About
Who am I?
My name is Ted Romer, and I’ve been involved in networking for quite some time now. What I love most about what I do is having the ability to teach others about networking. I’ve taught Cisco technologies for a number of years now. I originally started teaching the Cisco Networking Academy Program to high school students (CCNA). I did that for around three years and decided to teach at a local college in my area. I taught CCNA and CCNP classes there for almost three years as well. I stopped teaching (Summer ‘07) so I could spend my spare time studying for the CCIE and other fun stuff.
I also worked at Cisco in Austin, TX for a year. I was in the remote operations group focusing on Unified communications (CCM, Unity, voice gateways and gatekeepers). There are so many awesome people at Cisco and you really learn a ton! When I got hired at Cisco it was truly my dream job and where I wanted to be. Unfortunately, I kind of found myself in a position where I wasn’t at the best location to move around within Cisco (sniff… sniff…)
I have also worked for Applied Materials, based in Austin TX. Their main data center is here in Austin. I had the opportunity to work on many different areas of technology including :: wireless, video (TP), voice, data center, storage and security. I also had extensive experience implementing the Nexus 7000 line of switches, 6500 VSS, and ASR 1004 platforms in the data center.
I currently work for a company based out of Houston called Accudata Systems. My role is a consultant and I also assist with technical pre-sales when I have free cycles. I also deal with post-sales projects (installs) and customer incidents. My primary territory is Austin and San Antonio, but I could end up in Dallas or Houston on occasion. The company has less than 200 employees and a really great culture. It’s going to allow me to work with all sorts of different technologies from partners such as :: Cisco, Juniper, Aruba, Riverbed, Citrix, F5, and EMC. Those are the major ones on the infrastructure side, but the list continues to grow within the other areas like security. They won Cisco partner of the year for 2009 (in our region)! Being a consultant is extremely challenging and rewarding. A position where I need to stay current on the latest technologies from multiple vendors really plays to my strengths.
I hold various certifications from both Microsoft and Cisco. I am CCIE #21785 
Hobbies
I’m really a die-hard PC gamer at heart. It’s probably what got me into all this networking stuff. I really got into the computer side of things early on, which led me here I guess. I remember the first time I bought a hub so my brother and I could play against each other in a multiplayer game. Before that, we used to have to call each other over the phone lines even though we lived in the same house. I still remember the days of playing quake on a 28k connection. Back then it took so much more skill to hit people. I only play about once or twice a week nowadays, but battlefield 2 is my game of choice until something better comes along…
To some extent, what I do for a living is also something I enjoy playing with on the side (hence the blog..). Sometimes I can’t believe I get paid to do what I do since I feel like I’m out having fun all day. I’m fortunate in that I really enjoy what I do, and happy that it follows me home as well 
I also enjoy bird hunting, riding bikes and working on various projects around the house. My wife and I absolutely love the movies. My first real job was working as a projectionist and ever since then I’ve been hooked. We try to see at least one new movie every week.
What’s in a name?
The story behind the name of this site is kinda interesting. It’s no secret that I’m a Cisco fanatic, and I often state that Cisco is the answer to everything. “Should have gone with Cisco”, is a phrase that I probably said one too many times — and for good reasons! Some of my friends believe this to be my trademark identity?
Why me?
I decided that it was time to start a site where I could discuss my joys and tribulations in the networking realm. My main motivation for a site like this is because of my pursuit of the CCIE certification in Routing and Switching. I believe that my day-to-day research could prove to be very insightful for some. I really wanted to be able to share information on a more global scale, so the Internet is the way to go right? Lately, I have been doing a little bit of everything from book reviews to emerging data center technologies. All good stuff…
Update::
CCIE R&S= done so I’m currently working on the CCIE Voice.
For Comments or Suggestions Email me