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/development.  After moving to New Zealand in October 2008, I worked in several roles for over 13 years, before moving back to the UK in March 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.

My background has a strong hands-on element to it, and as such I get satisfaction from being able to test a design in a lab to prove that it will work before deployment in a production environment.  To back this up, I have over 25 years’ experience with Cisco’s IOS, routers and switches, as well as more than 15 years’ experience with Juniper’s JUNOS, routers and NetScreen firewalls.

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 in-depth 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: 3 February 2023 —

• Migrating into a cloud.  [ipSpace]

• Further calls to ban TikTok.  [Engadget]

• TikTok's transparency theatre.  [The Verge]

• IRB models: edge routing.  [ipSpace]

• Passwords are terrible - surprising nobody.  [Schneier]  [Ars Technica]

• Complexities of network automation.  [ipSpace]

• US moves to halt exports to Huawei.  [BBC News]

• Cisco certification changes.  [EtherealMind]  [Cisco]

• A guide to phishing attacks.  [Schneier]  [TidBITS]

• Hiding malicious packets behind LLC SNAP header.  [ipSpace]

• RSA’s demise from quantum attacks is exaggerated.  [Ars Technica]

• NSA publishes IPv6 security guidance.  [The Register]  [NSA PDF]

• Will DPUs change the network?  [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 Twitter.

rob (at) larsenconsulting (dot) net

© Robert Larsen.  All rights reserved.