Thomas Dhaenens

Experience

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  ST Engineering iDirect

  Sept 2017 - now

  ‣ Acting as the primary contact for data center-related inquiries for the Belgian data centers, overseeing rack planning, spatial arrangements (taking various limitations and dependencies in mind), and ensuring the future readiness to prevent any impact on departments due to hosting limitations.‣ Managing a power-saving initiative, by developing an automated system for optimal power management of lab equipment, significantly cutting costs by reducing energy consumption, aiding in disaster recovery and revealing my green ♥.‣ Responsible for calibrating devices to ensure accuracy for customer-facing reports and detailed measurements, critical for maintaining trust and credibility.‣ Conduct in-depth site tours for customers, showcasing data center operations and technology, enhancing customer engagement and trust.‣ Ensure data center standards are aligned with ISO9001, ISO14001, and ISO27001 certifications, maintaining high-quality management, environmental stewardship, and information security protocols.‣ Implement industry best practices and efficiency optimizations in data center operations to improve performance and reduce operational costs.‣ Coordinate comprehensive lab contingency plans and define shutdown priorities, collaborating with various teams to ensure robust business continuity strategies.‣ Oversee safety protocols and housekeeping standards within data centers to ensure a safe and efficient working environment for all staff.‣ Schedule and manage maintenance actions and windows for data center infrastructure, minimizing downtime and ensuring seamless operations.‣ Provide essential tools and guidance for maintaining an accurate asset inventory and coordinating IP address segment distribution among teams, facilitating smooth network management.‣ Oversee the responsible reclamation or disposal of defective devices, adhering to environmental standards and regulations. Show less ‣ Managed the fiscal year budget allocation and proposition for on-site data centers and the extensive European QRE team (Quality and Release Engineering).‣ Initiated the innovative project of incorporating two new data centers housed in shipping containers, due to office space constraints (same solution used by CERN's supercollider). Justified the need based on available data and roadmaps (data driven decisions). Foresaw adequate budget and managed the installation of the solution including network connectivity, providing necessary equipment and technician collaboration.‣ Launched a power-saving initiative, due to surging electricity prices in Europe, by developing an automated system for optimal power management of lab equipment, significantly reducing energy consumption, aiding in disaster recovery and revealing my green ♥.‣ Closed the communication gap between engineering, purchasing, logistics and facilities by serving as the go-to person for interdepartmental operations, ensuring optimized processes.‣ Proactively ensured the engineering team had access to adequate resources for development activities, aligning with roadmaps and taking preemptive steps to mitigate potential resource constraints.‣ Set up a data center operations team in line with the Scrum methodology (Agile).‣ Acted as the primary contact for data center-related inquiries for the European engineering department, overseeing rack planning, spatial arrangements (taking various limitations and dependencies in mind), and ensuring the future readiness to prevent any impact on projects due to hosting limitations.‣ Maintained and managed a comprehensive inventory for labs and data centers.‣ Coordinated the procurement of necessary materials, racks, setups and hubs for the engineering department (via SAP), including international support and managed the RMA process for specific devices. Show less ‣ Developed a reservation tool/system to monitor test asset statuses and manage utilization effectively.‣ Created the architectural design for test setups used by the engineering department, encompassing hardware selection, Bill of Materials (BoM), layout and cabling diagrams.‣ Procurement of hardware, including follow up and delivery notice (via SAP).‣ Managed and coordinated work with on-site technicians, ensuring efficient and timely project execution and resource allocation.‣ Deployment of a power management platform (OpenMotics) across all on-site data centers.‣ Implemented and oversaw a contingency plan for all on-site data centers, actively supervising environmental conditions to avoid project impact due to emergencies (e.g. AC malfunctions). Show less ‣ Gained extensive insight into satellite communication systems, focused on identifying and resolving critical bugs (Jira) by actively pursuing colleagues (interdepartmental collaboration) and became a specialist for end-to-end traffic with full sub-component awareness.‣ Served as the mobility domain expert, focusing on satellite IP connectivity for moving vehicles (e.g. ships, airplanes, trains, oil rigs and news vans).‣ Broadened my knowledge with state-of-the-art technologies, industry-standard software, and best practices across multiple domains, including: software, programming (Python, Bash), hardware, interfaces (REST API, MQTT, Kafka), RF and IP networking.‣ Contributed to the development of the most efficient satellite return technology in the world, ST Engineering iDirect's MxDMA MRC technology, and its compatibility with products and mobility solutions for flagship customers.‣ Collaborated with ESA (European Space Agency) on the PACIS-5 project for dynamic satellite capability sharing, achieving the rare accomplishment of submitting a report with no RIDs.‣ Advanced my skills in software build tooling and automated repetitive and time-intensive tasks via scripting and the use of tools (e.g. Jenkins).‣ Kicked off an internship/thesis program and fostered collaboration with universities and colleges. 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  • Lab / Data Center Manager (Global Performance)

    Sept 2023 - now

  • Asset Manager (Engineering)

    Jun 2019 - Sept 2023

  • Test Asset Coordinator (Engineering)

    Feb 2018 - Jun 2019

  • Senior QRE Engineer (Engineering)

    Sept 2017 - Jun 2019
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  Panasonic Avionics Corporation

  Sept 2018 - Jan 2019

  Engineering Representative for Newtec/ST Engineering iDirect (Customer Support)

  Panasonic Avionics Corp (PAC), based in Lake Forest, CA, USA, is a global leader in in-flight connectivity and infotainment systems for airlines. It's one of iDirect's flagship customers in the mobility sector.In response to a customer escalation regarding SLA (Service Level Agreement) improvements, I represented the engineering department to address the challenges. The SLA, a critical KPI for PAC, measures in-flight connectivity performance, a service passengers expect to remain stable throughout their flights. This metric is assessed by monitoring the connectivity uptime at cruising altitudes.After identifying the underlying factors impacting the SLA, I initiated corrective measures:‣ PAC operators' insufficient software knowledge → Conducted training to enhance their understanding and debugging skills of our software, including the creation of a cheat sheet for system analysis.‣ Unidentified bugs with prolonged detection/resolution times → Collaborated with PAC's Tiger Team to gather metrics, flight information, and conduct real-time debugging, utilizing tools (PowerBI & Splunk) for faster bug identification.‣ Scalability challenges within our software (back then), highlighted by PAC's extensive network → Implemented best practices: avoid significant changes on Fridays and EoB, test changes before bringing to production and schedule risky actions during hours with full engineering support.Other measures/resp:‣ Held daily meetings with PAC's C-level executives to report on issues, responses and resolutions from the previous day, often providing immediate resolution.‣ Navigated critical scenarios with swift actions to mitigate network-wide disruptions, avoiding millions in potential losses and enhancing customer satisfaction.‣ Wrote and deployed patch scripts to automatically address known issues as they arose, significantly improving SLA.‣ Transitioned from a reactive to a proactive approach.Result: SLA increase of more than +12% in a few months ✓ Show less