Aviatrix recently had the honor of hosting several cloud networking experts, customers, partners, and thought leaders in London for three inspiring days of presentations, talks, and – well – networking.  

 

We came away with three incredible new ACE Design Experts, and innumerable insights and connections. Here are a few highlights from the event. 

  

ACE Design Expert Presentations 

 

If you aren’t familiar, the Aviatrix Certified Engineer (ACE) Program is the industry’s first and only multicloud networking certification. In the standard learning path, participants progress from ACE Associate to ACE Professional, and finally to ACE Design Expert. It may sound straightforward, but reaching Design Expert is no easy feat. It requires weeks of preparation that culminates in an in-person design defense where candidates design their own scalable and secure multicloud network and present it for scrutiny to a panel. Prior to the London event, there were only 22 ACE Design Experts in the world – this compared to 20,000+ ACE Associates. 

 

The London Design Expert Workshop included a brand-new break/fix hands-on lab competition which added a fun thinking-on-your-feet aspect to the ACE Design Expert program. The lab is now part of the candidate’s overall ACE Design Expert score.  

 

One-by-one, our three ACE Design Expert candidates defended their submitted designs in front of a panel then were asked to defend an impromptu network architecture design. And one-by-one, they presented and defended their designs brilliantly. After a lengthy evaluation, we’re thrilled to introduce the newest members of the exclusive ACE Design Expert group: 

 

• Thomas Mouilleseaux, Global Head of IT Secure Networking, Unified Communications & Market Data at Amundi (ACE DE #0046)  
• Maxime Deraet, Senior Cloud Network Architect at Kyndryl (ACE DE #0047)  

• Adam Stipkovits, Multicloud Network Architect at a Major Manufacturing Company (ACE DE #0048) 

 

Congratulations to our newest ACE Design Experts on this incredible achievement. We were also happy to see that all three candidates came early and stayed after their allotted sessions, sharing their time and bonding with the community that truly can’t be beat!  

 

Do you think you have what it takes to become an ACE Design Expert? Learn more and submit your design here: https://aviatrix.com/ace-designexpert/  

 

 

Cloud Networking Meetup + Happy Hour 

 

Later in the week, we were joined by leaders from enterprises across Europe who had the chance to hear from Aviatrix CEO Doug Merritt. Doug discussed insights from his first several weeks at Aviatrix and a peek at what’s to come. This chat was followed by a design session with Vice President of Solutions Architecture Shahzad Ali, a deep dive on cloud network security with Head of Security Chris McHenry, a roadmap and roundtable discussion with Director of Solution Engineering Paul Carvill, and of course happy hour to close out the day. 

 

We’re grateful for everyone who attended, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the event. Nothing beats face time with the cloud networking heroes in the trenches, and it was inspiring to learn and swap tips with some of the industry’s best and brightest. 

 

As our own Gino Mommers said after the event on LinkedIn: “Public Cloud Networking specialists understand the unique dynamics of public cloud networking, and they bridge the gap with their expertise. They’ve mastered the art of Native Network capabilities and needed to learn the ins and outs of Infrastructure as Code to adapt the lightning pace of cloud teams. And here’s the kicker – they do it all while navigating the unique intricacies of each cloud provider.” 

 

We’re honored to be able to partner with this community as we work on solving the most pressing challenges in secure cloud networking. 

 

If we missed you in London, these events will be replicated in more cities. Check out our Events Page to learn more.