User:Rmccharles

Rick McCharles Unified Communications Practice Principle

For more than 25 years, Mr. McCharles has been providing professional consulting services to Canadian Enterprises, Government Organizations and Service Providers.

Prior to founding RIC Services in 1998, Mr. McCharles was a Network Consultant with Digital Equipment Corporation. While at Digital, Rick was responsible for every aspect of the design and implementation of large data network projects across multiple industry verticals including Manufacturing, Retail, Government, Education and Healthcare.

For the past eight years, Rick has been focused almost exclusively in helping his clients with their, Voice Over IP (VoIP), IP Telephony and Unified Communications initiatives. Rick has earned a reputation as an IP Communications expert and was the Chief Architect in the design and launch of IP-One at Telus, Canada's first Hosted IP Telephony Service.

A few of Rick's other clients have included Dofasco, Inco, Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations, Ontario Ministry of Health, The City of Edmonton, Compaq, Electro Sonic, Hewlett Packard, and many others.

Rick has a high-honours diploma in Electronic Engineering. In 1996, Rick obtained Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) status, the industry's most respected network certification. Additional certifications include Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

Mr. McCharles is the President of RIC Services, serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Telecommunications Consultant Association (CTCA) and is a member of the Association of Independent Consultants (AIC). In addition, Rick McCharles has the Government of Canada's, Secret security clearance.

Rick is the president of RIC Servicesand is the principle author of the IP Communications Technology Blog.