Download Word Resume - Shamim Akhtar

SHAMIM AKHTAR
Address: 32 Hepburn Road, Clifton NJ 07012  646.239.1054  [email protected]
OBJECTIVE
To obtain a challenging position in the field of information technology management
utilizing core strengths in team management, leadership and technical capability with
various network, server, virtualization and cloud management systems.
CERTIFICATIONS
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS)
Dell Remote Management Administration Certification – Silverback
CA Spectrum, eHealth Report Center Trained
EDUCATION
Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ
Bachelor of Engineering: Computer Engineering with Honors
Graduate Certificate: Networked Information Systems
Honors: Presidential Scholarship at Stevens Institute of Technology; Dean's List
EXPERIENCE
Equinox, New York, NY
August 2015 to Current
Senior Manager, Network and Telecom
Equinox is a luxury fitness company operating five separate fitness brands: Equinox Fitness, PURE Yoga, PURE
Fitness, Blink Fitness, and Soul Cycle. This is a hands on manager position reporting to the Senior Director of IT
Infrastructure. The position manages network, security, datacenter and telecom engineering and operations.
 Direct and oversee Network, Security and Telecom policy of Equinox and administer and manage IT
Infrastructure and Application performance.
 Partner with executive management on annual budget and determine Capex/Opex spend plan
 Manage diverse architecture, engineering and operations teams consisting of employees, vendors, partners
and field technicians.
 Realign focus and culture of the engineering team with strategic direction of IT department by discussing
business objectives of projects, communicating milestones and concentrating on service delivery.
 Develop the engineering team by recommending technical training sessions, and by empowering individual
members to make independent decisions and take ownership of project lifecycle.
 Responsible for infrastructure performance, reliability and availability, production datacenter support and
act as 24×7 on-call escalation manager.
 Provided guidance and leadership for the architecture and engineering team to design, deploy and setup
support framework for various network, security and telecom projects such as:
o Production datacenter consolidation by migrating from legacy network infrastructure to Cisco Nexus
9000 core switching, moving from Sonicwall to ASA firewalls and physical servers to vBlock design.
o Manage router, switch, firewall hardware lifecycle project for 90 locations.
o Migrated Equinox organization to Microsoft Office 365 from Google Gmail
o Lead VoIP rollout across the organization - moving from legacy PBX systems to Microsoft Lync. This
includes network upgrades to support PoE capability, WAN bandwidth upgrade and Quality of Service.
o Architected Cisco Wireless solution using 802.1x, ISE and Prime Infrastructure and 8540 Controllers
o Deployed commercial grade cellular signal boosters to improve member experience at branch locations
o Integrated mobile point of sale system to operate over Wifi while maintaining PCI compliance using
Microsoft Dynamics backend running on Azure cloud platform
o Migrated Equinox user VPN network from end of life F5 FirePass system to Cisco SSL VPN on ASA 5525X
o Implemented Solarwinds network monitoring system for alerts, incident response and correlation,
centralized configuration management and trend analysis for network usage
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Express Scripts, Franklin Lakes, NJ
2014 – 2015
Senior Manager – IT Engineering (Infrastructure Division)
Express Scripts provides integrated pharmacy benefit management services and patient-care services. This is a
hands on manager position reporting to the Senior Director of IT Engineering (Infrastructure) and manages
network, security and datacenter operations teams.
 Manage 12 member Global Network Operations Center and 4 member Datacenter Support teams.
 NOC provides 24x7 network monitoring across the organization and subsidiaries, responds to network
events, implements changes and manages performance based on SLA’s.
 Responsibilities of the position cover a variety of network hardware and tools including:
o Cisco routers from ASR 9K at Datacenters to Cisco 2851 at branch offices
o Cisco switches from Nexus 7K at DC to 6509 and 3750 (stack) at remote sites
o F5 Big IP load balancers (various models running on 9.4.8)
o ASA and Checkpoint firewalls which are being consolidated to Checkpoint VSLS systems
o Network tools include Cisco Prime for wireless controller and AP management, SNMP based Solarwinds
NMS, StealthWatch Netflow aggregator, Infoblox NetMRI configuration management and Grid
Manager for IPAM and DNS/DHCP management.
 Responsible for infrastructure performance, reliability and availability, production datacenter support and
act as 24x7 on-call escalation manager.
 Review and improve department policies and SOP’s by enhancing workflow for incident response, trouble
and recovery trees, escalation procedures, network operations metrics and monitoring procedures.
 Streamline network operations and improve SLA by cross training team members and encouraging
collaborative projects with network architecture and security peer groups and review network standards.
 Align team focus to reflect business objectives on efficient problem resolution.
 Communicate regularly with internal and external business groups and vendors to ensure infrastructure
meets expectations and review performance, outages and repair activities.
 Implement policies to encourage personal and professional development of staff including building
professional confidence and reward for outstanding performance.
 Determine required staffing level, conduct interviews and setup onboarding for new employees and
contractors with appropriate training and conduct performance reviews.
CBS Outdoor, New York, NY
2010 – 2014
Manager of Network Engineering
CBS Outdoor, now rebranded as Outfront Media, provides out of home advertising using digital billboards,
transit displays and other media formats. The position reported to the VP of IT and focused on business
objectives to expand and support digital advertising network, corporate LAN, WAN and Datacenter.
 Managed team of network engineers to support network environment for 50 US sites and 2 Datacenters.
 Provide 3rd level escalation support for technical issues on Cisco ASR’s and 3945 routers, Cisco 3850 to 2960
switches, Cisco 5508 WLC and Aironet 1100 APs and ASA 5510 firewalls.
 Implemented scalable method to manage network of high-visibility 600 CDMA EVDO 3G/4G LTE wireless
advertising displays including Billboards, Street Furniture, Transit Media and prototype displays in US,
Canada, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil.
 Managed network and datacenter vendor relationships and reviewed new solutions and services. Project
proposals were recommended to senior management with budget, timeline and ROI analysis.
 Managed Datacenter design and migration as part of CBSO IPO and separation from CBS Corporation.
Worked with subject matter experts [SME], consultants and Professional Services providers to align
Datacenter design with business and applications requirements.
 Virtualized Omnivex, ad scheduling and reporting application in a production environment for advertising
network. Leveraged EMC SAN and VMware ESX with High-Availability [HA] and Fault Tolerant [FT] cluster.
 Developed redundant network architecture for ad displays in iconic locations such as Grand Central Station,
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Times Square [Roadblock Display], Penn Station, New York City Subway Stations, Mall of America, Hawaii
Malls and large format Digital Billboards.
Upgraded advertising network architecture from 3G to 4G to support additional bandwidth requirements
for streaming media applications and remote camera monitoring. Redesigned network supports real-time
advertising campaigns and 1080p HD video streams.
Designed and implemented PRTG and Solarwinds network monitoring and management systems based on
SNMP and WMI monitoring of servers, routers, switches and firewalls, Netflow ingress and egress traffic
analysis to the network and change management.
Deployed 802.11a/b/g/n Wifi using Cisco 5500 wireless controller, Avaya PoE GigE switches and Cisco 1100
and 3600 series Access Points supporting 350 users. This design is being used as a template and replicated
across other offices.
Exenet LLC, New York, NY
2006 – 2010
Network Operations Engineer (Lead)
Exenet, now renamed AlphaServe IT, is a Managed Services Provider delivering technological solutions to large
financial institutions utilizing Cisco, Widows and VMware technologies. The position reported to the Network
Operations Manager and served as the technical team lead in a 24x7 NOC environment, monitoring and
troubleshooting client networks.
 Worked on and resolved: MPLS issues, BGP & EIGRP routing issues, PIX / ASA access list, IOS upgrades,
Fiber, T1 & Frame-relay circuit activations and site-to-site IPsec VPN.
 Visited clients for quarterly reviews and discussed customized solutions for potential projects.
 Evaluated and upgraded network monitoring system from CA Unicenter to Spectrum.
 Documented existing network-server infrastructure and technical procedures and processes.
 Monitored enterprise networks for more than 30 national and international clients with 600 network
devices and servers using CA Spectrum, Dell Silverback and eHealth Reports.
 Analyzed device logs on routers, switches, firewalls and servers, CA Spectrum, eHealth, and InfoVista Network Monitoring Systems as part of NOC operations.
 Deployed VMware ESXi virtualization and migrated physical to virtual servers using P2V.
Lehman Brothers, New York, NY
January – May 2005
LAN Engineering Intern
Lehman Brothers was a global financial services firm operating multiple datacenters and offices. The position
operated out of Neuberger Berman division and reported to the LAN Manager.
 Supported trading floor network issues and provisioned new connections as needed.
 Resolved local area network issues using Sniffer Pro, Fluke OneTouch and NetTool.
 Ran cabling and patched new IDF connections for add/move/changes to the network.
 Documented and monitored progress of incidents in Remedy ticketing system.
 Wrote and executed IOS and CATOS scripts on Cisco distribution switches and routers.
 Monitored, maintained, and administered VLANs, speed/duplex settings, and switch-port descriptions for
more than 30 Cisco 6500 and 3750 series switches.
 Installed IP TV and VOIP phones and assisted with maintenance.
Bergmann Associates, Jersey City, NJ
May to September 2004
Computer Aided Design Technician
Bergmann Associates is a civil engineering firm working on various projects in NY Metro area.
 Identified and resolved software and hardware issues like printer configuration, email support, network
connectivity
 Designed runway lighting renovations electrical plans using AutoCAD and Microstation
 Prepared cost estimates, specifications, submittals, RFI’s and project directories for several projects
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