2018?present: Freelancing Cisco
Role: UC Specialist
Tasks:
- Remote and on-site freelancing UC services to both German and overseas clients, focusing on project-based services delivery covering end-to-end Cisco UC design and deployment, root cause analysis, provisioning automation and customized API integrations.
2017 - 2018: Dimension Data Austria
Role: Technical Solution Specialist ? Collaboration
Principal Responsibilities
- Technical Design Architect (TDA) for Large Enterprise UC and Video solutions, providing technical consulting to sales and pre-sales teams and acting as technical lead for all Cisco UC post-sales systems integration design and deployment
- In-house Collaboration R&D software engineering, focusing on automation tools and script development with Cisco WebEx and CUCM AXL/Unity APIs, custom reporting with SQL Significant Projects
- Design lead for global hosted multi-tenant hybrid-cloud solution for Enterprise customer with multiple subsidiary companies acting as tenants.
- Defined Jinja2-based IOS Voice Gateway templates for Ansible-based configuration management and provisioning
- Migrated various VXML scripts to Tcl by utilizing IOS?s VGAPI to unlock dependencies facing multiple customer hardware refreshes on ISR 4K Series routers which do not support VXML
- Open-source development of Python-bsed SDK for CUCM API?s ? AXL, RisPort, ControlCenter, etc and Unity Connection CUPI API. Active Cisco DevNet community member and contributor
Key Skills and Products
- CUCM, CUC, Cisco Jabber, Cisco Spark, CMS, ExpressWay
- AXL, Spark APIs, CUPI, SQL
- Python, Java, BASH
2016 - 2017: VOSS Solutions
Role: Consulting UC Software Engineer
Principal Responsibilities
- Consulted to CUCDM engineering teams, providing customer advocacy and actingg as a conduit between engineering, marketing, and external Cisco development teams
- Provide expert technical knowledge in Cisco UC and insight into real-world user journeys of Large Enterprise and Service Provider customers
- Design Cisco HCS test environments ? R&D for Engineering and CTO offices solving challenging networking problems in OSS. Significant Projects
- Designed scaled testbeds to test supporting 400,000+ VoIP endpoints for VOSS-4-UC hosted solution
- Python-based scripted solution to provision on-demand dead-net virtual testbeds, adopting a containerized iptables-based NAT integration with ESXi.
Key Skills and Products
- CUCM, CUC, Cisco Jabber, CUCDM, Cisco HCS
- SIP Gateways / CUBE
- UC on UCS, VMWare ESXi
- Python, BASH, Linux Networking, Docker, iptables/Netfilter
2014 - 2016: Sizwe IT Group
Role: Principal Network Engineer ? Unified Communications
Principal Responsibilities
- Design BE6K and multi-cluster Enterprise UC systems based on Cisco Validated Design and SRND best practice documentation
- Deploy UC solutions with Call Manager, Unity Connection, Cisco Jabber, SIP trunking with CUBE, Unified Attendant Console, WebEx, Prime Collaboration and Cisco Telepresence Server and ExpressWay
- Write Python scripts to automate networking and UC provisioning, and Lua-based normalization scripting for SIP interoperability
- Perform advanced troubleshooting by analysing router logs and debugs, Call Manager SDL traces and deep packet inspection of Wireshark captures for SIP routing and media-related failure Significant Projects
- Designed and deployed UCC solution supporting 135,000 endpoints. Design featured 120 CUCM servers across nine Leaf Clusters and featuring E.164 dial plan design with SME, inter-cluster peering for IM and Presence (Cisco Jabber) and dynamic routing design using GDPR. Due to the deployment size, both system and dial plan designs were externally reviewed by Cisco BU and Cisco Advanced Services
- Deployed 26-Bridge Cisco Telepresence solution, based Virtual Telepresence Server (vTS), TelePresence Conductors, TMS scheduling and legacy MCU integration
- Performed system migrations to collapse 40 MCS clusters onto a single Cisco UC on UCS 9 Leaf Cluster core. Data migrations were completed with Python scripting and Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning (PCP) and BAT
- Designed a scalable site gateway template for SRST to accommodate complex COR and SRST dial-peer requirements for open area offices to protect against toll fraud, and deployed at 100+ remote sites
Key Skills and Products
- CUCM, CUC, Unified Messaging, IM and Presence, Cisco Jabber, UCCX, MediaSense
- Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning, Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning
- VCS, ExpressWay / MRA, vTS / MCU, TMS, Conductor, Cisco WebEx
- Analog / E1 ISDN and SIP Gateways, CUBE, SONUS SBC, PortaSIP soft switch
- SIP, SDP, RTP, TLS, XMPP, SIP/SIMPLE, T.38
- ARC Console, Cisco Unified Attendant Console
- Nexus, UC on UCS, VMWare
- Python, Lua, BASH, Linux, Windows 2008 and 2012, PostgreSQL, Informix DB
2013 - 2014: Penta Consulting
Role: Consulting Network Engineer ? Unified Communications
Principal Responsibilities
- Escalation support for all enterprise UC and video applications. Support included technical oversight of all severity escalations to vendor support and BU engineering teams
- End-to-end systems audit in conjunction with Cisco Advanced Services. Scope included Unified Communications and VCS video architectures. Implemented all systems changes and upgrades as per Cisco best practices architectures
Significant Projects
- Deployed CUCM and IM&P leaf cluster to support an additional 40,000 endpoints to ?extend design to multi-cluster deployment (largest deployment in Africa at the time)
- Led 100+ MGCP, SIP and H.323 gateway remote site deployments with PRI/BRI and SRST
- Conducted CUCM, SME and Unity Connection cluster upgrades from 8.6.x to 9.1.2, including upgrade test plan representation at international Change Advisory Board
- Implemented E.164 dial plan re-design with an existing site code dialling overlay, legacy PBX routing load-balancing integration and TEHO
- Rolled out Cisco Jabber UC client to 20,000 users with customized software package to meet enterprise requirements
- Deployed Extension Mobility Cross Cluster (EMCC) to support 15,000 mobility users
Key Skills and Products
- CUCM, CUC, Unified Messaging, IM and Presence, Cisco Jabber
- VCS, ExpressWay, MCU, TMS, Conductor, MRA, Cisco WebEx, Cisco MeetingPlace
- Analog Gateways, MGCP / H.323 Gateway / SIP Gateways, CUBE, T.38 Fax
- ARC Console, Cisco Unified Attendant Console
- UC on UCS, VMWare
- Python, Lua, BASH, Linux, Windows Server 2008/2012, PostgreSQL, Informix DB
2011 - 2013: VOSS Solutions
Role: Voice Software Engineer - Team Lead
Principal Responsibilities
- Used rich data sets from real-world deployments to build virtualized UC test environments for dial plan and system provisioning solutions testing
- Analysed Cisco software design of new products and assessed development of hosted VoIP administrative platform to support these features
- Coordinated cross-team collaborative feature parity solutions testing with Cisco Systems engineers in the USA, India and the UK
- Engaged with Cisco voice development teams to resolve defects in CUCDM and CUCM. Managed work assignment of lower priority cases to test team, and personally oversaw priority defect analysis
Significant Projects
- Led team of 10 Voice Engineers responsible for solutions testing of Cisco HCS 8.6 and 9.0 software releases
- Migrated test management software, transforming development cycle testing procedures based on Agile development. Re-designed Master Test Plan for CUCDM releases.
- Collaborated with Cisco Systems test engineers for HCS solutions testing
Key Skills and Products
- HCS, HUCS, CUCDM
- CUCM, CUC, IM and Presence, Cisco Jabber, AXL WSDL, Cisco WebEx
- Analog / MGCP / H.323 / SIP Gateways, CUBE
- ESXi, SAN
- Python, BASH, Ubuntu, PostgreSQL
2010 - 2011: FireID Ltd.
Role: Software Tester
Principal Responsibilities
- Tested cross-platform Mobile One Time Password (OTP) applications to support strong authentication and transaction verification as part of Agile development teams
- Collaborated with developers as part of SCRUM team to co-author agile automated testing strategies
- Performed mobile testing across several mobile platforms using physical and virtualized Android, Apple and J2ME devices Significant Projects
- Re-designed Master Test Plan for Mobile product, identifying test cases earmarked for automation. Reduced major test cycle lead-time by 20%.
- Assigned sole responsibility for complete testing procedures of major software releases for mobile applications and provisioning server products
Key Skills and Products
- Software Testing, Mobile
- Ruby, Ubuntu, PostgreSQL