Weblog of Mark Vaughn, and IT professional and vExpert specializing in Enterprise Architecture, virtualization, web architecture and general technology evangelism

Tag: INX

Time for Change

Well, I have been with INX for almost 18 months now, and it is time for a change…kind of. Actually, I am not going anywhere, but INX is changing. You may have noticed the press releases over the last few weeks about Presidio purchasing INX, and that transaction closed December 30. The final press release is located here. In fact, Presidio was purchased by American Securities mid-2011. With Presidio and INX together, American Securities has created an IT consulting and services force that will dominate the market in 2012.

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So what does this mean for Presidio and INX clients? Expect a lot more of the same high quality work, with some dramatic improvements. We now have a bigger footprint, a deeper pool of knowledge, even better vendor relationships and a roster full of rock stars in IT (http://www.presidio.com/about-presidio/technical-expertise.php – as impressive as it is, I know this list is not complete yet).

Presidio was roughly twice the size of INX in people and revenue. Together, we now have 1,800 IT professions, with over 800 of those being highly skilled consulting engineers. We also have over 45 offices across the United States. Where Presidio offices were heavily concentrated east of the Mississippi, INX was heavily concentrated west of the Mississippi. Both Presidio and INX have been dominant forces in their markets, with little crossover. This lends itself to a very easy transition that allows most INX offices to simply become regional offices within Presidio. More of those details will be made public in the future, but those are not the important details. Two highly effective and very successful service providers are merging, and a great deal of attention is being paid to leveraging the strengths of both organizations as we become the largest solution provider in the United States.

I have been involved in more mergers than I can count, and I can tell you that this one looks to be the smoothest transition that I have ever seen. I fully expect this new organization to be much greater than the sum of Presidio and INX put together. Just take a look at the impressive list of awards and recognitions that this new organization has racked up (http://www.presidio.com/about-presidio/awards-and-recognition.php).  As you look at that list, realize that this was achieved by Presidio and INX working separately, then think of what we will achieve as the new Presidio. 1 + 2 is going to equal 5, and I am excited to be a part of it.

The last 18 months have been a great ride, but I have a feeling it was just a warm up lap for the ride we have ahead of us. In fact, I think that 2012 will be so great that we will need 366 days to accommodate all of the awesomeness 😉

Turning the Page

It is very odd to be writing this, I don’t think the reality will set in for a few days. After almost 12 years at The First American Corporation/CoreLogic, I will be moving on. When I came here, I was just a few years out of college and recently married to my junior high crush. While here, we have had two children, I finished my MBA and few IT certs, markets have gone up and down, towers have fallen and the world has changed. This has been a great home, where I found a lot of talented people to work with and some great mentors to help me along the way. While I am confident in my move, it wasn’t easy to walk away from the family I have built here.

The IT world is changing and I want to play a bigger role in what that new landscape will look like. I wanted to be somewhere that would enable me to make a difference, in a role that would allow me to be an evangelist for emerging technologies and to assist people in leveraging those technologies to improve their business. However, it was going to have to be the right opportunity to justify a move.

A few months ago, a friend of mine from the vExpert program was visiting town and we met for dinner. This topic came up, and things began to click. More discussions were had and an opportunity came up that was aligned perfectly with what I was looking for. I guess that I now owe Steve Kaplan (@roidude) a dinner.

I just left The First American Corporation/CoreLogic as a visitor for the first time since 1998, when I came here to interview. Tomorrow, I start as a Consulting Principal for INX. I am sure there will be some initial culture shock as I move from customer to Partner/VAR, but it is a ride that I am looking forward to. INX has been awarded Partner of the Year by both VMware and Cisco for two years in a row, and those are just a few of the many awards that INX has won. I am joining a great team, with a strong track record, and I cannot wait to see where the future is leading.

To my family at First American/CoreLogic, thank you for allowing me to be a part of the team, best wishes for the futures of both The First American Corporation and the newly formed CoreLogic. To my new colleagues at INX, let’s roll!