Ahmad Itani

22840 Hilton Head Dr. Diamond Bar, Ca. 91765

OBJECTIVE 

To obtain a position in Telecommunication and Network Engineering and Management applying my knowledge in the areas of consulting, system development, hardware and software design, planning, operation, test, manufacturing production, project supervision/management and R&D.

 

EDUCATION

09/1986--12/1987: Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MSEE) degree.  G.P.A.: 3.65

Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida

01/1984--05/1986: Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) degree. G.P.A.: 3.31

The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), Oxford, Mississippi

03/1982--12/1983: Associate of Art in Electrical Engineering (AA EE). Miami Dade Community College. Miami, Fl.

 

EXPERIENCE

04/2010—current: Optical Transport Consultant- Self Employed

Diamond Bar, California

- Lead Technical Member for upgrade of 11000KM of submarine optical fiber transmission system to support 88x100G long haul Next Gen DWDM system. Complete ITT (Invitation To Tender) Technical Specifications. Lead the technical team for evaluation, Prove of Concept and Contractual documents.

 

-Completed a recommendation and produce a Technical Specification for Mobile Backhauling based on GPON, Active Ethernet (CE2.0) and OTN.  

 

-Hold a Consultant position in Optical Fiber Network design and Optical Transport Network design with large operators in USA, Middle East and Europe.

 

-Duties included writing Technical Specifications for long haul and Metro fiber optic transport network, my tasks were to design fiber segments and network, fiber types, and provided complete Tender document to supply and deploy nationwide fiber network.

 

-Project director for implementation, construction and upgrade of Mobile cell sites for two largest Mobile operators more than 750 sites, focusing on Fiber optics and Microwave transmission, main utility power and backup power, CCTV and complete turn-key system. Involved with other department including OSP, equipment engineers and facilities engineers to ensure implementation obstacles are identified and resolved and requirements are met. Worked closely with vendors, suppliers and sub-contractors to ensure design plans and standards are met and making sure projects are completed with highest quality and according to the project scope. Conducted weekly/daily meetings with required stakeholders to review project scope, define issues, schedules of all transmission related activities, develop deliverables and associated timelines. Coordinates and oversees the required offers and the evaluation of responses; provided detailed analysis and recommendations for the best supplier and technology.

 

-Detailed knowledge for Mobile backhauling using GPON, GB Active Ethernet, Bonded copper and MPLS-TP. Designed and supervised the implementation of the 3G/LTE Backhauling network for the two largest Mobile Operators. Project leader for the implementation of 3G/LTE backhauling and interconnection with National Transport Backbone Network.

 

-Team leader and member of the design team for the deployment of the Broadband Access Network; the project includes Broadband Fiber Access using various technologies P2P, GPON, HFC and vDSL vectoring, G.Fast, etc... Detailed knowledge of Optical Design Networks (ODN) and design tools Telecordia ArcGIS, optical budget and implementation of  FTTH, FTTC and FTTB.  Enhanced knowledge of remote powering and power source issues. Detailed knowledge, analyses and recommendation on the fiber access technologies including FTTH/FTTC, GPON, EPON and WDM PON. Worked closely with vendors like ALU, ADTRAN, Zhone, Calix, Huwaui, Aurora, Cisco, etc…

 

-Technical Team Leader for the Optical Transport Network project, Manage of technical projects to ensure deliverables are met within schedule, budget, and quality goals; estimate fees, determine scope of work, prepare proposals and contracts on project, duties included design of Optical Network based on NG ROADM, DWDM, Packet Optical Transport (POT) and SONET/SDH Network. Detailed knowledge of ROADM/DWDM and its enhanced features including directionless and colorless functionalities, in-depth studies of MPLS-TP and optical control plane for Protection and Restoration based on automatic switching and fiber impairments (WSON). Designed Networks based on 30 ROADM with minimum of 4-degrees WSS for Metro and 50 ROADMs with multi-degree WSS and 100s of DWDM Nodes for major backbone network based on Mesh structure and automatic protection and restoration. Detailed knowledge of ROADM, DWDM, Packet Optical Transport (POT) and SONET/SDH equipment from Alcatel Lucent Network, Tellabs, Cisco, Huawei, ZTE, ADVA, Ericsson, NSN (Coreint), Juniper, Infenera, Ciena , Xtera and Fujitsu. Lead the Engineering Design Reviews and drive the implementation of Acceptance test methodologies and guidelines for the implementation of DWDM and POT network.

 

-Lead member of the deployment of two International IP Gateways, and National IP/MPLS networks, duties included design the MPLS network and interconnection with other services, technical specifications (Tender documents), evaluation and selection of suppliers. Detailed knowledge of CISCO, ALU, Juniper, Huwuei. Lead the implementation of two Cisco IP gateways routers (ASR9K and CRS-3) and more than 20 ALU 7750 SR equipment, design requirements and interconnection with the transmission backbone and ISPs.  

 

-Project Manager and Program Director for the implementation of National Backbone Fiber Optics Transport Network and Mobile backhauling (6500KM)  including Fiber design and civil works. Developed and implemented  operations procedures; designed  next gen network technology, equipment and systems; Supervised  and controlled of all  activities of network implementation; prepared of activity, progress and service level agreement performance report; developed and managed project schedules, Serve as a technical and team leader and consultant for product development projects that involve multiple disciplines;  Facilitate collaboration with and between Engineering and implementations, and all other required department and contractor and subcontractors.

 

-Supervised the deployment of carrier grades Data Centers and 50 large ISP POPs, the project includes design, tender, product/vendor evaluation, supervision of implementation and acceptance testing. This project includes building complete infrastructure which contained CCTV, Surveillance system, access controllers, raised flooring, internal cabling, cooling, fire suppression systems and complete data center infrastructure. Expert knowledge on Data Center Interconnects (DCI) using 10G and 100Gb/s Coherent and xQPSK technology.

 

-Director of Transport Network, Performed a Director of Transport position for six months, for the incumbent Telecom operator in Saudi Arabia, duties were to oversees and managed all optical transport projects includes 1000s of DWDM/ SDH/POT/MPLS nodes. Lead the implementation of transport equipment upgrades and implementation of Next Generation State of the Art of the Transport Technology; supervised more than 20 Engineers. 

 

02/2010—04/2010:Fiber Analyst, Commforce Telecommunication.     Mountain View, CA

Sr. Optical fiber Analyst for large telecom operator with owned fiber optic network in most US cities. Duties included optical characterization of the existing long haul fiber cables, analyzed in details the non-linear characterization PMD, CD, OSNR and attenuation for long haul end-to end fiber segments. Designed new fiber networks for high capacity Optical Transport Networks based on 40G DWDM and ROADM technology.

07/1996---01/2010: Senior Telecommunication and Network Consultant. 

  OGERO Telecom./Ministry of Telecommunications (www.ogero.gov.lb).

-Duties included Optical Transport Network engineering and technical support. Conducted detailed site network assessments and prepared network design proposals (RFP), developed and executed network upgrade implementation plans, including cost versus performance tradeoffs, protocol interoperability and network architecture development. Developed and presented technical documentation, including test plans, type approvals and diagrams. Designed and developed Next Generation Network (NGN) solutions based on SDH/SONET, DWDM, GPON, MPLS, Ethernet, ATM, FR and Soft-Switch technology. Working knowledge of the all transmission technologies T1/E1, DS3/OC3-OC192, STM1-STM64 and DWDM, Knowledge of networking protocols includes TCP/IP, DHCP,  IP addresses and subnetting management; Networking Concepts and OSI Model, SNMP, Radius, PPP, VPN, BGP, IS-IS, OSPF, RIP, IGRP, EIGRP, RSVP and ISDN. Knowledge of broadband switching products, i.e. Cisco, Juniper, Foundry, Alcatel- Lucent, Siemens, Ericsson, Marconi, Tellabs and AFC.

 

-Submarine OF project lead member; Leading member of the Technical and Investment Committee (PG) for the implementation of the Terabit Submarine Cable System (IMEWE) which includes 3-Fiber Pairs (FP) of 128Wave Length per FP that connects India to France passing through 9 different countries including Lebanon. Heavily involved in the technical evaluation of more than 5 different submarine optical suppliers, DWDM (SLTE) and SDH/SONET (TLTE) suppliers which includes optical fiber power analyses, optical power link budget and system penalties, submarine and terrestrial transmission technology and submerge equipment includes repeaters, branching units, optical amplifiers and equalization equipment. Detailed analyses and studies of optical fiber characteristics include; PMD, CD and Non-linear effect of the long haul high capacity, wavelengths pass-through and OADM BU technologies. Co-chair of the Operation and Maintenance sub-committee (O&MSC).

 

-Leading the NGN pilot project which includes provisioning of VOIP Soft-switches, Media gateway and server, signaling gateways and SIP servers. Attend technical demonstrations at factory site; preparation of RFI/RFP/RFQ. Duties also included evaluate various VOIP technologies and supplier i.e. Ericson, Alcatel, Avaya, Cisco, Siemens, Hawaui. Supervised installation and provisioning team, included connectivity to the IP backbone and PSTN TDM networks and end-to-end testing and provisioning. The pilot project contained Softswtiches at the international gateway and at national network support more than 120K VIOP subscribers in a distributed configuration. Knowledge of the following protocols: H.323, SIP& MGCP, MEGACO. Expert in  IP (VPN, LAN-WAN), TDM (SONET/SDH) and PSTN connectivity and technology.  

 

-Lead the Digital Microwave implementation project, designed, supervised and managed the implementation of more than 100 point to point DMW links from Siemens, Alcatel and Ericsson. Detailed experience in planning, Power budget, antenna and frequency planning. Detailed knowledge of various transport technology including TDM, native Ethernet and hybrid systems. Designed and implemented long haul DWDM links, expert with IDU/ODU implementation and technology.

Knowledge of Digital Micro Wave backhaul and aggregation for 2G and 3G networks including TDM and Ethernet. In-depth theoretical knowledge of different 2G and 3G backhauling scenarios based on MPLS-TP and IP/MPLS control planes.

 

-Responsible for engineering planning and designing the National Broadband Packet Network. Prepared Technical and Contractual Specifications (RFPs) for the Broadband Multi-Service IP/MPLS Network. Designed Access Network including, xDSL and FTTH networks. Performed technical and vendor evaluation and selection for Alcatel, Siemens, Lucent Cisco, Juniper broadband core products, and attended technical broadband workshops, liaison with operation group to develop back-end infrastructure needed to support general MPLS and VPN configuration information.

 

-Member of the technical committee for the deployment of the broadband internet access network (xDSL) provided by the ISP and licensed Wireless Data Provider. Coordinate with Broadband Internet Providers for IP Infrastructure during installation and scheduling of hardware associated with new sites, backbone connection, collocation and peering capacity. Reviewed and approval of internet network elements of different ISP/NSP to ensure the configuration standards are maintained and improve configuration management processes.

 

-Key member for the implementation and rehabilitation of more than 80 POP for the DSL/broadband network, my duties were develop a request for proposal (RFP) and evaluating bidder and potential vendor proposals delivered for systems beyond CCTV to an array of sensors and interfaces for motion, doors and all activities inside the equipment rooms, applications and security surveillance elements to monitor all activities in the POP. Experienced in the design and implementation of security surveillance systems including but not limited to hardware including E/O cameras, thermal cameras and sensors, CCTV Transmission Equipment, CCTV Control Centers, NVR (Network Video Recording) and software products including intelligent video analytic and alert system, video management and control system, and video compression, The security surveillance project involved 80 plus video cameras, control centers and software.

 

-Served for more than a year as a senior technical representative in preparatory committee with the consultant “Euro Strategy” in the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to regulate the telecommunications sector in Lebanon in-order to achieve a competitive environment delivering a range of high quality services at competitive prices. My assigned focus area includes; licensing of telecommunications operations and services and compliance with licence conditions and other regulations. Technical matters covering topics such as: Interconnection; Numbering; Standards, Type Approval and Quality of Service.

 

-Transmission Project Manager, responsible for the logical and physical design, implementation and configuration of the National Backbone, Junction and Access high-speed Transmission Network (1000 nodes) including SDH/SONET 622/155Mbit/s Fiber Optics and RF Wireless technology. Duties includes functional and acceptance testing, Analyzed network problems, requirements, and operation; made written and oral recommendations on network changes and expansion, including routing policy, network architecture, new products, and equipment selection. Prepared technical specifications (RFP) document to upgrade the national transmission network for high capacity, resiliency and additional coverage using 10/2.5 Gb/s (OC192) Next Generation SDH/SONET and CWDM technologies

 

-Heavily involved and participated in the all aspect of the project for the upgrade of the Submarine Fiber Optic links between three countries: Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria (CADMOS and UGARIT systems). The system includes equipment from Marconi DWDM and Next Gen. SDH/SONET starting at 10 Gb/s links. Detailed knowledge of optical network design and system modeling including optical link budget (power margins, PMD, CD, OSNR), Dispersion Compensation (DC) techniques, protection mechanisms, GFP, LCAS and VC adjustments to optimize traffic flow for packet services.

 

-Served as a lead engineer in the international IP backbone network projects. Participate in the development of project plans for International network design, implementation and upgrade of capacity and hardware. Prepare technical specifications (RFP) and selection of IP backbone carrier (Level3, AT&T, BTN PCCW, QWEST, FLAG) via submarine fiber optics and satellite links to USA and Europe. Proactively reviewing and developing capacity requirement/forecasting of IP traffic. Analyzed network performance reports, identified potential problem areas in international cable routes. Coordinate all installation and scheduling of hardware associated with new POP, backbone connections and peering capacity. Once installed responsible for coordination of all requirements to activate the network which includes; BGP adjustments to optimize traffic flow, web cache and DNS load Balancing.

 

-Involved in the development project for “Greater Beirut Metropolitan Broadband Network” , which has been developed and  operated by private carrier (Solidere) to provide triple-play services (Voice, Data and Video) over both wire line and wireless technologies. The network populated with multivendor equipment using different technologies i.e. IP/MPLS, GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network), Ethernet, xDSL, WIFI and WIMAX. My duties as a consultant included network design reviews and improvements recommendations to management, interconnection with the incumbent operator, collocation, tariffs, equipment acceptance and approvals.

 

-Lead engineer for the Leased Line project, duties included Network design, tendering process, installation supervisions, commissioning and provisioning 1000’s of Tellabs Digital Cross Connect systems include NOC. Performed Network (LAN/WAN) consultations for large enterprises, governments, universities and ISPs.  Prepared Tender documents (RFP) for network upgrade to support advance switching technologies and broadband access xDSL/ FO.

 

-Served for more than five years as senior project engineer and manager of the Rehabilitation and Expansion of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Project in the country. Responsibilities included network planning, design, configuration, implementation, construction requirements, commissioning of more than 300 Class-5/4 switches, thousands of regional and backbone fiber optics routes and 100’s SDH/SONET FO and RF transmission equipment from major telecommunication vendors including Alcatel, Siemens, Ericsson, AFC and Tellabs. My duties also included approval and participation of functional and systems acceptance tests. Supervised electrical and cable installation requirement, selection of Test equipment, traffic analyses, routing configuration, interconnections requirement and expansion. Also supervise the upgrade of PSTN switches to support ISDN, Value Added Star Services and Intelligent Network. Designed and implemented national SS7 Network.

 

-Served as lead member responsible for design implementation, configuration, commissioning and testing of the National Synchronization Network which includes two main clocks (PRC) stratum-1 and hundreds of stratum 2/3.

 

-Supported of the development of Network Operations Center and the Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) systems for all installed transmission and switching equipment (1000+ Nodes) .Designed the Data Communication layer (DCN). Develop Technical Specifications and requirements for integration of all equipment nodes, remote surveillance and alarm into a single TELECOMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT NETWORK layer.

 

-Involved in the design, approval, installation /commission of Wireless Local Loop DECT from Ericsson (40K lines)

-Involved in the GSM network design, planning requirements and synchronization for the two major GSM operators.

-Involved in the Tender documentations and evaluation of the national deployment of Public Phones/booth.

-Prepared RFP and evaluated various voice/data/fax compression (DCME) products for international communication.

 

09/1995--07/1996:   Senior Telecommunication Engineer.     Telia Swedtel Inc.  Lebanon

-Involved in detailed studies and documentation of the legacy Lebanese Telecommunication Network Infrastructure. Proposed state of the art solution to upgrade and rehabilitate all transmission links and rooms nationwide.

-Involved in the recommendation for the new target networks structure, designed of Ministry of Telecommunication (MoT) network structure and routing principal, designed the Fundamental Routing Plan for the MoT PSTN network. Designed and implemented routing configuration between all international, transient and local COs. Designed and supervised the implementation to upgrade the CO from mechanical to state of the art electrical switches (CO) and CCITT No.7 Signaling for Alcatel (OCB), Ericsson (AXE) and Siemens (EWSD).

-Involved in the configuration design of the SDH FO and DMW ring and Backbone structures and many types of protection and diversity.

 

9/1994--09/1995: Sr.Telecommunication and Computer Engineer. 

    American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon

-FIBER OPTIC Communication Project leader. Responsibilities were included research, design, project planning, procurement, implementation supervision and technical documentation of the campus Fiber optic and ATM/Ethernet data network also includes approval of fiber optic cable fabrication, certification and installation supervision for the university campus. Maintain network procedures, records, documents, drawings and inventory.

-PC hardware and software support of the AUB and AUH (Hospital). Included IT technical support and guidance in planning, implementation and ongoing operations of LAN's and WAN's, and implementation of end user computing applications and devices for Client’s Medical groups and business partners, employees, doctors, staff and student.

-Designed an automatic call service/Trouble ticket program to collect customer data and hardware faults in the AUB/AUH systems. Tickets are generated electronically through the hotline and distributed via network queue to the relevant location or business line to be resolved by Desktop employees. The system supports thousands of queries             

 

11/1989--1/1994: Sr. Manufacturing/Design Test Engineer.

     AT&T Paradyne.  Largo, Florida. USA

-Test Engineer team leader for digital (DDS/DDD, CSU, DSU) and T1/3 Mux. Telecommunication products.

Leader of the Manufacturing Test Engineering team for the 2-Wire SW56K Dial Back-Up (DBU) DDS products. Key member of the Digital Data Service development team. Responsibilities were to ensure the products met the DFT and DFM (Design for Testability/Manufacturability) guidelines. Designed and implemented complete production Test Plans and Engineering Test Specifications. Designed and coded Power-On Self Test in C, 80188/80c31 assembly. Designed and built Production System test station written in C++, the System test hardware consisted of D4 channel Bank with Northern Telecom DPX cards (2 wire Data path line simulator), T1 line simulator and cable/noise/ impairment line simulator. All tests were fully automated and User Graphical Interface coded with in C++. Also wrote IEEE drivers in C++ for various test equipment. Utilized Mentor Graphic Tools, SIGNUM 8051 and Network simulators test equipment.

 

-Responsible for designing and building of a production process for T1-CSU/DSU products. As production test team leader, worked concurrently with development team from conceptual design to manufacturing phase to ensure testable and manufacturable products. Designed manufacturing test plans, Power On Self-test (POST) code, Environmental Stress and Screening (ESS) test code and test hardware, also designed and coded the Unit and System production test stations. All processes were documented based on the ISO9000. Used FRIEBERD and HP test equipment .

 

-Designed and built Diagnostic Functional Tester (DFT) for the high volume AT&T DDS (CSU/DSU) production line. The tester hardware consisted of 16-bit PC based Analog and Digital board (DSP16) for measuring the DDS analog signal, loop current, Cable Simulator and PSTN line simulator (Dial/Ring tone).

 

-Designed a Functional Tester for High speed Digital AT&T ISDN modem, the Diagnostic code at UUT in C and assembly, using 386 UNIX and MS DOS multitasking systems. The tester hardware consisted of D4 channel bank populated with NT1s, ISDN Line simulator, High speed (128K) BERT and TELOS (ISDN Line Sim).

 

11/1988--11/1989:  Sr. DESIGN ENGINEER.  TEMPUSTECH, INC.   Naples, FL.  U.S.A.

As small size company my responsibilities started from conceptual design to manufacturing and support.

-Designed and debugged computer boards (Mother board), 8086(V20), 80286 and 80386-20MHZ Microprocessor based, each board consists of 8M byte DRAMs, one parallel interface, two serial ports, and FDC.

-Involved with the design upgrade and beta test of EMPLOYEE COMPUTERIZED TIME CLOCK system. The system based on 8088 CPU card, I/O interface and, modem, LAN, bar code decoder, LCD, printer, keypad and HDD.

-Designs were implemented using ORCAD/SDTIII, simulated using ORCAD/VST, and PCB layout using TANGO II.

 

1/1988--11/1988: MANUFACTURING TEST ENGINEER.   RODIME, INC.  Boca Raton, FL.  U.S.A.

-Designed and tested analog and digital circuits for Winchester hard disk drives and controllers. (SCSI, ESDI, ST506).

-Generated test procedures, equipment interface specifications, progress reports and engineering change instructions.

-Supervisor of P.C.B (CCA). REPAIR CENTERS (15 Techs.).