Steve Manos accepts leadership role at Norland Managed Services as GM of North America, parties don't stop

Steve Manos announced he was leaving Lee Technologies.

I hope this email finds everyone well rested and recharged from the oasis that is the last week of the year.  It is with mixed emotion that I type this email to notify everyone of my resignation from Lee Technologies to pursue a new endeavor in 2012.  All of you have played a role in my life here at Lee over the last few years whether as clients, partners, co-workers, vendors, etc.  For whatever form our relationship has taken, it is your friendship that has bound us and I am grateful to have forged that during my time here.  Lee Technologies has been an incredible experience for me and the organization has provided me tremendous opportunity and growth.

 

I believe a Roman philosopher once said that from all endings come new beginnings.  Many of you will agree that, in my case, a more fitting proverb would be that of an Irish nature.

 

The Parting Glass

 

Of all the money that e'er I had, 
I spent it in good company. 
And all the harm I've ever done, 
alas it was to none but me. 
And all I've done for want of wit 
to memory now I can't recall; 
So fill to me the parting glass, 
Good night and joy be to you all. 

Of all the comrades that e'er I had, 
They're sorry for my going away. 
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had, 
They'd wish me one more day to stay. 
But since it falls unto my lot, 
That I should rise and you should not, 
I gently rise and I’ll softly call, 
Good night and joy be to you all.

Steve has a new job that will be public soon, but given his new role is starting a North America operations and the web site will not be ready for a couple of weeks Steve let me share what his new job is.  Steve will be General Manager of Norland Managed Services for North America.  This means for those of you who use Norland in Europe, you will now have the option of using the same company in the USA.

Critical Environment Services

We maintain the ‘mission critical’ engineering and infrastructure facilities fundamental to a clients business – facilities whose failure would have a major impact on profit, revenue and reputation.

Working round the clock, our specialist staff oversee and maintain the complex technical infrastructure of leading banks and financial service institutions, data centres, telecommunications, high security broadcasting production and research facilities.

We have harnessed Norland’s unrivalled experience and expertise to develop our pioneering approach ‘Critical Engineering and Risk Management’  (CERM™), which has reduced the operational risk of incidents in critical environments by up to 80%.

Installing and sustaining the correct culture is fundamental to the application and ongoing success of CERM™. We work with our clients to ensure that the entire team is immersed in risk reduction. Change management tools, specialised training, and Norland’s unique management style will support swift culture change, and then sustain this over the long term.

Research has shown that over 90% of business impacts can be traced to a failure of people or process. We’ve taken best practice from nuclear, petrochem and aviation maintenance to develop a bespoke human factors approach which focuses on reducing risk through people.

Steve has created a following with his Lee Tech on Tap and Parties in LV.  And, written quite a few popular blog posts.  I have given Steve the same advice I gave to his brother Mike.  Develop your own brand.  Develop your own blog and twitter following.  Lee Tech on Tap needs to be renamed to Manos on Tap or something like that.

(and yes, the Steve Manos parties in Vegas and other places will continue…)

We'll see when the next LV party is.

Is this the last of Great Steven Manos LV parties, now that Lee Tech is part of Schneider Electric?

Steven Manos asked me if I had any pictures from the party at Pure Nightclub in Las Vegas at AFCOM/Data Center World 2011

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Steven Manos and Katie O'Hara (no relation to me Dave Ohara)

If you are having fun at a LV party the last thing you want is a blogger taking pictures, so I don't bring a camera.

David Schirmacher returns like a boomerang to his Commercial Real Estate Operations Role at Digital Realty Trust as Sr VP of Tech Ops

Digital Realty Trust announced David Schirmacher's new role at Digital Realty Trust as Sr VP of Technical Operations.

Digital Realty Names David Schirmacher Senior Vice President of Technical Operations

Industry Veteran Brings Best-In-Class Experience to Lead Company's Global Technical Operations
Company Release - 01/03/2012 08:00

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SAN FRANCISCOJan. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), a leading global wholesale datacenter provider, has named David Schirmacher Senior Vice President of Technical Operations. Schirmacher will be responsible for technical operations, uptime and reliability of Digital Realty's global portfolio of data center properties in North AmericaEurope and Asia-Pacific. He will report to Senior Vice President of Portfolio Management Dave Caron and will be based in the Metro New York region.

I've had the pleasure of many hours of conversations with David.  For those you who are not familiar with David, here is his background.

Schirmacher joins Digital Realty from FieldView Solutions, a venture capital- backed software company focused on driving data center operational performance, where he was a principal and the Chief Strategy Officer. Prior to FieldView Solutions, Schirmacher was Vice President, Global Head of Engineering and Critical Systems at Goldman Sachs. During his 12+ years at Goldman Sachs, Schirmacher was focused on developing data center strategy and IT infrastructure for the company's headquarters, trading floor, branch offices and data center facilities around the world. Schirmacher has also held senior executive and technical positions at Compass Management and Leasing, and Jones Lang LaSalle.

Back in October David said he was thinking of making a big move.  At 7x24 Exchange in Nov, David let me know of his new job and how it will be announced shortly. One of the things I told him is don't hurry on making the announcement as he was about to leave on a  week cruise after the event, so he wouldn't be reachable and when he returns the thanksgiving holidays start the slow news period.  So, guess what Jan 3, 2012, the press announcement goes out from Digital Realty Trust.  When David told me of the news of his new role as Sr VP of Technical Operations, he told me the story of how Digital Realty had asked for people he thought of who could do the job.  He threw the names out, but Digital Realty kept on coming back to see if he would take the job.  David was returning to his past like jobs he had in real estate operations he had at Compass Management and Jones Lang LaSalle.  The image came to mind is like a boomerang that comes back.  It takes skill to throw a boomerang to come back.

David has his share of data center skills, and is one of the great guys to discuss new ideas.  The Digital Realty press release chooses to emphasize David's strength of thought leadership.

Considered a thought leader within the data center industry, Schirmacher has held a leadership position at 7x24 Exchange International, served on the Technical Advisory Board of Mission Critical Magazine, and spoken widely at industry conferences.

I've had the luxury of knowing David's change would be announced in the new year.  And, as expected he has a lot of phone calls today.

One year later, words to remember our Dear Friend Olivier Sanche

In conversations with Olivier Sanche's wife, she had mentioned a simple request she had made to Apple to plant a tree in memory of Olivier. Her request was not answered, so I offered to contact eBay's VP of Technical Operations, Mazen Rawashdeh. Mazen supported the request and made the executive decision to plant a tree at the data center Olivier designed and built in Salt Lake City.

In addition to the tree eBay planted they created a plaque.

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"The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky. - Antoine De Saint-Exupery, The Wisdom of the Sands"

"This tree is dedicated to the memory of Olivier Sanche who passed away on November 26, 2010. Olivier was a colleague, peer, mentor, and friend to many in the eBay family. At his memorial he was remembered as someone who lit up a room whenever he entered in through his big personality and solid foundation. The tree symbolizes that seed of friendship, wisdom, and inspiration that he planted with so many. May it, like his memory, continue to grow."

The above plaque was set  in Aug 2011, and KC Mares even posts in Sept 2011 about the plaque, tree, and conference room named after Olivier.  I have been waiting for eBay to post something official, but I must have missed the notices and I can't find it on the web. When I contacted Olivier's wife to ask what she thought of the plaque, she said no one from eBay had contacted her regarding the memorial efforts.  So, I decided to move on my own and ask a few friends to contribute their words to remember Olivier by.

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First, Mike Manos's (AOL) words.

Olivier was a man of quiet action.  Benjamin Franklin said “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.”  There is not a month that goes by where I am reminded of my conversations with Olivier.  His influence is still felt throughout our industry and his passion has left an indelible mark that has changed our industry for the better.  True leadership comes from passion and heart.  Olivier had plenty of both.  It’s a rare thing especially when you compare it to many of the ‘pretenders and self-promoters’ who have come after.  His influence was soft but strong, not in-your-face but analytical and probing.  He led you down a path so you understood his position and hopefully adopted it as your own.   Oliver remains a strong voice amongst us and his legacy will be felt for years to come.   On a personal note I continue to miss and mourn a good friend taken far too early.

Nic Bustamente (Microsoft).

Christian [Belady] and I were just talking about him recently, it doesn't seem like a year's gone by. We sat in stunned silence thinking about Olivier . . . . it's still shocking.

Joe Kava (Google)

 

it's hard to believe that more than a year has gone by since Olivier's passing.  I think the fact that many industry notables still speak so fondly of him is a tribute to what a great person he was.  Genuinely one of the "good guys" who really cared and poured his heart into what he was passionate about... his family, his work, the environment, etc.
I continue to miss him.

 

 

Anonymous

 

 

Olivier was a friend and mentor in so many ways.  We would argue to the point of people entering the room to see if we were ok, then we would head of to a night of dinner and drinks together.  I really miss his smile and his way of looking at things.  I would like to make sure that his memory is maintained in a manner appropriate to the life and passion he brought to our industry.

 

Vim Kumar (ex-AT&T reporting to Olivier)

Olivier was a natural born leader and never afraid to roll his sleeves up and "get dirty" with the folks on the floor.  Talk about motivation!  To see your director actually doing something about a problem instead of talking about it really gets you going to get the job done.

Charles Kalko (Skype, ex-eBay)

Olivier is best remembered for his passion to for the environment and his belief that we all can make a difference.

 

House tour of finished home

I can mix work with my home life which has its plusses and some inconveniences as work meetings can spill into my home.  I was recently chatting with some data center friends and they wanted to see the latest pictures of our house now that is done and has more furnishings.  They had both seen the house during construction.

Here are a bunch which saves me the time of arranging more work meetings at home. :-)

Here is the front of the house.

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A view of the front door from inside the house.

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Going up the attic you can see the front door.

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To give you a range of the house here are the bathrooms.

My son's.

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Daughter.

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Master Bathroom

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guest bathroom.

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Coming down the stairs to the kitchen.

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And of course my pizza oven. 2,500 lbs, 110,000 btu woodstone pizza oven. Which is part of the entertaining of work and friends, cooking a great meal.

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My wife got her killer closet. below is a 1/4 view of the 12x12x12 closet.

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Here is a picture that shows the height of the 12 1/2 ft ceilings.

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The kitchen is wide open to the lake view.

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Here is the backside of the house.  We have had numerous friends warn us that the kids will sneak out their windows as they get older. I have that problem taken care of as I have a security camera night vision system with a PVR 2 week recording capacity on an APC battery back-up, covering the front and back of the house.  Video recording is a cool way to document things, and easy to set up streams.  We've also put one of the cameras in the attic to document who hit who when the kids are playing. "do you really want dad to go through the video to see what happened upstairs?"

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And, here is our first thanksgiving family dinner.  Christmas is coming up and we'll have 25 - 30 people for a Christmas eve party.

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All these pictures except the family one are from building contractor, Lavallee Construction.

WE’RE COMMITTED TO QUALITY CUSTOM CONSTRUCTION

Lavallee Construction is an independently owned, full-service home builder providing general contracting and design/build services for residential clients throughout Greater Seattle. After more than 21 years in business, we have developed a reputation for intelligent design, creative problem solving and an uncompromising commitment to professionalism and integrity that has made us one of the area's most respected contractors. Whether we are constructing your new home, adding an addition or renovating parts of your existing structure, our mission is to work in partnership with you to bring your residential dreams to life.

Amazon Web Services exec killed in plane crash

In the local news there was news about about an Amazon exec who was killed in a plane crash.

Amazon.com exec killed in Michigan plane crash

ST. IGNACE, Mich. - A top executive with Amazon.com was one of two men killed in a plane crash late Saturday in northern Michigan, officials confirmed.

Coast Guard crews found the plane wreckage Sunday at about noon after detecting a signal from an emergency locator beacon.

On board the crashed plane was Amazon's web services director, Thomas Phillips, 52, with homes in Kirkland and Mackinac Island, and Joseph Pann Jr., 29, of St. Ignace.

Tom Phillips

Unfortunately, I knew the exec from his Microsoft days in Windows Hardware groups.

General Manager, Windows Hardware

Microsoft

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; MSFT; Computer Software industry

December 2001 – October 2003 (1 year 11 months) Redmond, WA

Responsible for a 450 person worldwide team that developed breakthrough hardware and software product innovations. Also responsible for creating programs and web services that were used to eliminate the top causes of Windows system errors and crashes. This work included hardware and software prototyping, including joint design work with industry partners to create new usage models for Microsoft products.

Tom's latest job at Amazon was.

Director / General Manager

Amazon.com

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; AMZN; Internet industry

January 2011 – Present (1 year) Seattle, WA

Responsible for the Windows Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Services within Amazon Web Services (AWS).

It is always sad to see a work colleague depart early in their life.  Tom was on his way to his second home.

Phillips had a house on the bluffs of Mackinac Island, just five minutes flight time away, an exclusive vacation destination where cars are banned.

Mackinac Island resident Sherri Plutchak said Phillips and his wife and daughters always got together with friends there in December.

"He will be missed," Plutchak said. "A great family."

Longtime colleague Kolb said Phillips "was a linchpin for many among his family, his friends and his church."