"Identity and Access Management." You’ve probably never heard of it, but it's the hot topic in the information technology sector.
It’s actually about eight years old, which is like 100 in tech years. But trust me, you’ll be hearing a lot more about it.
Bascially, Identity and Access Management is a way to merge different aspects of a network into a single entity. Here's an example: at your job you probably have a user ID and password. And you probably have to use both these for to perform several different functions, like accessing email and databases.
With an Identity and Access Management overhaul, you'd only need to log on one time to access everything. It's particularly popular at universities.
An up-and-comer in the emerging Identity and Access Management field is Lansing's own Vamshi Bommavaram.
Bommavaram, 26, lives in Lansing, a place very far from the place he calls home. Originally from Hyderabad, a city in southern India where the IT industry is hotter than a Lansing summer, Bommavaram isn’t interested in leaving Lansing anytime soon.
He actually sought out the Midwest. And get this, he even likes our winters!
Gamer to TravelerBommavaram wasn’t exposed to computers at a young age, but he loved video games— especially the original
Nintendo Entertainment System that eventually turned into an
XBox 360. (He likes racing games.)
He wasn't exposed to computers until he was 16, but “was part of the generation where it’s like, 'the computer revolution,'” says Bommavaram. He went to the
Jawaharla Nehru Technical University, Hyderabad and later got a master’s degree from the
International Institute of Information Technology, Pune.
After graduation, a campus job placement agency set him up with a job at the company
Rolta, which is headquartered in Mumbai. After three years, he was given the option of transferring to Atlanta, Georgia. He jumped at the opportunity.
Arriving in Atlanta was the first time he’d ever been in the United States. For Bommavaram, it was a bit of a culture shock. The most shocking aspect for him was, oddly enough, the accents. He is much more accustomed to British English than American.
Rolta sent him all over the country to work with various clients, which he didn’t mind a bit. Bommavaram is a passionate traveler and now spends many of his weekends exploring Michigan and the Midwest. Chicago is one of his favorite cities. He’s also worked in Boston, Manhattan and Los Angeles.
After living in the U.S. for more than two years and traveling from city to city, the fast pace of the bright lights and the big city began to wear on him. He wanted something simpler. He wanted the Midwest. He got connected with
Dewpoint, a tech company headquartered in South Lansing that works on Identity and Access Management, in 2008.
Which brings us back to Bommavaram's specialty: Identity and Access Management.
Bommavaram was trained in it by Rolta. But the brand of Identity and Access Management used at Dewpoint is not your father's Identity and Access Management, so to speak.
Whereas most companies divide their management into several different components, Dewpoint combines all the components into one, making things more efficient and cheaper, too. You won’t find other companies doing this.
Bommavaram enjoys working at Dewpoint and has no plans to leave. For him, Dewpoint is the perfect size company—not too large and not too small. Companies that are too large make personal interaction difficult, he says.
Loving LansingIn addition to liking his job, he also likes the city he lives in—something his friends don’t understand. When he came here, he says he was often asked, “Why did I come from LA to here?”
Since his arrival he's begun to enjoy all these things that are expected of a Lansing resident. For starters, he’s now a Spartan fan. His favorite sport, Cricket, isn’t played here so he’s had to adapt. He now enjoys hockey, basketball, and especially baseball because of its similarity to cricket.
Oddly enough, one of his favorite things about living in Lansing is the thing that most people say they hate—winter.
Last winter was his first winter ever. He describes Hyderabad’s climate as similar to Phoenix, Arizona: Hot. All the time.
“After winter, now I’m really enjoying summer," he says. "I never realized that summer is so good,” he says. Bommavaram took full advantage of winter and actually went skiing for the first time.
State of Opportunity Regarding his adopted country, Bommavaram loves it and wants to stay. He's currently here on a work visa, but plans on applying for his green card when he is eligible. One day, he hopes to become a citizen. He’s a good son, though—he still visits his family in Hyderabad once a year.
For Bommavaram, a huge draw to living in the United States is the opportunity. He says India’s large population is both an asset and an obstacle. Because there are so many people, access to really good jobs is highly competitive. While many jobs are being outsourced to India, they aren’t the greatest jobs.
“When people say outsourcing is done, it is only back-office jobs," he says. "80 percent of the jobs are back office. The basic structure is done out here." According to Bommavaram, in India you can only rise so high.
So for now, he'll continue to work at Dewpoint and cheer for the Spartans. And occasionally, let loose at Dublin Square Irish Pub in Lansing (his favorite hangout).
And he’ll continue to work on Identity and Access Management. That thing we don’t know much about. Yet.
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Adam Molner is a freelance journalist who now understands Identity and Access Management. You can reach him
here.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:Vamshi Bommavaram at his Dewpoint office
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie