1. Robert Beardon Mob 07869 728100
Resident London
Email: rbeardon@yahoo.com
Professional Profile
20 year record of deploying wireless backend systems, supporting mission critical networks, configuring
firewalls and optimising performance. Financial, NHS and Pharmaceuticals industry experience supporting
the network, security, wireless and desktop/server. Worked in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, France,
Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Mexico, Singapore, China and Saudi
Arabia.
Areas of Expertise:
Network Support/design – supporting 10,000 network devices and over 100,000 networked nodes. Also
mission critical, high availability networks and financial/health systems.
Wireless support/design – deployment, support and optimisation.
Security Support/design – Checkpoint/ASA/SRX640 firewall configuration, security policies, vulnerabilities,
NAC, DOT1x via Cisco ISE, IAS, ACS
Professional Experience
06/2014-Present North East London Foundation Trust
Senior Network/Security/Wireless Engineer
• Designed and implemented an ISE deployment for secure
wireless access. The current wireless was not secure as the
Trust had not employed machine authentication, thus had
failed an internal audit. My remit was to ensure that only
trusted devices could access the corporate network.
Currently, only managed devices are able to access the
network via ISE with a backend LDAP lookup. The
wireless user base incorporates over 3000 devices across
140 sites.
• Trust wide wireless across 140 sites with 8510 controllers
and 5500 guest anchor controllers. Over 1000 3502 series
access points were deployed. Guest wireless was
integrated to a third party proxy solution called
WIFIspark. All access points and wireless controllers were
configured out of the box. Capwap traffic for guest traffic
into a secure DMZ with internet breakout to a dedicated
firewall and separate internet pipe. Flexconnect for all
remote based wireless to ensure optimal routing. All APS
configured as radius clients on remote sites.
• Wireless migration from Aruba with Alcatel controllers to
Cisco wireless. The Trust had wireless hot spots on a
different platform. Was able to successfully migrate
services over to the floodlit Cisco platform with no loss of
service. As stated, the new solution is secure from an audit
point as well.
• Configured all new SVIS, OSPF routing, vlans and switch
configuration for the new wireless solution.
• All firewall policies, nat and nonat configured for the new
wireless to ensure connectivity on the dedicated internet
and N3 application firewalls.
• 4th
line troubleshooting. Fixed an issue that had persisted
for 9 months whereby a £1,000,000 Meganexus online

2. video recording and viewing web based application was
not working. With wireshark and through analysis of the
firewall and routing behaviour, was able to optimise how
the traffic was handled. Secondly, through wireshark and
netstat, was able to demonstrate to the Meganexus
developers that the issue was how the application was
handled by windows 7 in conjunction with IE ( sockets
resetting were treated as new sessions rather than as a
continuation of an existing state which was the behaviour
of Win XP/Firefox/Chrome) and this was fixed.
• Remote VPN troubleshooting: the Trust had deployed an
anyconnect VPN solution that was working intermittently.
Using packet tracer I was able to detect a routing loop
injected by one of the Trust’s redistribution prefix lists and
get this fixed.
• Helpdesk/Support restructuring and route cause analysis.
During my tenure I was asked to assist with getting the
call volume manageable after the Trust had upgraded from
Win XP to Win7. This necessitated restructuring the
helpdesk model. On my recommendation the Trust
empowered 1st
and 2nd
line team leaders. Dedicated third
line was established and a knowledge base was set up.
Secondly, templates were produced detailing information
to be established before a call was escalated. As a result of
my suggestions the Trust also brought in a Customer
Liaison Officer who was tasked with analysing statistics to
highlight problem sites who could then be prioritised. This
data also led to deep route cause analysis whereby repeat
calls could be investigated, disparate issues could be
linked and the underlying problem fixed. An initiative was
also begun to automate basic call generating functions:
password reset portal, account creation request, hardware
procurement. Calls dropped by 25% and the backlog is
now manageable.
08/2012-5/2014 Henderson Global Investors
Senior Network/Security Engineer
• Deployed wireless to all European, American and Asian
offices using 5500 series controllers for a fully redundant
architecture across the three continents. Solution was fully
integrated to Cisco ISE and used eap-tls. We also deployed
an internal wifi system for BYOD with a fully self-serving
portal. Visitor wifi was set up with a portal ticketing
system across all sites. Guest wireless DHCP, DNS and
basic filtering was provided by a Linux Bubba box which I
set up.
• Deployed DOT1X against Cisco ISE backend to all
European, American and Asian offices. Part of the rollout
was to audit every switch port and to ensure that dot1x,
dynamic ARP inspect, DHCP snooping, port security was
enforced globally. Also audited all trunk links to ensure

3. that native vlan security was enforced to prevent VLAN
hopping.
• Designed and installed Checkpoint firewalls to all new
offices in North America.
• Maintained all management platforms: Checkpoint
Smartdashboard, Smartevent, Smartview Tracker. ASDM
for ASA. Cisco Prime and a legacy Ciscoworks system.
ACS for TACACS. WHATSAPP Gold for text alerting
and monitoring specific devices. PRTG for bandwidth
monitoring.
• Troubleshooting: in depth diagnosis and fault finding
which necessitated the use of a wide range of tools:
tracker, tcpdump, wireshark, netstat, packet tracer. Very
often networks had to perform in depth analysis to show
the problem post any application upgrade which was not
actually a network issue but we could identify it and fix it
with our deep packet inspection tools.
• Configured all security policies on the existing 12000
series Checkpoint firewalls at each of the hub sites in
London, Singapore and Chicago. We also deployed 1100
series Checkpoint at all new smaller offices. ASA
configuration for specific VPN requirements and also for
internal intra VRF communications.
• Conducted security audits and was responsible for fixing
all audit points. One project necessitated turning off all the
implied rules on live Checkpoint firewalls (deployed
before my tenure) and ensuring that all market data VPNS
were unaffected.
• Configuring, maintaining and troubleshooting network
issues: 6500 series VSS Catalyst core, 3500 series remote
site Catalysts, 2800 series routers, dedicated market data
VPNS complete with VRF configuration, OSPF networks
with EIGRP via GRE VPN’s with third party market data
providers.
• Routing support: OSPF with policy based routing on our
edge checkpoint firewalls and edge routers. All new sites
were integrated into our OSPF design.
• Load balancing/Wan Optimisation support: configured,
upgraded and supported a full Cisco WAAS deployment
complete with customised application policy sets.
Maintained and configured the BIG IP load balancing
solution that handled all web server and trading platforms.
• DMZ design: created dedicated test beds for external
penetration testing which necessitated redesigning the
DMZ structure and making structural changes to the live
firewalls.
• Arcsight was rolled out. Responsible for integrating the
logging with Checkpoint via OPSEC, collating all switch
logs and ASA via integration with Prime and syslog to the
arcsight collector. Secured the remote cloud based
monitoring and information forwarding via a VPN.
• LAB creation: reviewed the Henderson Lab structure and

4. completely isolated it with the exception of management
ports and prevented all security violations i.e. vlan sprawl,
bridging violations. Also set up remote access to the test
bed Exchange servers as part of a migration to Message
Labs.
• Market data support: Bloomberg, reuters, all web based
trading applications supported. Bloomberg is especially
sensitive to latency so in depth analysis and bandwidth
optimisation was necessitated to get this to work in many
foreign offices. Networks were also heavily involved with
all upgrades for the obvious routing/firewall implications,
though very often were heavily involved in the post
upgrade troubleshooting.
• Basic video support. Mostly firewall support for the VCS
gateway, but also general conference troubleshooting.
Basic Call Manager support.
11/2011-7/2012 North East London Foundation Trust
3rd Line Infrastructure Specialist
• Audit of the Trust’s ASA firewalls configuration. All
erroneous entries removed and existing rule sets simplified
and optimised.
• Complete network audit of the Trust’s routing protocols.
Currently OSPF and EIGRP redistribution. Submitted a
design for a future migration to OSPF complete with stub
networks to eliminate multicast traffic over the WAN.
• Security vulnerability review. Surveyed the configurations
of all network equipment and submitted a plan to eliminate
telnet, implement SSH, Dot1x authentication for all
machines both wired and wireless, unused ports to be shut
and placed in a layer two vlan with no gateway, IAS/AD
management for network administration account
authentication and logging of all access
attempts/configuration changes.
• Wireless health check. Poor user experience in key wards
led to a complete audit using Airmagnet and identified
802.11G saturation. Fixing the channels and migrating
some areas to 802.11A fixed the immediate issues.
• Rolled out portfast, BPDUguard, UDLD on all upinks.
Audited the STP and optimised it so that the core switches
were load balancing the vlans across the redundant links.
• Removed all non-existent vlans and pruned all trunk links
to reflect the actual traffic.
• 3rd
Line support tickets encompassing network issues, high
profile desktop issues, database connectivity with ODBC
errors and profile issues.
06/2011-10/2011 National Commercial Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
3rd
Line Infrastructure Specialist

5. • Lead engineer for a data centre migration. This entailed
troubleshooting all issues resulting from moving data from
spoke sites to the data centre and also looking at third line
issues with the dynamic VPNS, loss of access to critical
resources and auditing existing traffic patterns.
• Secured all of the vlans and ports utilising port security,
shutting down unused ports and configuring honeypot
vlans on the Cisco Catalyst 6509 and 4507 models.
• Firewall configuration for 11 corporate sites: programmed
the Juniper SRX640 with rule sets to secure the sites.
• Audited all applications in use via syslog, Cisco WAAS
and ethereal to document applications and all processes.
• Documented all traffic flows for the business.
• Complete audit of all known issues in the corporate sites
and branch offices: Active Directory replication, DNS,
Anti-virus and Exchange.
• Hardened the Juniper SRX640 to ensure compliancy with
PCI standards. Audited the ASA and Pix firewalls and
rewrote the security policies.
• Secured the wireless networks which used Aruba Wireless
Controllers. Enforced machine authentication for DOT1x
• Troubleshooting all network/security related issues:
Juniper SRX640, Catalyst 6509, Catalyst 4507 and Cisco
wireless LAN controllers.
02/2010-06/2011 NAPP Pharmaceuticals
3rd
Line Infrastructure Specialist
• Full network and security support for the core campus and
associate offices: optimised STP, rewrote all the access-
lists, rolled out radius and configured IAS, implemented
best practices for layer 2 and 3, hardened the routers,
VPNS and switches across the sites, maintained the
wireless networks both lightweight/autonomous, including
an upgrade of the WCS and the WLCs.
• Supported and configured: Catalyst 6509, C3750-X,
C3750, C2960, C2950, Cisco ASA, Cisco Wireless Lan
Controller, Riverbed Steelhead Appliances, Cisco 1812,
Cisco 2820, Airmagnet and Cisco Call Manager.
• Supported and implemented site migrations in Spain,
Denmark and London, complete with wireless designs.
• Network monitoring: Solarwinds, Kiwitools, Ethereal.
Evaluated Solarwinds for them and set up RPTG in order
to monitor all of the existing SAN farms.
• Assisted with a data centre migration to Switzerland which
entailed liaising with IBM and Massergy for an MPLS
solution complete with V Block.
• Troubleshot long term issues with the wireless networks in
the European offices which entailed a complete audit of all
network configuration and then subsequent corrections:
vlan creation, adding vlans to trunks, configuring
switchports to support subinterfaces on the router, DHCP

6. scopes, encryption hardening,Nat scopes and access
control list permissions.
• Supporting ESX hosts. Using the VMWARE console to
Vmotion servers and correct issues with vlan tagging.
• Deployed Polycom Video Conferencing, desktop video
conferencing software and the dedicated Polycom gateway
security solution. Also managed Cisco Phones using Cisco
Call Manager.
07/2007-01/2010 Northgate Intelligent Solutions ( Security clearance needed)
3rd
Line Network Support/ Design Consultant/Team Leader
• Full network and security support for 1200 sites across
Northern Ireland and England encompassing over 6,000
2950, 3508, 2960 and 3550 series switches, 900 1812
series routers, 3000 1231AG Wireless Access Points, 900
IAS servers, 2 PIX firewalls, 1 Netscreen Juniper firewall,
2 Ciscoworks servers and 3 ACS servers.
• IP migrations planned, implemented and checked. 50 sites
were migrated to a new range to facilitate contiguous IP
ranges. Designed their DR site.
• Network standardisation project: IOS refresh, NTP, VTP,
syslog, radius and STP variables all pushed out via
Ciscoworks.
• Rolled out dot1x/NAC to 900 sites complete with IAS
policy edits.
• Firewall administration and cleansing. Models used: Cisco
Pix and Juniper Netscreen. Took the existing ACLs and
reduced from 14,500 lines to 1,800.
• Third party device evaluation using NESSUS vulnerability
scanning software and ethereal.
01/2007-06/2007 Goodmayes Hospital
3rd
Line Support/Deputy IT Manager
• 3rd
line network support and acted as deputy head during the
incumbent’s paternity leave.
10/2006-11/2006 Springfield University Hospital
Network Engineer
• 3rd
line network and security support for the core and all
associated sites.
7/2006 – 9/2006 Monster
Network Engineer
• Daily support and break fix whilst the lead engineer was on
leave.
4/2006 – 7/2006 Royal Bank of Scotland
Network Designer/Implementation Engineer
• Implemented Cisco best practices for layer 2 and 3
configuration on all core devices and associate sites. This
entailed rewriting hybrid configs to full IOS compatibility.
8/2005 – 3/2006 NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

7. Network Engineer
• Complete third line support and assessing vendors for the
NPFIT rollout.
5/2005 – 8/2005 SERCO SOLUTIONS
Network Engineer
• General break fix support.
3/2003 – 5/2005 ABBEY FINANCIAL MARKETS
Trade Floor Support Engineer
• Supported the traders: Bloomberg, Reuters and general support.
1/2003 – 2/2003 NEWHAM PCT
Network Engineer
• Re-designed the network to migrate 12 sites, with over 1000
users, from a shared bridged network into their own subnets.
6/2002 - 1/2003 CATER-ALLEN
Trade Floor Support Engineer
• Supported traders during a site migration.
2/2001 –6/2002 CISCO/MICRONET
Network Engineer
• General network support with bespoke training for network
engineers.
6/1999 –1/2001 MARCONI
Senior Network Engineer
• Troubleshooting and monitoring a large production network
Technical Skills:
NETWORKING
Routing: OSPF, EIGRP, distribution lists, filters, access control lists.
Service Provider Networking: Basic MPLS, strong VPN, Frame Relay,
IP Services: DNS, DHCP, HSRP VRRP GLBP, NTP, SNMP, FTP, IPv4, IP design summarization etc.
Switching: IOS/CATOS/NAXOS switch configuration and operation, Defining common workgroups, Vlan
management and security, Spanning Tree design and optimisation, Fault tolerant routing, Dot1x,
Etherchannel, trunking.
Security Protocols: IKE, IPSEC, MD5, SHA, DES, 3DES, AH, ESP, SSL, Radius, Tacacs+, DOT1x, NAC,
SNAC , NTLM, Kerberos
Routing Products: Cisco 800, 1600, 1800, 2500, 2600, 2800, 3800, 7200, 7600
Nexus Switches: 5548 series
Catalyst Switches: 1900, 2900, 3550, 3560, 3750, 4500, 6500
Security Products: Cisco ISE, Checkpoint R60, R65, R70 and R75 (SPLAT, IPSO and GAIA), ASA, IPS,
PIX, VPN Concentrator, AAA, Juniper SRX640, Juniper Netscreen, Fortigate, Imperva SecureSphere ,Cisco
Access Control Server, Microsoft IAS, Microsoft Network Policy Server, Nessus, basic Checkpoint IPS,
hands on admin with Netscaler and Citrix Access Gateway.
Wireless: Cisco Wireless Lan Controller 8500, 5500, Aruba Wireless Lan Controller, Autonomous wireless
access points: 1131AG, 1231AG, Wireless Controller Server, Airmagnet, InSSIDer,
VOIP: Basic Cisco Call Manager, deployed 7900 series Cisco IP phone, Polycom Video Conferencing
deployment of units and the secured gateway as well as the client conferencing desktop software, all switch
voice vlan configuration.
Wan Optimisation: Riverbed Steelhead Appliance, Cisco WAAS.
Internet hardware: Smartcache, ISA server, Bluecoat Proxy.

8. Monitoring Platforms: Cisco Prime, WCS, Ciscoworks, Solarwinds, Nagios, PRTG, Mutiny, HP
Openview, Netscout, Netblox, syslog, basic Arcight ( monitoring and setup via OPSEC on Checkpoint)
Load Balancers: Big IP
Microsoft/Server/Desktop/Market data/NHS
Good all round knowledge of Server Administration using Microsoft Technologies, Windows Server 2003,
Windows 2000 Server, Windows XP Professional and Windows Vista. Active Directory Administration,
Network Security Design and Implementation. Exchange 2000/2003/07 user and mailbox management.
Hardware & software configuration, fault finding as well as Patch and Printer Management. Application
Support including all Office Suites, Veritas Backup 10, Wireshark, Airmagnet. Have installed and supported
Reuters, Bloomberg, Global One, Wall Street Systems, Swift, Cedcom, Euroclear, Morgan Stanley and
bespoke financial packages. Experience supporting and rolling out the NPfit software suite including RIO
and Choose and Book.
Certifications
Cisco Certified Network Associate CCNA
Cisco Certified Network Professional CCNP
Cisco Certified Systems Instructor CCSI
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer NT4
Microsoft Certified Systems Trainer MCT
Leisure Activities and Pursuits
Weightlifting and reading, especially the Eastern Front in WW2.
Language Skills
Conversational French and German. I can also get by in Spanish and Arabic.