IT Operations involve several disparate skillsets: knowledge of network protocol and device
capabilities, statistical analysis of increasingly large data sets,
psychological resilience in the face of failure,
understanding customers' spoken and unspoken needs, all tied together with an aptitude for
task automation.
Having scaled several companies, I am intimately familiar with the necessity of broad strategy and
the exigency of the daily struggles, all towards the singular end of managing teams and information for the
benefit of customers, internal and external.
Chief Technology Officer Overseas Family School
2009 - current
Designed and specified the new 4.5 hectare Pasir Ris Campus' network
Network Consultant Overseas Family School
2009 - 2009
Split flat network topology into a diverse path redundant fiber network using OSPF
Created centralized logging with correlated error analysis
Created an overlay wifi network using MSTP separation
Replaced open wifi with a lightweight MAC-based authentication scheme
Set up network monitoring for network elements using Nagios and Cacti
Wrote indirect CPU and Memory tests for not-so-intelligent devices using PHP
Wrote scripts to automatically locate nodes by MAC or IP address using Perl
Senior Network Engineer AuBeta Networks
2007 - 2009
Reduced network costs by over US$10K / month by switching public IPs from static to ACL'd dynamic
Liaisoned with our PCI auditors to ensure our compliance connecting to credit card networks
Developed a network compliance model to monitor and flag elements near failure
Wrote engine to backup over 5000 CPE configs every night
Worked to further Engineering openness by:
Fostering learning for motivated techs
Expanding Network Documentation for existing and new services (e.g. IPsec deployments)
Created Packet-level Debug for our network core using our edge firewalls
Designed and implemented our BGP policy for inter-POP failover
Designed and maintained MS SQL Server and MySQL installations
Worked extensively with IS to improve network monitoring capabilities
General Manager PA Online
2005 - 2006
Reduced recurring network costs 85% (US$200K / year) by taking advantage of Verizon's changing regulatory response
Transformed dialup-oriented ISP into a DSL/T1-based managed service provider (voip + connectivity)
Automated provisioning of services after conducting static code analysis & review of our billing system
Maintained and extended control of our billing system to network elements using Perl and MySQL
Implemented network monitoring and compliance using Nagios, NetMRG, LogWatch, and custom modeling / analysis scripts
Designed cisco-based IPsec VPN for an
online pharmacy and client hospitals
Implemented QoS and BGP tuning to support colocated VoIP services for peak 20 Mb/s usage
Setup connectivity and automatic provisioning for Earthlink's
Wireless Philadelphia
Added host-level firewalling to all servers in addition to router-level ACLs
Designed new colocation facility with incrementally sizeable power and cooling
Chief Technology Officer CTI Networks
1999 - 2005
Scaled expansion from ~8,000 customers to over 20,000
Coordinated the technical side of ISP acquisitions (dela.net, md.net, oh.net)
Centralized all machine logs to a MySQL database for performance analysis using Perl
Developed early warning system to detect telephone company errors via call volume analysis
Trained engineers and inculcated 'The Way of the NOC' (implement, test, document)
Designed the iBGP and BGP policies needed to efficiently manage ISP traffic
Designed and setup OSPF network to support anycast services for DNS and RADIUS
Setup L2TP (Sprint) and ATM (Verizon) connections for DSL PPPoE termination
Created Alvarion-based wireless network for local business connectivity
Wrote compliance scripts in Perl to detect abnormal network flows
Network Engineer CTI Networks
1997 - 1999
Managed ISP operations through expansion from ~800 users to over 8000
Organized and migrated ISP operations to enforce a secure separation of services using ACLs and ipfwadm-based firewalls
Configured BGP to handle redundant upstream connections, OSPF to handle internal routes
Created Intranet documentation repository; Instituted the hierarchical classification of this data
Initiated Revision Control to implement auditable trail of file changes across machines
Founder Central Pennsylvania Linux Users Group
1998 - 2007
Fostered local group of Linux enthusiasts; group has grown from initial 4 to over 50
Coordinated meetings, balancing content for both experts and amateurs
Programmer WebSense
1996 - 1997
Wrote CGI programs in Perl and C to interface with a MySQL database backend
Spearheaded the development of a secure CDROM distribution of a Linux firewall
Designed and maintained ipfwadm firewall rulesets for customers
Master of Business Administration Pennsylvania State University 2002 - 2005
Concentrated in Finance and Accounting
Thesis analyzed productivity of network operations staff at CTI
Master of Science - Computer Science Shippensburg University
1998 - 2002
Concentration in Operating Systems and Networks
Thesis developed a fast threaded SMTP daemon based on P-threads
Bachelor of the Arts - Foreign Languages New College
1992 - 1996
Languages covered: German, Russian, Ancient Greek
Completed all required work for B.A. in Economics except second thesis
Thesis explored millenarianism in contemporary German fiction (translation of texts required)