Engineer Manager

Pralad Salvi

Network Manager - American Academy

Pickering, ON

acas7h@r.postjobfree.com - +1-647-***-****

• A technocrat with 18+ years of broad experience in IT/ ICT Systems Administration, responsible for Network

Administration, LAN, WAN, Customer Support, Project Management and Call Management.

• An educator, developing professional development courses in education technology and providing ongoing

support to teachers on integrating technology within the curriculum.

• An effective communicator with strong team management, analytical and problem-solving skills with

experience in working in cross-cultural and multi-lingual environments.

• Rich experience in providing support, escalation management, customer satisfaction, call management, team

management, troubleshooting.

• Competency in designing, developing, implementing and maintaining ICT-Infrastructure Solutions & System

Administration with proven skills in installing and administering Windows Operating Systems.

• Experience in configuration of networking devices, systems administration and customer support for the

systems and software up-gradation; demonstrated abilities in conducting the root cause analysis, installation

& configuration of servers & desktops, users & group policy management.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Network Manager

American Academy - Dubai - April 2008 to Present

Dubai, U.A.E

IT Specialist

RAS AL Khaimah English Speaking School - January 2007 to April 2008

U.A.E

IT Administrator

Al Shola Private School - December 2003 to December 2006

U.A.E

Senior Network Engineer

ARB Compusoft India Pvt. Ltd - August 2001 to November 2003

India

Senior Network Engineer

Numero Merchantile Pvt. Ltd - August 1997 to July 2001

India

Support Engineer

Apace Telesystems and Computer Corporation - August 1996 to July 1997

Customer Support Engineer Trainee Apace

Ex Computers - Dubai - January 1995 to July 1996

India

Major Achievements

At American Academy, Dubai, UAE

• Played a stellar role in designing & deploying ICT infrastructure in the school and facilitating teaching needs

while:

- Upgrading/hosting Windows Server, MS Exchange 2007, MSSQL Servers while keeping within corporate

guidelines for use by 150+ teachers, staff and 1000+ students.

- Delivered L1, L2 & L3 technical support for Microsoft platform

- Upgrading Gigabit Switches / Routers for existing structured cabling.

- Converting/ arranging existing structured cabling in MDF and 3 IDFs

• Designed & implementations:

- Wi-Fi solution to meet demand of network and internet access through mobile devices.

- Backup solution for data protection and retention.

• Involved in:

- Setting up firewall & web-filtering to enable safe internet access within the school campus to safeguard

students.

- Network upgrading to Gigabit manageable switches to meet the high demand of data transfer for graphics

& databases for students' project work.

- Implementation of VLAN to optimize school network performance.

• Identified ICT requirements and project managed expansion of school from 2 to 3 floors including the design

of

ICT Suites.

• Took a prominent role in the development of ICT disaster recovery test schedules, test plans & follow up

reports, which involved the Symantec Backup Exec backing up all the servers in the network which is managed

centrally.

• Provided professional development support to teachers by providing training on how to integrate technology

within their lessons using Apple products as well as the interactive white board.

• Constantly researched ways to improve use of ICT in education while balancing cost and the availability of

resources.

• Based on allotted annual budget, worked closely with finance team and the School management team to

get the best ICT products for every educational year, replaced/ upgraded old hardware periodically as needed

and when required.

• Successfully improved and streamlined the process to control ICT consumable usage with the help of

PaperCut

NG print tracking software.

• Implemented School Management System - Rediker Software (Administrators Plus, APWeb, GradeQuick,

Edline) used for administrative tasks & Student Information System and Person Education's PowerSchool

• Maintained Library Manager - Destiny which combines circulation, cataloguing, searching, reporting and

management in one centrally installed Library Software System.

• Significantly served on the Health and Safety committee, technology committee and ICT Self Study for

CIS/NEASC accreditation.

• Served as Member of the ICT committee which was formed for CIS inspection and gave valuable inputs for

improving the ICT setup and infrastructure in the school.

At RAS AL Khaimah English Speaking School, RAK, U.A.E

• Designed and established the whole ICT infrastructure (hardware/ software/ network/ telephone system/

other educational devices) for the new school premises of Ras Al Khaimah English School's British Curriculum

campus.

• Experienced in configuring and administrating Domain Controllers, DNS Servers, Terminal Servers, File &

Print

Server, Software Distribution Server, DHCP Server.

•

• Dexterously recommended network solutions to ICT Technicians and Hardware Engineers, liaised with CS

Operations Team on WAN and LAN operation issues.

• Carried out various administration tasks in Exchange Server & Active Directory from time to time according to

ICT policy changes and building and maintaining Group Policies for Users & Computers as well as Deploying

Software.

• Successfully submitted periodic reports and analysis which showed different network utilization such as

network traffic, server space utilization, reports of ICT technicians, and other related analyses to Board

Members.

• Managed and maintained the data communication systems that existed in the school which included

Telephone and Video Conferencing Systems.

At Al Shola Private School, Sharjah, U.A.E

• Maintained complete ICT activities of 3 schools with 275 Desktops, 3 Servers and Peripherals.

• Stood a key role in implementing:

- DHCP, DNS, Active Directory Configuration & Network Monitoring.

- Installation & Configuration of software packages in Computer Labs & other departments of the school.

- Wireless Network Administration of the network in the 3 schools & their different departments.

EDUCATION

HSC

Higher Secondary School - Mumbai, Maharashtra

1994

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

SKILL SET

Functional

• Microsoft Products Management

• Application Administration

• Systems & Network Management

• Network Connectivity Issues

• Project Management

• Team and Resource Managment

• User Training & Support Tools

• User Needs Fulfilment

• Problem Identification/ Analysis

• Testing & Troubleshooting

• System deployment

• Systems Integration/Migration

• Business Process Optimization

• Backup Planning and Disaster Recovery

• Sound knowledge of Server and IT infrastructure

• Budgeting

Technical Expertise:

Desktop Operating Systems: DOS, Windows 95/ 98/ ME/ XP/ VISTA/ Win7/ Win 8

Servers Operating Systems: Windows NT 4.0 (Server & Workstation), Windows 2000 (Server & Professional),

Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, Novell 2.2/3.11/3.12/4.x.

Domain Controller, DNS Server, DHCP Server, Terminal Server, File & Print Server, certification authority

Messaging Servers: MS Exchange Server 5.5/ 2003/2007/2010/2013, MS Outlook 2003/2007/2010

Installation, configuration and Management, creating mailboxes, allocation of quota.

Management Servers: System Center Configuration Manager 2012

Patch Management: WSUS, SMS 2003, SCCM 2007, SCCM 2012

Security: ISA 2004/2006, TMG, FIM 2010, PKI, Forefront Client Security, Certification Authority (ADCS),

ADFS,

ADRMS, ASA/PIX firewall deployment.

Applications, Antivirus, Tools and Utilities: MS Office 2013/2010/2007/2003/XP/97, Symantec Norton

Antivirus, Trend Micro Office Scan Enterprise, ESET NOD32 Enterprise, Symantec Ghost, Acronis TrueImage

Software, GFI LAN Network Security Scanner.

Network Protocols/Components: TCP/IP, NetBEUI, IPX, DNS, DHCP, IP Addressing & Sub Netting.

Networking (LAN/ WAN/ Wi-Fi): Network Infrastructure Design, Troubleshooting, Performance Audits,

Administration, IP Address Allocation & Maintenance. Implementation of Windows, Peer-to-Peer Networking,

Server & Client Networking, Internet Sharing, and Implementation & Troubleshooting of Internet related

problems. Networking based on Bus & Star Topology and VPN. Designing WAN, Wi-Fi, Troubleshooting,

implementation. Hands on experience in HP, 3COM, Linksys, Aruba, D-Link and Cisco devices.

BACKUP (Disaster & Recovery Solution): Designing of backup solutions, policies such as weekly full backup,

incremental and deferential backup by using products like Symantec Backup Exec, GFI and Windows built-in

backup utility.

Interactive Classrooms and Learning Solution: Settings up of interactive classroom with products such as iPad,

AppleTV, Wi-Fi Enabled Projectors, Interactive White Boards such as Interwrite, SmartBoard, Promethean and

other solutions as per the educators'/ curriculum specific requirements.

Mobile Solutions: Adequate knowledge on working with Tablets, Pocket PC & Smartphones such as iPhone,

Samsung, Imate, HTC, Blackberry & Nokia powered by Windows Mobile 2003/5.x/ 6.x/ 7.x, Blackberry,

Symbian,

iOS and Android

Area of Expertise:

System Administration & Engineering

• Plan, direct and control effective provisioning, installation / configuration, operation and

maintenance of systems hardware, software plus related infrastructure.

• Involve actively in planning and implementing company projects right from identification, research,

analysis, design, execution, testing and roll-out of solutions.

• Engineering system administration related solutions for various operational needs.

• Perform data back-up and recovery; conduct security monitoring to find out any intrusions.

• Apply patches plus upgrades on administrative tools or utilities.

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of technologies to serve as a source of technical advice.

• Suggest improvements in areas of IT responsibility; plan and implement major modifications/

upgrades to the IT infrastructure and monitor administration and maintenance.

• Expertise in vendor sourcing, hardware / software purchases and inventory management.

• Skilled in installation and administration of various Windows based operating systems.

• Accomplished in configuring routers and switches, managing computers and domain security plus

monitoring performance as well as reliability of different servers.

• Good background with Exchange Server 2010 installation and configuration; knowledge of DFS, NLB,

IPSEC, VPN, RAS, SMTP, SNMP, FTP, UDP, ARP and implementation of ITIL best practices.

Technical Support

• Provide technical support and IT advice to improve the structure and efficiency of IT systems.

• Define escalation/ response/ resolution time for reported problems base on criticality; evaluate

business solutions and provide support services for IT environment.

• Deliver high quality services according to Service Level Agreements; ensure adherence to policies and

processes related to service transition, implementation, and operations.

• Train end users in using the solution and recommend best practices to get optimal results.

• Ensure that complaints are handled effectively and resolved to the highest level of satisfaction.

• Maintain high degree of industry knowledge and awareness of trends, new technologies and

developments to improve service to end users.

Project Expertise:

• Migration of Windows NT domain to Win 2000 Active Directory.

• Upgradation of Windows 95/98 to Windows 2000 professional & vista.

• Transition of MS Exchange 2000/2003 to MS Exchange 2007/2010.

• Migration of Windows 2000/2003 domain to Windows 2008 Domain.

• Planned and implemented SCCM 2007 in a multi site environment.

• Successfully implemented PKI with ADCS on windows server 2003 platform.

• Implemented back-up plan for Windows Servers and Clients.

• Deployed McAfee virus scan, Eset's Nod 32 and MS Office products.

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