My first thought for creating this blog came from a response to isolation. We face something new called Social Distancing. How do we interact? How do we share information? How do we share experiences?

There is a phrase, “get comfortable being uncomfortable.” Now, more than ever, am I experiencing this.

As a response to these thoughts, I realize there is a need for change. For now, in the current moment, I am not able to get out in front of people. There is no option to visit with customers. It is time to start something new. As a first step, I am deciding to jump into this digital era to bring my experiences to others in a new format. Thus, beginning nutanix[ed].

So, let’s start this off with a little about[me]!

My name is Edward Keiper. I live outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where I have spent my entire life. I bring 20+ years of technology experience to this blog. I have learned many things throughout my career, and I am excited to bring those experiences into my blog.

As I reflect on where my passion for technology started, it is interesting to recall my true beginnings. I remember building my first computer. My father was involved. We decided to visit a computer show outside of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It was here that I bought, piece by piece, every component it would take to build my first computer system. Honestly, I had no idea, nor did my father, the first thing about computers. It just seemed like something fun to do together. It was this experience that led to my eventual IT career, and it is something I am proud to have found roots in alongside my father.

Out of college, I took my first job in computer sales. It was here that I quickly realized that it would be possible for me to turn my passion into a career that would sustain me. After the first couple of months of sales, it became evident that my sincere desire was to not only be around people but also solving technical issues. It was at this point that I moved into a more technical role and took my first Network Administrator role. What was comforting is that it was with the same company.

I stayed with my first employer for 11 years. Here, I gained experience in all technologies and solutions, including server-based solutions, storage, virtualization, backup, enterprise applications, and cloud design. At the same time, I took on management roles in the company, guiding others as we reinvented our business over and over for our customers based on the latest technology trends.

One of the trends that I identified early was healthcare. It was 2011 at the time, and healthcare practices were feeling the pressures of converting to electronic medical records, known as EMR. It was my opportunity to start something new, or catch the wave! In 2011 I founded Velocity Managed Services Inc. (VMSI), hosting for EMR solutions.

Our focus was on small practices—healthcare providers who were not interested in being acquired by the larger hospital systems. We hosted the customer’s application at our data center and provided them remote access to it. Now, we were a start-up, so we did not have ‘our’ data center. Instead, we colocated at a shared data center. At the time, it was DBSI. Then it was acquired by Xand. Shortly after that, TierPoint. Just from that, you can tell that technology trends were moving quickly.

It was not long until we were hosting hundreds of users. That evolved into thousands of users. How did we manage rapid growth? How did we scale? What problems did we face? How did we overcome them? What lessons did I learn along the way?

Follow my blog, and I will share with you my experience and advice as you advance your career in the modern data center era.

That’s all about[ed].