Hiding In A Local NOC During Another Snowstorm

Ugh. Another snowstorm is moving in here on Long Island. And I’m scheduled to moderate an MSPmentor Live webcast from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. eastern today. So how do I cope with bad weather — especially when snow and ice can knock out power to my home office? My answer is rather simple: I call a local managed services provider, head to their NOC (network operations center), and moderate our webcast from their offices.

The MSP is BlueWater Communications Group (Twitter: @blueh2ogroup), one of Cisco’s fastest-growing channel partners. I’ve known the management team for my entire life… they grew up two houses from my home. BlueWater built a NOC about 20 minutes from my house, and they service mid-size and large organizations across New York and surrounding states. The company has a particularly close following in the higher-education vertical.

So, a tip of my hat (again) to the BlueWater team. For the third time in three years, I’m hiding from the snow and ice and preparing to moderate a webcast from the safety of BlueWater’s NOC.