Akshay Gupta

Experience

• 

  HP

  Oct 2001 - Oct 2003

  Project Manager

  Akshay worked as head of IT team supporting HP customer Maruti Udyog Ltd., which is largest automotive manufacturer in India with collaboration of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan. HP Infrastructure Support covered Data Center Management, Systems management, Network management Onsite Helpdesk & Engineer support, Hardware includes ALPHA servers, HP Blade Servers, HP Enterprise servers, HP EVA Storage, HP Intel Servers, Fiber Networks, Workstations 256 tape Robotic arm Tape Library, ATM and Giga Switch etc, VSAT, Leased Lines, RF WAN. Software Platforms include Windows NT server, Windows 2K server, Unix (True 64), MS Exchange 2000, Citrix Metaframe XP, Oracle 8i, TNG Console, BMC Patrol. Team size was of 50 Engineers.Role and responsibilities Managing the plant IT Infrastructure operations up and working with 99.9% SLA achievement for servers.  Managing 24X7 teams of engineer providing technical management of MS Windows, MS Exchange, Citrix, True 64 UNIX, Oracle 8i, LAN/WAN connectivity, Backup & disaster recovery, SAN Storage, IIS Servers, Nortel (Passport 8010), Cisco (2600), Cabletron Switches, Nortel Contivity Firewall, Raptor Firewall and VPN solution. Team motivation, leadership and proactive planning. Assess, plan for and control project risk. Storage up-gradation from 800 GB to 2.4 TB and from scattered storage to SAN based Storage.  Planning and implementation of MS Exchange 5.5 migration to MS Exchange 2000. Show less

• 

  HCL Technologies

  Nov 2003 - Jan 2007

  Program Manager

  Akshay headed a CEO sponsored IT Strategic outsourcing relationships for Fortune 50 listed organizations. This required setting up of a Shared Offshore Management Centre in India. He led the unique initiative of cross utilization of core IT skilled resources to provide support to many of HCL customers creating value to the business for both. He was also leading various initiatives on Networks, Servers & ERP implementation enabled by business process re-engineering and strong IT Governance. Akshay handled the Program transition of Fortune 50 Insurance Company to HCL. He was responsible for managing 24X7 Production environment and operations management. Program covered core business applications, support for DBA, Backups, SAP, handling of batch cycles, Server monitoring, error handling and escalation management. Team size was of 22 engineers including both onsite and offshore resources. Akshay handled Project status reporting, reviews, SLA compliance, Team management, training and proactive planning, CRM & SCM, VM Farm Setup, Oracle RAC installations, Resource planning and heuristics Akshay was responsible for setting up of shared service delivery center of HCL with unified team and tools. This Center was used to provide IT outsourcing services to various clients of HCL with specific requirements, entire setup was done on ITIL standards. He has also worked to get the OMC ISO: 20000 certified. Transition of projects from onsite including documentation and dry runs for offshore delivery. He has transitioned 6 multi-track projects of different clients with heterogeneous technologies with team size totaling to 100+ technical resources. It also mandated 24 X 7 Monitoring Availability and Performance reporting. To create & maintain BS 15000 documents, SOX compliance. Project related hardware procurement Manage vendors and Security, Managed Testing, I/O teams. Customer Interface / Vendor Management MIS reporting and SLA confirmation. Show less

• 

  CSC

  Jan 2007 - Aug 2014

  Project Manager

  Akshay has headed multiple large Programs and Projects on IT transition and transformation requiring cross-functional engagements. Responsible for leading the transcription of client’s complex needs into formal agreements, establishing specific solutions, culminating into customer acceptance of the results. Executed various projects on Enterprise wide IT infrastructure like building up Tier 3 Global Green Data center, implementing Intranet Firewall & Content filtering (for controlling Internet Traffic), Implementing End point Antivirus security and strong Data Leak Protection solution. Setting up Enterprise mailing system (Lotus Notes ver 8.5). Implemented all types of point to point connectivity, WAN, MPLS VPN and International VPN connectivity. Implemented Disaster Recovery system of Fortune 500 listed Oil Major for all the mission critical systems like SAP, Lotus Notes and File server. DR systems were implemented with RTO of 5 mins and RPO of 7 hours, regularly performing the simulation / mock drill on basis of the written BCP. IT Program & Project delivery management, Stakeholder management. Liaising with global clientele with expertise in setting up new business practices/ processes, attending regular project meetings and status reporting. Completed various Transformation projects on Datacenter consolidation, Server Migration, Cloud implementation and Virtualization. Transitioned Multimillion Dollar projects in APAC region from other vendor to CSC for largest insurance Company in Asia. This required setting up of offshore delivery center for DR management, Service Desk setup and Support Transition Championed Virtualization Technology for consolidating Server base.  Created private and public clouds for internal and customer facing Applications. This enabled hosting of products in a SaaS Model. Used Apache CloudStack for Compute Orchestration. Show less

• 

  Axalta Coating Systems

  Sept 2014 - Sept 2016

  Datacenter Operations Manager

  Headquartered in Philadelphia, Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings, providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable coatings solutions. With end products ranging from both new and refinished light and commercial vehicles to electric motors, bridges and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and improve longevity.at AXALTA – Sep 2014 – Sep 2016Akshay manages operations of its Global Datacenters through diverse Technology teams. He drives the change agenda with transformation and up-gradations of IT Infrastructure. He manages various IT operation teams focusing on operations and project execution ensuring effective technology adoption and long term benefits to the organization. I am also part of the committee managing audit compliance for SOX compliance and setting up of PMO office. Responsibilities: Lead IT Operations for two 24x7 Datacenters located in US and Europe, planned procedures and technology  Increasing IT operational efficacy by using Automation for repeated tasks and processes. Vendor management and SLA monitoring. Team selection, absorption, motivation and resourcing heuristics.  Business Continuity planning – ensured infrastructure requirements were met to enable recovery of 100% of required IT critical services and applications. Achievements till date: Transition - Migration completion and cutoff from parent company (DuPont Chemical). Transformation - Moving the entire Datacenter to SaaS Cloud.  Microsoft Azure (Cloud) integration for SharePoint and Office 365 rollout  Datacenter up-gradation and certification. DR site setup with offsite DR service providers. IT Staff motivation and attrition control.  IT Demand management and budget planning. SOX compliance monitoring.  PMO setup and practice maturation. Show less

• 

  HCLTech

  Sept 2016 - now

  Solutions Architect