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: 18 February 2026 —

• AI finds 12 new OpenSSL vulnerabilities.  [Schneier]

• Don't trust packet captures on firewalls.  [Weberblog]

• Zero knowledge claim by password managers not always true.  [Ars Technica]

• EVPN IP-VRFs on Cisco IOS XE - configuration notes.  [ipSpace]

• China remains embedded in US energy networks.  [The Register]

• China exploting Dell zero day for 18 months.  [The Register]

• Modern forwarding architectures.  [ipSpace]  [APNIC]

• The promptware kill chain.  [Schneier]

• Eight zero-days sold to Russia.  [The Register]

• NANOG 96 notes.  [Geoff Huston]

• US/UK agencies warn of Polish energy grid attack.  [Fortra]

• Multistakeholder Internet governence can be messy.  [The Register]

• EVPN on Cisco IOS XE - configuration notes.  [ipSpace]

• China's APT31 used Gemini against US organisations.  [The Register]  [Ars Technica]

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.