Andrew Ellis Email & Phone Number

United States

Senior Support Engineer within the Customer Support Organization, dedicated to managing L2/L3 issues associated with Ekinops hardware across our North American customer base. In this role, I am entrusted with troubleshooting and meticulously replicating complex customer issues for our engineering teams. I collaborate closely with them to test and validate solutions tailored to address our customers' specific challenges. Maintain comprehensive oversight of all customer issues, tracking their progress and providing detailed reports to ensure transparency and clarity regarding the status of their issues and projects.  Deeply involved in supporting cutting-edge NFV (Network Function Virtualization) and SDWAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) solutions.  Building and presenting demonstrations for customer POC (Proof of Concepts), showcasing the innovative capabilities of our products in real-world scenarios. Manage one of our lab environments, ensuring it remains meticulously configured to replicate all issues encountered by our diverse customer base.  A deep commitment to customer service excellence and proactive support across all facets of our operations

Plano, Texas

Embedded Engineer in one of iDirect’s largest customers. Handle any and all issues that arise on their network across all deployed product lines. Develop and maintain corporate/customer relations and build a relationship of trust with customer to ensure continued growth of products within the customers' network. Function as a single point of contact (SPOC) and subject matter expert (SME) to the customer. Work with account team to recognize potential areas for revenue growth as well as to maximize the product base within customer network. Escalate issues and troubleshoot with the customer to resolve impairment issues.  Host weekly meetings to discuss ongoing issues and projects as well as prepare reporting  Preform all upgrades of systems to customers network.  Support the customers activities 24/7.

Dallas/Fort Worth Area

Direct all vendor partnerships and strategic alliance activities. Deliver key technical support to presales team for proof of concepts, lab design and setup, and demonstrations and training. Oversight of service provider, data center, and mobile markets. Established lab to support testing of SNMP, NetFlow, applications performance, Eth-OAM and IP-SLA testing, IPv6 testing, hierarchical QoS, traffic generation, extensive VMware functions, OpenStack, NiFi, and new device integration. Managed creation of demonstration data sets, scripting of the data sets, and the management of all the remote site vendor labs.  Constructed global lab and demo center leveraging both internal and external cloud technologies to allow for access to demonstrations and sandbox environments 24/7 – further utilized as POCs with multiple customers and reduced sale cycle by almost 1/3.  Drove reduction in AWS cloud spend 40% YOY through training and system scheduling.  Headed and passed all InfoVista product certifications with vendors that included Cisco, Juniper, Adva, and Nokia/Alcatel as well as customers that included Siemens, AT&T, and Charter. Created and maintained corporate demo systems in 3 regions utilizing Amazon AWS technology, ranging from EC2, S3, Workspaces, AppStream 2.0, and VPC.

Operated as escalation point for all LAN/WAN-related issues within global Cadbury Schweppes network. Showcased advanced project management capabilities across diverse data implementations. Developed global standards for the integration of all the regional networks into one global network. Performed hardware evaluations on equipment for both the data network as well as the security groups.  Deployed MPLS network globally across North, Central, and South America - maintained 99.99% operational uptime across 6-month project.  Converted Mexico region from statically routed network to a dynamically routed network in a single night.  Replaced aged frame relay network with newer faster MPLS network, simultaneously rolling out QoS.  Established configuration management server to store configurations of data equipment in a CVS repository. Deployed more efficient network monitoring tool – providing global scalability.

Headed all daily network issues across the corporate office and regional locations. Cultivated relationships with vendors while partnering on network design and implementation of new technologies. Acted as a change agent on the national level while simultaneously supporting regional managements through implemented changes and impacts. Oversaw team of 10 high-performing engineers.  Partnered with hospital account management team to upgrade 3 hospital networks from 10Base T, to new Gig network to support digital transmission of MRI and radiological data as well as add WiFi throughout.  Rebuilt legacy systems to decrease downtime and support physician needs.  Managed implementation of several rollouts, including data center implementation, VoIP, and video.  Deployed Cisco Call Manager and Unity system at new corporate facility.

Responsible for the management of all data related issues and engineering requirements that might arise on the network. Designed, implemented and built out all new locations. Troubleshooting of all network issues that might arise. Interacted with various departments to implement and integrate new hardware and to allocate the appropriate bandwidth for their use. Served as the final technical escalation for any and all data related problems that might occur on the data network. Implemented several new security standards as well as new monitoring system to increase reaction times to major network issues.

Diligently overcame critical issues, refined procedures, and streamlined workflows. Worked cross-functionally with colleagues and vendors to maximum response time and optimal solution generation. Advanced from tier 2 technical support engineer after performing high-profile support and leading 40+ engineers.  Effectively maintained and updated OSPF and BGP routing tables for data network to correct routing issues. Authored documentation of procedures that spanned upgrading, integrating, and provisioning of hardware across the network. Handled all organization and approvals for both scheduled and emergency maintenance

Provide second level escalation point for any and all data problems on Allegiance's Network. Perform the role of lead in the group, and back up to the group manager. Serve as a focal point for issues within our group that need to be escalated up to upper management. Daily responsibilities include troubleshooting all problems that occur on the Allegiance Internet Backbone from core routers to customer CPE, working with Data Engineering on turning up new locations, identifying and correcting network degradations, evaluation of new hardware to be integrated into existing network. Scheduling and approval of Scheduled Maintenance and Emergency Maintenance Requests. Maintaining and updating OSPF and BGP routing tables for the Data network as needed or to correct routing issues. Provide documentation of procedures for upgrading, integrating and provisioning of hardware across the network.

Responsible for the management and troubleshooting of the Internal Broadband/Frame relay network. Served as second level support for any and all issues regarding the internal broadband/frame relay networks. Responsibilities included working with customers to quickly resolve any and all network issues that might arise. Management of the GNI OAMP Router Network and Lucent Switch Network. Work with various test equipment to resolve problems and test stability issues. Coordinate with various other departments in implementing new technologies and evaluating their effectiveness on existing systems and new systems. Performed all hardware upgrades regarding the Internal networks. Work with Security to manage the firewalls in the GNI Sonet Backbone.

Responsible for management of the GNI Network including the SONET backbone, OAMP Router Network, ATM/Frame Relay, and Telecom Networks. Diagnose and correct any problems or outages that occur on any of the networks including hardware, software, and environmental alarms. Define Method of Procedures for Change Management requests and then worked closely with the field support staff to monitor any changes or scheduled outages that were taking place. Work with provisioning on turning up new circuits and diagnosing circuit problems. Serve as a centralized contact and escalation point for field support, vendors, customers, and provisioning for any trouble they might be experiencing.

Responsible for the day to day support of GTE TSI, ISB, and Wireless network Connectivity (IP, IPX, and LAN). Diagnoses of PC problems as either local trouble or network problems, assisted department supervisors on the implementation of new software and hardware. Maintained and repaired over 300+ PC’s making sure they were all functioning and on the network. Implicated strict security measures to lockdown computers in trouble areas to prevent further damage. Focal Point for problems encountered in the ISB environment. Windows NT server monitoring, and administration. Other responsibilities included asynchronous communications, PC installation, configuration & repair, training and Ordering of equipment & software, and coordinating and scheduling system outages and changes.

Responsible for the computer processing of all departmental payrolls, accounts payable, and daily operation reports. Prepared all required State regulated reports and licenses. Responsible for purchases, inventory control, and pricing. Supervised between 75-100 employees with the authority to hire and fire.Handled customer relations of a pari-mutuel facility with an attendance in excess of one hundred thousand people per year. Assisted General Manager in decision making that had an impact on daily operations.Designed web pages for World Jai-Alai, Ocala Jai-Alai, and Tampa Jai-Alai. Maintained web pages to insure accuracy and timeliness of results, entries, player statistics, and upcoming events. Maintained and repaired all computer equipment for both the Ocala and Tampa Frontons. Conducted training sessions on usage and implementation of new computer software and hardware.