You know the pandemic drags on too long when the new participants of the Extreme Hero program have yet to meet in person. Before we all do, give a warm welcome to our guest – Kevin Philippe, Network & Security Engineer at Damovo Luxembourg!
Hello Kevin! How are you? How has 2022 been for you so far?
Hello there! Actually, 2022 didn't start very well for me, as I was hit with COVID and had to stay some time on quarantine. Luckily it was only a couple of days and everything’s fine now, though!
You achieved the Extreme Hero status in no time. What was this journey like for you? What convinced you to follow the ‘purple path’ in the first place? Has your good colleague, Ludovic Saas, got anything to do with that?
I achieved the Extreme Hero status, along with the Purple Belt, in March 2021. My company back then, Atos and now Damovo are both Extreme Networks partners, so we propose Extreme Networks solutions to customers in Luxembourg and the neighboring countries. In this sense, getting Extreme Certifications is a great path to provide the best level of services. Sure, we talked a lot about that with Ludovic before he moved from Damovo to Extreme Networks. We still remain in close contact and work on various project, which is very cool! 😊
You came to Damovo from the mentioned Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, as part of the transfer of the company’s Unified Communications & Collaborations activities in Benelux and Nordics. Did the change affect you in any way?
Frankly speaking, I haven’t felt much of a difference. Of course, Atos was a great professional experience for me, being a big company and a global leader in digital transformation. On the other hand, I think that the vision of Damovo better suits me and meets my expectations as an integrator of ICT managed services and solutions. We are expanding and we can accomplish great many things in the near future!
You have an experience in various public sector projects like financial organizations, EU institutions, and healthcare. How does your partnership with Extreme fall into this landscape?
That’s true, I have worked on projects of various sizes and complexity in different countries and diverse sectors. For example, I’m currently working on a big network project based on Extreme Fabric Design for a Luxembourg Public Administration. A second one will start in a few weeks or months and will involve a customer from the healthcare sector. Our partnership with Extreme Networks allows us to get involved in numerous different types of projects, all of them being very exciting!
Any nice deals you've helped with recently?
As a matter of fact, yes. I’ve participated in some new deals over the last few months. I always try to bring my technical experience on Extreme products and solutions to support our sales team during the sales process.
We know you also have a strong background in Cisco technologies. How would you compare Extreme solutions to other vendors you had worked with earlier? Being an Engineer, which solution or product do you particularly like to work with?
Extreme Networks may be less known than Cisco but what they actually offer is pretty much on the same level and I would go as far as to say that in some areas Extreme outdoes Cisco. For example, I really liked the XMC solution from Extreme Networks. I find it super easy to use and you can really customize it according to your needs.
Which technology and solution areas are you most excited about right now? How do you feel about the expanding ExtremeCloud portfolio?
I’m very excited to discover in depth the ExtremeCloud IQ platform during our upcoming project, explore all its features and see how the solutions works in real time. I have never had the time or opportunity to actually use it, to be honest. It’ll be a great challenge, but a fun one, to be sure.
Today, you’re one of the most experienced Heroes in Luxembourg. However, the moment we welcomed you to our program coincided with the outbreak of the pandemic… What are you excited about the most when everything goes back to normal, and we can all meet again?
I can’t wait to experience the ‘real’ Extreme Heroes program, meet everyone in person and participate in all these amazing events! To get involved with the technical community and exchange professional experiences with other people in flesh and blood. That being said, I hope this year will mark the end of all restrictions caused by the pandemic globally, so that I can finally travel around the world again. 😊