Bell.net



John Brearley

Permanent address: 90 Paul Dr, Lanark, Ontario, Canada, K0G-1K0

Home: (613) 259-5622 Email: brearley@

Career Aspirations

I would like to continue working in challenging development projects in the high tech sector. My areas of expertise lie in test automation, software configuration management, Ethernet L2/L3, Frame Relay, ATM, Residential Broadband HFC, DMS Virtual Captive Office, Key Telephone Systems, ISDN, Network Management, Packet Switching, and IBM SNA/TokenRing/Bisync protocols. I enjoy working with people, meeting with customers, wrestling with technical issues, and solving all kinds of problems. I enjoy being able to understand the bigger picture into which the projects fit, so as to ensure a good product fit in the end user environment. My experience has given me extensive technical background in feature development, customer support, and development test & support roles.

My preference would be a volunteer role in test automation.

Strengths

• Highly organized

• Motivated, high energy & drive

• Bring order to chaos

• Can do attitude, positive thinker

• Building & maintaining strong personal relationships

• Technical expertise

• Getting job done, task oriented

• Good listener

• Good mentor & people developer

• Capacity to process details

• Proactive

• Gets visibility for people

• Seeks opinions of peers, others

• Where needed, does planning at micro level

• Initiating action on issues as they rise

• Manages stress

• Consistent, predictable

Personal

Masters of Applied Science, Electrical Engineering, University of British Columbia. 1978

Bachelor of Engineering, Honors Electrical Engineering, McGill University. 1976

Patents: (US) 5,023,780 & (Can) 1,309,764 for work in SNA and packet switching.

Publications: Masters Thesis appeared in both the International Journal of Control & Mathematical Biosciences.

Languages: Oral French is very good; English is my native language.

Hobbies: sailboat cruising, building custom electronics, playing computer games.

Business Experience

CompuCorps, Ottawa, Software Automation Volunteer 2013 - present

Wrote powershell script that does out-of-box test of web browsers, MS Office, Open Office and other applications on the RPK image installed on the refurbished PC. Does battery life test for laptops.

Broadcom Corp, San Jose, Senior Software Development 2008 - 2012

Built PB4A & PB6B for 4311NIC, 4322 USB & 43231 USB dongles, also 4325 SDIO dongle. Built PB5B for 4315 USB & 4315 SDIO dongles. Visio diagrams of testrigs kept up to date, used as starting template by other people. Upgraded UTF setup documentation. Daily reports analyzed, issues escalated as needed, wrote 96 PRs, and closed 82 PRs. Found sustained bimodal and sharp drop performance issues in both 4322 & 4315 dongles. Upgraded scripts to support 15-minute iperf performance tests. Tuned testrigs for maximum throughput. Documented phone booth tuning process. 4322USB dongle designers come to me for performance numbers.

Wrote UTF DHDUSB.tcl, the object & methods to support Linux USB dongles. Wrote Sanity.test for basic testing of most testrigs and interface to other scripts. Runs tests on most testrigs without additional guidance from user. For larger testbed, user can specify connection lists in config file or on command line. Improved error checking, all command line data validated up front. Has more flexible build selection allowing any AP stream/date and any STA stream/date. Wrote DongePktFilter.test to test SIP Invite feature. Qualified and integrated the hping tool into UTF.

Wrote SigBatch on my own initiative. Provides point/click browser GUI on top of existing UTF test scripts using PERL and Java Script. Manages the interactions with SGE batch environment, automatically updates with ongoing changes to scripts and testrig configuration files. GUI shows estimated test time as user makes choices for the available test options.

Wrote TestbedReboot.test on my own initiative. Takes all PC in testbed, shuts them down and reboot them to initialize testbed. PC are processed in parallel, so that total time taken is that of slowest PC. Retries for failures occur automatically. There were times when driver in TOT would mess up the PC and the following tests for PBR would fail as a result. This new script resolved the above issue.

Wrote proposal to turn on laptops after power off. Documented laptop power button modification process for 16 laptop models. Built 24+ custom relay assemblies. Added power control routines to UTF to power off a PC, turn on power and wait for OS to load. My testrigs now have full remote power control of all PC. Helped equip CBT with full remote power control for 20+ PC. Reproduced random failures with NPC22 power controller.

Created multiboot clone disks for Dell D430, Dell D630, Dell T3400, HP6510B, HP6515B, HP6715B, HP6910P, PixelUSA D445, and PixelUSA DQ645. Sorted out cloning software needed for various PC & documented what works. Evaluated and qualified 2 serial port terminal servers, from Lava and Lantronix. Worked with Lava support folks to successfully resolve a data transparency issue. Ordered toolsets & multimeters for group use, 12 PixelUSA desktop PCs, 41 Dell laptops, 20 HP laptops for new testbeds, Synaccess power controllers, spare hard drives, SFP modules, power cables, maintained good supply of laptops for unforeseen test needs.

Broadcom Corp, San Jose, SQA Automation Engineer 2006 - 2007

I wrote new TCL testcases for Broadcom's Software Development Kit (SDK) for MLD, port control & cable testing, OS robustness, Broadcom FP TCAM meters/counters & tests for specific bug reports. Helped convert existing testcase from the hand-crafted manual TCL-C bindings to SWIG, rewrote most of the testcase common routines for the SWIG environment.

I resolved the random testcase failure issue that had been occurring for years. Of my own initiative, added new test capability to the home-grown test harness to allow for stress testing of selected testcases, automatic retry of failure, stop testing on failure of selected tests, etc. Some issues were isolated to timing issues in the SDK, some issues were defective hardware in the lab test bed, some issues were variations in chip behavior due to board level issues & other issues were badly written testcases with faulty assumptions.

Of my own initiative, fully automated the input of off-shore bug reports, weekly generation of bug trend graphs & statistics. Tools were written in PERL which simulate a web browser client using HTTP access to the bug report database.

On my own initiative, wrote a script to find unused equipment in the lab, make a reservation, boot the switch with the correct load/profile, open telnet sessions to the console port, display reservations status and renew reservations.

I managed testing by 2 off-shore groups of the WSS 1.1.2 SOHO Ethernet L2 switching product, condensed off-shore test results into meaningful summary, identified weak points in the off-shore test plan coverage, drove issues of tester productivity, expedited equipment shipments, reviewed all incoming bug reports for clarity & priority, handed the project off after acquisition of LVL7 Systems.

Sailing on East Coast, Florida & Bahamas 2005 - 2006

I spent 2 months upgrading my 40' sailboat with more cruising gear.

I departed from Kingston, Lake Ontario, went down the Oswego NY canal system to New York city harbor, then along the East Coast to Delaware Bay, across the canal to Chesapeake Bay, down the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) all the way to Key West, Florida, back up to Miami, across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, down the Berry Island chain to Nassau, then down the Exuma Island chain to Georgetown.

At the end of the trip, I stored the boat on land in North Carolina to avoid hurricanes. The total trip distance was 3800 Nautical miles / 4400 Statute miles in 7 months.

EdenTree Technologies, Automation & Field Application Engineer 2003 - 2005

I developed a test automation package of 330 test cases for the Connect_ET system by using Network Automation's AutoMate5 package in order to exercise the Connect_ET Server GUI, Client GUI and TCL script interfaces. The test suites run during the night, saving 3 person-weeks effort of manual testing and publish the results on the corporate web. The test suites reduced the overall product test cycle to about 3 days. I designed an innovative approach to ensuring that the GUI screens are correct by automatically taking current screen shots, editing them appropriately and comparing them to a reference picture. I updated the test cases for the GUI changes in each new release and provided 77 pages of user guide and design documentation for the automated test system.

Of my own initiative, I turned the TCL testing library into part of the Connect_ET product line, which is in use by several customers. I also added a PERL interface to the Connect_ET system for one customer. The TCL & PERL library comes with 56 pages of documentation.

Of my own initiative, I designed a prototype web client for Connect_ET, which provided both UNIX & Windows client access. The PERL scripts interacted with the Connect_ET Server and created web pages which Apache sent to the end users web browser. I also created a script that emulated the end user web browser to performance the system. I wrote a 32 page user guide and a 25 page design document for the web client.

I wrote & executed 4 feature test plans for Connect_ET R4.0 & USE_ET R1.0. Numerous design and coding issues were found and resolved as a result.

I installed the Connect_ET automated patch panel systems at Tekelec (Raleigh), Cisco (Raleigh, Plano) & Nortel (Ottawa & Plano). I spent 2 weeks on site at Tekelec and wired up their Load Build Sanity test bed to the system. I spent several days training staff and ensuring that they were comfortable using the system for their production work. Customized scripts were provided. I provided ongoing phone and on site training & support for issues and installation of new releases. I did sales presentations and demos of Connect_ET to Ottawa area companies. I wrote a 100 page installation and user guide for the Connect_ET, which was delivered with the first field trial systems.

Alcatel, Manager, ATM Development Technologies 2000 - 2002

I was the manager of the 7670 / 7470 ATM Development Technologies team, with a team size ranging from 5 up to 9 staff. The major focus of the team was development and user support for the ACME2 software configuration management library system, which controlled all the software in the 7670 & 7470 ATM switches and the associated load builds. Other debug tools were also supported and enhanced. A key point that won respect from the design community was my effective communication, public reviews of the top 10 priority lists, publishing (email & web) well in advance new feature delivery dates & well prepared release notes for new ACME2 releases. All these efforts gave the development community a sense of confidence that the team worked on the right priorities and delivered in a predictable and well-publicized manner. Lots of positive feedback received from Directors demonstrated this public consultation approach was quite effective and a model for others to emulate.

I volunteered to manage the ATM Development Technologies team. I took a demoralized and understaffed team and brought order to chaos. I hired 5 full time staff and 2 students. There are now 2 people fully trained in each of the team skills. I maintained rolling resource plans for the team, which were published on my web site. I am a seasoned manager who applied a methodical and structured approach to my team that yielded good results. I ran the tools team in a relatively autonomous fashion receiving only key strategic direction from my Director. I provided career guidance & promotions for staff. As needed, I identified issues for my staff to improve on to meet expected performance levels. Performance reviews for staff were all done on or ahead of schedule. One new process document was written for TL9000 certification, and 2 others were revised.

We deployed ACME2 R1.7 through R2.7 releases (bug fixes & new functionality) cleanly, with minimal user impacts during deployment. The ACME2 library view feature was introduced, so that some shared, read-only workspaces are now available. These workspaces will allow designers to browse or recursively grep thru the latest promoted code of any given release, without having to do a fetch or cpws themselves, speeding up their ability to respond to a support issue. The latest (unstable) view feature was introduced. This allows designers a new & faster way to access the SI latest / promoted workspace as well as library view workspaces. The primary value is for designers who have been challenged to fix a broken build as fast as possible. The unreserved checkout / unreserved checkin feature was introduced. This feature augments the current ACME2 reserved checkout with a complimentary unreserved checkout mode, as well as unreserved checkin mode. This feature resolved the ongoing file contention issues that developers were experiencing. The user is guided through a file merge when appropriate. These were major changes in ACME2 that provided some of the sorely missed functionality from ACME1.

The SIBuild command would break if run during the nightly RCS depot backup timeslot. The firetruck avoidance feature ensures the SIBuild will back off during the backup and then run to normal completion. The mergestream feature for use by SI performs operations on large collections of source code files from two streams of development that has a common ancestry. The merge process is now largely automated. For files whose contents needed manual merging, the user was guided thru a TKdiff and edit session. For files whose sharing had changed, the user was prompted to resolve sharing conflicts. The merge feature was used many times during the 7470 R5.0 development cycle. A new GUI for the stream split command was released for use by CSI. CSI can now do their own stream split work themselves, on demand. The code will now support multiple, concurrent stream split operations, with no blocking of requests. The tool will also setup, populate & build the SI workspace for new stream. The objective of creating a new working stream in less than 48 hrs has been exceeded, as it is now done in 10 hrs or less. Numerous robustness enhancements and bug fixes were done for ACME2, as well as add support for Solaris 2.8.

On my own initiative, I wrote new tools to make better use of the build servers via LSF job scheduler. The new tools reduced a lot of the build times from 8 or 10 hours to 1.5 hrs, provided real time build status and build logs on the web, extracted the build errors, as well as notified interested parties via email. I set up a dedicated PC backup server for use by 28 people. I also wrote scripts to allow selected users to post tools in /atm/atmtools, monitor disk usage on the servers & help maintain ATMWeb server. I arranged easier departmental group web access, and gave all 7670 / 7470 staff their own personal web page. I also did a major rework of department web pages to make them consistent.

We installed 3 standalone testbeds for ACME2 team. ACME2 testing no longer occurs on the live servers. The testbed refresh process was documented and largely automated. The automated test suite for ACME2 has been enhanced to cover most of the new ACME2 functionality. Depot cleanup & initialization routines are now run before each major test starts, resulting in a much more stable and reliable test suite. There are now 2 large mergestream automated tests and 7 small automated regression merge tests. The test suite found a fair number of bugs, which were then fixed before the ACME2 software was released to the user community.

A build server setup script was developed, which simplified the commissioning of new servers and reconfiguring old servers. Three build servers were rebuilt with planned outages and minimal disruption. The PVM toolset for desktop distributed builds was introduced, which reduced designer's builds times to 1.5 hr from 12 hrs.

We got the VxWorks Tornado debugger running again. The value of the accomplishment was that the 7470 design community now had a functional symbolic debugger for use on the target hardware (previously this had been broken for the last year or more). A number of training sessions with end user groups to help get them back in the habit of using Tornado. The feedback from the sessions was very positive.

The MRDS_GO script was created to simplify the user interface and remove a number of setup booby traps. In particular the core file checksum is validated against the switch load, preventing unwanted resets. The 7670 MRDS users are quite happy with the new setup script and are using MRDS more as a result. The NGRDS setup script was written, improving the productivity of developers. The 7670 MRDS feature was ported to the 7470 H.248 card, allowing 10 BaseT Ethernet to transport RDS debug cells to a workstation.

Alcatel, Manager of Automation Testing and Load Builds 1999 - 2000

I was the manager of the 7470 Automation Test Pipeline team, with a team size ranging from 7 up to 10 staff. The major focus of the team was automated regression testing of new major releases and minor fixes for field loads, covering Cell Relay, Switched Services, ADSL, Frame Relay & T1 circuit emulation. I demonstrated seasoned people management, administrative, release planning as well as capital management skills. I kept a rolling plan of manpower and lab machine utilization, as well as release plans and usage metrics published on the web for easy access. I accurately predicted the lab loading and met all the required testing for pre-merge and DV for 7470 release 4.2. I was very flexible in assisting design managers in providing core testing capability for features under development (i.e. OC3-2M).

I was proactive in identifying members of my team that are ready for promotion and followed through on the process to see it done. In addition, I worked closely with my direct reports and clearly identified the goals they need to achieve for promotion or issues to improve on to meet expected levels. I completed all annual reviews ahead of schedule. I also identified career path issues within the team and proposed adding headcount to the team to free up individuals from routine testing and permit them to do more creative test case design and automated script implementation

I took ad hoc requests from design managers to run scripts on development loads and feed back any problems. This assisted the design team in producing a better product before trib DV. I was very conscious of the schedules my team needed to meet. When obstacles appeared to threaten completion of script execution, I immediately got involved and did what it takes to sort out the issues. Cases in point, got the 46020 workstations upgraded to perform adequately, also purchased additional ADTECH gear so that all 8 nodes in the ATP lab could operate concurrently. I drove a major debug analysis of the Network Test Scripts to fix them up.

Of my own initiative, I took an inventory of test equipment used during testing, organized my team to do the investigation. I organized basic testing that assured no Y2K issues would impact release 4.2 in the ATP lab. I identified that the department was missing a practical PC backup procedure and wrote and debug scripts that all the PC owners could use to backup their PCs onto the dept admin.’s PC. In addition, I had tape drives installed and backups were done for key lab UNIX workstations. I helped scavenge parts to build 2 portable test switches, which facilitated APS testing and gave more effective use of other lab equipment.

Nortel, Manager Passport SNA DLR Development & Lab 1997- 1999

I was the manager of the Passport 6400 SNA Development & Lab team, with a team size ranging from 3 up to 5 staff. The Passport 6400 SNA DLR service provides RFC 1490 Frame Relay PVC transport of IBM SNA data traffic from banking machines and remotes sites to centralized IBM mainframes that were Token Ring attached to the network. Project plans were put in place and realistic dates worked out with our customer, iT-AUSTRIA. Part of the challenge was to ensure interoperability with Cisco routers that also supported SNA. The project was delivered 1 week early, and iT-AUSTRIA was very pleased with progress of the field trials. iT-AUSTRIA now has live banking service via Frame Relay for their end customers. Group Desjardins and several other customers are now using the SNA DLR service in their live banking networks.

I organized the estimates, plans and field trials for the Frame Relay SVC enhancements, as well as the 64Meg memory upgrade for the E1C card used for the SNA APPN service. After the merger of Nortel & Bay Networks, we worked closely with the SNA team in Bay to ensure that our SNA products would interoperate. Specifically the challenge was to implement Frame Relay SVC as per Q.933 and ensure that the Passport SNA service would receive calls from the BayRS router SNA service. The field trials are progressing well in iT-AUSTRIA for both the SVCs and larger memory APPN hardware.

In addition to software development, the team also did the Alpha testing for the Passport SNA APPN features, as well as provided an interoperability testbed of equipment from IBM, Cisco, Bay & other vendors. Lots of maintenance and software upgrades were done to keep the equipment current. An IBM P390 server was purchased & commissioned to give increased SNA functionality for the testbed, and reduced costs from IT. For the benefit of developers, a document was written showing all the configuration parameters needed for the IBM 3745s, Passports, Cisco routers and PCs that are used in several of the common SNA test setups. I wrote the test strategy document for the Passport 4400 transparent SDLC service that was being introduced, organized the overall testing, and trained another test person for the project. I also provided SNA consulting expertise for all the designers & testers.

A departmental procedures document was issued, which resulted in smoother interactions within the team, and also addressed our ISO9001 obligations. I was also the PC resource person within the group helping with training as we migrated from MACs to PCs.

Of my own initiative, I saved US$176K for SG&A challenge via the IBM P390 sweetheart deal, IBM 2216 discount, resale of IBM 3746, reused HP plotters & canceling mainframe VM userids. Numerous improvements were made in the lab, including desktop access to the lab PCs, cleaning up the PC software configurations, establishing a Passport SNA sanity / regression testcase package, and migrating most SNA testcases to the new web based repository for testcases. I helped move the yardsticks by effectively managing a student to enhance the web based lab reservation system created by previous students. This reservation system has proved quite effective in recent times of peak demand for lab equipment. I drove a project to evaluate the performance test tools used in the SNA testbed lab and found ways to eliminate OS/2 from the lab PCs, resulting in more cost savings.

Nortel, Manager IBB Data Products CPE Software Development 1995 – 1997

I was the manager of the Interactive Broad Band Data Products CPE Software Development team, with a team size ranging from 4 up to 10 staff. The first major challenge was rescue the D1, D2 & D3 milestones for NB Tel. This project provided 10Mb/s Ethernet access from a PC Connection Unit (PCCU) in the home to an ATM connected IP router, using RFCs 1483 & 1577 to encapsulate the data in AAL5 format. The cells were then transmitted upstream over a multidrop cable TV coax feed to the CoaxNode, which in turn fed the cells out an OC-3c fiber link to ATM switch backbone fabric. Project plans were put in place and realistic dates worked out with the customer. There was much hardware rework involved, which impacted the software design and schedules. In the end, NB Tel was able to go live with their Vibe network in mid November 96, per their plans, setting the world first for having live, commercial broadband service to the home.

Of my own initiative, I consolidated the lab hardware needs for the Data program, and produced an overall price tag for the desired equipment. I was able to convince the organization of the necessity of the equipment and pushed CFAs and POs through the system to ensure that the equipment was in place when it was needed. I also defined the overall lab configurations and supervised the lab manager.

In parallel with the D3 project, we worked on the CopperNode 1AT & 1B projects, the Westell projects and the Data Release 1.4 & 2.0 projects.

The CopperNode 1AT & 1B projects provided roughly the same functionality as D3, but were running ATM cells over a twisted copper pair media, rather than coax cable. Unfortunately, these 2 projects got canceled in November 96, just as designer testing was being wrapped up on the CopperNode 1AT project.

The Data Release 1.4 project provided a cost reduced version of the PCCU, using the ABE ASIC designed within the IBB hardware team. This new PCCU platform replaces the D3 units, is the foundation for the IBB CPE for future releases, and passed Gate 2 in May 1997.

The Data Release 2.0 project was started in May 96 and delivered working demonstrations of data calls in April 97. The end PC user is provided with Netscape access to the Service Controller via the PCCU, in order to choose the target destination. The Service Controller sets up an ATM SVC using proxy signaling on behalf of the PCCU and then signals this information back to the PCCU. This is a major step forward from the D3 functionality that used PVCs and tied each user to one specific destination.

I built team from the initial 3 staff up to 10 staff and ensured that the training and mentoring was achieved with minimal impact to the schedules.

BNR, Manager DMS VCO Deployment & Operations Support 1995

I was the manager of the DMS VCO Deployment & Operations Support team, with a total of 3 staff. The major challenge was to obtain capital funds and install VCO pools at 4 sites (Ottawa, RTP, and Richardson & Maidenhead). I wrote CFAs for US$5.1M to purchase a large volume of HP, Motorola & networking equipment, which arrived in 2Q, and was commissioned for end users by 3Q. The volume of end users steadily increased towards the corporate objective of 500 CP users by Nov. The milestone was declared met early in October. By creating this facility, the designer productivity savings for 1995 alone will reach a conservative minimum of US$17.1M. Numerous moves of other user equipment into the VCO pool were achieved, and the VCO pool continues to run smoothly. An ongoing list of user's additional equipment requirements is being maintained.

Of my own initiative, I wrote a tool that provided both current status and access to the VCO pool via Netscape. Bourne shell scripts collect status information from individual workstations, generated HTML pages and posted them in a central web directory. I also undertook a project, a series of scripts, to set up a complete VCO for a user, which was delivered via TEAM in mid August. Users in Rich are using the scripts.

ISO9001 certification occurred as part of Switching Certification. Departmental procedures were documented. CSA support for 7V10 Development desktop machines was done in the absence of the regular 7V10 CSA.

BNR, Advisor DMS VCO Project 1994 - 1995

I was an individual contributor for the DMS VCO project, focused on the DMS VCO development rollout planning and initial VCO pool deployment. I took the initiative to create an Excel database & reports showing estimates, dependencies & program rollout for the VCO program. This database was designed, data collected and populated, and the (best-view) development estimates created and validated. This has served as the basis for many discussions with Product Line Development Centers concerning Development Partnering and accelerated or custom VCO Development projects to meet their specific needs. The effort required a large amount of data collection and analysis, working of estimates with the VCO Application Development Prime, and commitment to maintaining the validity of the information base. CFAs were written to bring in HP & Data General equipment to start up the VCO pool in Corkstown. I also did numerous demos of the VCO for the Ottawa DMS design community.

BNR, Senior Manager Norstar & Companion Operations 1991 - 1994

I was the senior manager of the Norstar & Companion Operations team, consisting of four managers and 36 staff, covering Development of the Software Development Environment (SDE) tool set, Product Verification for both the Norstar and Companion product line and General Support, including load builds, LAN support, PRS and ECN support for the Norstar & Companion development staff.

The SDE tool set was continuously upgraded to meet the developer's specific project needs. As the product software library grew, the BNR Pascal compiler, linker and code generator were speeded up on a regular basis to ensure that developers could still compile and download a simple change to the lab in 15 to 20 minutes. Changes were also made to optimize the compiler to recover additional real time on KSU, as well as optimize the KSU memory usage through the bank-switching feature. The tools were converted to run under HPUX8.1, which resulted in further performance improvements. Enhancements to the proprietary Borrow/Return source & object library management system were made to allow designers to modify modules that were currently checked out of the library by other designers, and cross compile against other source streams. The MAC based problem reporting system was converted to the DMS PRS system to accommodate the multi-site needs of the Companion team.

After the Norstar Greenwich II project was canceled in early 1993, a plan was put forth and work started to upgrade the SDE to inter work with C code, make use of the HP's psos real time kernel, replace the Borrow/Return library management system, import SDT's structured design tools and add other productivity improvements. The benefits of this work were seen in 2H94 as the ISDN I.420 project.

In the Norstar Product Verification (PV) team, testing of the Modular UK, Companion C10, C100 & C100A, CLASS/DR5, Sweden P7.2 & P9, UK ENET, Brazil, Denmark, Holland product releases were done, helping to ensure continued high quality releases of the Norstar system. The PV process was documented for ISO9001 compliance.

A major quality improvement project was initiated to provide an automated regression test suite for all the Norstar product releases. Because of higher level decisions to use offshore contractors (JK Technosoft in India), this project suffered severe delays and quality problems. Most of the software written by JKT has either been rewritten or abandoned. By May 1993, using local Ottawa contractors, the TEAM based Firewall automation platform / tool kit and 1400 automated test cases were operational. Additional funding for local Ottawa contractors has been obtained to finish automating the remaining 7000 test cases. The automated test cases were delivered in June 1994 and were instrumental in the product verification done for the UK DASS2 & T1 products.

As the Companion development team grew in size, a second Product Verification team was set up specifically for the Companion product line. Testing of the C100 France, C100A Germany, C100A Holland and C100A CT2Plus product release were done, helping to ensure continued high quality releases of the Companion system.

In General Support team, the Load Build process was documented for ISO9001 compliance. A major quality improvement project was initiated to automate most of the load build process tools, and increase the number of load builds that could be done in a week. The Load Build interval was decreased to a consistent 6 hours, and the Load Build throughput increased from 5 per week to 14 per week, with additional capacity available for peak demand. The PLS libraries were cleaned up, copylibs done, and software levels upgraded from PLS27 to PLS32. Additional improvements were made to the tools used to split streams and setup new development streams. These tasks now take less than 1 day, where they used to take up to a week. The LANs were converted from the datafull configuration on HPUX7.05 to a dataless configuration on HPUX8.1, resulting in both performance improvements for the designers and a faster turnaround time for moves & changes. A total of 7 more file servers, an IBM PDS, numerous workstations and lab emulators were installed and maintained. The ECN process was documented for ISO9001 compliance.

BNR, Senior Manager DMS System Integrity Quality Improvement 1991

I was an individual contributor focused on improving the DMS Load Build process. The DMS Load Build process was thoroughly reviewed, resulting in over 100 recommendations for improvements. I was able to plan a solution and drive to completion over 50 of the recommendations. The more notable changes made were standardizing patch tapes, setting up an automated process for changing the captive office datafill, collecting & reporting packaging change statistics. We succeeded in reducing the Load Build process to a 3-day cycle, down from a 5-days cycle.

BNR, Senior Manager DMS ISDN Testing 1990

I was the senior manager of the DMS ISDN Test group, consisting of four managers and 30 staff, covering DMS ISDN feature testing, system test, and FAST/VO test. The major challenge was coping with the numerous exception features from the design groups, and still meeting the BCS32 milestones while ensuring high quality software deliveries to NT customers. I was also the test prime liaison with Bellcore for the ISDN-1 TR features. Test Process improvements were initiated with the test tools group so the ISDN features automated test suites could be executed at a fraction of the effort that was currently required. A prototype of the ISDN Softphone running on a HP workstation was demonstrated.

BNR, Senior Manager DMS-100 Feature & ISDN Testing 1989 - 1990

I was the senior manager of the DMS-100 feature and ISDN testing group, consisting of three managers and 26 staff, covering DMS-100 call processing and ISDN features and system testing for BCS29, BCS30 and BCS31. The major challenge was coping with numerous exception features from the design groups, and still meeting the BCS milestones while ensuring high quality software deliveries to our customers. I also provided liaison with Bell Canada and NT FAST staff.

After NT committed to quickly develop, test and deliver Bellcore ISDN-1 set of 24 TRs, I became the test prime liaison for this project. An impact and planning document was prepared and work had started for its implementation.

I drove a portion of the overall test strategy for BNR/NT, namely the issue of product proliferation. The ever-increasing number of supported permutations of components within the DMS product line is necessitating a change in how testing and lab test equipment is organized.

BNR, Senior Manager DPN OAM System Admin & ISDN Development 1988 - 1989

I was the senior manager in the DPN OAM System Admin & ISDN Development group, consisting of four managers and 33 staff, covering the development of the Network Administration System (NAS) subsystem of the DPN product line. NAS is the system that allows a customer to configure, provision, operate and maintain their DPN network. The NAS system was continually evolving to support new protocols and network features as they were added to the DPN network.

I personally initiated the DPN Customer Network Management (CNM) architecture and associated program rollout. CNM features were delivered in June 1989 as part of DPN Generic 25.

A major program was launched by NT to integrate the 2 separate OAM systems used to provision & operate the ET and PH components of the NT ISDN switch. The project provided a single provisioning interface for ISDN lines BCS29 using the DMS MAP console. The DPN NAS was modified to allow MAP provisioning access to equipment that was initially configured by NAS.

As DPN Generic 26 Prime, I was responsible for the overall matrix management, development, testing and delivery to our customers of DPN Generic 26 software and hardware. It was a major challenge to coordinate schedules and track issues for the 210 MSS and managers in the DPN group. The overall project was delivered on schedule in December 1989.

I launched the DPN NAS Evolution project to replace the mainframe based NAS with a distributed architecture based on SUN workstations. The customers would be able to configure, provision, operate and maintain the DPN equipment from a nodal perspective, instead of the centralized system. Customers have obtained major productivity gains in the network operations from this project.

BNR, Manager DPN IBM Protocols Development 1986 - 1988

I was the manager in the DPN IBM Protocols Development group, with 8 staff. I built up the departmental knowledge of SNA. As well as ensuring those department members grew knowledgeable in SNA, I personally spent many evenings digesting a huge collection of SNA documentation. This reading, combined with my active participation in the SNA Multi-Host design has given me a good command of SNA protocols and related issues.

I launched the SNA Multi-Host TPAD project on the DPN Access Module. This service provided the ability for any SNA LU to set up a switched call directly to the host of its choice independently of what any other LU on the same PU was doing at the same time. The hosts did not have to be in the same SNA network, and did not have to be attached to the local packet switched network. The SNA traffic no longer tandems through 3725 front ends using MSNF. SNA network management functions (NMVT) were preserved and sent to a designated Network Management Host. Patents have been granted in my name in both Canada and USA for this concept. This service was the first to provide an LU switching capability on a packet switched network.

I managed the DSP ASCII project on the DPN Access Module, which provided support for the Teletype 4450 series of ASCII devices on the DPN DSP service.

I managed the Call Redirection Server project for the DPN network. The previous call redirection function on DPN did not have the necessary capacity needed to handle the redirection requirements of a very large DPN network. The redirection function was migrated to a server processor on the DPN Access Module. In addition, a custom feature for Barclays Bank was provided, so that Barclays could dynamically assign a dial-out port to any dedicated branch line, without having to change the static DPN service data. I was BNR liaison for the Barclays project, and the focal point for all issues related to the development being done for Barclays. This involved customer liaison, monitoring and supporting the development group in NT Maidenhead (UK), and conducting overall project reviews.

I launched the PU4 HPAD project, which would allow IBM hosts to directly connect to the DPN network, thereby eliminating the need for a PU4 Front End. After a year of work, and almost getting the code debugged, the project was canceled for business reasons.

I launched the DPN NetView PC Pilot project, which allowed DPN alarms to be translated to SNA NMVTs (Alerts) and passed up to the SNA NetView host. DPN operator commands could be issued from the NetView host, processed by the DPN network and the response passed back to the NetView host. I launched the SNA Fully Transparent project. This enhancement to the SNA Multi-Host TPAD provided transparent support for PU2.1 devices and PU4 devices. I launched the SNA Dial-Out project. This would allow an IBM host using NPSI to make an outgoing call to the DPN SNA Multi-Host TPAD which in turn places a switched call through the public telephone network to the called SNA device.

BNR, Manager DPN Customer Network Action Team 1985 - 1986

I was the manager in the DPN Customer Network Action Team group, with 9 staff. This development department provided fixes for all DPN customer field problems. If the expertise needed was not available within the department, then negotiations for access to the required resources were conducted. Liaison with NT CTAS, management, as well as the customers was performed in order to keep all interested parties aware of the current problem status. Numerous evenings and weekends were spent in the lab. The customer related work covered the full range of new network installation issues, conversion of an existing network to new software generic issues, and routine problem discovery. On my own initiative, I created numerous tools for tracking customer problems, which became the cornerstone for tracking DPN customer problems.

I took over the management of the Transparent SDLC TPAD/HPAD project on the DPN Access Module. The project provided a transparent TPAD and HPAD for transporting SDLC frames through the DPN Packet Switched network using IBM’s QLLC protocol. The DPN SDLC service successfully displaced the third party equipment that Telecom Canada had started to deploy in Datapac.

I launched the LAPB Performance Improvement project on the DPN Access Module. The interrupt handler and Level 2 LAPB code used by the X.25 and IAM services on the DPN Access Module needed to have their performance and throughput improved. The code was restructured and rewritten in assembler, and achieved the desired performance improvement of 150% and resulted in immediate sales of additional DPN equipment to Datex-P.

On my own initiative, I started up and managed the Probe Rework project on the DPN Access Module. This work became necessary when doing maintenance of some existing code. The project involved work done across 7 departments, all of which had to be synchronized. Resources were lined up, and the project successfully completed.

Nortel, Manager SL-10 Customer Release Testing 1983 - 1985

I was the manager in the SL-10 Customer Release Testing group, with 5 staff. I started up, trained and managed a new department whose functions were to test all of the SL-10 software configurations done for our customers and test packages of software fixes (RSUP and SSUP) provided to our customers at different software generic levels. The group also provided support to the NT CTAS group in the diagnosis and definition of customer crisis problems. Once a fix was provided by the SL-10 development groups, we ensured that the fix was thoroughly tested and delivered ASAP to resolve the customer crisis. Numerous evenings and weekends were spent in the lab. The customer related work covered the full range of new network installation issues, conversion of an existing network to new software generic issues, and routine problem discovery.

I instituted procedures to deliver fix packages (RSUPs) on a 60-day cycle for three different software generics that were in the field. I represented BNR at the NT Marketing scheduling meetings and the Quality Audit release reviews. I coordinated the customer releases and fix packages preparation schedules with the SL-10 Integration group. I conducted lab tours and demonstrations for current and prospective customers.

On my own initiative, I created a tool for mass producing 9-track tapes. The tool automated a function that was previously performed manually, and was a severe bottleneck in the RSUP production process. I also documented the process for the new department’s procedures.

Nortel, Engineering Staff SL-10 System Testing 1981 - 1982

I did system testing of CCITT X.3, X.25, X.28, X.29 and X.75 protocols and the IBM BISYNC protocols on the SL-10. I wrote the system test plans for the BISYNC protocols and executed these test plans for SL-10 software generics G10, G11 and G12. I performed the system testing of numerous releases of SL-10 software configurations for our customers.

On my own initiative, I developed and documented a set of performance metrics (call setup, call clear, data delay, data throughput) for all the protocols on the SL-10. I created and documented a suite of test programs on the ARC Interview 4500 Datascope, which would measure the performance of these metrics. The measurements were done for SL-10 software generics G9, G11 and G12, and became the benchmark for future generics.

I was the team leader for the system testing of Generic 12 software. Liaison work with the development primes was done, as well as tracking & scheduling of software fixes. I implemented numerous tools for tracking the software problems and creating management reports.

BNR, Member of Scientific Staff Product Integrity 1979 - 1981

I developed computer models that described the reliability DMS-100/200 telephone switches and generated a document quantifying the numerous reliability parameters. This model became extremely useful to BNR designers and NT marketing personnel. I also enhanced the programs used to determine the how many spare circuit packs a customer would need for the DMS-100/200 switches.

I co-authored a program that models the cost of testing printed circuit packs manufactured by NT. I performed assorted small test projects involving the climatic testing of telephone switch peripheral equipment, such as line shelves, tape drives and disk drives. I provided assistance to other people in the department in the use of the IBM mainframe computer.

Canadian Government, Defense Scientist Defense Navigation Group 1978 - 1979

I made improvements to Electro Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) computer models used by the Canadian Navy. These programs were used in the design of communication systems for the new Patrol Frigate, and in refitting existing vessels. I initiated and monitored contract work related to the EMC field with Litton Systems. I provided assistance to other directorates in National Defense that were involved in the EMC field.

Publications

A condensed version of my Masters thesis appeared as two papers:

International Journal of Control, Vol. 27, PP 933-941. 1978

Mathematical Biosciences, Vol. 47, PP 115-138. 1979

Education

University of British Columbia 1976 - 1978

Degree granted: Masters of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering.

Thesis title: Approximate Solutions of Some Selected Predator Prey Ecological Models.

Thesis supervisor: Dr. A. C. Soudack.

Cumulative average: 84.3% over two years.

University of British Columbia Graduate Fellowship. 1977 - 1978

National Research Council Grant funds from supervisor. 1976 - 1977

McGill University 1973 - 1976

Degree granted: Bachelor of Engineering, Honors Electrical Engineering.

Cumulative average: 3.53 (out of a maximum 4.0), over three years.

Champlain Regional College 1971 - 1973

Diploma granted: Diploma of College Studies in Pure and Applied Science.

Cumulative average: 81.5% over two years.

Student Summer Jobs

University of British Columbia 1977 - 1978

Two summers were occupied by my Masters Thesis work.

McGill University 1976

I developed an inverted pendulum control system, using a Luenberger observer control system. I did computer models of an optimal control system for train braking systems in conjunction with Canadian National Railways.

Alcan 1975

I did design work for the power protection systems in some existing power substations, and did the preparation for their implementation. I also did a power load study for an office building that was under construction.

Alcan 1974

I did computer modeling of the internal power losses of the large three phase power transformers used in the Alcan power grid, and revised the parameter values used to describe these power transformers.

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