In the mid-90s I was already familiar with microcomputers (PCs) and had on and off again relationship with them. I liked to tinker with them on occasion but never really felt fully engaged. It wasn’t until one day I decided to pick up a book at the local bookstore covering HTML 2. As an added bonus the book claimed I could master HTML 2 in 21 days. It looked interesting to me and I was up to the challenge. Well, in roughly one weekend I read the entire book and was designing websites like crazy. I was like a kid with a new toy at the time. Churning out web page after web page in notepad I eventually realized something was missing. Even with all this HTML code websites still don’t look pretty enough. Something that could help me design graphics was needed. So I took off to the store and purchased a product called Micrografx Webtricity. This product at the time was “the” Adobe Creative Suite of the day. Now owned by Corel I have no idea if it even exists. After many weeks of becoming proficient in graphic design I decided to show off my skills. Not long after this a strange thing started happening. Business owners were willing to pay me to do this! Wow! This is like paying me to eat Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. Obliging them followed and thus came to existence Miocon Web Design (see Logo History).
Evolution took over and soon not only was I designing website but I was also hosting them on my own computer systems. You see, bandwidth back then wasn’t what it is today. To have 28kbps dial up was amazingly fast. Fortunately for me Memphis, TN had some of the best ISDN infrastructure in the country. You could acquire full bonded ISDN channels (115kbps) with unlimited data for a few hundred dollars. Back then this was huge for a small company like Miocon Web Design.
In order to accomplish all this ISDN and web hosting stuff I found myself also having to learn the network side of things. Already proficient with ISDN it was time to use some new technology called NAT (Network Address Translation) and firewalling. For quite some time my servers were wide open to the Internet. Back then servers could be “open” to the Internet without much harm. It’s not to say something wouldn’t eventually happen with a virus but with good security practices in place you could run for months. Just please don’t do this nowadays.
So this is when I first met my certification and study friend for the next many years, Cisco Systems (Now just Cisco). I had no idea at the time that I would end up achieving Cisco’s highest and most prestigious certification, the coveted CCIE. This was hard to even imagine at the time since I didn’t even know what an IP address was. The ISP provided me with a Cisco router and I acquired a mysterious 4U box called a Cisco PIX Classic. Loaded with a 3.5 floppy drive and two network connections I was dazed and confused. Hmmm…. “ip any any” should do it. No seriously, I actually did configure it. Ok, that’s a stretch. Some guy from Cisco actually set all this up for me and I just played dumb. Turns out at the time it wasn’t too difficult. I obviously had a lot to learn.
Skipping ahead I found myself really enjoying the “network” world. Although I really enjoyed website development networking had a further reaching feel to it – because it was, and it was an area few people knew. Microsoft people were all over but even a guy with the CCNA was hard to find. So after crossing paths with a CCNA I set off on my Cisco certification journey. The CCNA was done in a few months and after that the CCNP in a year. Continuing on I ventured out with the CCIE. After being told by many it couldn’t be done, I was able to knock out the CCIE in just one year.
With my newly found knowledge and experience Miocon Networks was formed in 2001 and Miocon Web Publishing dissolved. For the first 3 years of existence Miocon Networks was just me. From 2001 until 2004 I subcontracted for the 800 pound gorillas in the integrator market. Eventually word got around and I established Miocon Networks as an LLC and hired some of my own people. Growing at 25% a year I and a few other engineers did our thing and helped our customers grow and evolve. We had a unique edge on the market as we were high-level engineers and we knew what we were doing. Customers loved bypassing the well-dressed sales guy selling silver bullets. Instead they can go directly to us. We were (and still are) a cell phone call away – 24×7.
In 2010 I modified the Miocon Networks name to Miocon. Although we have a strong focus on networking we provide so much more. From end user support, to voice systems, to security, and so much more Miocon “Networks” ironically felt isolating. One camp felt “Networks” defines us while the other felt we needed to break away from “Network” isolation. In the end I went with the later. The Miocon name encompasses everything about Information Technology. As we’ve matured and learned about business we’ve discovered that it’s the business objective that defines technology and not the contrary. For quite some time now the business objective has been hijacked by what Information Technology companies want to sell. It’s our historical belief and our future drive that inspires us to continue to do right for our customers to help them achieve their business objectives.
| Logo | History | |
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1995 – Miocon’s inception in mid-90s. | |
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2001 – First Miocon Networks logo. | |
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2010 – Miocon Networks renamed to Miocon | |
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2011 – Miocon’s Black and White logo for blog and website. | |
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2011 – Miocon’s “green initiative” logo. |
