Over the recent years, there has been a significant growth in four key areas of cloud technology, including hybrid-cloud, VDI, Object Storage, and Multi-Cloud Monitoring. With hybrid-cloud, demand comes from enterprises that are beginning to migrate toward multi-cloud solutions which distribute workloads using a mix of on and off-premises solutions to achieve the best optimization, security, and performance. As hybrid and multi-cloud continues to grow, the ability to easily map, monitor, and manage through a single pane of glass gets critical.
Shannon Hulbert, the CEO of Opus Interactive (OI) brings excellent cloud services and solutions, being utilized by leading enterprises to simplify availability, management, and security across their workforce devices.
In an exclusive conversation, Shannon shares her journey in the cloud industry with Mirror Review and explains unique range of solutions offered by Opus Interactive. Also, Shannon discloses her future plans about Opus and expresses her views towards the future of this ever-transforming cloud industry. Here are the engaging answers by Shannon.
From its introduction to dominance, how far has Cloud Computing technology changed the conventional IT scenario?
IT used to be an on-premise solution serviced by a single department with licensed software and hardware costs, managed internally by a single department. Cloud computing is changing that model to one where IT can now scale software and infrastructure through a mix of hybrid cloud offerings that distribute workloads and data storage to where they’re most efficient. And in this model, the hardware and software costs are month-to-month as operational costs instead of capital expenditures. This new delivery of infrastructure, platform, and software opens up the landscape for Enterprise IT to get the most for their IT spend and simplifies scaling.
What type of solutions and services does Opus Interactive offer? Elaborate its highlighting features.
At Opus Interactive, connecting people to technology is our life’s work and our opus. And today, people all over the world are streaming and utilizing connected devices more than ever. Business Insider reported that more than 22.5 billion devices are expected to be connected to the internet by 2021, yielding more data and insights than ever. In response, every business is in some form of digital transformation, whether it’s to meet the connectivity demands coming from customers, workforce, and modernization or maximizing the performance, security, and scalability of their enterprise. New technologies like cloud migration, IoT, AI, Big Data, and Big Data Analytics provide great opportunities, but the journey through digital transformation is difficult to navigate and finding the right partner is the key to success. That’s where OI comes in. We specialize in building custom IT solutions hosted on high-performance infrastructure inside of world-class facilities.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every customer has different goals and different requirements that are needed to reach those goals along with ensuring business continuity. OI offers more than two decades of experience in hosting and managing critical IT infrastructures, as well as strong partnerships to ensure delivery across the board. Whatever the requirements, our approach is to engineer the best solution that delivers where, how, and when the enterprise needs it. Our services include cloud (public/private/hybrid) and IaaS, Colocation, Disaster Recovery and Backup, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Object Storage, and Multi-Cloud Monitoring Services.
What attracted you to start a venture in this ever-expanding technological industry? Who mentored and guided you during your initial career days?
It goes back to connecting people; Opus Interactive began as an IT department in a creative agency in 1996. Back then, we were hosting projects and sites. We evolved to serve as an ISP also and then took on colocation in response to demand from our customers. Our private cloud offering, OpusCloud was launched in 2005, and in response to customer demand, that was the same year, we joined the HPE and VMware partner programs. Today, we offer custom IT solutions available from state-of-the-art facilities that enable our customers to enjoy connectivity from coast to coast with global access. We never really ventured to begin, we just responded to the needs we heard from our customers and the market. We’ve found ourselves in the middle of this ever-expanding technology industry, where hyper-scale giants are dominating the space. Yet, here we are and growing 30% year over year because we continue to listen to the customer and build them the best solutions we can to meet their evolving connectivity needs.
For guidance and mentorship, each member of our leadership team was part of the original company that OI spun out of and we’ve all been fortunate to work closely with a range of experts through our partners and industry organizations. The access to information has always been a conversation away, and we’re forever grateful for that.
Our readers would like to know about your personal journey. Share your faiths, beliefs, and philosophy for life and success.
I’m a little bit of a unicorn, slashing statistical anomaly. I’m a Native American woman in tech. I grew up on the Hoopa Yurok Reservation without connectivity or power. Statistically speaking, my being included in the list of ‘The 10 Most Prominent Leaders in Cloud Computing, 2018’ is highly improbable.
The percent of women in science, tech, engineering, and math jobs (STEM) was 24% in 2017, and less than 10% in leadership positions. For women of color, the percentages are 5% Asian women, 3% African American, and 1% Hispanic women. Native Americans represent approximately 2% of the US population. Percentages for Native American women in tech jobs are so low that they aren’t included in most reports on the subject.
So, my faith, belief, and philosophy for life and success are best represented via Shannon coding, an information theory, which is simply this….it’s in the realm of possible outcomes, until proven otherwise. Dare mighty things, especially if there is any probability it will lead to cool stuff for humanity.
What are your future plans for the company? What role will Opus Interactive play in the coming future?
Our goal is to continue what we’ve always done, connecting people to technology. We’re currently operating in 4 facilities, but our cloud node is easily packaged and we see partnering with more facilities to expand cloud computing from data center to the edge.
What would be your suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start a new venture in this industry?
Business is not just business. Integrity and flexibility are keys to survive for long-term. It means something to build the “right” solution and not just a solution. And being able to adjust that according to the needs of your customers is necessary, because every business is different and constantly evolving. Always be learning and always do the right thing for the right reason.
