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SE Spotlight

Cheryl Jameson
VMware Senior Pre-Sales Engineer

Putting a face to a name makes good business sense, but how many of us could pick those we speak with on the phone or through email on a regular basis out in a line up? Each quarter we'd like to spotlight a member of the Data Center team and let you get to know them a little better. If you've ever had a VMware question, you may have spoken with Cheryl Jameson, Tech Data's VMware Senior Pre-Sales Engineer.

How long have you worked at Tech Data?
Since 1993. I started at Tech Data as a Post Technical Support Technician, but realized within a few months that the most exciting opportunities were in pre-sales. I love helping customers design and solve problems from a pre-sales perspective. I moved into a split pre-sales position as an AST Computers and Exebyte engineer, combining server technology with data recovery. In about a year, I changed roles and became the Motorola SE specializing in their Voice over IP products right before that technology took off. Since then, I've been an SE for 3Com, Cisco, Extreme Networks and for the last three years, I've been with VMware.

What made you choose to join VMware?
While I was the Extreme Networks SE, I had dabbled in virtualization, just for fun, by setting up voice PBX inside virtual machines and tying them into Extreme switches with VoIP phones. I found the virtualization technology amazing and intriguing. When VMware came onboard at Tech Data, I leapt at the opportunity.

What certifications do you hold?
I hold the latest VMware VCP certification, as well as a certification in Cisco Voice CCVP combined with the CCNP and CCDP.

What is a typical day for Cheryl?
I spend my day doing so many things, including taking incoming calls and emails from our Tech Data partners, as well as the internal staff. My forte is answering technical design VMware questions and designing virtual server infrastructures, but I also like performing live product demonstrations from our VMware Transformation Center and providing product training on all of the VMware product offerings.

Any words of advice you can provide to the resellers visiting the site?
Visit the Tech Data Solutions Center. It's more than 6,000 square feet with the state-of-the-art technologies your customers want. Inside the Solutions Center is the VMware Transformation Center which has several different brands of servers, networking and storage making its hardware technologically neutral. You'll find the latest vSphere software along with other VMware products such as Site Recovery Manager, VMware View, vCloud Director, Capacity IQ and Data Recovery.

For more information about VMware, send an email to sevmware@techdata.com or call 800-237-8931, ext 80333.

Data Center Health Tips

People spend a lot of time and effort when researching and purchasing their data center products, but maintaining your data center is just as important providing you with greater efficiencies and more bang for your buck.

Here are some noteworthy tips for you to consider to keep your data center healthy.
  • Just like at home, it's best to change your data center's air filters regularly. There's no reason not to since new filters are cheap and it's easy to do—much cheaper and easier than replacing components.
  • Keep your data center neat and tidy. Use your physical space wisely and don't overcrowd to prevent problems with power and cooling. Also, it's best to rack and stack your hardware in an efficient manner.
  • Make your data center work smarter, not harder. Use your hardware intelligently by using server virtualization, storage and backup recovery to get more out of it. To keep your data center running at its most efficient best, have a plan as to what to do with your outdated hardware.
  • Keep the environment balanced. Like an expensive, exotic plant, your data center responds well to the proper environment. Too much humidity can lead to tape and disk drive corrosion, while too little can cause electrostatic discharge damage. You can keep things just right with inexpensive temperature and humidity sensors.
  • It's easier to plan ahead than to play catch up. Take a little bit of time every day for a walkthrough keeping up-to-date records of what you find. With these kinds of records, it's easy to spot anomalies before they become disasters.