WASSIM ZALAKET

Beirut, Lebanon

Mobile Lebanon +961-******* • Mobile UAE +971-********* •

acf7ei@r.postjobfree.com

Date of birth: 12/04/1977 Dual Nationality: Lebanese,Canadian

Fluent in English, French and Arabic

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

IT Infrastructure and Telecom Consultant, September 2013 – Present

Consultant in different aspects of IT Infrastructure and telecommunications such as relocating data centers

by developing projects action plans and coordinating with different suppliers.

Main and disaster recovery data centers installation and operation in many institutions, by adapting to

different budgets in place, in addition to UPSs and Power sizing, dimensioning and distribution..

Provided assessment of active network components replacement to align with business growth speed

needs.

Consultant in several IT projects (IP telephony,videoconferencing, passive and active data centers

infrastructure’s components).

IT Manager, Ahli International Bank Lebanon, December 2012 – August 2013

Reviewed and developed the IT strategic plan in addition to vendors SLAs and contracts.

Approved vendors used by the organization and monitored their financial condition.

Approved and monitored major projects, IT budgets, priorities, standards, procedures, and overall IT

performance.

Revised and applied ITIL internal and external processes to align the bank’s processes with the ITIL ones..

Coordinated priorities between the IT department and user departments; and reviewed the adequacy and

allocation of IT resources in terms of funding, personnel, equipment, and service levels.

Main achieved projects: main and disaster recovery sites installation & configuration using Cisco blades

UCS and EMC storage with a recovery point time elapsing from 5 to 30 minutes, by configuring

deduplication and compression on a slow headoffice link to DR site consisting of 8Mbps as a speed.

IT Infrastructure Manager, Arab Bank Lebanon, October 2010 – November 2012

• Accountable for managing Network and Systems across the bank’s local network. Responsible of a

team which monitor, support and configure the network and systems platform covering the

branches, the headoffice, and the DR sites.in a Cisco environment; domain controller and active

directory win 2003, exchange mail server 2007. Active directory migration to windows 2008.

Security appliances such brightmail, websense, swift administration.

• Design, Installation and configuration of the latest version of UPSs, systems and networks

monitoring tool PRTG.

• Studying, planning, ordering and preparing for the infrastructure and systems installation for a new

Disaster Recovery Site respecting a budget of 1.5 million USD and a time range starting by

December 2010 and ending by December 2011, in addition to power UPSs sizing, dimensioning

and cooling.This DR site is currently running over 15Mbps symmetric DSL with backup 6Mbps

microwave link.The project phases included vendors and internal team management in accordance

with the bank’s internal policies and technical requirements.

• Strengthen the existing microwave WAN infrastructure by leading the addition of an infrastructure

layer through a private WAN DSL lines from the PSTN provider. Design, negotiations, ordering the

necessary equipments handled personally and lead to the deployment and configuration of the

2Mbps dedicated SHDSL,using MPLS technology, for each branch link to headquarters and DR site.

Designed and implemented QoS and policy control over the whole network on MPLS and FR.

• Main Datacenter’s Infrastructure rehabilitation by tuning datacenter cooling in terms of hot

aisle/cold aisle configuration to conserve energy and lower cooling cost, and introducing new UPS

and data cabling’s structure to reach the standards of a modern main datacenter.

… continued…

WASSIM ZALAKET• Page Two

• ITIL processes alignment with the global ITIL processes applied in the Bank.

Senior Telecom Supervisor, Byblos Bank, Beirut, Lebanon, November 2000 – September 2010

Network Supervisor accountable for overall support, configuration, maintenance and monitoring of mission-

critical banking systems composed of a large number of Cisco routers and IGXs operating in a WAN

environment over a mixed system of leased lines, ISDN and microwave media like SAGEM, ERICSSON

and SR TELECOM. Technologies include MPLS, Frame Relay, ATM, and X25. Manage the nationwide

ATM machines connected over the WAN MPLS and Frame Relay Network. Design and Implementation of

routers and switches policy controls and QoS, according to the business users needs.

Provide high-level support and customer service to users in various departments. Cross-t rain personnel

from other departments to troubleshoot first-level networking issues. Work closely with networking,

electricity, and PABX suppliers and contractors, managing key third party relationships and providing onsite

control and quality assurance to ensure timely and accurate installations. Project Manager on multiple

projects, coordinating all facets from scope of work through launch.

Lead the ongoing Bank’s main network upgrade (WAN and LAN), planning and implementation of

new two Cisco multilayer 6509 series core switches, new 3560 series switches, Ericsson

microwave backbone installation up to 155Mbps speed to provide faster upgraded WAN

capabilities.

Respected the Project’s life cycle by closing it on time (2 years) and the projected budget of 1.8

million USD.

Lead an ongoing series of design, planning and implementation projects for the installation of new

branch networks in support of the growth of the Bank through the old SAGEM, the new ERICSSON

microwave and leased lines links..

Lead the ongoing branches relocations by ensuring the network infrastructure servers rooms

successful relocations, in addition to UPSs sizing, dimensioning and distribution.

Onsite Project manager for a two-year cycle of backup disaster Head office center in jbeil city.

Designed UPS, data layouts of the 7 upper floors and 3 underground floors where the data center

resides. Cisco IP Telephony project (Cisco call manager 4.1) is implemented in that building. Voice

mailbox unity server and voice recorder server has been implemented too. This DR site was mainly

connected through a high speed microwave private ERICSSON backbone.

Project management included vendors management (contracts negotiations and solutions

adoptions) along with all coordination required with internal team members, the bank’s higher

management and external suppliers,

Respected the Project’s life cycle by closing it on time (2 years) along with the projected budget of

6 million USD.

Onsite Project Manager for a two-year cycle of branches servers rooms rehabilitation initiatives.

Designed layouts (data, telecom cabinets, outlets, etc.) and created procedures and specifications

(rooms dimensions, UPS specifications, cooling, access security control…etc.).

Provided end-to-end design and implementation services for a new 5-floor headquarters office in

Damascus, Syria. Designed data and electrical components for computer rooms and other back

office functions. Selected telecom link between Beirut and Damascus offices. Performed the same

design and field functions in Sudan, Cyprus and Armenia ongoing project.

Conducted a design study for a disaster recovery center in Cyprus as an outside backup central

computer facility.

Continued…

WASSIM ZALAKET• Page Three

Performed security study for a project to connect branches via the WAN to headquarters Control

Room. Conducted hardware and software study elements for the project. Resolved ongoing video

and alarm problems, devising a comprehensive security solution that addressed deficiencies.

Installed new networked DVRs and new security panels in all branches.

Additional Experience

External telecom auditor for litigation involving two local radio stations.

Systems Engineer, Signaling Regiment (Lebanese Army): Designed and implemented telephone lines

and maintained existing systems.

Libatel (DelitelSarl): Installed NERA Radio microwave links for 13 GHz and 155 Mbps. Utilized principles

of Outside Plant Network (OPN) to connect clients to main exchange. Performed maintenance, cable

planning, and optimization of cable drum allocation on OPN primary cables.

University Projects: Power control over GSM network with and without DTX. Videoconferencing over

TCP/IP (H.323protocol). Building security controls using remote PC with visual basic interface to control

access to 32 rooms.

EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALS

Baccalaureate in Elementary Mathematics

Collège Des Sœurs De Saints Cœurs, Zahleh, Lebanon

Diploma in Electrical Engineering (Major in Telecommunications)

University of Saint Joseph ESIB, Beirut, Lebanon, 1994-1999

Certifications

Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)

Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP)

PMP V5 course attendance / January 2014

Professional Development

Starmanship: Introduction to situational leadership II (May 2011)

Cisco IP Telephony Part 1 (CIPT 5.0)

Securing Networks with Cisco Routers &Switches (SNRS)

Implementing Cisco Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS)

Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks

Building Scalable Cisco Networks

Modern Project Management Training (2002)

Technical Proficiencies

Software:HP Openview,Cisco Secure, Cisco Works LMS, Cisco VPN concentrator, Riverbed, packeteer

Cisco IPCC, Cisco call manager, Juniper, FireEye,ASA, HP Arcsight, PRTG, Microsoft Projects.

Contact this candidate