Islam Afifi

Experience

• 

  North Africa Company for Systems and Engineering

  Jun 2001 - Aug 2003

  Provided network solutions and support for the company's clients.Design and implementation of small LANs.Installation of windows server NT4.0 and 2000 domain controllers and backup domain controllers. Assembling PCs.Installation and maintenance of PCs, printers and scanners.Simple network related tasks.Troubleshooting of different client operating systems.

  • Network Engineer

    Jun 2002 - Aug 2003

  • Support Engineer

    Jun 2001 - May 2002
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  Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi & Sons

  Sept 2003 - May 2007

  System Administrator

  The Group is a part of the Kuwaiti M. A. Al-KHARAFI Group of Companies (MAK) and is developing tourism and infrastructure projects along the Red Sea coast between Al-Quseir and Marsa Alam cities.Leading a team of professional technicians and helpdesks to provide availability and stability of services across the company's WAN.Job Duties and Responsibilities:Daily monitoring and administration of the following systems:• Windows NT4.0, 2000 and 2003 (Domain Controllers)• MS Exchange Server 2003/2007• ISA Server 2000 & 2006• IBM DS400 SAN storage, FC protocol with 2 x brocade switches• Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition• Symantec Backup Exec 8 (Veritas)Provide a second level of support for end-users. Show less

• 

  Hutchison Ports

  Jun 2007 - Jul 2008

  System Administrator

  Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) is the world's leading port investor, developer and operator with interests in a total of 308 berths in 51 ports, spanning 25 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia.Job Duties and Responsibilities:Worked with a team of IT professionals on the design and implementation of WAN – LAN – Wireless Infrastructure and High Availability Services.Daily monitoring and administration of the following systems:• MS Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Exchange 2007 – CCR.• Windows servers 2003 file servers cluster.• IBM DS4700 SAN storage, FC protocol with brocade switches.• Backup EXEC 12.5d• Built and deployed Workstations master image - Vista Enterprise.• ILO – HP Open View installation and configuration.• Configuration and support of Push Mail System – Pocket PC WM5.• Implemented a help desk system to report ticket and built a troubleshooting database.• Managed the implementation of CISCO VoIP IP Phone Infrastructure.• Managed the implementation of Access Control and IP Surveillance Cameras Infrastructure Show less

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  MAK Group

  Sept 2008 - Jun 2011

  Systems Engineer

  The Group is a part of the Kuwaiti M. A. Al-KHARAFI Group of Companies (MAK) and is developing infrastructure and construction projects in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Al-Ain.Job Duties and Responsibilities:Leading a team of five engineers and helpdesk personnel to provide availability, security and stability of all network services around the clock.Implementation and operation of the following systems and services:• Microsoft Active Directory 2008, DNS, DHCP, CA, Exchange 2007 CCR, NLB CAS-HUB, and Edge transport server role. • Microsoft WSUS, File Server, and ISA 2006• NetApp FAS3040 storage. FC and CIFS for Windows DFS.• Brocade FC switches.• Manage Engine Service Desk Plus for incident, problem and change management.• Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 (VERITAS).• Kaspersky Business Space Security System.• SCCM for remote monitoring, software metering, HW and SW inventory.• Daily monitoring of the systems and servers.• Providing second level of support for both head office and site users.• Negotiate service contracts, contract terms, and future renewals with vendors.• Documentation of all systems installation and configuration steps. Show less

• 

  Diyar United Company

  Jun 2011 - Jan 2017

  Major achievements:• Won many difficult deals against competitors and positioned Diyar offerings in customers’ data centers to displace competitor’s solutions.• Proud to be one of the pillars who contributed to building Diyar Middle East branch in Qatar.• Achieved with the sales team consistent YoY growth of around 30% for five consecutive years.• Achieved the highest level of partnership with the focus vendors within the first two years of starting the business in Qatar.Job Duties and Responsibilities: • Solution design and presentation for backup and storage solutions• Principal architect and technical sales consultant for backup and storage solutions• Identifies competition and prepares comparison tables• Conducts meeting with customers to discuss solutions and discover pain areas• Provides consultancy services to customers and maintains good relationship with them• Managing vendor and business partners relationships• Responds to RFPs, customers’ inquiries and clarifications• Coordinates with presales team and bid team for proposals submission• Coordinates with projects managers for placing orders, equipment delivery, and payment collection• Plans business goals and negotiate annual targets with the top management• Assigns resources on solution design and bid submission• Creates and maintains team environment that supports each individual’s development• Developing policies, processes, procedures, and methodologies• Recruiting, planning of training and team development• Support Diyar’s partnership requirements by ensuring and tracking individual certification requirements• Creating and reviewing cost sheets and estimation of professional services man-days Show less Job Duties and Responsibilities:• Responds to RFPs and prepares for proposals submission• Storage and Backup Solutions design and presentation• Identifies and qualifies opportunities with the sales team• Updates customers’ profile database and help the sales team building a healthy pipeline• Meeting customers, identifies pain areas and provide consultancy services• Participates in preparation for marketing campaigns• Building cost sheets and negotiate margins with the sales team• Estimation of PS and support cost and man-days• Design of NetApp and Fujitsu SAN/NAS storage solutions (FC, FCoE, iSCSI, CIFS and NFS).• Design of CommVault data management solution• Good experience with IBM, EMC, HP storage features, models, and architecture• Design of Symantec Backup Exec, Messaging Gateway and End-Point protection.• Solid experience with Cisco MDS and Brocade SAN switches.• Solid experience with NetApp FAS and E-Series implementation, migration and support• Solid experience with converged infrastructure solutions• Solid experience with FLEXPOD, CISCO UCS and VMware implementation and support• Works with the pre-sales team on the design of Microsoft infrastructure solutions (i.e. Active Directory, Exchange, Certificate Authorities, DNS, DHCP, TCPIP, Hyper-V, CSV Clusters, SCVMM, SCOM, and SCCM).• Works with the pre-sales team on the design of VMware and Hyper-V private/hybrid cloud solutions.• Knowledge Transfer to technical and sales team members. Show less Job duties and responsibilities:• Design, planning and implementation of VMware and Hyper-V cloud solutions.• Design, planning, and implementation of SAN/NAS storage solutions (FC, FCoE, iSCSI, CIFS and NFS).• Design, planning, and implementation of Microsoft infrastructure solution (i.e. Active Directory, Exchange, Certificate Authorities, DNS, DHCP, TCPIP, Hyper-V, CSV Clusters, SCVMM, SCOM, and SCCM).• Design and implementation of Symantec Backup Exec, Messaging Gateway and End-Point protection.• Solid experience with Cisco MDS and Brocade SAN switches• knowledge transfer to technical and sales team members.• Conducts technical presentations.Projects summary:1) Audi Qatar – QAuto ( Private cloud, NetApp - Hyper-V3)2) Mercedes Benz Qatar – NBK ( SAN Storage migration, NetApp - 8 Controllers)3) Total E&P Qatar ( NAS Storage migration, CIFS and NFS, NetApp - 4 Controllers)4) The International Center for Sport Security – THE ICSS ( Private cloud, IBM DS3524 - VMware).5) General Secretariat for Development Planning – GSDP ( Operation, migration and infrastructure upgrade).6) Alrayyan Satellite Channel ( Operation, infrastructure and Datacenter upgrade) Show less

  • Pre-sales Manager

    Apr 2015 - Jan 2017

  • Senior Solution Architect

    Jan 2013 - Mar 2015

  • Sr. Systems Engineer

    Jun 2011 - Dec 2013
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  Veeam Software

  Feb 2017 - now

  Advisory Systems Engineer based in Dubai and working with Veeam UAE sales team to provide presales support for enterprise, commercial, and government sector customers and prospects.Awards:• 2018 – Award for overachieving targets of 2017• 2018 – Q1 MVP• 2019 – Nominee for the best System Engineer award in EMEA• 2020 – Q2 MVP• Winner of three President's Club awards for overachieving the targets of 2017, 2019 and 2020Job Duties and Responsibilities:• All Pre-Sales activities including but not limited to solution design, presentations, demo sessions, technical write-up, and proof of concept.• Work closely with sales team to identify new, upsell, and cross-sell opportunities within customers and prospects environments• Deliver deep technical presentations highlighting Veeam solutions advantages over competitors’• Create and update competitive intelligence documents and comparisons • Translate customer requirements into detailed solution design and work with partners/alliances to ensure smooth integration of the solution software/hardware components with customer’s IT environment• Participate in marketing events and deliver presentations and whiteboard sessions• Deliver periodic partner enablement sessions to grow more champions within partners ecosystem• Provide support for customers during POC and solution testing phase• Ensure achievement of sales targets and customer satisfaction through the delivery of high-quality presales technical support Show less

  • Regional Director, Technical Sales

    Apr 2024 - now

  • Regional Manager, Technical Sales

    Jul 2022 - May 2024

  • Advisory System Engineer at Veeam Software

    Jan 2020 - Jun 2022

  • Senior System Engineer

    Jan 2019 - Jan 2020

  • Systems Engineer

    Feb 2017 - Dec 2018