Colin McNamara - CCIE 18233 , VCP, RHCE, GCIH, GEEK » CCDE

Cisco Certified Architect – Board examination above the CCIE and CCDE

colinmcnamara — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:25:11 +0000

This morning Cisco announced the next level of expert certification, the Cisco Certified Architect. For those that have been following the Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE certification, this is the next level certification that was loosely known as the Master Internetwork Architect – MIA (yes, missing in action).

What does this certification entail?

1. CCDE Certified

Yes, now the CCDE will now get MUCH more popular. You will have to pass your CCDE practical before you have a chance to submit an application to the CCA Board.

2. 10 Years industry experience

A common theme that I have sense from the CCDE team (the team who created the CCA) is that the CCIE does not hold the same value as it held 10 years ago. An experience requirement from the CCA not only a certain pedigree of CCA candidates, as well as the wealth of experience that time provides.

3. Application to “the board”

Translation, be careful what you put on twitter. A board, most likely consisting of Bruce Pinsky, Russ White and the other usual players will evaluate your application. If your application is accepted then you get to face the board.

4. Passing The board examination

Interestingly enough, I see this as the most straight forward portion of the entire CCDE / CCA process. The board exam itself is set to model a normal customer interaction for a network architect. For those of us that do this every day this is straight forward.

First, you have a customer that has a requirement. You gather that requirement generally in writing first. Then you have a chance to interview the customer to gather additional requirements, and more importantly the reasoning behind the requirement.

After that, you go and create a proposal that takes into account all of the requirements, applications, and “gotchas” that may happen. Create Diagrams, Bill of Materials and a Solution Overview.

You present this proposal to the customer, and defend all the aspects of your proposal. Again, this is a common customer engagement. Cisco is mirroring this whole process. The two major changes involved are are 1. the customer is “the board” and instead of making a sale, you get your CCA.

Want to learn more – Cisco Certified Architect Press ReleaseSimilar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Cisco Certified Architect – Board examination above the CCIE and CCDE

My experience taking the CCDE Practical Beta

colinmcnamara — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:37:54 +0000

To answer the question that everyone is bound to ask - “did you pass?”. The answer is, I’ll tell you in 6-8 weeks. The CCDE Practical Beta is just that, a beta. From what Dr Sarah and Russ White have said, there will be many iterations of psychometric analysis, as well as throwing out certain questions with the intent of finding the “true” right answer. While I hope that answer is the one I supplied, it really is out of my control.

The one thing in my control is preparation. Preparing for the CCDE was extremely hard for me. Oddly enough, the challenge wasn’t the complexity of the content, but the breadth. For example, stack the nineteen recommended reading books on your desk, and become an expert on them.

Look at the CCDE Practical Blueprint -

The CCDE Practical Exam is designed to assess a candidate’s ability to perform the following
tasks:
Gather, clarify, and analyze existing and new network requirements
•   Identify requirements and determine how they shape the purpose and expectations of a
given network.
•   Demonstrate the ability to gather and validate information about an existing network.
Develop network designs to meet functional specifications
•   Choose the correct technology to resolve a specific network design problem.
•   Create a network design that minimizes or eliminates negative impact on the existing
network and services.
•   Create a network design that is scalable.
•   Create a network design that is elegant and supportable.
•   Create a network design that is resilient.
Develop a plan to implement network design changes
•   Evaluate the impact of implementation options.
•   Develop contingency plans for network restoration.
Convey design decisions and rationale
•   Justify network design choices based on functional specifications.
•   Justify technology choices based on technical requirements.

I used that outline, as well as the reading list to prepare. I think you will aggree with me that if you look soley at the blueprint, that you have to cast a pretty wide net to get all of it. I interpreted this as being so open, that it was like walking with a lantern. Light from the lantern shines equally on everything, so you pay attention to litterally everything. Now, after taking the exam, I gained a bit of perspective on what exactly the developers were looking for. In this case, it would be like exchanging your lantern for a flashlight. Now, while the beam is wide, it is a lot more focused then walking with the lantern.

This perspective on the exam, or more specifically the intent and target market of the exam is invaluable. Well, I guess it is valued at the seven hundred dollars it took to take the exam . Now that I understand what they are looking for, I think I am in a good position to have a decent chance in Febuary if I don’t walk away with a CCDE number in six weeks.

Pearson

Pearson’s professional testing centers were a new experience for me. The center was clean and professional, and the staff was very helpful (including getting a couple tankards of coffee after me explaining it was the lifeblood of us geeks). However the one thing, I didn’t get the same feeling that you get when walking into the CCIE lab. If you haven’t been to the CCIE lab yet, it is almost like walking onto the football field at Notre Dame. Where in the lab you walk past the wall of pain, at Pearson it feels just like sitting down and taking any other written exam.

I do have to warn anybody who is taking this exam in the future though. If you have big feet like mine, be VERY careful of the power plugs. I managed to kick the power plug from my computer just over an hour into the exam and lost all my work. Rest assured the proctors said that the test would keep state in the production exam.

Chicago

Prior to October, I had been to chicago four times. Sadly each of those times was limited to grabbing some spankitopita at the little Greek place at Miday and then flying on to some other part of the country. This was the first time that I had managed to escape the terminal and make it into the city itself.

The first thing that struck me was how Chicago went up and not out. Coming from the west coast where cities grow out and not up, it was very weird to look up and see 1500 foot tall buildings. This urban canyon was mixed in with buildings from the 1800’s. All in all I have to say that it was pretty cool.

All 1500 feet of the Sears Tower

The other thing about Chicago is that the food is AMAZING. In less then a week in the city I managed to put on two well earned pounds. We hit up Merlot on Maple the first night. It was a quaint little northern Italian resteraunt housed in a little brownstone on the southside of Chicago. The second day we hit up Dua, the second deep dish pizzaria in chicago for lunch. Then we went to Lockwood at the Palmer Hilton for dinner. All these places were amazing, though I have to say that I prefered the down home delicious of Dua to the others.

Deep dish done right at Dua

The last night, it was time to blow of the stress from the CCDE Practical. The CCDE team was nice enough to host a cocktail party on the ninety fifth floor of the Hancock Building. I managed to deliver a nice little diatribe on Trill, L3VPN’s and security networks a the user and app level vs. stopping at layer 4 while being about one beer past the point where technical items should be discussed. If I managed to get into any heated discussions aboutthe importance of business relevance versus technical optimization then you have my appologies.

Sadly that party ended at 10:00 pm. Luckily Chicago is Brian McGehan’s home town. He recommended Fado’ , a great little Irish pub in the russian hill section of town. Brian, Scott, Gene, Genes wife, Ryan and I headed down there and made a good time of it till 2:00 am in the morning.

Summing it up

Eighteen months of studying culminated in 8 hours of blurry eyes in front of a computer screen trying to figure out a proctor’s intent. Looking around at the people in the waiting room, I saw many people that just blow my brain away. So if they grade on a curve, I am pretty sure I’ll be back in Febuary. Even if it goes that way, it is a good thing, because it just pushes me to learn more and become a better engineer. At the end of the day, I’m all right with that.

CCDE Practical – Beta candidate deadline August 1 2008

colinmcnamara — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:15:01 +0000

I just received an email from Cisco finally revealing what benefit the CCDE beta program members will receive for being good little test subjects.

As a CCDE beta participant on the qualification exam, you have given us your time and feedback and have made a significant commitment to making this a valuable program in the market. As a token of our appreciation for your commitment to the success of the program, if you qualify, we are offering the beta of the practical exam to you at a reduced price of $700, a savings of $280 off the retail price of the beta exam along with a priority seat. Cisco will be offering this beta delivery of the exam on October 1, 2008, in Chicago, IL at a Pearson professional testing center. This is an exceptional offer and opportunity to be one of the first individuals in the world to obtain their CCDE certification.

There is a catch here, and hopefully everyone who is participating is able to pull their heads out of current projects soon enough to catch it.

We can’t keep priority seats forever so we’ll need your commitment by August 1, 2008. After August 1, 2008 you will be registering under open enrollment rules and we cannot guarantee your seat.

That’s right, you have 11 days to reply to the email, or forever hold your peace. In my case, them email is already sent. Hopefully I can talk my VP into letting me take that $280 I “saved” him and apply it to a really posh hotel.

–ColinSimilar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

CCDE Practical – Beta candidate deadline August 1 2008

Darrel Hinshaw – New Triple CCIE [Storage]!!!!!!!

colinmcnamara — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:54:20 +0000

My bud Darrel from our Dallas office passed his third CCIE this afternoon.

I think Rick (5x CCIE) put it best in a company wide email earlier this afternoon -

From: Rick Davis
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 4:46 PM
To: Technology Sales & Services
Subject: Darrel Hinshaw – New Triple CCIE [Storage]!!!!!!!

Please join me in congratulating Darrel in obtaining his Storage CCIE. There are only 24 double CCIES (RS/Storage) in the world, so he is probably about 1 of 15 or less in the world to hold all three.

What is everyone’s vote what is next in his career? And, NO, you don’t have a say, Darrel

A) Service Provider

B) VOICE

C) CCDE

Thanks,

Rick Davis

ePlus, Senior Network Engineer

CCIE – Storage, Voice, Security, Service Provider, Routing and Switching (#5672)

Great job Darrel, everyone is really proud of you. and our apologies in advance to the wife for stealing you for choices A, B or C. (My vote is for C)

–Colin

It’s on like Donkey Kong – CCDE practical registration is open

colinmcnamara — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:12:10 +0000

The CCDE just got VERY real in a big way.The following announcement was posted in the CCDE zone at the Cisco Learning Network. (If you haven’t checked the Cisco Learning Network out yet, I recommend it. Its like NetPro on steriods, but focused around certifications.)

REGISTER NOW for the BETA Practical Exam
Cisco is now registering beta candidates for the CCDE Practical Exam. Cisco has finished development of the second exam needed to attain the CCDE certification, the practical exam, and is now soliciting candidates for the beta delivery.

Cisco will be offering this beta delivery of the exam on October, 1 in Chicago, Illinois at a VUE professional testing center. Only candidates that have a passing score on the CCDE qualification exam may register and participate in this exam. Exam beta pricing is $980US. Register Now by email at:ccdebeta@cisco.com

For my CCIE, it always seemed like a switched turned the moment I put my credit card information in and secured a seat. Before that button was pushed, it was a “future” item to deal with. Once that button was pushed it was a “now” item. Things like going out, having a beer with the guys, video games, etc all got shut down so my focus could burn a hole in the subject matter.

I just sent in my registration email for the CCDE practical. I’ll be in Chicago Oct 1, ready to give it my all. But, the more important lesson I learned from my CCIE was that if you focus your efforts on your lab day, you will fail. However if you focus your efforts consistently over the months before, you have a chance of passing. Now that my registration email has been sent, it is time to turn that focus dial up, lock to the door to my office and earn the CCDE through months of hard work.

See you in Chicago

–Colin

I’ll be at Cisco Live 2008 (networkers) in Orlando all week

colinmcnamara — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:54:29 +0000

It’s that time of year again, time to meet, drink, collaborate and learn. It’s time for Networkers (officially Cisco Live 2008). For some of us that means taking detailed notes all week long, for others it means almost getting arrested for climbing the totem pole outside of the house of blues (you know who you are). For all of us, it is a time to connect with old friends, share new ideas, and make new friends in the process.

In that spirit, my schedule is listed below. If you are in the area, it would be great if you would stop by and say hello.
“6/23/08″ “11:00 AM”"Certification Exam – Certification Exam”
“6/23/08″ “1:30 PM”"BRKCCT-1001 – Contact Center Welcome Session: Focusing on the Experience”
“6/23/08″ “5:00 PM”"WoS Reception 1 – Welcome Reception in World of Solutions”
“6/24/08″ “8:00 AM”"certification focus group – certification focus group”
“6/24/08″ “9:00 AM”"BRKITI-1031 – Cisco Data Center 3.0 Strategy and Business Impact”
“6/24/08″ “10:00 AM”"GENKEY-1001 – Keynote and Welcome Address with John Chambers”
“6/24/08″ “12:00 PM”"ITIPCS-1015 – NetQoS: Getting the Most from Cisco WAN / Application Acceleration Technologies”
“6/24/08″ “1:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1221 – Applying Cisco’s Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) and DCNM APIs to Emerging Data Center Infrastructure”
“6/24/08″ “2:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1001 – Cisco Application eXtension Platform”
“6/24/08″ “3:00 PM”"GENSSN-1001 – Super Session: The Power of Collaboration Panel”
“6/24/08″ “4:00 PM”"BRKSEC-3007 – Solving Security Challenges with Embedded Event Manager”
“6/24/08″ “7:00 PM”"BRKAGG-2001 – Multiservice Edge Architectures and Solutions for Service Providers”
“6/25/08″ “6:00 PM”"CCIE Appriciation – CCIE Appreciation part – Nascar Grill”
“6/25/08″ “9:00 AM”"BRKDEV-1111 – Location Based Services using Cisco Location API”
“6/25/08″ “10:00 AM”"GENKEY-1002 – Cisco Technology Keynote with Padmasree Warrior”
“6/25/08″ “12:00 PM”"ITIPCS-1019 – Fluke Networks: General Parts Uses Embedded IOS Technologies to Successfully Manage Inventory at Retail Locations:
“6/25/08″ “1:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1051 – ANA Technical Session and Demo”
“6/25/08″ “3:00 PM”"GENSSN-1002 – Super Session: The Data Center–Evolution and Transformation:”
“6/25/08″ “4:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1131 – Customer Voice Portal Application Development”
“6/25/08″ “8:00 PM”"Customer Event – Customer Appreciation Event”
“6/26/08″ “9:00 AM”"BRKITI-1034 – Realize Business Goals through Network Architecture Solutions”
“6/26/08″ “10:00 AM”"GENKEY-1003 – Closing Keynote Address and Guest Speaker, Ben Stein, Actor/Writer/Columnist”
“6/26/08″ “1:00 PM”"BRKCCIE-3003 – CCDE: The Cisco Certified Design Expert”
“6/26/08″ “3:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1171 – Managing Network Performance using the New IOS Data Collection Services”
“6/26/08″ “4:00 PM”"BRKDEV-1181 – Configuration and Provisioning using IOS XML API”Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

I’ll be at Cisco Live 2008 (networkers) in Orlando all week

Passed CCDE written and Recertified my CCIE – Killed two birds with one stone

colinmcnamara — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:47:30 +0000

Today was a good day, I knocked two major items of my todo list. The first, was passing the CCDE written.

This is the first step towards sitting for a practical examination that will hopefully be released this October. And, in response to Micheal Morris’s blog post – Yes Mike, I can pass the CCDE written.

The second big item on my todo list was to recertify my CCIE. Thankfully, Cisco counts the CCDE written towards my recertification requirements. I am waiting for the system to update, but I think this will set me up to be certified till June of 2011.

There is one interesting side effect of passing my CCDE written the week before networkers. I had originally planned on using the free exam at networkers as a “safety” exam in case I struck out on this attempt. Now of course, that is not necessary. Since I am already a CCIE, there isn’t much incentive to take a professional level exam.

So, after weighing my options, I have decided to take the CCIE Service Provider written. It covers much of the MPLS / IP Next Generation Networks material that I have been studying. I only have 7 days to prepare, so the odds are against me. However, with the heavy service provider focus in the CCDE blueprint, I have a feeling after I battle the CCDE practical I will be set to roll right into the CCIE Service Provider lab.Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Passed CCDE written and Recertified my CCIE – Killed two birds with one stone

Featured on Network World – 20 useful sites for Cisco networking professionals

colinmcnamara — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:25:14 +0000

This morning I was featured as #11 of 20 in Network World Magazines 20 useful sites for Cisco networking professionals. Let me say thank you to the folks at network world for mentioning my little corner of the internet, and welcome to any readers that haven’t been to my site before. I hope that you find some my articles helpful, inspiring, or entertaining.

For new readers to this site, please you might enjoy the following articles -

Who is Colin McNamara ?

Usability features on the Nexus 7000

Overview of NX-OS 4.0 (the operating system for the Nexus 7000)

Why did I choose to get a CCIE in storage networking?

What does it take to pass the CCIE exam?Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Featured on Network World – 20 useful sites for Cisco networking professionals

Russ White – CCDE interview – Part 2

colinmcnamara — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:03:40 +0000

Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Russ White – CCDE interview – Part 2

Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE – officially released by Cisco

colinmcnamara — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:24:56 +0000

Today was the official release date for the CCDE exam. To quote Cisco -
“CCDE Assesses advanced Network Infrastructure Design Principles and Fundamentals for large networks. A CCDE can demonstrate an ability to develop solutions which address planning, design, integration, optimization, operations, security and ongoing support focused at the infrastructure level for customer networks”

For the engineering perspective on this, the CCDE is equivalent to the CCIE. However, the CCDE is focused on design and architecture rather then implementation. Where the CCIE (R&S, Voice, Security, Service Provider, Storage) is focused on implementation, the CCDE is focused more on the pre-sales design and architecture efforts. I am personally looking forward to the lab being released, as it provides a certification to validate the skill set needed to be an sales engineer on Enterprise accounts, or to be a network architect at an Enterprise corporation.

It is funny how small a world it is. Eplus (the company I work for) CEO – Phil Norton was quoted on Cisco’s press release -

“Certifications provide a stamp of approval that validates the quality of our organization’s employees,” said Phil Norton, chairman, CEO and president of ePlus. “The CCDE isn’t about operations; it’s about recognizing the value of network designers and honoring their core skills that provide a real value to our business and our customers.”

My gut feel when I first got invited to the CCDE beta program was that this will become a requirement for the Channel. I think Phil’s statement cements that gut feel into a reality. Obtaining a CCDE will become similar to the CCIE – a check box that you must attain to work with the top VAR’s out there. This makes me extremely grateful that I was lucky enough to be invited into the beta group to be allowed first crack at this gem of a certification.Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Cisco Certified Design Expert – CCDE – officially released by Cisco

Russ White – CCDE interview

colinmcnamara — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:03:15 +0000

Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Russ White – CCDE interview

Resume – Colin McNamara, CCIE #18233

colinmcnamara — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:24:24 +0000

Colin McNamara, CCIE #18233 – (858) 927-4515 – colin@2cups.com

CERTIFICATIONS / ACCREDITATIONS HELD

CCIE – Cisco Systems Internetwork Expert #18233

VCP – VMware Certified Professional

CDCUCSS – Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist

VSP – VMware Sales Professional

VTSP – VMware Technical Sales Professional

TSS – Cisco Technical Solutions Specialist, Data Center

GCIH – GIAC Certified Incident Handler

CCVP – Cisco Certified Voice Professional

CSNSSS – Cisco Storage Networking Solutions Support Specialist

CSNSDS – Cisco Storage Network Solutions Design Specialist

CADCNSS – Cisco Advanced Data Center Networking Infrastructure Support Specialist

CCIE Storage Networking

RHCE – Redhat Certified Engineer #804006368822511

RHCT – Redhat Certified Technician #804006368822511

EMCPA – EMC Proven Professional Associate – Information Storage and Management

NSCA – Netscaler Certified Administrator #2005072

NACE – Network Appliance Certified Expert #12912

NACP – Network Appliance Certified Professional #12017 – Data Protection

NACP – Network Appliance Certified Professional #11985 – Storage Area Network

NACP – Network Appliance Certified Professional #12911 – High Availability

Retired Certifications -

Cisco Qualified Specialist – IP Telephony Support

Cisco Qualified Specialist – IP Telephony Design

Cisco Qualified Specialist – IP Telephony Operations

Cisco Wireless LAN Design Specialist

Cisco Wireless LAN Support Specialist

TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY

PROTOCOL PROFICIENCY

EIGRP, OSPF, RIP, BGP, MPLS, Spanning Tree, Rapid Spanning Tree, ATM, RTP, SIP, H.323, LWAPP, RADIUS, TACACS+, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, ISCSI, FCIP, FCP, FSPF, NDMP 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, RBE, ISDN, SNMP

Virtualization Platforms

VMware ESX, Kernel Virtual Machine, Xen

VOICE and VOICE OVER IP

CallManager, Unity, ICS7750, PBX Trunking, SRST, Active Directory Integration, Extended Services, Call Detail Recording, Automated Attendant, Extension, Mobility, Asterisk, Callware and VSR VM.

HARDWARE

Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) 6100, 2100, 5100, Nexus 7000, Nexus 5000, Nexus 2000 and Nexus 1000v switches, Catalyst 1900-6509 switches, 1600-7500 series routers, Cisco PIX firewalls, Cisco Load Balancers, Cisco MDS , F5 Load Balancers, Netscreen / Juniper Firewalls, Cisco VPN3000 VPN concentrators, Cisco ASA Adaptive Security Appliances, Nortel Contivity VPN Concentrators, Aironet Access Points and Bridges, Airespace LWAPP concentrators. 3com TotalConnect racks, Ascend dial concentrators, Netscaler Load balancers, SSL accelerators, SSL VPN concentrators. Brocade Silkworm, HP Eva Storage

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Nagios, Cacti, NTOP, IPswitch What’s Up Gold, BIG Brother, Spectrum Network Management, Kiwi Syslog,, MRTG , HP OpenView, Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection system, Cisco Network Based Application Recognition, Snort IDS, Netscreen Firewall Manager, Unified Compute System Manager

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Redhat, Suse and Ubuntu Linux, Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows XP, NT4.0, BSD, Solaris, OSX

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS

Consulting, Valued Added Reseller, Large Enterprise, Startup, Banking, Service Provider, Software Development, Manufacturing, Military

EMPLOYMENT

1/07 – Present, ePlus Technology

Consulting Systems Engineer – Data Center

Accelerate Data Center sales, design and implement network, storage, and systems solutions for ePlus west coast customers.

Accomplishments

Developed and deployed go to market strategy for Cisco’s Unified Computing System resulting in significant competitive advantage in the western united states.

Increased Data Center revenues year over year in a the worst economy in a century.

Changed regional sales focus from technology silo’s to solutions based selling covering network, systems, storage and applications under one umbrella.
Established a trend of Advanced Technology account wins.
Accelerated ePlus’s southern California sales by providing high end engineering support.
Increased sales for ePlus’s northern California office by overlaying and training field sales.
Integrated MPLS service provider designs into cutting edge Enterprise Solutions.
Filled PM and lead network engineer roles for large publicly traded company data center migrations.
Created modular Cisco design / quote format and menu based hardware and services options to address rapidly changing customer needs.

9/05 – 1/07 ID Analytics

Lead Network Engineer

Lead team of four engineers, Define network and application integration architecture for large SaaS analytics deployment, Leverage networking technology to increase security and availability, and decrease development and product deployment timelines

Accomplishments

Led team of engineers responsible for all Production and Back Office systems in 2 offices and 3 datacenters
Designed and Implemented ID Analytics Phase2 datacenter, processing 1.2-1.8 million financial transactions daily.
Designed and Implemented Contents Switching and SSL offloading solution, enabled non-disruptive scaling of core products
Integrated ID Analytics product with the largest card processors in the world – Equifax, Visa, TransUnion, etc.
Designed and integrated centralized Fiber Channel and ISCSI SAN solution, increasing application speed and decreasing production database refresh times from 4 weeks to 1 week.
Managed and maintained over 130 terabytes of storage
Created lights out server imaging and deployment solution for remote datacenters
Deployed and integrated monitoring solutions utilizing open source technology
Created user emulation probes for real time application monitoring and trending of production systems
Worked with development and Analytics to create structured Development and QA environments
Spearheaded project to change Analytics / Informatics environment from “unix for workgroups” to high performance computing environment (HPC)
Provide structured documentation to US Government and Corporate auditors
Utilized project management skills for international rollouts

2/04 – 8/2005 Openwave Systems
Senior Network Engineer, Strategic Design and Integration Group
Provide technical leadership, Define network architecture, Establish standards and technical vision. Responsible for researching, developing, and architecting technical solutions to business needs.

Accomplishments

Designed Openwave’s new Pacific Datacenter Networks, with 900 production, and 2000 development servers.
Designed Openwave’s Pacific Shores Campus Networks, and Showcase Datacenter.
Responsible for hardware acquisition budget of 1.7 million dollars
Established ISCSI IP based SAN infrastructure with DR components in 4 major datacenters worldwide
Promoted from the ranks, moving from running our VOIP phone systems, to Network team lead, to Senior Network Engineer in the Strategic Design and Integration team.
Active and engaged member of multiple boards covering design review, change control, and security
Negotiated with Cisco and SBC regarding datacenter purchases saving $906,000 off list price.
Renegotiated Cisco support saving Openwave nearly $600,000 over our three year term
Established improved data center controls, allowing Openwave to pass Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) audits
Wrote and ran multiple RFP, RFQ, and RFI’s
Utilized project management skills for international rollouts
Managed, Piloted, and Installed new wireless systems for our Customer Briefing Center
Responsible for 6 VOIP clusters around the world
Recipient of multiple awards recognizing dedication and quality work.
Attended continuing training for security management (CISSP)

2/03 – 1/04 USMC Reservist activated in support of Operation Enduring Freedom
Information Services Coordinator
Implement and maintain Tactical Data Networks, Provide consulting services to hosting units. Maintain Microsoft Exchange servers in both tactical and garrison environments. Perform security audits and remediation. Train support personnel.

Accomplishments

Performed Disaster recovery of routed ATM LANE environment for Marine Corps Air Station Yuma enabling over 3000 users to resume work (awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for that event)
Performed security audit and created a security and performance remediation plan for MCAS Yuma
Provided project management and security audit skills to 3^rd Marine Air Wing Yuma server support teams, managed server security audit, security remediation, and SMS rollout.
Designed and implemented Nagios network monitoring system at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.
Implemented Norton Antivirus server for MWSS 473
Provided training on to data teams from MWSS 473, MCAS Yuma Station IT, and 3^rd Marine Air Wing Yuma server teams.

12/02 – 2/04 2 Cups Solutions, Pleasanton , Ca
Principal Consultant
Founded 2 Cups Solutions to provide cutting edge Voice, Data, Wireless and Security services to clients in the San Francisco bay and Fresno areas.

Accomplishments

Implemented WAN failover solution at two City of Hayward fire stations.
Implemented email and web solution for Express Mobile Notary.
Developed and implemented business plan focusing on State and Local Government contracts.

2/02 – 12/02 ExtraTeam, Pleasanton , Ca
Senior Systems Engineer
Design, Installation, Configuration and Maintenance of network systems consisting of Cisco CallManager, Unity, Cisco Secure ACS, LEAP secured wireless, Aironet, Cisco routers and switches, PIX firewalls, and VPN3000 concentrators. Integrating all systems with Active Directory. Performed VOIP feasibility studies. Managed the entire business cycle including sales, design, installation, training and maintenance.

Accomplishments

Integrated CallManager voice system with Active Directory
Recovered a failed CallManager implementation at Phase 2 Strategies (PR firm for Logitech). Implemented CallManager with up to date hardware and software, upgraded Unity up to reasonably current levels. Brought up remote office in Phoenix utilizing SRST.
Implemented City wide wireless network integrated with active directory for the City of Hayward
Implemented VPN Concentrators in conjunction with multiple levels of firewalls for City of Hayward and Hayward PD to meet CLETS requirements.
Implemented network configuration management system responsible for the city of Hayward.
Implemented new wan for Livermore Pleasanton Fire department moving fire stations from isdn to T1 and Gigabit fiber lines in conjunction with moving the location for the network core.
Designed and implemented IPSEC based wan for Universal life resources, allowing nationwide secure remote office connectivity while minimizing wan connection costs.
Designed CallManager based VOIP system for a 27 site school district
Provided emergency support to Fire and Police agencies across the bay area
Performed security remediation for a large bay area company
Participated in large switched network cutover from 7500 to a 6509 with flex-wan modules for Stanislaus County.
Achieved technical certifications for ExtraTeam to become certified under both the Wireless and IP Telephony revised specifications.

7/01 – 2/02 Infobond Inc. Burlingame , Ca
Network Engineer

Responsible for engineering duties in a leadership role. Integrated legacy PBX’s using VOIP technology. Used Quality of service to ensure VOIP service levels. Support legacy voice over IP and voice over Frame Relay technologies. Upgrade from legacy voice integrations to state of the art VOIP integrations. Create project plans and act on them.

Accomplishments

Cut over evergreen lines shipping terminal from legacy 3com equipment to VOIP enabled Cisco routers and switches. Accomplished all work during Union stand downs.
Contracted to Openwave, Inc. to run Remote Access while the engineer was on leave. Ran Remote Access for 5 weeks, resolving DSL RLAN issues and IPSec issues, while reducing trouble ticket backload to manageable levels. Assisted other engineers when needed.
Implemented Cisco 6509’s to replace aging core network of a Benchmark Capital (bay area investment firm).
Diagnosed and resolved VOIP issues that were stopping call center rollouts for Embarcadero Systems (a large bay area shipping company).

03/00 – 7/01 Knapp Publishing Corporation, San Ramon, Ca
Network Systems Administrator

Responsible for day-to-day operations of e-commerce data center, and wide area networks Performed DNS changes for both internal and external networks. Designed, piloted, and implemented network changes. Installation configuration and maintenance of NT, and Windows 2k file, print, and web servers

Accomplishments

Improved service levels from 90% to 99.99%, enhanced security and increased bandwidth were benefits derived from implementing a state-of-the-art web hosting data center
Implemented a network monitoring system to document, report, and notify of network status.
Designed and implemented ISDN failover of Frame-Relay Network.
Designed, piloted, and implemented network changes.
Replaced NT servers with Linux based servers, integrated with the Windows network

01/98 – 03/00 DKA Computers Inc. Clovis, Ca
Manager Information Services (01/99 – 03/00 )

Ran day to day operations of a central valley ISP. Worked with systems manufacturing to bundle client software with all new PC’s. Partnered with local ISP’s to provide access numbers across the valley.

Accomplishments

Managed web development, and professional services
Moved web hosting from IIS to APACHE based servers, drastically increasing site availability
Produced a forms based web application to configure custom systems online.
Designed and implemented an IPSec based WAN connecting 3 stores point of sales systems.
Managed corporate office and data center relocation project.

Senior PC Service Technician (01/98 – 01/99)

Provide on call service. Staff PC help desk. Provide direct customer systems support while maximizing company revenues. Configured all servers ordered from manufacturing.

Accomplishments

Responsible for all day to day service activities for a 13 million dollar company. Management of 4 team members. Directly responsible for customer satisfaction

Implemented hard drive imaging system, decreasing both warranty costs and turnaround time
Installed and configured SCO Unix reservation system for National Park service, Kings Canyon
Designed, implemented inventory tracking database, reducing required stock on hand by $40,000

MILITARY

1996 – 2004 UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
Have held U.S. Government security clearance – Secret

EDUCATION

Ongoing professional education

Sans CISSP + Track

University of Oklahoma extension – Fire Science

Cisco Networking Academy

Similar Posts:

--Colin McNamara

Resume – Colin McNamara, CCIE #18233