My Journey as a Technical Consultant, Architect, and Technologist
Throughout my career as a Technical Consultant, Pre‑Sales Engineer, and Architect, I’ve had the privilege of designing, implementing, and advising on complex infrastructures across Portugal, Europe, and Africa.
From the early days of UNIX and Alpha Servers to modern Cloud, Multi‑Cloud, desining architectures, my work has always revolved around solving real‑world challenges through technology, automation, and solid engineering principles.
Since 2015, my focus has shifted more toward architecture, advisory roles, and Proof of Concept (POC) delivery, working closely with vendors to help organizations modernize their environments and adopt cloud‑ready solutions.
Below is a curated timeline of some of the most impactful projects I’ve delivered.
Major Projects and Milestones
2015 – Nationwide Wireless Modernization (Portugal)
Designed new wireless coverage for all dealerships across Portugal (≈300 APs).
Implemented 802.1X for private networks and captive portal for guests.
Technologies: HP Networking (APs & controllers), Check Point (FW & L3).
2015 – Large‑Scale Automation Initiative
Automated operations for an environment with 120 ESXi hosts, 800+ Linux servers, OS/2 VMs, and several old vms with Solaris x86 servers.
Integrated HP Server Automation and Operations Orchestrator. Skills: Red Hat, Solaris, OS/2, VMware, PowerCLI, Python, shell scripting.
2015 – Industrial Wireless & Network Upgrade
Implemented multi‑SSID wireless with 802.1X across a large paper factory (120 APs).
Introduced new security layers, AD integration, segmentation, and 10Gb uplinks.
Vendors: HP Networking, Fortinet.
2015 – University Network Architecture (Guinea‑Conakry)
Designed full L2/L3 network for a new university campus.
Delivered wireless, firewall services, and SSL VPN.
Infrastructure: 70 access switches, 2 core switches, 160 APs, 2 WLCs, 4 Check Points.
Vendors: Extreme Networks, Check Point.
2014 – Healthcare Core Network & DR Architecture
Designed and implemented a new core network for a private hospital:
2× HP 10500 cores
57× HP 5500 access switches
IRF implementation
Wireless coverage for 48,000 m² with multiple SSIDs.
Designed DR concepts and implemented firewalls, load balancing, and VMware SRM.
Vendors: HP (switching, wireless, storage, servers), Fortinet, Barracuda, VMware.
2014 – Large Retail Wireless Deployment (International)
Designed and implemented wireless coverage for a 90,000 m² retail facility.
Supported rugged devices, laptops, tablets, and handhelds.
Vendor: Ruckus Wireless.
2013 – Multi‑Site Core Network & DR (Portugal)
Designed and implemented a new core network using Cisco (core + 3650/2960).
Ruckus Wireless, NetApp MetroCluster for HA, VMware SRM for DR.
Fortigate firewalls across 3 sites.
2013 – ISP Core Network Expansion (Luanda)
Designed a Wimax‑based network to reach areas without fiber coverage.
Supported 30 enterprise customers with scalability to 250.
Clients included banks, TV channels, and aviation companies.
2013 – Private Cloud Data Center
Designed and implemented a new DC using:
Cisco Nexus
Cisco UCS blades
NetApp storage
Data Domain
VMware
EMC Networker for backups
2012 – Large‑Scale Wireless & NAC Architecture
Designed a Cisco‑based wireless solution for 1,400 users with multiple security layers and NAC.
2012 – Disaster Recovery (Morocco)
Implemented CDR‑based replication between Casablanca and Rabat.
Integrated with multiple databases and VMware SRM (60+ critical apps).
Vendors: EMC, VMware, Oracle.
2012 – Multi‑Country DR Audit & Scope Definition
Designed DR strategy for a large enterprise with sites in Portugal, Italy, Spain, and Greece.
2012 – VDI Project (Portugal)
Designed and implemented VDI for 400 users.
Vendors: Cisco, VMware, Wyse.
2010–2011 – Large VMware Consolidation & Migration
Designed and implemented VMware vSphere 4.1 environment with Chargeback and AppSpeed.
Migrated ~200 hosts and virtualized Siebel environments.
2010 – Disaster Recovery Architecture
Designed and implemented DR using EMC storage, HP servers, Cisco connectivity, VMware ESX, and SRM.
Implemented DNS replication (BIND), SQL and Oracle replication, and automation scripts.
2010 – Enterprise Backup Project
Designed NetBackup solution for ~700 servers.
Included fiber transport for large Oracle DBs and support for HP‑UX, Solaris, Linux, and VMware.
2009 – National‑Scale Consolidation Project
Migrated ~200 x86 servers from physical to virtual.
Consolidated Alpha Servers into IBM P‑Series with AIX virtualization.
Storage: IBM
Backups: NetBackup
2007 – High‑Performance Computing (HPC) Clusters
Delivered 4 HPC clusters totaling 500+ nodes across 3 campuses and a government entity.
Implemented job submission portal, billing, compiler tuning, node self‑healing, and OpenLDAP.
Later merged all HPCs into a single GRID with unified submission.
2005–2006 – Early Virtualization & Linux Projects
Designed Linux cluster with Qmail for 38,000 mail accounts (government).
First major virtualization project: ESXi 2.5, vCenter, SAN configuration, 500 physical servers migrated.
SAN and storage design included.
2003–2004 – First VMware Projects
2004: Virtualization test environment for a Telco (IBM blades, SAN, 50 servers migrated).
2003: First VMware ESX project for a Telco (6 physical servers).
1996–2003 – Foundations
Worked extensively with Linux, OSF1, Digital Unix/Tru64, Alpha Servers, enterprise storage, and backup systems.
Discovered VMware for Linux in 1999 and used it heavily on personal systems long before it became mainstream.
1993–1996 – The Beginning
Just a young engineer discovering the world of IT — but everything changed when I started working with Alpha Servers, enterprise storage, backups, UNIX systems, and Linux. That was the true beginning of a long and rewarding journey in technology.