Meet Erik Knight of SimpleWAN

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erik Knight.

Erik, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My first real company as an adult was an IT company. We had customers spread across the state and it was a logistical nightmare. In 2004 I founded one of the first VoIP (Voice over Internet Companies) with the dream of really using the Internet to provide services and end the logistics nightmare of a technology company.

I quickly found that even though the new technology was internet-based, you had to make sure peoples Internet and networks were installed properly and fully functional for the technology to work. This required on-site visits and highly paid experts. After selling the VoIP company in 2014 we set out to make a product that would enable companies like our previous ventures to do that without getting in a car to do it.

We didn’t know what the technology was really called but we knew there was a need for it. Fast forward a few years and we’ve found that technology named SD-WAN a subset of Software Defined Networking. Basically, the backbone that every business will run on.

According to Gartner the growth potential in this area is massive over the next few years.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In a startup nothing is smooth. If it were easy big companies would take on these impossible tasks every day. We’ve had our fair share of technical issues, angry customers and a staff that learns this new marketplace as we go. At the end of the day, we are doing the impossible, changing and industry and really doing it.

SimpleWAN – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
On a restricted budget, we are competing with Bay area companies in a traditionally Silicon Valley owned space. We’ve landed some big-name companies that a lot of people visit daily and we are the company that runs their backbone.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being able to continue to invent new technologies and receive patents for those technologies.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1115 W. Deer Valley Rd Suite 4
• Website: www.simplewan.com
• Phone: 1-855-GET-A-WAN
• Email: sales@simplewan.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SimpleWan/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/simplewan_inc

Image Credit:
Phoenix Business Journal

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