Life as a nautical broadband specialist
Ed Lasher has a simple way to measure how cool his job is—he just counts how many people have offered to carry his bags on a service call. Lasher is the owner of YachtComputing LLC, a small IT business with a very exclusive niche: installing and maintaining networks and Internet connectivity aboard “superyachts,” seagoing mansions owned by wealthy individuals and charter companies. “It’s a distinct category—bigger than yachts, bigger than mega-yachts,” said Lasher. “It’s the very top end of the private yachting industry.”
Lasher, a former banker with an MBA in finance, works out of Miami, Florida. He traded in the suit and tie some time ago; his work uniform now is a company polo shirt, jeans, and (usually) bare feet—shoes aren’t yacht-work friendly. But he didn’t originally set out to be an IT gypsy of the high seas. Lasher started doing tech work as a partner in a consulting firm, installing networks for business customers.
In 1999, the firm picked up a new customer—a company that specialized in high-tech, high-end audio and video suites for super-yachts. That connection would change his business unexpectedly. In 2001, that customer had trouble with an IT vendor they had recommended for a project in Holland.
