John Halla Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Il

Key member of senior technical and leadership team directing testing and certifying of new solution offering transitioning from premise-based (hardware) model to a virtual-based, software solution for managed internet services (Universal CPE-uCPE, white box solution). Partner with internal and external software developers supporting agile development lifecycles. • Developed and implemented virtual-based solution, including testing the virtual instance and features, creating technical specifications, creating technical documentation and troubleshooting procedures. • Co-authored the design guide for new uCPE functionality for the Flexware service offerings.

Chicago, Il

Directed testing and certification of routers for domestic and international deployments (T1 to OC 48 speed routers) for Managed Internet Service (MIS+) solutions for small to large global corporations. Led assessments and identified technical issues and bugs. Collaborated between vendors (Cisco, Juniper) and customers to resolve operational, implementation and security issues. Partnered with various router vendors globally to evaluate new products; assessed new products on cost and quality; assisted in integrating new vendor products into portfolio. Conducted stress and interoperability testing on firewalls, routers and networks. • Integrated new customers and tested, certified and deployed up to 3,000 routers a month delivering more than $800 million in annual revenue. • Regularly evaluated new products from 3rd party vendors to identify router solutions, which met customer expectations and SLAs, while reducing costs: led several new product integrations, which reduced hardware costs by 30-50%. • Conceptualized and directed a successful lab consolidation, automation and virtualization initiative. Reduced testing laboratories from five nationally to one, which substantially reduced testing budgets and maximized resources. • Conceptualized, developed and launched laboratory automation, scripting and new process flows, which reduced average router testing cycles from 10-15 weeks to less than six weeks consistently.• Developed Engineering & Troubleshooting Guide (ETG) for 14 different platforms. Conducted feature testing to create ETG for service delivery and service assurance channels. • Developed and conducted numerous training programs for new product offerings. Train and support Service Delivery, Customer Care, Provisioning and Maintenance teams nationally for new products, as well as deploying Engineering & Troubleshooting Guides. • Designed and implemented custom overlays for customers. Developed and tested custom features for customers.

Chicago, Il

Designed, assembled and implemented test laboratory to test and certify products. Member of senior technical team driving development, testing and general availability launch for new Router-based firewall services (security solution). Managed load-testing of Cisco products to determine impact enabling IOS firewall software. Utilized various test equipment and test modules, including ISDN, Frame Relay, Ethernet, X.25 packet, T1/T3 and IBR and Network General Sniffer. Developed engineering processes, methodologies and procedures. • Member of development team, which directed product development from concept to launch. Led development testing of Cisco IOS firewall feature set, including deploying equipment at customer site and monitoring implementations. • Researched, tested and certified new products; led evaluation of 2500 series routers to 1600 series and recommended 1600 series to reduce costs, while meeting all offering SLAs, saving more than $1,000 per router. • Leveraged technical knowledge of Cisco routers, COMPAQ servers, Ascend MAX 4004, Motorola ISDN BRI terminal adapters, Ascend Pipeline 75 remote LAN/WAN terminal adapters and NT/Solaris servers. • Co-led project to integrate design of test lab’s backbone network (Frame Relay, WorldNet, MIS and VPN). Partnered with resources for provisioning backbone connections. Developed test lab network drawings and documentation. • Led Testing Laboratory Expansion: Developed an innovative strategy to expand testing laboratory by 300% for less than $26,000 to meet rapidly increasing volume; partnered with internal real estate teams to secure new space; developed building and construction plans and new testing workflow. Led successful testing lab transition without downtime. • Project team member to develop, build infrastructure and deploy online technical college courses for internal and external users partnering with Golden Gate University. Designed and launched video network infrastructure.

Telecommunications & Project Management Coursework

Architectural Building & Construction Engineering Technology