Over the past few weeks, we’ve been asked by a few “who will be teaching iPexpert’s CCIE R&S, Collaboration and Data Center classes?” Well, I’m happy to announce our new team of “Next Generation” instructors. When I mapped out our “Next Generation” strategy, which we will be unveiling in early June, I decided to look for particular types of instructors who would complement the overall company strategy. Over 13 years in business, I’ve realized what works and what doesn’t. When we unveil what “iPexpert Next Generation” really is and means (June) – it will all make sense to you!
One of the things I wanted to accomplish, was to build a team of “R&S Heavy” instructors. As you will see below, 5 out of 6 of my instructors all have their CCIE R&S. Terry and Laurent will be leading our R&S initiatives, and also be assisting in our Data Center portfolio, and Jason will be leading our Data Center strategy – while also assisting in our R&S initiatives . The remainder of my instructors w/ their R&S CCIE will be involved in various aspects of “Next Generation” all assisting within the R&S track, which will allow for us to accomplish one of the biggest changes you’ll see when “Next Generation” goes live.
CCIE Routing and Switching & CCIE Data Center
Terry Vinson (Dual CCIE R&S and DC)
Terry Vinson is a seasoned instructor, with nearly 25 years of experience teaching and writing technical courses and training materials. During the 15-year span prior to joining iPexpert as a full-time instructor, Terry taught and developed training content, as well as provided technical consulting for high-end firms in the N. Virginia / Washington DC area. His technical expertise lies in the Cisco arena with a focus on all Routing and Switching technologies as well as the latest Data Center technologies including Nexus switching, unified computing, and storage area networking (SAN) technologies. Terry’s most recent accomplishment was being selected as the co-author of the Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide Library, 5th Edition, which is soon to be released by Cisco Press. Terry has been focusing on iPexpert’s new CCIE R&S V5 Next Generation product portfolio and will be teaching a majority of our CCIE R&S bootcamps. He is also going to be involved in teaching CCIE Data Center classes, and ensuring that our R&S and Data Center products are overhauled – and seen as the best in the industry.
Jason Lunde (Dual CCIE R&S and DC)
Jason Lunde is a dual CCIE who passed the R&S v4 lab in 2011, and the data center lab in December of 2013, both on his first attempt. He also holds a BS in CIS from Colorado State Univ.- Pueblo, and a MS in Infosec. Mgmt. from Colorado Technical Institute. He has been in and around the networking industry since 2006. His real-world expertise spans many verticals such as oil & gas, education, banking, entertainment, and retail. His past several years have been spent doing post-sales designs, configurations, and troubleshooting for a Cisco partner in the mid-west; providing services for both SMB and enterprise-level clients. His primary focus over the past two years has been around datacenter technologies such as OTV, FabricPath, VPC, and converged networking. Jason’s primary focus is going to be to ensure that iPexpert’s Data Center product portfolio (CCNA, CCNP and CCIE) are the best in the world. He’ll be teaching our CCIE Data Center classes, and when able – assisting with R&S development and bootcamps.
Laurent Metzger (Triple CCIE R&S, Data Center and Storage)
Laurent, a triple CCIE, has been working in the telecommunications industry for over a decade. He has extensive hands-on experience supporting and troubleshooting some of the largest networks in France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, with a primary focus on MPLS/VPN service provider, and Cisco Data Center networks and technologies. Recently, he has been a Sr. Network Architect for highly-visible corporations in Switzerland, where he has designed, installed, supported, and trained on various data center technologies, including LAN-SAN convergence, virtualization, hybrid cloud solutions, and inter-DC communication. Laurent is involved in iPexpert’s Next Generation CCIE Data Center and R&S self-study product development and also teaches CCIE R&S and Data Center classes throughout Europe.
CCIE Collaboration
Andy Vassar (Dual CCIE R&S and Collaboration)
Andy Vassar is a dual CCIE who passed the CCIE Routing & Switching lab in September 2008 and the CCIE Voice lab in September 2010. He then upgraded to the CCIE Collaboration in March 2014. Andy also holds a Bachelors Degree in Network Engineering Technology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has been a part of the networking industry for over ten years, and has recently been focused on corporate voice & video (collaboration) network design, support, and implementation. While working for Cisco as a senior network engineer in Chicago, Andy had the opportunity to work with several highly-visible, large-scale clients where he designed, optimized, and trained various staff departments and employees on how to support their enterprise voice and video networks. With nearly a decade of hands-on experience with Cisco technologies, as well as Cisco’s Collaboration hardware and application portfolio, Andy is leading iPexpert’s Next Generation CCIE Collaboration training and product development initiatives, and will be delivering live CCIE Collaboration bootcamps in our newest office, right outside of Chicago.
CCIE Wireless
Jeff Rensink (Dual CCIE R&S and Wireless)
Jeff Rensink is a dual CCIE who passed the R&S lab in 2009 and the Wireless 2.0 lab in January of 2013. He also holds a bachelors degree in IT Management from Concordia University in St. Paul, MN. Jeff has worked in the networking industry since 2006, starting in the enterprise space. In 2009, he worked on a team supporting one of the largest datacenters in Minnesota. His last employer was one of the premier Cisco gold partners in Minnesota, where Jeff was the lead wireless engineer for the majority of his time there. Jeff’s wireless experience spans local and national companies across many verticals including enterprise, retail, healthcare, education, and manufacturing. Jeff heads up iPexpert’s CCNA, CCNP and CCIE Wireless product portfolio and classes.
CCIE Security
Piotr Kaluzny (CCIE Security)
Piotr, a MSC in Computer Science, has been in the networking industry for over seven years working in several different capacities within enterprise Cisco environments. His responsibilities included, but were not limited to, implementation, design, and level three technical support. Piotr already has an extensive background as a Technical Instructor – he has been designing and developing Cisco training solutions and teaching CCIE classes for the past four years. He primarily focuses on Network Security, and is the author of most of iPexpert’s current Security Portfolio – from CCNA, to CCNP, up through the CCIE level.
