Steve Blass
Currently an IT manager and Internet consultant in Phoenix, Steve Blass has been working with TCP/IP networks, systems and software for almost 20 years. Work assignments have ranged from backups and printer duty to functional quality testing and troubleshooting in satellite earth terminal transmission subsystems, internet security, e-commerce, web applications, professional services management, organizational development applications and back to research network and systems design, implementation and operations management. Steve is a technology jack-of-all-trades (and master of some) with a penchant for troubleshooting and problem solving who keeps himself sharp by ferreting out answers to questions posed by Network World readers. He is the long-time author of our Dr. Internet column.

Ron Nutter
Ron Nutter first started working with networking technology in the late 1980's. His experiences include working for reseller, OEM and end-user organizations ranging from SOHO to Fortune 500 in size. He has dealt with networks ranging in size from a single LAN to ones that are international in scope.

Ron was acknowledged by Novell to be the Master CNE for 2001 by Novell at their Brainshare conference in 2002. He currently works for an engineering firm as a network engineer as part of a team supporting a national network connecting over 45 offices across the county.

Ron spent five years on Novell's speaker circuit and was invited by Novell to speak at the European version of their Brainshare conference. In his spare time, he wrote two books that were distributed on CD covering different aspects of Novell's product line and how to install them. Along the way, he has obtained several different vendor certifications from organizations such as Novell, Microsoft, Cisco and CompTIA.

Ron started contributing to the Help Desk column at Network World in 1993. He took over the column full time in 1994. In October 2007, he began writing and producing the Help Desk Tool Chest podcast, building on what he has done with the Help Desk column and expanding to include howtos and interviews with industry experts.