. I look forward to the challenges that this merger will create in the long term and am excited for HP Enterprise to take the lead across all major Data Center infrastructure portfolios.


Brandon Samuel is assistant manager of Convergent Technologies Group.

HP Split Will Drive Innovation and Growth

By Scott Haizlip

As the navigator specialist here at Convergent Technologies Group, my focus is in tune with the growth of HP’s printing and personal systems business. Currently, HP is a market leader in printing and personal systems, but – like all companies – HP is always looking for the next way to increase innovation and grow business. I feel that HP has found a way to increase both innovation and growth with its plan to split its business.

On Nov. 1, HP officially will separate into two new, equally robust Fortune 50 companies. The business that will be known as Hewlett Packard Enterprise will be responsible for HP’s enterprise infrastructure, software and services business. The second company, to be named HP Inc., will focus on printing and personal computing. Rather than continuing to try to do everything, HP smartly opted for this split that will allow each company to function more strategically and nimbly on what it can do best.

Although HP Enterprise and HP Inc. will both benefit, I feel HP Inc. will thrive from the separation. In my opinion, establishing HP Inc. as a stand-alone company will ensure increased investments in research and design in these market-leading products. This, in turn, will drive growth through innovation.

For our customers, this innovation will change the way you operate your business and life – from how you print to what you can accomplish from a mobile device. HP is constantly developing and introducing inventive products, such as 3D scanning with the HP Sprout, and handwritten notes that transfer to text on the HP Pro Slate 12 – just to name a couple.

Look for HP Inc. to continue to be a leader in bringing the best printers and personal systems to the marketplace. Look for growth in product capabilities and new products that change how we do business. Look for HP to have the solutions to meet your needs – and open up unimagined avenues for you to deliver successfully on your business goals.

Scott Haizlip is SMB account manager at Convergent Technologies Group.

Thin Client Technology Is Game Changer for Mobility

By Doug Carter

HP and Windows have launched a new rugged product that is going to change the game on how companies manage their mobile workforces.

The new HP Elitepad 1000 G2 TC Tablet is a rugged Thin Client that offers all of the functionality of a fully loaded table – delivered with the value, security, manageability and long life that corporations love to have.

With 5.7 million more Thin Client units implemented in 2014 and 7.8 million projected worldwide by 2018, HP has certainly set the bar high for its competition with the new Thin Client rugged tablet. Offering improved technologies in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Desktop as a Service and Cloud Solutions, combined with a Windows-embedded operating system, HP has claimed the top rung in the worldwide market for Windows-based Thin Client tablets.

What can customers expect from this rugged mobile Thin Client tablet?

To start, this tablet delivers a consistent experience with trusted and familiar standard tools for system administration, along with user-friendly applications that are intuitive, interactive and integrates with existing infrastructure. This tablet also offers the best:

Security: Because security is on the forefront of everyone’s thoughts these days, HP and Windows offer comprehensive security on this amazing unit, combined with HP’s TPM, NIST, Fiber NICs, Multiple Authentication Solutions and HP Easy Shell, Windows provides BitLocker, AppLocker, Write Filters and Predictable Security Update Schedule.

Cloud Power: Microsoft Azure provides a reliable platform customized to meet customer needs. Azure RemoteApp on HP Thin Clients allows customers to run business applications and to scale to meet their business demands, with easy configuration and remote management.

With Office 365, customers have the capability for security-enhanced, cloud-hosted office applications, business-class email with Outlook WebApp, and instant messaging, voice and video calls with Skype.

Connectivity and Communication: A critical part of field reporting is connectivity and communication. The Thin Client with embedded Gobi (Verizon/AT&T) and 2D/3D Barcode reader – aligned with the same hardware and driver ecosystem as Windows desktop operating systems – provides easy access to drivers for printers, scanners, card readers and headsets. It provides high-fidelity communication in the VDI environment or the browser-based cloud. With Microsoft RDP/RFX, Citrix HDX, VMware Vie, HP RGS provides the most complete protocol support for virtualization technology.

Value Add from HP Software: HP Device Manager, HP Velocity and HP Easy Shell provide a rich software ecosystem to optimize the ease of deployment of HP’s Thin Client tablet.

Based in our North Carolina office, Doug Carter is the mobility account manager at Convergent Technologies Group.

The Best Disaster Planning Happens Before a Disaster Strikes

 By Jeff Garell

While the best disaster planning should always take place in advance, we recognize that the looming potential damage from heavy rains and Hurricane Joaquin in the coming days is a good time to make sure your business has every base covered.

First and foremost is not just checking that you have backups, but verifying that they are good and you can restore from them. You'd be surprised the number of times someone diligently verifies that the backup software claims it's successful but has never tested a restore - even if it's just restoring a few random files.  

Just as important as having good backups is verifying that you've been backing up the right stuff. Again, we've come across problems where the backup solution was set up years ago, while processes/applications/critical data have changed and the backups have not been adjusted accordingly.

Next would be to figure out how to continue operations if your location is out of power/flooded/generally inaccessible. Depending on your business, this might not be possible or necessary. For instance, a high-end clothing store would be less interested in trying to sell fancy clothes and more interested in protecting its inventory from looters or floodwaters until the emergency passes. To stay with retail examples, a grocery store or home improvement store will be very interested in maintaining its operations to help those affected (and make a few bucks). 

The majority of businesses will want to somehow continue to operate and keep the revenue flowing.  This is generally referred to as business continuity, and, depending on the business, might involve having a paper process as the backup to today’s more automated solutions.

Prior to leaving the office for the last time before a predicted storm hits, consider shutting down and unplugging all your IT/Telephone/electronic assets, making sure they're off the floor, and, as an added precaution covering them with plastic sheeting. DO NOT cover with plastic sheeting if you don't turn everything off or your assets will overheat, possibly melt the plastic and be a fire hazard. Be sure you know how to put everything back in place - or arrange with your service provider to do it - once the storm passes. 

If you don't already have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) or Continuity of Operations Plan (ConOP), it's probably too late to start with the current storm bearing down on the Mid-Atlantic. Once things calm down, however, start that that planning process. A solid and practiced BCP answers the questions of what and how to do your recovery before you're in panic mode. Showing you have one might reduce your insurance costs, and if you show you followed your plan, then the insurance companies will often expedite your claim with fewer questions about why you made X decision.

One final and important note: When facing widespread problems (regional power outages from ice storms or hurricanes, for example), every business owner or manager must remember this affects your employees’ families just as much as it affects your business operations. You'll be hard pressed to get everyone in to try and save the business when your employees’ families also are going through considerable hardship. You must keep this in mind in any contingency planning you put together.

Jeff Garell is co-founder of Convergent Technologies Group.