Blake Ford Email and Phone Number

IT Cloud Consulting ServicesAt 1337 IT Solutions, we specialize in delivering tailored cloud solutions that empower businesses to scale, innovate, and operate with greater efficiency. With a deep understanding of cloud technologies and a focus on results, we provide comprehensive consulting services that cover every aspect of cloud adoption, migration, and optimization.Our Core Services:Cloud Strategy & Planning: We collaborate with your team to develop a robust cloud strategy that aligns with your business objectives. Our experts guide you through choosing the right cloud platform, whether AWS, GCP, or Azure, ensuring it meets your specific needs.Cloud Infrastructure Design & Implementation: Leveraging industry-leading tools like Terraform, we design and deploy scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud infrastructure. From provisioning resources to automating deployments, we ensure your cloud environment is optimized for performance and reliability.DevOps & CI/CD Integration: We streamline your development and deployment processes by integrating continuous integration and delivery pipelines. Our expertise in tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, and CircleCI enables faster, more reliable software delivery, reducing time to market.Kubernetes & Containerization: We offer advanced containerization services, deploying and managing Kubernetes clusters on platforms like GKE. Our solutions enhance application scalability, improve resource utilization, and support seamless microservices architecture.Serverless Solutions & Cloud Run Services: We help you leverage serverless architectures with Cloud Run, allowing you to run applications without managing servers.This approach reduces operational overhead and enables high availabilityCloud Cost Optimization: Our consultants perform in-depth cost analysis and optimization, identifying opportunities to reduce your cloud spend without compromising performance. We ensure you get the most value from your cloud investment.

-Automated and optimized the drive-thru infrastructure, achieving a 99.9% uptime across prod environment using Terraform, GCP compute, MIG for auto scaling and self healing solutions-Spearheaded the implementation of Terraform across the organization, leading to a 40% improvement in infrastructure consistency and deployment speed utilizing Gitlab CI/CD-Led the migration of legacy infrastructure to Terraform, reducing manual configuration tasks by 60% and increasing deployment reliability-Architected and maintained CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, enabling continuous integration and rapid,automated deployments for over 50 micro-services-Provided senior expertise in migrations efforts of Jenkins to Gitlab CI/CD and Terraform open source to Terraform Cloud-Managed and deployed Kubernetes clusters on GKE using Terraform, resulting in an increase in deployment efficiency and enhanced scalability for containerized applications-Integrated Cloud Run into the CI/CD pipelines for server less deployments, improving the efficiency ofmicro-services deployments and reducing lead time for changes

-Led the migration of on-premises infrastructure to AWS cloud, resulting in notable reduction in operational costs.-Implemented automated deployment processes using Terraform, Docker and Puppet, reducing deployment times significantly.-Designed and implemented scalable solutions on AWS for high-traffic web applications, resulting in improved performance and reliability.-Managed IAM roles and permissions across multiple AWS accounts to ensure security best practices were followed.-Orchestrated containerized applications using Docker on EC2 and Puppet, optimizing resource utilization and improving scalability.-Implemented comprehensive monitoring and observability solutions using Amazon CloudWatch, Datadog and Kibana, ensuring high availability and performance of cloud services.-Established CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins, enabling continuous integration and delivery of applications, automating testing and deployment processes.-Utilized Bash and Python scripting for automation of routine tasks and custom tool development, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing manual effort.-Applied Networking Fundamentals knowledge to troubleshoot network issues, optimize network performance, and configure firewalls to ensure network security.-Implemented security best practices such as encryption of data at rest/transit, IAM role-based access control

-Orchestrated stateless application deployments via Gitlab CI/CD using Docker on EC2-Built out LAMP Stack configurations using Ansible, optimizing resource utilization and improving scalability based on client needs-Implemented comprehensive monitoring and observability solutions using ELK, while leveraging Grafana and Prometheus for performance metrics for applications-Established CI/CD pipelines with Gitlab-CI, enabling continuous integration and delivery of applications, automating testing and deployment processes-Utilized Bash and Python scripting for automation of routine tasks and custom tool development, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing manual effort-Implemented AWS VPC networking for private and public routing of services, utilizing security groups and IAM controls to ensure security best practices-Build and maintain HashiCorp Vault services for secret management and dynamic key rotations-Demonstrated strong soft skills such as effective communication with team members and stakeholders, attention to detail in designing and implementing solutions.

-MySQL Database development and support for long term storage and high capacity applications that heavily depend on read/writes. Experience with tuning, backup, replication, deployment and migration. Create complicated SELECT/JOIN statements to pull data across multiple databases for easily viewing structured data sets.-Application development and support for systems integrated into Charter corporate environment for the life-cycle of the application. Using F5 load-balancers to distribute load across web nodes, writing I-rules to ensure, malformed packets get dropped instead of passed for processing, freeing up sessions for the web front ends to handle only valid traffic. -Full LAMP stack integration and development using Apache/Tomcat/Java/ActiveMQ for message queuing and brokering.-Linux System Administration for Solaris/Centos servers in multiple environments(POC/DEV/UAT/PROD) including, Security review, hardening and patching of critical *nix based systems. -Building full system health checks using Perl scripts with integration into Nagios for alerts and notifications. Splunk for enterprise wide logging and monitoring. Home grown RPM development for package management and version control.-Virtualization leveraging ESXi hypervisors, vmWare clients and KVM suites to stand up fully virtualized deployments, for ease of scaling and redundancy in a virtual environment. While providing metrics and monitoring for each VM deployed.-Design and implement change control policies and disaster recovery plans using Confluence and JIRA to record, track and submit change requests. Complete full Standard Operating Procedure(SOP/MOP) documentation build outs for each application deployment and change requests as required, while; improving accountability and reducing downtime caused by user errors.

-Troubleshoot Network and Connectivity issues using tools such as: Ping(ICMP), Traceroute, Telnet, Netstat, Netcat, SNMP-Manage and Maintain over 200+ Servers remotely using GPG for encryption and SCP for secure transfer of config files and deployment changes. Leverage tools such as cluster shell for managing multiple terminal windows with a single control window and SNMP/Syslog traps for ensuring health and server life span.-Provide Internal and External Support for Employees / Customers that may incur issues with their server or services. Ensuring clear, concise and timely responses to escalated issues and alerts, while ensuring escalation procedures are followed when required.-Assist in Installation and Startup of Exegy Managed Centos Servers, this includes the racking, mounting, wiring and configuration of a Centos based Exegy Server in a customer datacenter. While also providing support when the installation requirements are not met or unexpected datacenter conditions arise (improper air flow / Power consumption/requirements/ Disaster recovery build outs)

-Troubleshoot Low level AC/DC Circuitry, including chip replacement, soldering of resistors and full component replacements-Install/Repair/Maintenance on high end advanced monitoring solutions. Providing on site support during the install/repair or maintenance of a monitoring solution, while working closely with the customer to provide timely updates, full compliance reports and liaison between advanced support and client-Install/Repair/Configure network for high end advanced monitoring solutions. Land cables as outlined in the discovery and planning of phase of the project, while ensuring link and connectivity to Fiber and Ethernet connections in harsh environments for components.-Provide 24x7 operational and emergency support for customers which involves travel to client site ASAP, while coordinating with the home office on parts or replacements that may be needed from initial assessment of the error or issue discovered to reduce down time and on site efficiency