Enhancing communications has long been a key driver for all of us in the IT and telecommunications space. This year, it has become more important than ever. As we all have moved to working and learning from our homes, embracing and creating more meaningful ways to communicate with each other will be increasingly important. Post-COVID-19, we will see even more uses and development of real-time apps that encourage better collaboration and communication. There will be a rise of “TeleHuddle” styled apps.

Similar to a football huddle, a TeleHuddle gives you the opportunity to call the team together and set the play. TeleHuddle real-time apps will enable teams to discuss challenges, ideas, set their plans, and drive results. As we all reevaluate how to work remotely, we will see more and more innovative apps that will allow us all to do this in real-time and with increased capabilities.

Remote healthcare services will no doubt be on the rise over the next five years, especially for non-emergency situations. With telehealth apps, you can get prescriptions and treatment quickly without having to leave your house. Many offer support and provide assistance whether you have insurance or not. We can expect to see a rise in telehealth capabilities, especially when combined with advancements in wearable AI-driven devices that will also positively impact healthcare in our near future. Being able to get more data in real-time will truly change the way we address our health and well-being.

 PTC offers members an amazing opportunity to make new connections, reacquaint with old friends, and network on a global scale. Whether through virtual or in-person events, the PTC ecosystem brings our large industry together and gives us all a way to not only embrace our diversity and differences, but also make meaningful and impactful changes for the betterment of us all. We all have a lot to learn from each other and PTC gives us all a great vehicle to do so.

The increase in demand for interconnected edge data centers spurred 1623 Farnam’s USD 40 million expansion in 2020, making significant upgrades to the facility’s electrical power infrastructure and increasing colocation capacity. 1623 Farnam’s prime location in Omaha, Nebraska, at the nexus of the country’s east-west and north-south cable routes, makes it more important than ever that we enable sufficient interconnection capabilities for our customers and partners. Our goal is to raise awareness of our unique, center-of-the-U.S. location and robust interconnection capabilities for our clients. We are also in close proximity to the largest Google Cloud node in North America and other significant hyperscale builds in the Omaha metro area – making it an ideal location for increased network and cloud capacity. 1623 Farnam is also host to the Omaha IX, offering robust peering capabilities as well. Like PTC, we strive to collaborate, enable new capabilities, and drive innovation alongside our telecom partners and clients.

As an interconnected edge data center and home to Omaha IX, 1623 Farnam is a key hub for global, regional carriers, cloud, and content providers. The future is bright, and we encourage young people to consider the data center and IT industry for their future careers. In our “new normal” with COVID-19, we’ve learned that the telecom industry has been integral in keeping us all online and connected. More and more data will come to the edge and live there. Edge data centers will continue to play an important role as they extend the edge of the network and serve to move computing resources and data storage closer to the end-user.

Located in Omaha, Nebraska, 1623 Farnam is in the middle of the U.S. – we are the edge and are fortunate to be the “home” to many global telecommunication, cloud, and content providers. With our new economy and increased reliance on the Internet, the telecom and data center industry will continue to grow and offer future graduates unlimited opportunities.

One of my favorite hobbies is restoring old boats, which includes the restoration of a 1930’s Yaffer Craft, 1955 Century Resorter, and 1959 Lyman Sleeper.

The Yaffer was built in northern Iowa and was found as a derelict in the back of a warehouse. Now restored with a few new frames and a new transom, it is hanging upside down in the home office.

The Century was a boat similar to the ones that I remember being on lakes when I was a kid riding in my dad’s Larson. The Century was the best “ski boat” of the day, with a flathead motor with two carburetors. First restored 20 years ago (new frames, sides, bottom, and transom), this boat is in the process of getting another new bottom put on it. All of the oak frames and mahogany transom still look great. I enjoy the process and doing the work myself.

The Lyman is a boat that was restored by a retired shop teacher in Rochester, New York, over a 12-year period of time. I kept my eye on it for a couple of years after he was done and put it up for sale. As the price came down, the seller and I kept in touch. I have owned this boat for five years now. Since the purchase, I had the Graymarine V8 rebuilt (removed and installed myself) and refinished all sides, decks, and inside the hull during the off-season. This boat has painted sides with mahogany on the decks, transom, and inside the cockpit.

Other boats have come and gone – two usable wood boats are more than enough to take care of. It has been a very rewarding and enjoyable hobby!