Lawrence Buxton CEng MIET

Experience

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  B Masons

  Aug 1997 - Oct 1998

  Computer and Electronics Engineer

  Responsible for the maintenance & administration of all computer systems within the company. This included the design and implementation of a new office network, installing a local email server, deployment of an NT4 domain and setting up departmental file servers. Also worked on several of the embedded control systems (PLCs) in use on the production lines of the factory floor.

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  Interliant

  Dec 2000 - Feb 2002

  Systems Administrator

  Responsible for all internal infrastructure within the office network, including workstations, servers, network equipment, phone PBX services (POTS, VOIP & conference services on IP office & Alchemy branch) and internet connectivity.Supported a wide range of needs including roaming users, Lotus Domino 6 databases, Exchange 5.5, SQL 2000, Onyx, Remedy, as well as other network services. Projects included full migration of the network infrastructure to new offices, re-structuring the internal topology, and migrating the NT 4 domain over to a Windows 2003 AD. Show less

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  Navisite

  Feb 2002 - Aug 2011

  Managed a portfolio of 5 data centres in 4 geographical locations: was the technical design authority and client facing project manager for the construction of the 4 new sites. Was also responsible for the deployment and day to day operation of a 24 by 7 helpdesk team of 8 engineers for Telstra International. Was the client escalation point for all sites, including coordinating resolution steps and authoring incident reports. Accountable for each site’s uptime/availability, capacity planning and any changes made at each site. Using a systematic approach I identified risks related a change control activity and then took steps to either mitigate them or provided stakeholders with insight on the level of impact vs risk so appropriate decisions could be taken. Show less Managed 12 strategic customer accounts, each with a value of £2 million at a technical level by holding regular meetings with clients, identifying issues and developing solutions. Defined and delivered critical business documents for solutions including: customer facing documents, solution audits, Incident reports and monthly performance reports. Worked with the pre-sales team to determine product offerings, new proposals, and identified areas of improvement for the business and ensuring products and services remained supportable by the remote off shore teams. Key Achievements• Identified discrepancies between the customer care and the operations teams and implemented new processes to harmonize workflow between these different verticals. • Implemented report automation to improve performance and billing reports, removing human errors and streamlining invoicing times for dynamic cloud services. • During major incidents: I coordinated the technical teams to identify, contain and resolve the issue in controlled & efficient manner. Once resolved I collected the necessary data from each of the stake holders Show less Senior project lead for large & medium scale solutions: Ensured technical and non technical resources worldwide were available for projects as needed and that projects were delivered on time and within budget. Activities included budgetary preparation for projects, training, and mentoring to direct and subordinate staff. Project assignments included: multi site exchange deployment, creation of a support process handbook for engineers and installation of a shared exchange platform.Main technical skills continue to stem from Windows 2000 / 2003, Exchange 2003, SQL 2000 & 2005, Redhat 3/4/5, OS hardening, proactive monitoring and Dell / HP hardware knowledge. Show less Responsible for developing medium scale solutions for customers, and managing those solutions throughout their lifecycle. Worked regularly with IT technologies such as load balancers, Netscreen, CISCO & Checkpoint Firewalls, VPN, Exchange & MS SQL Clusters. Provided training for 2nd tier engineers on new products as well as standard troubleshooting and problem solving techniques. Deployed customized Windows & Linux OS for all new solutions using proven deployment techniques such as Ghost, Sysprep, PXE & kickstart. Directly involved in evaluating and deploying new hardware as well as testing & deploying critical patches to production servers. Projects have included: rollout of a hardware monitoring system, migration of servers to a new Datacenter, setup & design of an automated server provisioning system. Show less

  • UK Regional Data Centre Manager

    Jun 2008 - Aug 2011

  • Customer Relationship Manager

    Jan 2008 - Jul 2008

  • CSE Site Manager

    Jan 2007 - Jan 2008

  • Senior Systems Engineer

    Jul 2006 - Feb 2007

  • Systems Engineer

    Feb 2002 - Jul 2006
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  Sentrum (Colo) Ltd

  Aug 2011 - Feb 2015

  Operations Manager

  Led the change of operation from an initial start-up business, defined service requirements, through to site fit-out, across into a steady day-to-day operating business. Engaged with the company directors to define a clear business case for each of the product offerings, to ensure a consistent customer experience throughout the service lifecycle. Budget responsibility £8 million CapEx and the OpEx of £1.5m pa. Responsible for all customer services sold by the business and was the design authority for over 20 colocation & IT products, defining the scope of each service concerning: 3rd party vendors, network connectivity, cooling, power, logical/physical layouts, structured cabling, security & fault tolerance. This included defining all service level agreements (SLAs), descriptions of service and responding to customer RFPs. Show less

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  Optimum Data Centres

  Feb 2015 - Nov 2017

  IT Infrastructure Manager

  As the principal customer interface, I was responsible for 6,000m2 of data centre IT space (Halls, Telecom Meet Me rooms and hot desk areas) and all internal & specialist IT systems. Oversight of all routine work on both internal and customers systems (Dell EMC, HP, NetApp, CISCO, Juniper, MS Windows, VMware and Linux) and delivering/decommissioning services for customers (including: monitored server cabinets, bare-metal builds, network, SAN & backup services) to ensure service delivery remained within budget and aligned to contracts, SLAs and customer needs. Managed the site’s: IT assets, capacity, availability and all internal IT projects. Using formal change management; I assessed change based on impact vs. benefits (e.g.: patch management, security modifications, firmware updates, changes to shared services, Mech & Elec plant maintenance). As the point of escalation for unplanned events: I was the incident manager addressing issues such as: containment, final resolution, external communications and mitigation steps. Show less

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  Donald Cant Watts Corke (DCWC)

  May 2018 - Nov 2018

  Senior Project Manager

  Responsible for the roll-out of a new Building Management System (BMS) at two operational Datacentres from an uncontrolled VMware platform over to an in-house Hyper-V cloud platform. Duties included daily stand-up meetings, coordinating switch-over work (without interrupting live operations) and maintaining the project plan. Additionally, I identified any security risks that the project posed to existing operational technologies (eg Modbus & BACnet) and then tailored testing and validation steps to address those risks at the sites, including measures based on lessons learnt. Accountable to multiple stakeholders across five departments & two vendors; generating status reports, financial tracking, resource scheduling, risks & issue mitigation, and reporting back to the sponsors using formal and informal means; This included defining the migration plan and presenting it to the change management board. Then due to resource limitations: gracefully shut down the project after two sites were completed, ensuring all documents were in place and ready for project re-initiation for the remaining sites when resources permitted. Key Achievements:• Based on existing documentation & internal workshops: authored a test and migration plan for each site, breaking down each stage of the process to include acceptance testing, resource allocation, time limits and rollback options. This reduced time pressures on the operations team and allowed the business to have clear visibility of the vendor's responsibilities and identified any potential risks or issues ahead of all tasks & cut overs. • Using first principles and my knowledge of building control systems: I identified & resolved a significant conflict between the vendor’s software and the in-house cloud platform, removing a key roadblock from the project’s timelines for all sites. Show less

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  Northern Health

  Aug 2020 - Aug 2022

  Senior ICT Project Manager

  As the Project lead, I managed the development of a new Datacentre, refurbished an operational Server room, was the project supervisor for the build and migration of a new Citrix platform, a multi-vendor WAN migration, and the deployment of Business Continuity processes for critical applications and services for the health group while adhering to all COVID controls. I collaborated with resources to create project plans, requirement documents, and budget reports. Then reported on these outcomes to the CIO and how they impacted the overall risk, cost, and quality, at both a project and program level, as well as submitted reports for board level review. I ran regular stand-ups, design sessions, and workshops for all technical teams, and leveraged vendor agreements to bridge resourcing gaps. I also engaged at a technical level to identify issues and risks systematically, then ensured pragmatic solutions were found, costed and then deployed.Key Achievements:• Created multiple migration plans for all project work packages and linked back any resource and service dependencies so that timelines could be aligned to avoid clashes and provide clear insight when additional resources were needed.• Due to the absence of an in-house subject matter expert, I coordinated with vendors and consultants to validate and develop a WAN design migration for 5 sites from layer 2 microwave links to a mix of Layer 3 VPLS and Layer 1 point-2-point links. As part of the design, I ensured there was a suitable testing strategy to confirm design validity prior to production.• Managed the seamless rollout of a new Citrix environment to clinical users, by closely managing scope, ensuring deliverables were validated before handover and running User acceptance testing, to identify, manage and resolve any defects found. Show less

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  NTT DATA, Inc.

  Aug 2022 - Feb 2023

  Senior Client Project Manager

  I was brought in to take over an in-flight project for a health provider, which involved rolling out a Software Defined Network & Access system, as well as upgrading the underlying data and electrical infrastructure across 18 sites to deliver the overall solution against the HIMSS Infra level six standard. Before my involvement, the project had become stagnated and required significant stakeholder engagement and clear direction to be successfully restarted. Key achievements• I used Kanban to focus the team, which allowed us to prioritize critical path tasks to restart the project efficiently. • I created a detailed schedule to baseline an uncontrolled project and linked all dependencies, so that; there was an accurate forecast of the overall timelines, delays or changes could be quickly modelled and individual streams of work could be run concurrently. • Leveraging in-house tools, I identified project overruns and key risks. I also established a formal approach to track client responses & times to RFI and decisions, which allowed us to track any consequences to the program. Show less

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  Auckland Airport

  May 2023 - now

  Senior Project Manager - Airside Operations

  Responsible for coordinating the digital delivery components of over 25 concurrent capital build projects to ensure they align with both Digital and company goals. The role means I am accountable for project timelines, budgets and resource planning and lead the Digital cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality IT solutions.Primary point of contact for escalation for all service miss alignments or issues impacting any of the projects. Engaged stakeholder to ensure All Digital services were delivered with maximum benefit and minimal need for re-deployment. Key achievements• Program delivery of IT services across 26 concurrent Capital Builds, from Concept to Execution (IT Budgets ranging up to 80 million). Transformed the businesses mindset of IT services being discrete / standard services, to being a fully integrated platform that needs to be designed against the metrics of security, maintainability and scalability.• Created and maintained cross project dependency, risk and resource trackers and supported the business to incorporate these trackers into the company wide logs to improve business wide collaboration and engagement. • To ensure Digital service could be delivered within a construction program, I authored a new ICT implementation procedure defining why, when & how all Capital projects should engage Digital services. Then engaged the capital team with workshops on why effective engagement was important and provided commercial and physical examples of why a change of approach would be beneficial. Show less