Gonzalez| Elkintribune
The Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce welcomed David Taverner, sales and consulting engineer with CenturyLink, at its luncheon on Friday at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Elkin.Taverner’s role with CenturyLink is to help support businesses in western North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee understand what a ‘cloud’ is and how a business may benefit from its use.
In simple terms, ‘cloud’ refers to ‘cloud computing’ meaning storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer hard drive. CentryLink officials say Taverner is knowledgeable with communications networks and cloud-based technologies, encompassing high-speed data connectivity, information security, voice over IP, and cloud-migration strategies.
“The term ‘cloud’ is everywhere because its a way for businesses to grow,” said Patricia Hatley, market development manager for CentryLink.
Taverner said working off your hard drive is how the computer industry functioned for decades, but time and investment needed to keep and use information becomes cost-prohibitive for businesses. For clouding, many access data or programs over the Internet, or at the very least they have that data synchronized with other information over the Internet.
“Most individuals may never have any idea what kind of massive data-processing is happening on the other end,” said Taverner, “But the end result is the same. The point is that this technology gives businesses an ability to do what they’re really good at; taking care of their business. It removes all of the time needed to concentrate and react to all of the complications that arise with using internal computers and servers.”
According to Tavener, “clouding” is more than just storage too. It’s applications such as email and collaboration tools, website presence and marketing tools, security, apps, backup tools. “It’s scalable, and so much more,” he said.
Tavener is a graduate of the University of Reading, England, with degrees in math and computer science, and he has a post graduate certificate in education, according to his bio. He has worked for CenturyLink for 19 years of his nearly 30 years in the communications industry. He is a subject matter expert in the areas of voice and data networks, cloud, and security, and holds additional industry technology certifications.
