As a hosting solution architect manager I manage the small team that are responsible for the design, planning and implementation of GCIs infrastructure that spans the cloud portfolio. My team and I strive to ensure that each platform is designed and built to be scalable, resilient and easy to maintain.I also act as the point of escalation for the architecture team as well as hosting / cloud services teams.I work with the following technologies:VMware & Hyper-V Hypervisors and associated management toolsets (vCenter / vCloud Director / SCVMM)HP Proliant hardware (Synergy/BL/DL/MSA)HP 3PAR SANsEMC VNX / VNXe / VNX2 / Unity SANsCisco Switching (26xx / 37xx / 45xx / Nexus 5K & 9K)Zerto Replication / Veeam Backup / Veeam Replication / Veeam Cloud ConnectSolarWinds Orion MonitoringCarbonite BackupFortigate / PFSense / NSX FirewallsMicrosoft SQL / MySQL / MariaDBWindows ServerCentOS / Debian LinuxThrough GCIs growth, mergers and acquisitions the role has also includes planning and execution of platform consolidations, platform standardization and the associated migrations, which are often cross hypervisor and datacenter.

As a hosting solution architect I am responsible for the design, planning and implementation of GCIs infrastructure that spans the GCI cloud portfolio. I strive to ensure that each platform is designed and built to be scalable, resilient and easy to maintain.I also act as the point of escalation for the hosting team.I work with the following technologies:VMware & Hyper-V Hypervisors and associated management toolsets (vCenter / vCloud Director / SCVMM)HP Proliant hardware (BL/DL/MSA)EMC VNX / VNXe / VNX2 / Unity SANsCisco Switching (26xx / 37xx / 45xx / Nexus 5K & 9K)Zerto Replication / Veeam Backup / Veeam Replication / Veeam Cloud ConnectSolarWinds Orion MonitoringCarbonite BackupFortigate / PFSense / NSX FirewallsMicrosoft SQL / MySQL / MariaDBWindows ServerCentOS / Debian Linux

As the technical team lead for the Blue Chip Hosting team I am responsible for the day to day running, maintenance and configuration of the hosted platforms. Each platform is built and run using the following technologies. VMware ESXi 5.5 HypervisorsVMware vCenter Server 5.5Vmware vCloud DirectorHP Proliant DL3xx hardware for management hostsHP Proliant C3000 and C7000 Blade Chassis with BL4xx blades for computeHP Brocade 8/24 Fibre Switches (chassis mount)HP Virtual Connect Flex10 10Gbe Switches (chassis mount)EMC VNXe 3300 ISCSI and VNX2 5400 Fibre Channel SANsCisco 3750 & 4500 switchingCisco 7200 series routersZerto Replication for DRSolarWinds Orion MonitoringSince joining the hosting team I have personally rolled out 2 complete management and compute clusters in our new Leeds and Uxbridge data centres, performed data centre and SAN migrations as well as increasing the resilience and reliability of our platforms by utilising best practice and robust change management.The hosting platforms deployed across multiple data centres provides infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to Blue Chip's customers as well as software as a service (SaaS) offerings such as Cloud Backup, hosted e-mail security, hosted Anti Virus, hosted 2 factor authentication as well as a wide range of other services.

As a Senior Network Engineer and consultant at Blue Chip I am responsible for the design, planning, implementation and documentation of technical solutions. These solutions range from something as small as simple firewall replacement to implementing a fully scalable multi-cluster VMware vSphere ESXi estate hosting mission critical systems or implementing a hybrid 'on premise' / 'cloud' based infrastructure.Technologies I install, configure and maintain on a daily basis include the following:• VMware ESX 3.5 / vSphere ESXi 4 / 5• Microsoft Hyper-V• EMC Clariion / Celera / VNX / VNXe SANs• Dell Powervault Storage• HP MSA / P Series SANs• Qlogic / EMC / Brocade Fabric Switches• Cisco / 3COM / HP / Nortel Switches• Fortinet Firewalls / Fortimail Anti-Spam• Netscreen / Cisco ASA Firewalls• HP Blade, Proliant, Dell and Siemens Fujitsu Servers• Microsoft Windows Server NT to 2012 R2• Microsoft Exchange 2000 to 2013• Microsoft ISA 2004 to TMG 2010• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to 2012• Microsoft System Centre Operations Manager (SCOM)• Citrix Presentation Server / XenApp• Citrix Secure Gateway / Citrix Access Gateway• Vizioncore vRanger / vReplicator• Veeam Backup / Replication• EVault Cloud Backup• Symantec Backup Exec• Trend / Kaspersky / McAfee Anti-Virus• Linux (RHEL / Debian / Ubuntu)• Migrations to Office 365

In this role I functioned as an implementation lead responsible for assessment and management of multiple infrastructure projects. I am involved in the full project lifecycle (planning through implementation) and deal with all levels of the organisation including internal technology groups and line-of-business.My activities included the following:• Infrastructure analysis and support of site openings/closures/relocations.• Server build and decommissioning (virtual and physical)• Server hardware capacity expansion and technology refreshes• Server-based application layering with full UAT and QA testing• Windows 7 VDI deployment / XP MigrationTechnical platforms and technologies I used on a daily bases include but are not limited to:• Citrix PS4 / PS4.5 / Access Gateway / XenApp• Windows Server 2000 / 2003 / 2008• Windows XP / 7 Desktop• Sun Ray / Devon IT thin client hardware / VDI / Leostream• Microsoft SharePoint / Office 2007 / OCS• Powershell / VBScript

Whilst at Sunseeker I was working as part of a team of four dealing with the network & server infrastructure requirements and support for over 400 users spanning across the south coast. The infrastructure that I managed consisted of around 40 HP Compaq Servers, approximately 75+ thin clients and around 300+ Windows XP workstations and laptops linked via 3COM managed switches and Fortigate routers. Technologies I maintained on a daily basis consist of the following:Anti-virus: McAfee Virus Scan 8.xBackups: Backup Exec & Arcserve using HP LTO hardware Business / ERP System: SAPPublished Desktops & Thin Clients: Citrix PS 4.5 & CSGContent Filtering: Fortigate 200A / WebsenseDatabase Servers: MS SQL 2005 & Oracle 7Disaster Recovery: Vizioncore VreplicatorActive Directory: Windows 2003 R2/2008E-mail: Lotus Domino 6.5 with BESMonitoring: SNMP Monitoring with Cacti & HP SIMRemote Control/Patch Management: LANDesk 9Remote Access: Fortigate 200AServer Platforms: Windows NT / 2000 / 2003 / 2008 / Debian LinuxStorage: EMC CX3-20 4GB FC SAN / ISCSI NASVirtualization: VMware ESX 3.5 / vSphereReporting: Crystal Reports / MS SQL Reporting Services; The role also included several projects which I led. A company wide roll-out of secure and accountable WiFi coverage.Segmentation of sites utilising VLAN technology to improve network performance.Decommission and migrate existing Windows 9x and NT clients to Windows XP.The deployment of LANDesk Patch Management and Security Suite.Implementation of VMware ESX 3.5 & vSphereVirtualisation of servers for production, testing, dev and disaster recovery with VMware ESX, replicated to mirrored hardware via Vizioncore Vreplicator.Citrix migration from Windows 2000 with PS4 to Windows 2003 with PS 4.5Implement a hardware based Firewall/UTM with IPSEC site to site VPN for low bandwidth remote sitesMigrate company reports from Crystal 8 to MS Reporting Services.Full network and server monitoring via SNMP with Cacti