Tony Fortunato is a Senior Network Specialist with experience in design, implementation, and troubleshooting of LAN/WAN/Wireless networks, desktops and servers since 1989.

His background in financial networks includes design and implementation of trading floor networks. Tony has taught at local high schools, Colleges/Universities, Networld/Interop and many onsite private classroom settings to thousands of analysts.

Tony is an authorized and certified Fluke Networks and Wireshark Instructor.  His Pine Mountain Group CNA Level I and II certification demonstrates his vendor neutral approach to network design, support and implementations.

Tony has architected, installed and supported various types of Residential Wireless High Speed as well as hundreds of WIFI hotspots. Tony uses a variety of technologies from Powerline, Wireless and wired technologies to find the most cost-efficient and reliable solution for his customers. Tony combines custom programs, open source and commercial software to ensure a simple support infrastructure.

Tony works on networks from 2 to 120,000 nodes and specializes in post installation performance/design review. This process involves using various tools (Protocol analyzers, traffic generators and network management) and working on multi-vendor equipment (switches, routers, servers, etc).

The most innovative service Tony provides is his 'True Partnership' program where he collaborates with his customers for research and development and in turn provides training, support and consulting services.

Tony works at customer sites within a range of capacities from project management, network design, consulting, troubleshooting, designing customized courses and assisting with installing physical equipment. Tony specializes in delivering a turn key solution along with documentation and training staff.

Professional Profile

• Architected, implemented and supported residential fixed wireless ISP (Firelfy Networks/Hummingbird Wireless) for the Georgetown, Ballinafad, Guelph, Preston and Acton area.

• Technical Editor for Kevin Burns's book, "TCP/IP Analysis and Troubleshooting Toolkit"
  (Wiley ISBN 0-471-42975-9).

• Personal computer, server, network implementation and design experience since 1989.  

• Familiar with Cisco, Nortel, Proxim, Waverider, Netgear, Linksys, SMC, 3Com, Dlink and other vendor equipment since 1988.

• Implemented over 20,000 networks ranging from Ethernet, FDDI, Token Ring, WAN, ATM and  wireless using various media from copper, fibre, and wireless.

• Specializes in onsite mentoring with customers to become self-sufficient in supporting their environment.

• Familiar with various network management systems and analysis tools. (i.e. Network General Sniffer Pro, Fluke Optiview//Protocol Expert, What's UP Gold and others.)

• Established several Networking User Groups across Canada and the United States with the goal of exchanging troubleshooting strategies and to converse about emerging technology.  

• Created many technology seminars in partnership with many product vendors and VARS.  

Industry Experience

Senior Network Specialist, The Technology Firm

December 1999 to Present

As the owner and Senior Network Specialist of The Technology Firm, Tony meets with his clients to assess their needs and designs a custom solution to satisfy their requirements.  The courses taught are designed to boost the areas of knowledge that they want to concentrate on, while complimenting existing strengths.  The course material is created from Tony's consulting engagement notes to ensure that the material addresses the most current technology issues.  Tony's day to day methodologies are shared with his many students.  Tony specializes with onsite network performance testing using various tools and methodologies to document network performance.

Milestones:

• Certified Wireshark Instructor.

• Architected, implemented and supported 4 new wireless ISP sites using Waverider equipment

• Redesigned wireless ISP site using Proxim wireless equipment.

• Reports product anomalies to respective vendors.

• Present at various trade shows, vendor technical seminars and customer sites.

• Created a Canada-wide user group to share information and promote sound troubleshooting methodologies.

• Created and presented various Fluke, Network Associates and Management seminars..

• Donated website design for the following websites; Brampton Battalion Midget hockey team, Dr.Bug's pest control, French Beach Bay Cottage Association and Firefly Networks. 

• Tony has donated many computers and other technology to his local computer shop, and other local businesses. 

• Attained PMG, Certified Network Analyst Level I and II designation.

• Only authorized Fluke Networks OptiViewTM Network Analysis and Troubleshooting Training Course Canadian instructor

Chief Network Architect, Firefly Networks Inc.

March  2004 to Present

Designed, implemented and supported a truly wireless ISP for the Ashgrove, Silvercreek, Erin, Hillsburgh, Georgetown and Ballinafad, Ontario area.   Assisted subscribers with internal network issues and design.  Created a customized Network monitoring system.  Designed many wireless network solutions for corporate environments.  Installed Cisco routers, switches, Windows 2000 server, 3Com switch, video surveillance, Perl programming, Sniffer, Fluke products, Wireshark and MRTG.

Milestones:

• Designed and Implemented wireless ISP within 1 week.

• Maintained a 99.999% uptime in 2004 for Ballinafad site

• Maintained 100% uptime in 2006 for TD2 site

• Created free technical seminars for the community.

Senior NetAnalyst, Pine Mountain Group (PMG)

May 1999 to November 1999

Provided specialized Network Assessments, mentoring, consulting, training and support services to various customers.  Worked with the following tools;  What's Up Gold, Shomiti, Fluke, Sniffer, PM product suite, Cisco’s Netsys, HP Openview and Optivity.  Also worked with Cisco, Cabletron routers/switches 3Com and Bay Networks networking products.

Milestones:

• Only certified Canadian PMG instructor

• Received the highest rating of all presenters for PMG Forensics Day, Interop Atlanta 1999.

• Presented and taught Network Performance and Troubleshooting courses at Interop - Atlanta and Vegas.

• Designed and updated courseware.

• Presented at various Network Associates Sniffer Technologies seminars
   

Principal Consultant, Languru Global Professional Services, Network Associates (NAI)

March 1998 to May 1999

Provided specialized Network Health Assessments, consulting, training and support services to Canadian customers.  These services include Network Health Assessments, Mentoring and troubleshooting.  Attended presales customer meetings when required.  Tested new and existing software for bugs or improvements.  Worked with local Sales Managers for pre-sales and post sales issues.  Have experience with the following tools; Sniffer, PM product suite, Cisco’s Netsys, HP Openview and Optivity.  Worked with Cisco routers/switches, Cabletron routers/switches 3Com router switches and Bay Networks routers/switches.

Milestones:

• Hired as a Consultant, promoted to a Senior Consultant and then to a Principal Consultant within the first 5 months.

• Identified 3 Sniffer decode, 1 Router PM and 4 Sniffer Pro product bugs.

• Solely acquired 2 major contracts for Network Associates.
   

Director, Network Engineering, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce/Wood Gundy [CIBC/WG]

October 1996 to March 1998

Managed and produced network documentation, standards and procedures for  Network Engineers.  Provided in-house training and third level support for CIBC/WG, Canada wide.  Perform baselining, implementation and troubleshooting services using Network General’s Sniffer [distributed and portables].  Utilized HP Openview platform with Cisco Works and Optivity for day to day operations.  Network consists of Bay hubs, Cisco routers and Cisco switches.

Milestones:

• Hired as a Senior Engineer, promoted to Associate Director and then to Director within 1 year.

• Involved with operating budget of approximately 2 million.

• Involved with ‘insourcing’ all network services from the existing outsourcer.

• Assembled Network Engineering department, hired staff and created policies/procedures.

• Recovered over $200,000 and reduced support calls by 30% in costs by auditing network.

• Received highest possible performance rating (5 out of 5) in annual review.

• Attained PMG, Certified Network Analyst Level I designation.
   

Manager, PC Support, EFIP, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

February 1996 to October 1996

Managed department responsible for in-house PC support for 2,000 clients.  Created inventory procedure and software, assembled support team and relevant day to day procedures.  Reduced support turnaround time from 3 days to 3 hours.  Responsible for $300,000 budget.

Milestones:

• Created new PC platform standards, reducing support time by more than half.

Senior Network Analyst, Operations and Technology, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

July 1995 to February 1996

Provide in-house training and documentation for onsite network technicians.  Designed and performed baselining, fine tuning and troubleshooting using Network General’s Sniffer [distributed and portables].  Evaluated HP Openview platform for department.  Produce network documentation, standards and procedures for technical analysts.  Network consists of ODS hubs, Wellfleet routers and Synoptic hubs.  Network management consisted of Cisco Netlabs, Wellfleet Site Manager and Lanvision.

Milestones:

• Completed Wellfleet router training

• Represented Network Engineering for the eastern Canada call center implementation.
   

Senior Network Technical Analyst, Information Technology, SHL Systemhouse Ltd.

April 1, 1994 to July 1, 1995

Provide in-house training and documentation for site PC technicians.  Performed baselining, fine tuning and troubleshooting using Network General’s Sniffer [distributed and portables] for clients.  Produce network documentation, standards and procedures for supported client sites.  Support Cisco routers, synoptic hubs, 3270 controllers and Multiplexors.  Performed in-house network connections.

Milestones:

• Completed PMG Certified NetAnalyst designation.

• Received Synoptic certification training for the Token Ring and Ethernet.

• Acquired Cisco  training for FDDI, Token Ring and Ethernet.

• Have taken Network General training for FDDI Token Ring and Ethernet.

• Convert 2500+ clients from an unmanageable Token Ring and Ethernet network to a manageable network.

• Replace IBM PC LAN servers with Novell 3.12 fileservers, Asynchronous Servers, and Print servers.

• Implement Network Management [Optivity and Cisco Works] software.  Previous Token Ring environment consisted of IBM MAU’s [8228] and IBM source routing bridges running at 16 Mbps.  Former Ethernet environment consists of Cabletron hubs and bridges running pre-10 base-T.

• Installed FDDI backbone with 8 Cisco routers.  New Ethernet and Token Ring environment consists of Synoptic hubs and Cisco routers.
   

SENIOR PC TECHNICAL ANALYST, CIBC/Wood Gundy

February 1993 to April 1, 1994

Provide technical support and implementation for approx. 2000 PC’s.  Co-ordinate all PC installations and support.  Supervising a staff of 13 technicians.  Responsible for providing backup to the Novell Administration and Local Area Networking departments.  Working with a project team to implement new Synoptic hubs and Cisco routers.

Milestones:

• Converted 50 Source Routed Bridged networks to intelligent hubs and routers. [2000 users]

• Awarded the CIBC/Wood Gundy Elite award for 1st quarter 1993.

• Awarded the CIBC Chairman’s award for 3rd quarter 1993.

• Received 4 out of a possible 5 every quarterly performance review.

• Created a software install server for technicians, saving 100 hours a month.
   

INTERMEDIATE OFFICE SYSTEMS ANALYST, CIBC/Wood Gundy

August 1991 to January 1993

Provide support, implementation and planning services to approximately 1300 clients across North America for PC hardware and software, host applications, 3270 devices, asynchronous devices and networks.  Familiar with unshielded twisted pair and shielded twisted pair wiring.  Produce technical papers for technicians.  Provide training for PC hardware/software and network related products.

Milestones:

• Moved over 300 people.  Involved redesign, implementation and support of existing networks.

• Solely supported and redesigned the CIBC Walk in Center which services 50 clients daily.

• Received 4 out of a possible 5 every quarterly performance review.
   

INTERMEDIATE COMMUNICATIONS ANALYST, CIBC\Wood Gundy

February 1990  to July 1991

Solely provided support, implementation and planning services to approximately 800 clients across Toronto for 3270 devices, host applications, asynchronous devices, and networks.  This involved 5 buildings in the downtown core.

Milestones:

• Involved in relocating Investment Bank from one location to another.  I was responsible for installing all Token Ring Networks, Bridges and Gateways.  Partially responsible for implementation of Asynchronous and 3270 devices, terminals and circuits using unshielded twisted pair wiring.

• Moved 60 people, which included all connections and related equipment.

• Awarded Communication's Service Quality Award

• Received 4 out of a possible 5 every quarterly performance review.