Posts by Stephen Collins
About Stephen Collins
Stephen Collins has 35 years of networking and telecommunications experience across many segments of the industry in both business and technology, having served in executive and managerial roles for a number of leading companies: general manager, VP of product marketing, VP of business development, product line manager and software engineering manager. He also has extensive experience bringing new products to market with technology-driven startups and emerging growth companies as an executive, independent consultant and advisor to early-stage investors. Most recently, Stephen was VP of product marketing and business development at Active Broadband Networks. Prior to that, he was VP of marketing at Acme Packet, VP of marketing and business development at Tatara Systems, and VP of marketing at Sonus Networks. In 1998, Stephen co-founded Spring Tide Networks, which was acquired by Lucent Technologies for $1.5 billion. He began his career in 1981 at pre-divestiture AT&T Bell Labs working on the Digital Data System and then at BBN Communications gained firsthand experience with IP networking on the ARPANET. He joined Wellfeet Communications in 1986 as a founding engineer and developed two generations of multiprotocol routers, eventually serving as product line manager when Wellfleet was twice ranked the #1 fastest growing company in the U.S. by Fortune magazine. Stephen is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has authored numerous articles for trade publications. He holds an M.S. in Computer, Information and Control engineering from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Computer Systems Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He currently serves as an advisor to the ECE departments at UMass Amherst and UMass Dartmouth. He also mentors students in technology innovation and entrepreneurship at Brown University.
Cloud-Scale Visibility Tools: The Right Stuff
Digital transformation is not for the faint of heart. In this post, ACG Analyst Stephen Collins discusses why it’s critical for ITOps, NetOPs, SecOPs and DevOps teams to make sure they have the right stuff and are properly equipped for the network visibility challenges they face.
Moving from Silos to Synergy
Silos in enterprise IT organizations can inhibit cross-functional synergies, leading to inefficiencies, higher costs and unacceptable delays for detecting and repairing problems. In this post, ACG analyst Stephen Collins examines how IT managers can start planning for now as the first step in moving from silos to synergy.
Machine Learning and AI: The Superhero Solution for IT Operations
At that ONUG Spring 2018 event, ACG analyst Stephen Collins moderated a panel discussion on re-tooling IT operations with machine learning and AI. The panelists provided a view “from the trenches.” In this post, Collins shares insights into how panelists’ organizations are applying ML and AI today, each in different operational domains, but with a common theme of overcoming the challenge of managing operations at scale.
The Rise of the Machines? Bring It On!
Applying AI and machine learning to network infrastructure monitoring allows for closed-loop automation. In this post, ACG analyst Stephen Collins discusses the benefits, including how real-time insights derived from streaming telemetry data are fed back into the orchestration stack to automatically reconfigure the network without operator intervention.
DDoS Protection in the Wild Wild West
The Internet is the wild wild west — and the pace of DDoS attacks is not letting up. But thanks to recent advances in streaming telemetry, network visibility, and Big Data, the good guys are armed with the weapons they need to maintain the peace.
Hybrid Multi-Cloud and Hyperscale Performance Monitoring: Go Big or Go Home
Forward-thinking IT managers are already embracing big data-powered SaaS solutions for application and performance monitoring. If hybrid multi-cloud and hyperscale application infrastructure are in your future, ACG Analyst Stephen Collins’ advice for performance monitoring is “go big or go home.”
Preparing for the Hybrid Multi-Cloud Endgame
While we’re still in the opening phase of the hybrid multi-cloud chess game, ACG analyst Stephen Collins takes a look at what’s ahead. In this post, he digs into what enterprises embracing the cloud can expect in the complex endgame posing many new technical challenges for IT managers.
Internet Underlay Visibility is Critical for SD-WAN Overlays
Fixing a persistent Internet underlay problem might be as simple as using a higher bandwidth connection or as complex as choosing the right peering and transit networks for specific applications and destination cloud services. In this blog, ACG analyst Stephen Collins advices that to make the best-informed decision about how to proceed, IT managers need to be equipped with tools that enable them to fully diagnose the nature of Internet underlay connectivity problems.
SaaS Applications: No-Brainer or Headache?
Traditional monitoring tools for managing application performance in private networks are not well-suited to ensuring the performance, reliability and security of SaaS applications. In this post, ACG analyst Stephen Collins makes the case for why enterprise IT managers need to employ a new generation of network visibility and big data analytics tools designed for the vast scale of the Internet.
Massive Scale Visibility Challenges Inside Hyperscale Data Centers
The adoption of hyperscale principles presents data center operators with massive scale visibility challenges. Yet it’s inevitable. In this post, ACG analyst Stephen Collins discusses why operators need to prepare for the inevitable by acquiring and mastering the new tools needed to assure the performance, reliability and security of these applications.
Industry 4.0: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Industry 4.0 is the next phase in the digitization of the manufacturing sector. In this post, ACG Research’s Principal Analyst Stephen Collins looks at the major implications that Industry 4.0 will create for enterprise IT systems, software and network infrastructure, and how to model, monitor and control it all.
Digital Transformation Starts With Managing Digital Disruption
While defining digital transformation strategies is a valuable exercise for C-level executives, CIOs and IT managers also need to adopt a pragmatic and more tactical approach to “going digital.” That starts with acquiring tools and building the new skills needed to ensure business success and profitability in the face of digital disruption. In this post, ACG Principal Analyst Stephen Collins looks at how to manage it all.