Michael Howe Email & Phone Number

Australia

Lambton

The Network Technical Specialist role at AGL Energy is a key influencer role within the network space. Working closely within project teams, the role influences decisions around hardware and software, vendor selection, partners, and solutions. The role is assigned to projects throughout the lifetime of the project, from the consultation phase all the way through to post-implementation testing.Major ProjectsNetwork Core Switch Upgrade involved the upgrade of aging hardware across two data centres from Cisco’s 6500 switching platform to Cisco ACI. Contact Centre Upgrade involved the design and upgrade of the contact centre at AGLs offshore sites. Working with existing service providers and vendors, an upgrade path was formulated which would have minimum cost and impact on the business, with a maximum lifetime of services. Telephony Upgrade at the Renewables Sites is an ongoing project currently in the design phase. It involves upgrading the current analogue telephony environment at the Victorian renewables sites to a digital solution.New Sites Onboarding projects for corporate offices in multiple states. NBN Rollout has involved the coordination of NBN services to AGL sites across multiple states. This has included upgrading services such as ISDN, PSTN, POTS, lift phones, ADSL, and other services that are being superseded by the NBN.

Lambton

Network AnalystNetwork analyst across the entire corporate AGL network platform. Major ProjectsDCS Project: Key consultant for expertise surrounding the corporate and production networks for the expansion and improvement of the Distribute Control System (DCS) space within the Macquarie Generation assets. Included consulting and implementation of firewall and routing configuration, as well as rollout of further wireless functionality across the generation sites. This consultation lead to efficient and effective output from on-site staff, with data entry and retrieval at key locations across the power stations.OSI PI Project: Key advisor for the OSI PI integration the Macquarie generation sites. This involved coordination of outsourcers from multiple vendors, delegation and advisory tasks and expertise through in-depth experience within the Macquarie networking space.

Lambton

Lead network engineer and key technical advisor for enterprise solutions across 2 major power stations and 5 total sites. The role included a range of responsibilities from design, architecting, optimising and implementation, to vendor liaison and management. All network layer changes, management, review, upgrades, monitoring and patching.Mentor and senior resource leading teams to achieve positive business outcomes across the generation sites and corporate space.Major projects: Wireless upgrade and expansion at Bayswater and Liddell power stations. Consolidation of controllers from 10 wireless controllers across 4 sites to 2 wireless controllers controlling all 4 sites. Coordinated the replacement of existing wireless access points, while simultaneously achieving a major expansion of wireless coverage across the sites.Wireless Guest Network: a wireless guest network was built upon the infrastructure rolled out in the wireless upgrade and expansion project. This allowed kiosks at each site which would generate a finite-length login for guests who used the kiosks to sign in. CUCM upgrade project: involved upgrading the physical CUCM servers at each site to a virtualised appliance with a single publisher, and multiple subscribers at each site.SAN fibre channel upgrade: migrated SAN from EOS Brocade switching to the Cisco Nexus platform with fibre channel.

Lead network engineer and key technical advisor for enterprise solutions across 2 major power stations and a number of corporate site. The role included a range of responsibilities from design, architecting, optimising and implementation, to vendor liaison and management. All network layer changes, management, review, upgrades, monitoring and patching.Mentor and senior resource leading teams to achieve positive business outcomes across the generation sites and corporate space.Major projects: Wireless upgrade and expansion at Bayswater and Liddell power stations. Consolidation of controllers from 10 wireless controllers across 4 sites to 2 wireless controllers controlling all 4 sites. Coordinated the replacement of existing wireless access points, while simultaneously achieving a major expansion of wireless coverage across the sites.Wireless Guest Network: a wireless guest network was built upon the infrastructure rolled out in the wireless upgrade and expansion project. This allowed kiosks at each site which would generate a finite-length login for guests who used the kiosks to sign in. CUCM upgrade project: involved upgrading the physical CUCM servers at each site to a virtualised appliance with a single publisher, and multiple subscribers at each site.SAN fibre channel upgrade: migrated SAN from EOS Brocade switching to the Cisco Nexus platform with fibre channel.

Gosford

I have been a valuable asset and key team player in a large number of Data Centre projects including the design and implementation of a Unified Communications solution across the whole of the organisation. This Unified Communications upgrade project required that Cisco Unified Communications Manager was upgraded to version 7.1.5 from version 3.1, which meant that the use of the Bulk Administration Tool to migrate configuration was not viable, and the project was built as a green field installation. Around 2000 handset licenses were required for installation. The project also required that IPFX was integrated with CUCM via the TAPI interface for an enterprise level voice-mail and queue solution.My Cisco skill-set has been highly utilised on the networking front here at WorkCover, and I have designed and implemented the network upgrades of a number of regional offices ranging from about 50 to about 300 users. This work meant planning and writing IOS configuration for high-availability routers, and Cisco 3750 switch stacks. As a Technical Specialist I have also been involved in designing upgrades and improvements to other areas of our IT infrastructure, as well as the typical day-by-day activities surrounding Data Centre administration. These include monitoring the McAfee IDS logs in case of internal or external threats against the network; monitoring and administering our BlueCoat Proxy; virtualisation administration and implementation; Windows Server tasks such as AD administration and WSUS; and of course keeping systems up-to-date with the latest platforms and updates.I currently work with: Cisco Routing and Switching Equipment; McAfee Intrusion Detection Systems; Bluecoat Proxy Solutions; Hyper-V and VMware Virtualisation Platforms; Data Protection Manager and Netbackup; Network Analysis and Deep Packet Inspection; Cisco Unified Communications Manager; Batch Scripting and Powershell;Network Architecture and Design Solutions; IBM Blade Centre Management.

Instruction of Ethical Hacking to technical students at TAFE NSW. Covered web-based attacks and mitigation; network attacks and mitigation; as well as a range of application/OS security attacks and mitigation. In addition, the Ethical Hacking course was founded on ethical principles, ensuring that the knowledge obtained was used for good purposes. I was tasked with designing a semester long curriculum which I focused on network and web security, whilst keeping a constant emphasis on ethics.

Mangrove Mountain

Volunteer work administering the network at the Community Technology Centre at Mangrove Mountain. The project originally involved upgrading the network to a Windows SBS 2003 Domain, with Windows XP and Vista computers to connect to an SBS 2003 server running over RAID 1 for redundancy. Local DNS, DHCP and Print Servers were also implemented onto the network. The work was volunteer work branching from my major Diploma (Network Engineering) project. I continued to support the network as a volunteer for a further 18 months. My role involved: Building/Administration of Dual-boot XP/Vista Networked Machines; Building/Administration of Active Directory on Windows Server; Cisco Router and Switch Configuration; AD/DHCP/DNS Configuration and Administration.

Involved telecommunications cabling in major construction and work sites. The position included (but was not limited to) the following:Major Cat5e/Cat6 InstallationsMultimode Optical Fiber Across SitesCat7 InstallationsTwo-pair to Two-hundred Pair Telephony CablingRG-59, RG-6 and RG-11 Coaxial InstallsFire Detection and Alarm SystemsInstallation of Audio/Visual SystemsInstallation and Configuration of PABX/PBX SystemsConfiguration of Some Routers/Switches

Employment with STCJV included:Installation of Coaxial (RG-6 and RG-11) Cabling from the Street to HomeInstallation of Bigpond Cable BroadbandInstallation of FoxtelConfiguration of Routers and Switches

Advanced Diploma In Network Security, Advanced Diploma In Telecommunications Networks, Cisco, Juniper, Routing, Switching, Firewalls, Security, Telecommunications, Call Manager

Diploma in Network Engineering with Credit Advanced Diploma in Network Security with Distinction Advanced Diploma in Telecommunications.

Education record

Cisco CCNP: SWITCH Cisco CCNP: TSHOOT Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA); Cisco Certified CCNA Security; Cisco Certified Security.

Education record