OARnet’s Business Relationship Managers (BRM) provide personalized and professional services to a large and diverse range of clients across the state of Ohio.
Launched in 1987 to provide higher education institutions connection to the Ohio Supercomputer Center, OARnet has since grown exponentially over the years to also serve K-12 schools, health care facilities, public broadcasting sites, research facilities and thousands of local and state government sites, including public safety, NG-911 and the Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS).
To support these communities, under the leadership of Chief Relationship Officer Denis Walsh, OARnet established two distinct market segments within the Client Services team, under government and education, to develop expertise and strong relationships in each market.
Walsh to retire after 20 years of service to OARnet
After more than two decades of dedicated service to OARnet and the State of Ohio, Denis Walsh will retire at the end of October 2024. Walsh has been instrumental in creating and nurturing OARnet’s modern-day Client Services team and is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable telecommunications subject matter experts in Ohio and the region.
Walsh’s contributions have been pivotal in the success of many OARnet initiatives. His involvement in strategy development on the OARnet executive team has led to numerous successful projects, including the BTOP-ARRA federal funds initiative, which established the current OARnet model serving all anchor institutions in Ohio. Other notable achievements include the 100G backbone upgrades that paved the way for future terabit networking; partnerships with the State of Ohio, the Management Council (K-12 statewide) and the Broadcast Education Media Commission (public broadcasters statewide); and VMware/Broadcom aggregate purchasing.
Walsh’s legacy of contributions and forward-looking plans have laid a robust foundation for OARnet’s future. OARnet is deeply grateful for his many years of service and dedication.
Effective Nov. 1, 2024, David Ginn, currently the deputy chief relationship officer at OARnet, will assume the role of interim chief relationship officer.
These relationships allowed the BRMs to develop a deep understanding of clients’ unique issues, concerns and objectives, and identify the appropriate resources and services to support their success.
Today the Client Services team is responsible for consulting with clients, vendors and OARnet’s technical resources to identify technology solutions and develop project plans and timelines to achieve desired outcomes. During this process, the team is responsible for monitoring progress and scheduling meetings to discuss any issues and identify contingencies to ensure the project’s success.
“We bridge the gap between our clients, vendors and OARnet’s technical resources to ensure the development of quality solutions that address customer's needs,” said Walsh, who supported OARnet clients in his role for more than 20 years before his retirement in October 2024 (see sidebar).
Client Services also escalates potential issues to OARnet’s team of engineers and communicates relevant information to its clients on the status of issues. With a 24/7/365 Network Operations Center (NOC), OARnet is constantly surveilling its network connections to proactively eliminate issues before they impact clients.
“Client Services represents the front door into the wealth of resources at OARnet,” said David Ginn, deputy chief relationship officer.
When unusual challenges arise, the Client Services team works with clients and engineering resources to develop unique and timely solutions.
“During the pandemic OARnet was required to be flexible and responsive to the rapidly changing requirements of that unique environment,” Walsh said. “For example, on short notice we worked with our public broadcasting clients to enable Governor DeWine to share important information with the public from his home.”
OARnet also rapidly stood up new network connections at the Ohio Department of Health’s Strategic National Stockpile warehouse and at the Columbus Convention Center to prepare the site as a potential overflow hospital during the COVID-19 outbreak. Working with The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, OARnet expedited a circuit to support a mass testing site at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds and supported a mass vaccination center at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
In September 2020, OARnet was tapped again for its technical expertise for a 2020 presidential debate at the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic. Engineers worked to prepare network connectivity for the demands of event staff, national broadcasters and the Secret Service, including a configuration freeze and enhanced NOC monitoring and escalation leading up to and during the debate.
OARnet’s mission is to provide clients with a personalized experience; they are never a faceless number.
“For our clients, it is not about calling a number and getting put in a queue. Each client has a dedicated OARnet representative who understands their environment in detail,” said Letha Butcher, senior business relationship manager. “They do not have to try to explain their issue; that relationship is already built.”
In addition to building personal relationships with individual clients, OARnet brings together large groups of clients to address specific needs and then develops vendor contracts to gain significantly lower prices as a result of large aggregate purchases.
“Coordinating the purchasing power of 90+ colleges, for example, gets discounts far greater than what any school could achieve on its own,” Ginn said.
One prominent example of the power of aggregate purchasing is the availability of VMware, a technology that provides a platform for cloud computing and virtualization, delivered at a significant savings through OARnet since 2008.
In addition, the Client Services team identifies what services clients may need in the future and works to proactively develop a statewide strategy to obtain the resources and services needed in the most cost-effective manner.
“In recent years OARnet has been focused on expanding security services, as a result of an increase in cyber attacks,” Walsh said. “One example of these efforts was the inclusion of DDoS protection with our internet service to protect clients from volumetric attacks. OARnet also hired a cybersecurity architect to help develop our security portfolio and expand the services that the Client Services team can offer to protect our clients from these threats.”
META Solutions, an information technology center (ITC) that worked closely with OARnet to upgrade its 200-plus K-12 school districts to 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) connectivity, benefits from OARnet services such as DDoS mitigation for network security as well as its aggregate pricing on VMware, which provides cloud infrastructure and digital workspace technology. Since 2020, bandwidth needs have grown by 76 percent as districts have adopted more online technologies for the modern learning environment, said Jim Sotlar, CEO of META Solutions.
“It’s a great partnership between the ITCs and OARnet,” Sotlar said. “It’s all about taking care of our school districts and providing them with services they need to operate efficiently and effectively every day.”
In 2011, when OARnet upgraded its fiber-optic backbone to 100 Gbps, the level of service provided was unprecedented, exceeding the current needs of clients. Today OARnet is once more in the process of upgrading its backbone, this time to 400 Gbps to ensure it can accommodate the future technology needs of clients and to ensure Ohio’s role as a technology leader.
“Client Services allows OARnet to deliver the benefits of advanced broadband technology to our clients and respond to their needs as effectively as possible,” said Pankaj Shah, executive director of OARnet. “By remaining accessible and in constant touch, our Client Services team members convert the technological capabilities of our state-of-the-art network into a top-notch experience for our clients’ staff who keep Ohio connected.”
Since 1987, OARnet has delivered technology-based solutions that reduce costs, increase productivity and improve customer service. As a division of the Ohio Department of Higher Education's Ohio Technology Consortium (OH-TECH), OARnet serves Ohio's education, health care, public broadcasting and government communities. Other members of the consortium include the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) and the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK).
