Hidden where you would least expect it in Amish country, Pennsylvania, Rock Lititz 108-acre campus provides an ideal environment for the biggest names in live music to develop and perfect their live shows before they go on tour. There is a luxury hotel surrounded by state-of-the-art, on-site vendors for everything from pyrotechnics to set design to LED lighting to pyrotechnics. There are even medical facilities and a custom tailor. It is hard to find a need that cannot be met without leaving the campus.
The biggest names in live entertainment rely on Rock Lititz to design, build, and rehearse their world tours, and Rock Lititz relies on Cisco technology to keep it all securely connected.
A network engineer and a rock musician walk into a bar…” If you think that sounds like the beginning of a good story, you’re not wrong. On a typical night at the Hotel Rock Lititz bar, it’s not hard to find someone willing to strike up a conversation, and you never know who you might meet. Whether it’s the head engineer from a well-known rock band, or a member of the pyrotechnics team working on a cutting-edge show for one of today’s biggest country acts, every person has a story.
I remember about five years ago, my colleague Rob Neumann from the Cisco sponsorship team kept telling me about a client in the Amish country of rural Pennsylvania. He raved about this client and the atmosphere on their campus, and he told me I just had to visit there. Truth be told, I initially resisted going to Lititz PA, but now, five years and 15-20 visits later, Rock Lititz is my favorite place to travel for work. Matt Clair and his team have become great partners in innovation, and when I’m working there, it hardly feels like I’m working at all.
In addition to the comfortable and welcoming atmosphere of the whole town of Lititz, PA, the team at Rock Lititz has become my go-to testing ground for some of Cisco’s most innovative products. Innovation is their business, and they trust Cisco to manage their networks 24/7/365. Our friends at Rock Lititz have been among the first to go live with Cisco’s open roaming capabilities, new access points and antennas, and their feedback has led to great innovations such as the Catalyst 9104. I’ve been blown away by the things they do there in the entertainment engineering space. If you think of the most amazing special effects you’ve seen in a live performance this year, chances are that technology was created and first tested out in Lititz, PA.
On my most recent visit there, the Cisco Stories team were there to shoot a video about Lititz network architect, Ben Harris, who has worked for the company since age 17. Check out that video here:
Like Ben, virtually every person I’ve met on the Lititz staff has been highly skilled and professional, authentically approachable, and just generally very cool. It’s no surprise that the company and campus have grown dramatically in recent years, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for these guys.
Rolling Stone Article
Rock LItitz
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