Jim Erwin Email and Phone Number

Contractor for Amita Health

I manage a small team of 5 at Winston Brands. The team is comprised of our help desk support for our 3 sites, as well as support for the server and network infrastructure. I personally have had a few areas of focus since taking on this role; Reducing IT Spend, Increasing Infrastructure Stability, and Improving Overall Security. We have strategic partners we work with for our IT needs and I don't typically return cold calls. I also know what deal reg is, so I never discuss upcoming projects with anyone outside of our strategic partners.

While at TEKsystems, contracted at Exelon Generation, I worked as a Nuclear Cyber Security Analyst where I worked on the Defensive Architecture Enhancement project where I built up 2 labs that were later installed at Nuclear Power Plants.

Kantar's parent company, WPP, outsourced all of their IT to IBM, so as of March 2015, I transitioned from a Kantar IT Partnership employee to a IBM employee, but for the first year my job responsibilities remained the same. I supported the network for Kantar offices primarily the Western Hemisphere. Approximately 50% of the time was network break/fix, the other 50% of the time was projects, which typically consisted of office moves, office consolidations, and bringing new offices to the Kantar standard (primarily in Latin America). I supported basically any device with a Cisco logo on it, from lower end catalyst switches, to larger blade series switches, to Nexus data center switches. I supported the Western Hemisphere's Wireless LAN Infrastructure, MPLS and VPN routing infrastructures, and a some of the ASA firewalls and WAN Accelerators. During part of this "Business As Usual" period, I was became the Functional Manager for the US Network, Voice, and Security teams, Most duties were around flow of information between IBM management and this team, but I also coordinated some personnel scheduling, and assisted in the hiring of a contractor for one of our west coast offices.Upon completion of the "Business As Usual" phase, I was moved to a transition team, where my focus was on Knowledge transfer to a 3rd party that would assume network support responsibilities, and I worked with migration teams that were moving servers into the cloud. As network issues were encountered, I do an analysis and work with 3rd party support to resolve issues. Needless to say, this is completely underutilizing my talent.

Please note why this was only a 6-month position. 15 days after I started working for Kantar IT Partnership, Kantar’s parent company announced it was outsourcing all of IT to IBM. 6 months later I transitioned to an IBM employee, but continued to support the Kantar account. At Kantar IT Partnership, I supported and managed the network for Kantar offices primarily the Western Hemisphere. Approximately 50% of the time was network break/fix, the other 50% of the time was projects, which typically consisted of office moves, office consolidations, and bringing new offices to the Kantar standard (primarily in Latin America). The Kantar Standard was POE switches, for voice deployments, MPLS or VPN connections back to our 5 global data centers as well as global wifi. Often this standardization occurred in conjunction with devices joining a new domain, and often included rolling out new subnets to the site, which would require coordination between local contacts, network, security, voice, and Windows AD engineers. I also supported the Midwest data center network, and would regularly perform tasks like provisioning ports for server rollouts, wiring up server racks, and supporting the various needs of our Data Center Server team. I supported basically any device with a Cisco logo on it, from lower end catalyst switches, to larger blade series switches, to Nexus data center switches. I supported the Western Hemisphere's Wireless LAN Infrastructure, MPLS and VPN routing infrastructures, and a some of the ASA firewalls and WAN Accelerators.

I'm the Network Administrator so I work with everything Wilton owns with a Cisco logo on it. 2800/2900/3800/3900 Series Integrated Service Routers, 3750/3560/4500/6500 Switches, Cisco WAAS, Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers, Access Points, PIX and ASA Firewalls. At my previous job I also managed our Cisco VoIP. I take care of our video conferencing equipment, which I'm not real happy about, but I also get to take care of our Log Aggregation. We purchased a Q1 Labs QRadar last spring, hands down best IT equipment I've ever bought. I understand a lot more than Cisco however my current position keeps me busy enough in the Cisco world that I don't wear my server admin hat near as much as I use to, but I'm fine with that

Ah the many hats I wore at Hydro-Gear. I actually really loved working for Hydro-Gear. I became somewhat bitter in 2009 when they took a downturn and I watched several of my friends get let go. The last thing I want to hear is that I should feel lucky or happy to still have a job. My opinion was that they were lucky I was sticking around. I digress...At Hydro-Gear I did it all. From Cisco Switch\Router\Access point\VoIP administration, to Windows Server Administration. I repaired printers, I imaged workstations and I show someone how to use excel. I think the only 2 things I didn't do there was SQL administration and write code. Heck, even towards the end I was supporting some Lotus Notes applications. Without trying to sound cocky, I was very good at my job. I enjoyed the people, the environment, the small town, everything. It was tough for me to move on, but it was the right decision.