by CUGC HQ

Jon Bucud
San Diego, CA USA

What Citrix technologies are most important to your work?

Our firm leans heavily on Citrix NetScal..err…Citrix ADC to provide reliable, secure, context-aware access to applications–whether that’s RGRD’s in-house eDiscovery platform, secure file share system or Virtual Desktops via Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. We’ve been able to adapt and integrate modern authenticated SaaS applications, as well as internal applications thanks to Unified Gateway on Citrix ADC. It has been a Swiss army knife for us to provide a consistent user experience that is secure and familiar to our users. I like to say it anchors our datacenter, providing authentication, authorization, access and all of the above. AAAAA++++ would deploy again.

Tell us about a recent tech problem that Citrix technology helped you solve.

Citrix ADM has been a boon for our team at RGRD. Access to a bulk of our applications, whether for remote access or local users, all passes through Citrix ADCs. This gives us the ability to glean information using HDX Insight for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop sessions or AppFlow Analytics for our eDiscovery platform or any other of RGRD’s web applications. The amount of data that we now have at our fingertips is immensely helpful in zeroing in on performance issues anywhere in the stream; whether it is in the datacenter at the user’s endpoint or anywhere in between.

As part of the leadership team planning the upcoming SoCal XL event in San Diego, what are you most looking forward to?

Taking a leadership role in our local CUGC chapter has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. It goes without saying, I’m very lucky to co-lead the San Diego CUGC with all-around tech genius, class A++ human being and father, Dan Costello. I feel I hit the jackpot with him, knowing that we both share a common philosophy about continual learning and being humble enough to know you’re never the smartest guy in the room. We have some superb content lined up, being prepared by some of the brightest minds in the field. There will be no shortage of up-to-date technical content and lively discussion revolving around the real world application of such. We hope the XL is an event where our community can take part in that same shared philosophy and will leave feeling enlightened, energized and excited to go out and implement the latest in Citrix and partner technologies.

Tell us about serving on the CUGC Steering Committee. Have you enjoyed the experience?  

Being that I am the newest member of the CUGC Steering Committee, I’ve taken a bit of a measured approach this year; doing more learning and listening than speaking. That being said, I’ve enjoyed immensely the proverbial peek behind the curtain. More importantly, I am honored to say that I can be a communication channel for our local Citrix User Group Community; stress on community. An ear to the ground of sorts in our neck of the woods in Southern California. I’m sure I would not be speaking out of place to say that all members of the Steering Committee care deeply about the community as a whole. I believe we all share the common goals and vision of empowering our local groups, their members and the communities they all reach into. Be that via the structure of meetings, the webinars and online forums, content provided in all of the above, or answering the clamor for hands on learning and training. To ensuring that our community can have access to the aforementioned most up-to-date technical content and communication to/from Citrix and the EUC world as a whole; I feel that being part of the Steering Committee has empowered me to carry out that vision.

Favorite words of wisdom you live by?

“The more I learn — the more I realize how much I don’t know.”

Finally, outside of work and CUGC, what do you do for fun?

I’m a native San Dieagan, and a child of the ’80s. With that comes my love for the Padres and Tony Gwynn. The formative years of my childhood came to a crescendo in ’84 when the Padres reached the World Series for the first time (I was a toddler) and again in ’98, when I was a teenager; I’d be remiss to say I ever had a chance otherwise. I could go on forever about my love for baseball, but I digress, this is neither the time or the place for that. I will say though, that I’m fortunate enough that my wife Michelle and two kids, Oliver and Stella, have all taken in the Padres as their own and I am forever grateful to share such a love with them.

If you happen to follow me on Twitter, alongside all of the Citrix and EUC content that I share, you’re likely familiar with #PadresTwitter, who I affectionately refer to as my second family. For better or worse 😉