Michael Armstrong
West Allotment,Newcastle Upon Tyne
Summary
In my personal time I like to keep active by running, swimming, snowboarding, mountain biking and weight training.
Overview
19
19
years of professional experience
Work history
Lead Solution Architect (VMware Cloud on AWS)
VMware
12.2018 - Current
- Promoted to Lead Solution Architect and transitioned into the Cloud Platform Business Unit at VMware with a specialist focus on VMware Cloud on AWS within commercial and public sector UK North
- My role includes working with customers to technically validate that VMware Cloud on AWS is the right solution and aligns to their business strategy
- This involves delivering presentations and workshops on a variety of topics including sizing, storage, networking, migration options, disaster recovery and how they can best utilise native AWS services
- Most often there is also a requirement to work with the customer on delivering a Proof of Concept which involves identifying success criteria and pre-requisites, working with the customer to deploy the environment and establish connectivity, typically via VPN or Direct Connect
- Depending on the use case there might be additional steps around HCX, SRM or VCDR deployment and workload migration as well as native AWS service integrations
- I have recently transferred territories and now align to enterprise customers within the UK which allows me to spend more time with a smaller number of strategic customers and focus more on growing consumption
- Being particularly strong on NSX and HCX I do a lot of internal enablement and training as well as help ensure our internal demo lab is capable of showcasing all our use cases.
Specialist Systems Engineer (NSX)
VMware
10.2014 - 12.2018
- Transitioned into an NSX specialist role within the UK and Ireland initially covering all territories but due to business demands transitioned to public sector and finally global commercial
- My role included customer engagements with both partners and VMware account managers, customer and partner training events and evangelist
- Later promoted to Senior Systems Engineer for various works undertaken which included NSX SE Accreditation, NSX Exploration days and supporting the North East VMware User Group which is currently the second largest VMUG in the UK
- I currently support the North East VMUG as a VMware leader but frequently present at other events which include Scotland, Ireland, Nordics and the UK User Conference
- I’m also heavily involved in supporting the VMworld Hands on Labs after initially starting as a proctor and working my way up through to captain, lead captain and finally principal where my role involves ensuring seven labs progress through the vigorous stages required to be released to customers at VMworld 2018
- This frequently requires working with the core Hands on Lab team feedback progress as well as lab captains who are geographically dispersed to ensure deadlines are met and any issues are dealt with swiftly from both a technical content.
Core Systems Engineer (Partners)
VMware
10.2013 - 10.2014
- Initially hired as a core Systems Engineer to cover the UK North but due to business demands I was asked to support focused partners with potential opportunities
- Supported the entire VMware portfolio from a pre-sales perspective but focused on emerging technologies such as vSAN and NSX which resulted in various enablement sessions with partners and customers
- Took a keen interest in network virtualization which later led to a role as the third NSX specialist within the UK & Ireland team.
Systems Architect
Nexus
06.2008 - 10.2013
- Employed as a 3rd line Support Engineer but promoted to the position of Systems Architect within the ICT Department
- Responsible for identifying new technologies to implemented within the business and oversee / ratify all major projects from both corporate and rail infrastructure departments which includes safety critical applications
- Project work completed includes a migration from ESX 3.5 to ESXi 4.1 and the implementation of a companywide disaster recovery solution using VMware Site Recovery Manager
- Implementation and migration of existing users to Exchange 2010 and the continual Active Directory migration from 2003 to 2008 R2
- We are currently involved in a project with VCE to migrate all our infrastructure to Vblocks which includes servers, VDI, Cisco UCM and ~650 analogue cameras which will be replaced with a centralized IP CCTV solution across two datacenters
- I am currently working with VCE to ensure the solution proposed meets our current and future requirements whilst taking disaster recovery into consideration
- I am currently operating as the technical lead and will also be heavily involved in the detailed design, implementation, migration and support work streams that follow.
Infrastructure Analyst
Strategic Systems Solutions
10.2007 - 06.2008
Citrix Application Packager
Strategic Systems Solutions
11.2006 - 10.2007
Systems Administrator
E.D.S
03.2006 - 11.2006
IT Technician
Elfab Ltd
06.2005 - 03.2006
Education
Skills
- VMware vSphere, SRM, NSX, vRealize Network Insight, vRealize Log Insight, VMware Cloud on AWS, VMware Cloud Disaster Recover
- AWS & Azure
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 / 2008 / 2008 / 2012 / 2016
- Microsoft and Various Linux Distro OS’s
- Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, ActiveSync, Threat Management Gateway
- General PC / server hardware and software Diagnosis / Installation / Set-up
- Dell Blade / Chassis Infrastructure
Custom
Available on request
Personal Information
- Date of birth: 08/21/1980
- Nationality: British
Timeline
Lead Solution Architect (VMware Cloud on AWS)
VMware
12.2018 - Current
Specialist Systems Engineer (NSX)
VMware
10.2014 - 12.2018
Core Systems Engineer (Partners)
VMware
10.2013 - 10.2014
Systems Architect
Nexus
06.2008 - 10.2013
Infrastructure Analyst
Strategic Systems Solutions
10.2007 - 06.2008
Citrix Application Packager
Strategic Systems Solutions
11.2006 - 10.2007
Systems Administrator
E.D.S
03.2006 - 11.2006
IT Technician
Elfab Ltd
06.2005 - 03.2006
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