We're working on a new series to learn what it takes for IT vendors to provide their service. For this interview we caught up with Shannon Callaway, the Senior Manager for Support Services at the Cbeyond Data Center. Using a 100% private all IP network, Cbeyond provides IT and communications services to small business throughout the United States. Her team is responsible for keeping the infrastructure that supports their service up and running.

What is your role at Cbeyond?

I’m the senior manager of support services for Cbeyond’s cloud Network Operations Center (NOC) in Louisville.

What is your story of how you came to be the Sr. Manager of Support Services at Cbeyond.

I actually started about 10 years ao at MaximumASP, which was acquired by Cbeyond, and worked up through the ranks.

What do you have on your NOC monitors?

We use Nagios to monitor the entire infrastructure at the data center. We’ve got a bandwidth monitor that shows the current throughput, cameras displaying areas outside and inside the building, and a weather map so we can watch for any severe weather coming our way. The NOC also handles customer support calls.

What kinds of skills are important to you as you hire for your team?

We like new hires to have Windows experience, since our servers are built on the Windows stacks. Network knowledge is a plus. We’ll train them to be a jack of all trades since we have to handle a variety of issues like email, SQL, OS and IIS. You have to know a little bit about everything.

What is your interview process like?

They’ll talk to me or my manager first. The biggest thing we look for is personality fit. We can teach you everything you need to know but fitting with the team is a must. During interviews, I usually ask people what was the biggest mistake they’ve ever made. Being able to admit you’ve messed up is important so you can follow up with "this is how I fixed it."



Once they pass the first round, they come back and hang out with the team informally for a half day. This allows them to get to know everyone and see what a real work day is like. Ultimately it’s the team that helps me decide whether or not to hire.

What's been the most interesting situation?

We actually built this data center from the ground up. It was originally across town so we split up the staff across the two buildings. I was on the crew that moved everything during the middle of the night. We had to get everything powered and re-racked. I barely remember those seven days. No one took a day off. We all just buckled down and worked straight through. It was February so there was a chance of snow – something that doesn’t work well if you’re moving a van full of servers. But everything went off without a hitch. We got it done!

iPhone, Android, or Windows7 phone?

I am a droid girl!

What apps do you have on your phone?

I keep the weather channel app. I use the Kindle app to read books. You have to have angry birds!

Have questions for Shannon or Cbeyond? Go ahead and ask them on Cbeyond's vendor page (Follow Cbeyond).