Anthony Ransom

Toronto, Ontario – +27-82-783-**** – adbuo1@r.postjobfree.com – LinkedIn URL

IT/Technology Manager

System Architecture - Server Infrastructure - Project Management

Technically minded and accomplished leader with more than 13 years of involvement in IT, media and broadcast system design and development, infrastructure management, and solution delivery. Adept at devising solutions that align with customer needs and follow industry best practices. Expert in high-performance, mission critical real time systems. Fast learner, quickly grasping new information, technologies, and procedures. Motivational leader, building, training, leading, and motivating technical teams committed to achieving collective goals and shared vision. Possess exceptional interpersonal communication, negotiation, analytical problem solving, and relationships building skills. Fluent in the English language.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Designed and implemented IT network, storage, computer and datacenter systems and environments within IT, broadcast, and post-production system to meet business needs.

Led the development of a new datacenter to centralize all IT and studio equipment, resulting in saving costs of air-conditioning and fire-systems.

Grew the number of broadcast channels from 2 to 7 on pay-tv and public broadcast platforms.

Implemented redundant YouTube and international IP streaming solutions for E-Sport clients.

Offered proactive assistance in the development of IT and Broadcast systems according to SLA requirements.

Spearheaded IT and broadcast systems projects within time and budgetary requirements.

Spearheaded projects from conception to completion, involving the execution of a media asset management system to automate and streamline production workflows and media access control.

Successfully implemented specialized storage systems significantly improving production editing workflows.

Hired, supervised, trained, and guided IT Staff, technicians and channel engineers.

Devised and employed centralized storage system to improve automated workflows of asset management systems and video transcoding systems, resulting in earning the company over R1M of revenue.

Implemented Media Asset Management (MAM) system to enhance production workflows and media access control.

Improved client virtualized infrastructure SQL performance by 10% through the implementation of virtual machine CPU and memory optimizations.

Slashed client storage usage on virtualized infrastructure by 50%.

Saved R300K of costs on buying new hardware by improving resiliency and job success ratio of backup systems.

Augmented channel uptime from 95% to 99.999% by designing and implementing new channel broadcast system.

Employed production control processes, resulting in cutting problem content played to air down from 10% to <1%.

Cut staff requirements for 24x7 monitoring by implementing automated monitoring and problem resolution.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

IT Management

Department budget planning and management

Plan and implement large IT projects for new systems or improvement on existing systems without downtime

Risk planning and assessment

Maintain and test disaster recovery procedures

Manage solutions running in virtualized and cloud environments

Manage server, storage, network and security systems

Create and maintain IT and security policies and procedures

Manage IT teams to provide desktop, network and telephony support for up to 500 staff

Ensure IT staff are adequately trained and meet standardized qualification requirements for the position

Manage companywide Active Directory (AD) domains and email services

Scripting automation scripts in Windows server PowerShell and Python

Manage network security (firewalls)

Manage system update and patching cycles and rollout

Ensure helpdesk is answering tickets in sufficient time and incident SLA was being achieved

Work with HR to create job scope and interview applicants for positions on IT teams

Guide team members to resolve incidents that were taking time to resolve

Plan backup policies and requirements

Work with and managed local and international vendors to achieve project success and ongoing support

Media and Broadcast Management

Design, plan and manage implementation of 24x7 broadcast playout systems including servers, storage, low latency network systems, satellite uplinks and IP broadcast solutions

Managed environments containing up to 7 channels on Pay TV and Public television platforms

Ensure technology used by department meet the requirements to achieve company strategy and goals

Design, plan and manage implementation of Media Asset Management (MAM), transcoding, quality control and automation systems to improve security of content and efficiency or production workflows

Monitor workflows of production projects and recommended workflow changes and automation with relevant stakeholders to achieve efficiency in each project

Create and maintain policies and procedures for operational and technical staff

Design and implement automated monitoring and resolution systems to detect problems with systems and apply pre-programmed switch-over or fix according to detected problem

Interview staff looking at skills and talents in order ensure company had the best technical skills required to operate effectively and efficiently

Manage technical teams for support of server and broadcast playout systems along with support or production teams in studio and post-production environments

Work with and manage local and international vendors for project completion and support

Manage multiple teams handling various tasks including channel operation teams responsible for input of channel schedules into playout systems, Quality control teams to ensure provided content meet channel and company quality standards and Channel monitoring teams to ensure channels are always on air

Maintain and test redundancy and disaster recovery procedures

Work with vendors to improve and customize solutions to better fit the needs of the company

Project Management

Plan and manage projects for the implementation of new software or hardware systems

Manage scope of work with vendors to ensure requirements were met

Ensure projects were completed on time and within budget

Manage multiple local and international vendors and stakeholders within projects to achieve success

Support

Provide 24x7 support to technical systems across IT and media and broadcast environments

Ensure high levels of uptime across all systems

Create knowledge base of common problems for staff to follow for problem resolution

Manage incident cases pulling all required resources and stakeholders together to resolve any problems

Maintain Helpdesk solution for logging and monitoring of support tickets and incidents

Implementation of automated monitoring and ticket logging

Administration

Plan and manage 24x7 monitoring and on-call roster for staff to be present in NOC to monitor systems

Ensure department is adequately staffed to achieve required operating efficiency and low problem resolution times

Manage budgets ensure projects are delivered on time and in budget

Co-ordinate team meetings and feedback sessions

Teaching/Training

Training new channel operations staff on the use of channel programming software for broadcast

Teaching interns and staff starting first jobs in IT out of college on IT principles and knowledge gained from experience

Training staff on security policies and awareness of Phishing scams

Communication

Communicate and present proposed solutions and business cases to company board and shareholders

Provide feedback and updates of any ongoing problems to internal stakeholders and external clients keeping them informed of progress and time to resolution

Present annual budgets to relevant stakeholders and executives

Prepare and present scope of work to new clients to approve projects

Communicate and track SLA requirements and statistics to vendors to ensure SLA contracts terms are achieved

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

STRATEGIX TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS Johannesburg, South Africa Aug 2018-Present

Technical Solutions Architect

Identify and meet customer requirements through communication and technical/business studies. Design, develop, integrate, test, and install various virtualized IT systems. Offer expert suggestions to clients about systems, security, and technical policies development. Review virtualized infrastructure performance for Microsoft Windows, Database, and Linux systems; implement changes to improve performance.

KNOWLEDGE FACTORY Johannesburg, South Africa May-Aug 2018

IT Consultant / Project Manager

Contributed to the design, testing, and installation of broadcast and asset management IT solutions. Uncovered and documented client’s requirements. Developed and maintained long-term professional relationships with clients.

URBAN BREW STUDIOS Johannesburg, South Africa Jul 2015-Mar 2018

Head of Department (Broadcast Centre) / Broadcast Technology Manager

Directed and delivered IT and broadcast systems projects within budgetary and time constraints. Devised and implemented new policies and processes of IT, broadcast, production, and post-production environments within the company. Hired and oversaw a highly skilled team of channel engineers, technicians, and other IT staff. Formulated and maintained system documentation. Evaluated performance of technical systems and offered valuable suggestions. Visited clients to assess IT and broadcast requirements, including system requirements and specifications to develop accurate costs and timelines for projects. Advised company on future broadcast, post-production, and IT systems strategy.

ROCKETSCIENCE Johannesburg, South Africa Feb 2014-Jul 2015

Solution Architect and Support Engineer

Developed, merged, tested, and employed IT and broadcast solutions. Guided clients on IT systems strategy, system policies, and systems management. Recognized clients’ requirements and created solutions in accordance with their specifications. Managed client website domains and email services.

URBAN BREW STUDIOS Johannesburg, South Africa Jul 2011-Feb 2014

IT Manager and Technical Engineer

Developed, updated, and employed system documentation/policies and processes of IT, broadcast, production, and post-production environments within the company. Identified clients’ IT and broadcast needs, including system requirements and specifications to develop accurate costs and timelines for projects. Mentored IT teams to install, operate, and administer required systems and networks for IT and broadcast systems. Advised company on future broadcast, post-production, as well as systems strategy, management, and service delivery. Directed SLA contracts with vendors.

Additional experience as Programmer/Project Manager/IT Analyst, QA Entertainment Technology Consultants, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa (Jan 2007-Jun 2011)

TECHNICAL PROFICIENCIES

Operating Systems:

Apple, Linux, Microsoft

Software:

Active Directory Management, Virtualization - VMWare, Hyper-V, Nutanix, Cloud - Azure, AWS, Office 365, AutoCAD, Programming – C#, Java, HTML, Microsoft Office Suite

Hardware:

Brands:

TV Broadcast Playout Systems, Digital TV Media processing systems, Post-Production Systems, Network Management (LAN, WAN), Storage Management, Business and Home automation systems (Control4, Crestron)

Grass Valley, Evertz, Dell, HP, Super Micro, Arista, Cisco, IBM, Azure, AWS, Fortigate, Adobe, Final Cut Pro, Avid, Telestream, Tools On Air, EMC Isilon, XSAN, Quantum SAN, Wowza, Ross, Ooyala, Black Magic, Elemental, AJA, Compliance Recorders

EDUCATION

BSc. Honors Business Information Technology, UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH, Johannesburg, South Africa

International Advanced Diploma in Computer Studies, NCC Education, Johannesburg, South Africa

Information Systems Engineering IS (Eng.), UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE LOCAL EXAMINATION SYNDICATE (UCLES) with CTI EDUCATION GROUP, Johannesburg, South Africa

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