Brief Summary

I have over 30 years’ experience in the IT industry, most of which has been spent in networking/telecoms in the UK/EMEA and NZ/APAC.  I have worked in varied roles such as technical consulting, network design and architecture, pre-sales support, operational support and software engineering.  I moved to New Zealand in 2008, where I worked in several roles before returning to the UK in 2022.

My experience has been gained in a wide range of organisations, from start-ups, through enterprises and to large service providers and telcos.  I have worked in both team environments and on an individual and independent basis.  In recent years, I have also done a lot of my work in the public sector.

Though performing hands-on work is not as regular as it used to be, it has been a strong element in my previous work, when I gained satisfaction from performing proof-of-concepts before deploying to production environments.  I first started working with Cisco in 1994, and with Juniper in 1999.

I very much enjoy customer-facing roles since no two customers are alike, and so the variety this gives is always a challenge that I am keen to take on.  Taking part in technical discussions with customers forms a key part of being able to fully understand their requirements, which is essential to being able to deliver a successful solution.

Latest News and Useful Articles                — Updated: 24 January 2025 —

• FBI warrantless searches violate Fourth Amendment.  [Ars Technica]

• Developing and publishing a new IPv6 documentation prefix.  [ForwardingPlane]

• Defining IPv6 operating modes.  [ForwardingPlane]

• IPB167 - crossing the 50% IPv6 adoption threshold.  [ForwardingPlane]

• State of network automation survey 2024.  [Packet Pushers]

• Use BGP outbound route filters (ORF) for IP prefixes.  [ipSpace]

• Sturgeon's law - VRRPv3 edition.  [ipSpace]

• The Internet is rife with IoT botnets delivering record DDoSes.  [Ars Technica]

• The Ethernet/802.1 protocol stack.  [ipSpace]

• Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht.  [The Register]  [The Verge]  [Engadget]  [Ars Technica]

• Why hasn't network automation been fully adopted?  [Packet Pushers]

• iBGP is better than eBGP.  [ipSpace]

• FCC mandate telcos must secure their networks from foreign spies.  [The Register]

• Spine-and-leaf fabric design.  [ipSpace]

A more comprehensive news/article list can be found on my networks sub-domain here.

Click here for the latest full version of my CV, or find me on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).

rob (at) larsenconsulting (dot) net

© Robert Larsen.  All rights reserved.