 Welcome guys to JSA TV and JSA podcast the newsroom for tech and telecom professionals I'm Jamie Scott Okitaia from JSA joining you live from the floor of ITW 2022 an exciting year to be here at the 15th anniversary first time we're all back since what two years now and I'm joined by Don McNeil. He's the chief operating officer of GTT Don welcome back to JSA TV. Thanks, Jamie It's great to be here. Oh my goodness what an illustrious career you've had of course 25 years of various sea level positions in the telecom industry Tell me what makes you excited about our industry today? well for me just You know having done some time in the data center and the fiber the infrastructure aside coming back to the networking is really exciting because of like like years past that the technology cycle continues to quicken and and definitely with the Adoption and the integration of security more and more tightly into the networking side It really is an exciting time to be to be in the space In the pandemic really taught us how critical our networks and data centers our infrastructure Really are to not just of course our industry, but also many making their digital transformation getting folks back of From their working from their homes and then working back in the offices us being flexible giving them that connectivity Really quite an exciting time now your team has been talking so much lately about sassy and zero trust And we see also that GTT just launched your some news. They're secure connect offering Can you tell us a little bit more about this? Yeah, as I mentioned, I think uh as you mentioned with the pandemic It certainly puts some stress and strain on you know global infrastructure So first and foremost that hats off to the industry for really keeping up with that component of it And and we're uh, we're pretty proud of our contribution with regard to the the tier one ip backbone But but even further in the enterprise domain if you think about it the the attack surface If you will has really widened where more and more people working from home and the continued hybrid working model So for us, it's now only natural where you think about networking That it's the great point of departure if you will or jason c to introduce security So as we continue to roll out and expand our our SD when offer This was a natural fast follow to add in as you know a tightly tightly linked security product so we're really excited about the Secure connect product and uh in the adoption already just just in our first uh first month really of the roll out And you know talking SD when we should say you are award winning Uh recently getting the SD WAN product to the year award from TMC. Good friends there What sets gtt's SD WAN solution apart? Yeah, I think it's um, I think it's really a few key items One first and foremost is you know, it's uh, it's built on and around our tier one ip backbone So you know the breadth and depth if you will of the ability to control the The signaling as well as even the the traffic across that backbone. I think is a big differentiator for us So we're able to build that operational security as well as just uh cyber security In inherently in the design of our backbone So I I think beginning with that is the the the spine or the basis of our offer is number one Number two is the dna for of gtt, which is you know, there's no spot too hard to find or get to in the On the planet candidly. So we we have services in 140 countries You know the the teams the tools the processes really allow us to solve any problems on behalf of our Enterprise customers. So again, I think those two ingredients really put us in a very strategic and competitive position with regard to fulfilling global enterprise needs whether it's regional local or most importantly on a global basis unbelievable your reach is Uncomparable, you know unparallel in the industry. Um, so what can we expect from gtt in the next year ahead? Yeah, so it's been a it's been I've been here now just a little over 18 months and it's uh, it's been a it's been an exciting time and uh, you know as we've completed our Divestiture in the stand-up of exit infrastructure a great partner going forward for us And and coming up on the clothes finishing off of our restructuring Really, we're excited about the fact that you know as designed and as planned we'll come out Uh, truly back to our roots of asset light We'll come out with a very very healthy balance sheet and and again. We're really looking forward to continuing to innovate and and you know really get to that leadership position that I know is so important and and candidly Inherent in gtt. So we're really excited about pressing forward into the carrier domain Serving both connectivity as well as high-speed ip and then on the enterprise side our our sd WAN and security offers And for sure you guys are there's a buzz about gtt here on the itw floor today. So congratulations So exciting. Where can our viewers go to learn more about gtt? Yeah, well you can see us over there at gtt.net and uh, again We're really excited about the the welcome the continued support We've had to our throughout the restructuring and uh, you know Thanks to all our customers and we really look forward to serving Continuing to serve those existing customers and and getting some more customers into the gtt experience. So so thank you Don always a pleasure. It's uh, it's great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining us on your busy itw day And thank you viewers for tuning in to jsa tv and jsa podcast as always think green and happy networking