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Personal Details
Name: Leighton James (07958 725 447)
D.O.B.: 21 September 1976
Address: 40 Bempton Drive, Ruislip, Middlesex, HA4 9DD (mail@leightonjames.net)
Marital Status: Married with young family
Other Information: UK Nationality, Full & Clean Driving License
Skills Summary
I am a successful, versatile and well regarded Principal Architect, specialising in Microsoft technologies, VMware and datacentre networking. I have over 15 years experience working for various IT Consultancies and Managed Services Providers. In this time I have been responsible for comprehensive design and architecture services, performing migrations, technical delivery and 3rd/4th line remedial work. I have worked with clients in Financial Services, Public Relations, Insurance, Public Sector and many other industries. My current role involves me designing the infrastructure architecture for high availability, secure and scalable Internet & Enterprise Applications for many blue-chip clients – whilst also running and developing the Solution Architecture & Consulting practice within Attenda.
I have extensive experience interacting with C-level representatives – understanding their challenges and pitching compelling solutions. I specialise in Service-centric solutions, based on my previous experience of various platforms and technologies designed and implemented at a variety of organisations. In addition to first-rate pre-sales, design and documentation skills, I also have much experience mentoring and supervising other consultants and engineers, and currently manage a high performance team of Solution Architects.
IT Qualifications
2009: Prince2 Foundation, Prince2 Practitioner (2009 edition), ITIL v3 Foundation Bridge Certificate, VCP (upgrade to vSphere 4)
2008: VMware Certified Professional (VCP), VMware Technical Sales Professional (VTSP)
2007: TOGAF Certified Enterprise Architect
2006: VMware Sales Professional (VSP), ITIL Foundation Certificate, Cisco Security Solutions and Design Specialist
2005: Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA)
2004: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE Windows Server 2003)
2003: Cisco Certified Firewall Specialist (CFS)
2000: Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCDA)
1999: Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE Windows NT 4.0 Server)
Formal Education
1999: BSc Business Computer Systems: First Class Honours
1995: 3 A-Levels (Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science): Grades A-C
1993: 9 GCSEs: 4 Grade A’s, 3 Grade B’s, 2 Grade C’s
Career History
February 2006 – date: Attenda Limited (MS Gold Partner, VMware EMEA Hosting Partner Award 2008 & 2009, Datacentre Europe Awards, Managed Services Provider 2007 & 2008)
40% - Manager, Solution Architecture & Consulting
60% - Principal Solution Architect (Lead Consultant / Technical Architect)
Attenda are recognised throughout the Managed Services sector as a leader in the field – specifically targeted at Business Critical solutions. Their propositions range from the management of key Critical Applications (e.g. SAP, Exchange, Transactional websites) to entire Server Room Outsource solutions – whilst having a further specialism in Software as a Service and Cloud based solutions.
As a Principal Architect with Attenda I hold overall responsibility for the pre-sales engagement with clients and the subsequent design and architecture of an appropriate solution. I am frequently engaged in a wide variety of solutions involving multiple technology platforms (Microsoft, Sun, RedHat), datacentre network design (Content Switching, n-tier security, PCI compliance) and varying server count (2 – 1000 servers).
I am often extensively involved throughout the pre-sales process, especially responding to RFP’s, writing proposals, conducting workshops, delivering presentations, producing diagrams and generating a pricing model. I am a technical authority within Attenda for Microsoft, VMware and Citrix technologies, and am highly regarded by everyone that I work with.
I am increasingly involved in Server Consolidation projects, as well as Transition and Transformation programmes – especially involving virtualisation technologies (e.g. VMware, 3Par, Cisco and so on).
Within the first six months of employment with Attenda I won a “Top Performer Award” and was recognised for a leading contribution in winning the “Deal of the Year” for two years running. Within just two years, I was promoted twice, the second time to Principal Architect & Department manager, with operational responsibility for the performance of the Solution Architecture and Consulting function. Within this current role, my time is split such that one third of my time is spent on Management responsibility and two-thirds is spent on client-facing assignments.
December 2004 – February 2006: Business Systems Group PLC (MS Gold Partner, Citrix Silver Partner, HP Enterprise Partner)
Senior Technical Consultant (Lead Consultant / Technical Architect)
As a Senior Technical Consultant in the Design/Deploy division, I have led and participated in a wide range of projects for various enterprise clients (50 – 500 users). I have often been extensively involved in the pre-sales process especially proposal writing. In addition to project-based assignments, I have also assisted the Operations division, acting as a subject-matter expert and final point of escalation. In this capacity, I have assisted many clients in recovering their systems from various failures. I have become a technical authority at BSG, and frequently receive commendations from both internal and external clients.
Within the first quarter of employment with BSG, I won a company award for positive customer commendations.
Some of the experiences gained at BSG include:
· Exchange: Often as the Lead Consultant or Technical Architect, I have helped clients of various sizes migrate away from Exchange 5.5 Server and GroupWise systems to Exchange Server 2003 solutions. I have also been involved in consolidation projects and mobility projects using Exchange ActiveSync.
· Citrix: Design and Implementation of various sized Citrix installations – often as the Lead Consultant – including one of the first Presentation Server 4.0 deployments in the UK. Executed various proof-of-concept exercises to help clients determine the feasibility of delivering their applications within Citrix. Design and implementation of Citrix within a consolidation project – centralising Active Directory and Exchange servers. Experience of Citrix Access Gateway (SSL VPN) and Password Manager (Single Sign On).
· Active Directory: I have extensive experience with the design, implementation and support of Active Directory. I have designed and implemented multi-site, multi-domain Active Directory models, and have experience of Group Policies, Delegation of Control, replication, DNS, DHCP, and so on.
· Windows Server System: I have rounded experience in most aspects of Microsoft’s product portfolio, including; DFS, WSUS, SQL, ISA, MOM and SharePoint
· Desktop Deployment: I have thorough knowledge of desktop technologies including all versions of Windows and Office, RIS, Ghost, Scripted Builds, Virtual Machines, etc
· Clustering: Many projects have required clustered Exchange or SQL servers. I have experience of HP cluster hardware including SAN’s. I also have experience of stretched clusters using NSI GeoCluster.
· BSG operate their own Managed Data Centre, and so I have had the opportunity of designing, deploying and supporting hosted/managed services – especially management and monitoring solutions.
March 2003 – December 2004: Micropoint Systems (MS & Cisco Partner)
Senior Systems Consultant
As a Senior Systems Consultant, I was responsible for most of the key clients and projects. In many cases, I actively participated in pre-sales and design activities. Having won the project, I was often the lead consultant, responsible for mentoring and supervising junior consultants and engineers. At Micropoint, as well as Microsoft technologies, I had opportunity to be involved in Cisco and Security technologies also.
Some of the highlights of my time at Micropoint include:
· Netware to Windows migration, and Exchange consolidation for 1000 user NHS organisation in NW London
· Merger, upgrade and consolidation of IT systems for two housing authorities
· Active Directory design validation and remedy for PLC of nationwide bookshops
· Netware/GroupWise migrations to Windows/Exchange Server 2003
· NT 4.0 domain consolidation and upgrade to Windows Server 2003 AD
· Various assignments involving the design and deployment of multi-site VPN and Firewalls using Cisco, Watchguard, SonicWall, ISA 2004 and Checkpoint
· Various ad-hoc assignments using assorted products and technologies including; Cisco/HP Routing and Switching (DSL, VLAN), Brightmail, Clustering, Mailsweeper, SMS 2003, RSA, VBScript, MessageLabs, VBAK, Trend Antivirus
March 1995 – March 2003: Whitehall Systems (Microsoft & Cisco Partner)
Systems Engineer to Managing Consultant
I worked with Whitehall Systems for 8 years, and was able to develop from a field engineer through to their most Senior Consultant. Given the various roles that I enjoyed with Whitehall, I have gained a lot diverse skills and experience, including managing a team of 7 engineers. Being a small company, Whitehall required a very can-do and all-hands-to-the-pump attitude. My experiences with Whitehall have contributed in me becoming such a versatile and knowledgeable IT Professional.
On top of the skills and experiences which were further developed in more recent roles, I gained experience of the following technologies; Netware 3.12, GroupWise, Backup Exec, ArcServe/BrightStor, Avaya IPOffice (Voice over IP), ASP Web Development, Access Accounts, Symantec Firewall, Lotus Notes.
Microsoft Exchange SQL SharePoint LCS Live Communication Server Cisco PIX ASA VPN IPSEC Windows 2003 XP IIS DNS AD Active Directory DNS DHCP IP RIS Scripted Automated R2 SP1 SP2 Netbackup NetApp FAS EVA MSA HP Citrix Presentation Server PS4 CAG Access Gateway Password Manager SG Secure Gateway