Network Observability and Analytics.

I had the following responsibilities as a Senior Manager in Core Software Group leading a team of 45 engineers at Cisco:- Led platform development (Infrastructure) for Cisco 8000 routing platform, with state-of-the-art HW and SW architecture, and record setting scale numbers (product launched in December’19).- Led cross-functional team for Security, High-Availability, Scale and Performance, and Operational Excellence for the Cisco 8000.- Led Software Disaggregation effort to run Cisco’s Network OS on third-party HW – delivered 3 different PIDs to 3 different customers under flexible consumption model, generating $200+M.- Led Cisco’s foray into SONiC development, partnering with Microsoft for Cisco 8000.- Led System Security for protection against image tampering, SW piracy, and malware avoidance.- Led Linux Kernel team involved in customizing/optimizing the kernel for use in all of Cisco’s service provider routers and switches (ASR and NCS families) with combined revenue of $4B/year.- Improved system scale and performance (4X), with compute offload for NCS6K platform.- Led the kernel team to develop a fast boot mechanism, using Asymmetric Multiprocessing on Multi-core x86 CPU.

I co-led System and Software Architecture covering Cisco NCS1K, NCS2K, NCS4K and Network Programmability (SDN) areas. Currently active areas include Cisco Network Automation products, Path Computation Element, using contemporary distributed technologies.I worked closely with Tier-1 SP Customers for New Product Introduction, network design and strategic deployments. I lead the NPI team for the certification and deployment at one of the largest service providers in US for NCS2K, NCS4K product line; a $1B+ opportunity for Cisco.I was managing programs and releases in a global team across US, Italy and India. Two key projects undertaken by me are zero bit loss In-service-software-upgrade and multi-layer networking in a modern converged network.

I led all of Development Engineering for Cisco NCS, ONS & Carrier Packet Transport platforms.Important New Projects Undertaken (and in-progress) : 1. Cisco NCS4K Packet Optical Platform - Contribute to a Virtualization based SW Architecture & define the Network Management Interface on the IOS-XR.- Lead cross-functional teams across geographies in development and test activities, to the first product FCS in May15.- Lead the second release of a converged DWDM, OTN and Packet architecture solution in Dec’16.- Leading the architecture for in-service software upgrade architecture for NCS4K IOS-XR to get zero-bit loss upgrades.- Working on hyper-scale Multi-chassis architecture, for scaling the system from 3.2Tbps to 150 Tbps.2. Cisco OTN Wire-speed-encryption line card - Lead software development of the Transponder with FPGA based wire-speed encryption.- Introduce secure-boot, based on Cisco’s Trusted Product Architecture for counterfeit protection.- AES-256 HW Encryption with TLS based secure key exchange over G.709 GCC2 channel.- FIPS 140-2, 186-3 and CC certification, a first on the ONS/NCS platform.- Based on the initial architecture, build a 100G encryption transponder, which has been deployed at large Cloud Datacenters.3. Cisco NCS2K-15- New SW & HW development, for a large form-factor chassis with 500G per slot capacity.- New Controller card, SW architecture migration from single core VxWorks to multi-core SMP architecture using Linux (in progress).- Introduce HW assisted packet forwarding for faster control plane Operations and Restoration (in progress).- Introduce Netconf and Yang based management and orchestration interfaces (in progress)

Development Engineering Lead for Cisco ONS 15454 and Cisco Transport Planner Software. In this role, I executed the following new programs:1. Cisco ONS/NCS 100G TXP [Aug-11 to Jul-12]- Platform lead for boot-code, diagnostics and Network Management plane application.- Lead the multi-card system architecture, working with teams from India, Italy and USA.- Received Cisco Pioneer Award for Innovation in CORE Technology for 2012.2. Cisco Carrier Packet Transport - Part of the architecture team, to define a MPLS-TP based Packet Optical Transport platform, a first from Cisco. Nominated for Cisco Pioneer Award in 2011.- As one of the SW architects, introduced programmatic controller based orchestration for Carrier Ethernet and MPLS services on the platform. - Introduced the concept of a hub-n-spoke Satellite Architecture with virtualized port-extender modules.- Collaborated with NOSTG (PI) and CSMTG (PRIME) teams to define end to end solution. 3. Cisco ONS Multi-shelf management - Lead the effort to double the system scale from 30 multi-shelf to 50 multi-shelf.- Lead the effort to re-architect the system to split multi-chassis architecture to further enhance the scale to 8*50 Multi-Chassis.

Development Engineering lead for all Cisco Network Planning and Management Software.Continue the work on the following products :1. Cisco Transport Controller2. Cisco Network Planning Software3. Cisco ONS TNC Middleware, TL1 and SNMP - Entrusted with additional responsibility for the middleware modules which provide application & business logic to the overall system. - The C++ based Middleware is an object oriented module, complete with an embedded DB.TL1 and SNMP are on the box management interfaces.

I have executed 3 projects in this position, as individual contributor.1. Cisco Transport Manager:- Leading Network Management and Orchestration software from Cisco. I worked on various features like Performance Management, Inventory Management, Circuit Management.- Worked on & contributed to the MTNM TMF-814 standards. Specifically, Ethernet management was authored by me for the TMF 814 standard. This standard is precursor to MTOSI based standards- System performance and scalability improvements - doubled the system scale to 5000 nodes.2. Cisco Transport Controller:- As a first member of the team in India, my responsibility was to transition the activities, build a team from scratch. Understand the new technologies involved, train the team and take up new assignments.- I have contributed to many features, like Virtual Concatenation, Network Function View.- I led the team to introduce a brand new UX, multi-tabbed views, new branding.3. Cisco Transport Planner:- Started to build an application, migrating logic developed in spreadsheets.- The application does complete network planning, incorporating rules of CAC, spectrum allocation, amplifier placement, demand feasibility.- Led and architected live network import into existing design, as an audit function for NOC.