Massoud Sobhani

Qualifications and Skills:

-        Sixteen years of experience as the senior lead or advisory network engineer/architect in network design, implementation, verification, and Tier-4 support for integrated data, voice, and video traffic over Private-IP MPLS and secured Public-IP (Internet) networks for 100+ large enterprise corporations (Fortune-500 to Fortune-10)

-        Software-Defined Networking (SDN): Hands-on experience and expert knowledge of Cisco Intelligent WAN (IWAN) and knowledge of Viptela SDN

-        Network Function Virtualization (NFV): Working knowledge of virtualization of networking elements such as routers, switches, firewalls, and WAN optimizers

-        Datacenter Networking: DC switching using Cisco NX-OS in Nexus 7K, 5K, and 2K (Fabric Extender - FEX) with VDC, VSS, vPC, VxLAN, Fabric Path, FCoE, and OTV - Strong experience in VMware-based server virtualization (ESXi, VM’s, vCenter, etc.), and Cisco UCS platform

-        VoIP: Cisco Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) services including Call Manager (CUCM), Instant Messaging Presence (CUP), Voicemail Connection (CUCX), and Session Border Controllers (SBC)

-        IPv4/IPv6 Routing: Expert knowledge in RIP/OSPF/EIGRP/BGP routing protocols as well as MPLS networking (VPN/VRF and VRF-Lite)

-        CLI Configuration: Hands-on experience with Cisco IOS (ISR 4K, G2, G1, ASR 1K, and 7600), Cisco Catalyst switches, Juniper JUNOS (M-series, J-series, and SRX routers) and NetScreen OS (SSG-520)

-        Wireless Networking: Experience in wireless Cellular 4G-LTE, VSAT Satellite, and WLAN networking

-        Switching: Proficient in Ethernet switching (VLAN/VTP/STP/COS), Metro Ethernet, and VPLS networks

-        Network Security: Hands-on experience with firewalls and various IPSec VPN techniques

-        Automation: Hands-on experience with automation software such as QualiSystems “CloudShell” and Spirent “iTest” – Also, hands-on experience with TCL scripting

-        Network Management: Strong knowledge of SNMP and NetFlow-based network management using “Solarwinds Engineers Tools” and  “CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS)”

-        Logic-driven troubleshooting and problem-solving skills and “Wireshark” diagnostic tool 

-        Experienced in leading, training, and mentoring less-experienced members of the technical team

-        Excellent written/verbal communications and presentation skills

-        Detailed technical documentation such as high/low level design document, test plan, and evaluation report

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

2005–Present                        Verizon Communications                                Richardson, TX

“Distinguished Network Architect” – Verizon Enterprise Services Organization

–        Customer Network Design Verification: 

o As the senior lead or advisory network engineer/architect, actively engaged in the network design process and performed verification testing of specific network solutions for more than 100 Verizon’s large enterprise customers (fortune-500 to fortune-10). Provided innovative recommendations to define network engineering improvements and roadmaps associated with the solutions. The custom projects have all been performed over Verizon’s production networks using live circuits with various speeds (T1, NxT1, DS3, OC3, and OC12), and included the following technologies:

Ø      Cisco’s Intelligent Wide-Area Networking (IWAN)

Ø      Advanced and complex IPv4 and IPv6 unicast routing designs (BGP, OSPF, EIGRP, RIP) in multi-VRF environments over Verizon’s production MPLS network

Ø      Multicast routing (IPv4 and IPv6) over MPLS network

Ø      WAN Acceleration (Cisco WAAS) and WAN Optimization

Ø      End-to-end L2/L3 Quality of Service (QoS) verification of integrated data, VoIP, and video traffic

Ø      Network security: Firewalls (Cisco ASA,  Cisco PIX, and Juniper NetScreen) as well as various types of IPSec VPN techniques (Site-to-Site VPN, EZ-VPN, Cisco Any-Connect, DMVPN, and GET-VPN)

Ø      Failover/recovery and network convergence in hybrid designs (MPLS, Internet, LTE-4G, and satellite)

Ø      Load-Balancing (GLBP and SLB) and Gateway Redundancy (HSRP and VRRP)

Ø      SNMP, Syslog, and NetFlow network monitoring technologies

o The above projects required extensive interaction and communications with customers' executives/managers and their senior engineers, as well as telecom vendors and Verizon’s internal organizations (such as network planning team, network management, network provisioning, and sales account teams). In the majority of cases, successful completion of these projects has played a crucial role in securing $multi-million customer contracts.

-       Product-Related Activities:

As the lead or advisory engineer, participated in numerous Verizon pre-launch product deployment activities such as Proof-of-Concept (POC), Alpha/Beta-customer tests, First Office Activation (FoA), and pilot plans for Verizon’s new products over production networks. Provided status updates, briefings, and advised other senior network engineers on enhancements, availability, and performance issues applicable to operations of the supported products. Products included the following:

oNFV – Currently involved as an advisory engineer in an NFV Proof-of-Concept verification project for a multi-vendor virtual networking environment consisting of routers, switches, firewalls and WAN optimizers.

oSDN – Acted as the lead engineer for several Proof-of-Concept verification projects for Cisco IWAN for 3-path sites (2 MPLS and one Internet at each site) for dual hub and various types of spoke sites. The projects included complex routing, network failover during blackout and brownout (network impairment), multicast routing, QoS, access to shared customer services, Internet breakout at the hub and spoke sites, and interoperability between IWAN sites and legacy non-IWAN sites during migration to IWAN. Also, acted as the advisory engineer for a SDN project using Viptela devices.

oElectric Grid Sub-Station Automation – Acted as the technical advisory engineer for the Proof-of-Concept verification of Sub-Station automation with a simulated SCADA system

oSmart Meter – Initial technical advisory engineer for the Proof-of-Concept verification of residential wireless Smart Meters functionality with LTE-4G access to MPLS data network to the datacenter

oIPv6 unicast and multicast routing over MPLS – Acted as the lead engineer for the end-to-end implementation of native and dual-stack IPv4-IPv6 routing and QoS verification over Verizon production MPLS network. As a result of this successful test, Verizon’s enterprise customers have been able to utilize IPv6 technology in their networks.

oPNTM over LTE-4G – Led the technical engineering team in verification of end-to-end QoS over wireless WAN (LTE-4G) to MPLS network using “Private Network Traffic Management (PNTM)”, prior to its launch

o UCCaaS - Performed end-to-end feature/functionality testing and failover verification of Verizon’s Cloud-based geo-redundant “Unified Communications & Collaborations as a Service (UCCaaS)” production platform. As a result of this successful project, enterprise customers are now integrating UCC services in their networks.

o Siemens “Unify” OSV/UC – Acted as the lead engineer for designing, setting up, configuring, and verifying features and functionality of a Siemens “Unify” OpenScape Voice/Unified Collaboration (OSV/UC) platform over Verizon’s production MPLS network. The platform included VoIP SIP signaling servers, Web collaboration servers, SBC’s, voice gateways, IP Phones, softphones, and mobile devices (iPhones, iPads, etc.)

–         Infrastructure Design:  As the technical lead engineer, successfully planned, designed, oversaw implementation, and managed network infrastructure components for enhancing performance, cost-effectiveness, and availability of a large new CTC communications room from the ground up at our new location. The new state-of-the-art communications room consists of about 70 racks, fully-populated with hundreds of devices such as fiber optics transmission equipment, routers, switches, virtualized server farms, test equipment, etc. Automation software is used for reserving network CPE equipment, production circuits, and service accounts. The automation system also establishes connections in L1 soft-switches to facilitate speedy setup/tear-down of network environments.

–         Automated Remote Demonstration Platform for Verizon Products: Provided leadership in the design, architecture development and implementation of a platform for Verizon’s customer live demo and remote access (from anywhere on the Internet) to the CTC facility to showcase Verizon products/services over live networks.

–         CTC Strategic Business Plan: Assisted the management team in various tasks by:

o     Actively contributing to the development of the strategic business plan.

o     Providing technical advice for policies and roadmaps with the objective of business transformation.

o     Seeking areas of improvement in the business process and ensuring that process improvement were successfully implemented and monitored to gain the highest efficiencies.

o     Researching and identifying new and existing technologies

o     Providing recommendations for the best-of-breed capabilities to deliver value to our customers.

o     Interacting with vendors regarding their new products and requesting quotes.

 

2005–Present               MCI Communications (acquired by Verizon in 2005)           Richardson, TX

“Principal Engineer - Senior Engineer” – MCI Network Engineering & Planning Organization

–         Customer Network Migration:  As the lead engineer, collaborated and assisted MCI enterprise customers in their migration from legacy ATM and Frame-Relay layer-2 networks to the Private-IP MPLS network. Verifications of the proposed designs were all performed over MCI’s live production networks. As a result of these successful tests, many large customer contracts were secured.

-        Network-to-Network Interface (NNI) Infrastructure Design and Deployment: Successfully researched, designed, planned, and implemented multiple types of NNI nodes between different types of MCI production networks (public and private). The NNI nodes consisted of carrier-class routers (partitioned as multiple virtual routers), switches, firewalls and SBC’s for securing VoIP traffic between customers and MCI network-based VoIP platforms.

-        QoS Verification of MCI VoIP Product: Successfully led an end-to-end network QoS testing (both subjective and objective) for MCI’s VoIP flagship product before its launch. The complex test environment consisted of MCI production IP network, legacy PSTN network, soft-switches, SIP proxy servers, voice gateways, IP-phones, etc.

-        MCI Secure Gateway Service:  As the lead engineer, successfully completed verification tests for features, functionality, and performance of the Secure Gateway (SG) service for accessing MCI’s production ATM, Frame-Relay and MPLS Private-IP networks from the public Internet network. As a result of these successful tests, the SG gateway product was launched and MCI customers were able to integrate this service with their networks. 

-        MCI FRASI Service Verification Tests:  As the lead engineer, performed interoperability tests between Frame-Relay and ATM production networks using MCI FRASI service. FR-Forum standards (FRF 5 and FRF 9) were used extensively and in details for these interoperability tests.

-        CPE Certification Tests for ATM Inverse Multiplexing over ATM (IMA):  As the lead engineer, successfully completed conformance verification tests on IMA equipment (LarsCom and Cisco). Closely cooperated with vendors in resolving SW/HW issues discovered during the testing. As a result of these tests, these IMA devices were included in the "MCI Certified Customer CPE Catalog”.

-        CPE Certification Tests for ATM Integrated Access Device (IAD): As the lead engineer, successfully completed conformance verification tests on IAD equipment (Marconi and Lucent). The integrated voice traffic was generated via several types of ISDN PRI (from a PBX) lines, analog T1 line, and analog POTS. As a result of these tests, these IAD devices were included in the "MCI Certified CPE Catalog”.

EDUCATION:

–         Ph.D. degree in Engineering - Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

–         M.Sc. degree in Engineering - University of Texas, Arlington, TX

Certifications and publications:

-        CCNA (2005)

-        CCNP (2005)

-        Have passed the written exam of CCIE Routing and Switching (2008)

-        Published 20 scientific papers in prestigious journals and conference proceedings