I turn complex technical requirements into solutions that work.

Solutions Architecture • Networking • Voice/SIP • Linux • Cloud • Security • Automation

I design, build, integrate and troubleshoot technology across infrastructure, networks, communications platforms and cloud environments. My strength is understanding how the pieces interact — and following a problem across those boundaries until the solution works.

What I Do

Solutions Architecture

• I turn business and technical requirements into practical architectures. That often means working across applications, infrastructure, networks, APIs, communications platforms, security systems and external services rather than treating each as an isolated technology.
• I am comfortable taking a problem from discovery and requirements through architecture, technology selection, implementation, troubleshooting and operational handoff.

Network & Infrastructure

• Networking has been at the center of my career for more than two decades. My experience spans enterprise LAN/WAN, BGP, routing and switching, firewalls, load balancing, VPNs, datacenter networks, public addressing, carrier connectivity, virtualization, storage and highly available infrastructure.
• I particularly enjoy network design and difficult problems that require packet-level troubleshooting and an understanding of what is actually happening on the wire.

Voice & Communications

• I have extensive experience with SIP and enterprise communications, including Asterisk, Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Avaya Aura, WebRTC, SIP trunking, RTP, PSTN connectivity, enterprise PBX integration and cloud communications platforms.
• My work has ranged from designing and building a high-scale SIP communications appliance to enterprise PBX interoperability, cloud communications integrations, and mobile/BYOD calling using WebRTC and programmable communications services.

Cloud, Resilience & Security

• I have designed and operated highly available environments spanning physical datacenters, colocation facilities, disaster-recovery sites and Microsoft Azure.
• My work includes hybrid cloud architecture, HA/DR, BGP and carrier redundancy, security architecture, identity, monitoring, SIEM, vulnerability management, data protection and infrastructure supporting regulated healthcare environments.

Linux & Automation

• Linux has been a constant throughout much of my technical career. I am most comfortable at the command line, using scripting and small composable tools to automate work, investigate problems and manage systems.
• My strongest scripting and automation experience includes Bash, PowerShell, PHP and SQL. I am continuing to expand my use of Python, Ansible and infrastructure-as-code practices.

Technical Leadership

• I have spent many years leading technical teams, projects and technology strategy while remaining hands-on. That experience lets me move comfortably between engineers, customers, vendors and business leadership. I can discuss packets and SIP signaling with an engineer, architecture and integration with a customer, project constraints with a vendor, and cost, risk and business impact with an executive.

How I Work

Solve the Actual Problem

The first proposed solution is not always the right one. I was once given a budget to buy more servers because additional computing capacity was needed. I recommended that we not buy more servers. Compute wasn't the real constraint. We invested instead in shared storage, licensed virtualization, backup and networking. That changed what the existing hardware could accomplish and became the first step in transforming a startup server closet into a fully redundant enterprise infrastructure platform. Good architecture starts by understanding the problem before selecting the technology.

Follow the Evidence

Complex problems rarely respect organizational boundaries. An application problem may originate far away from the symptom — in DNS, TLS, routing, NAT, a firewall, a load balancer, Linux, SIP, an API, a PBX or an external service. I prefer to follow the transaction and the evidence until the actual cause becomes clear. If a phone is not ringing, the problem is not likely to be the phone.

Design for the Constraints

There is no universally correct architecture. A small startup with limited resources needs different solutions than an enterprise with strict availability requirements. I have built effective systems from open-source technologies and modest hardware, and I have designed highly redundant environments using enterprise compute, storage, networking and cloud platforms. The right architecture is the one that satisfies the requirements, risk and economics of the situation.

Understand the Boundaries

A technically possible solution is not automatically the right solution. This becomes particularly important in healthcare, security and emergency communications, where reliability, responsibility and risk matter as much as functionality. I pay attention not only to whether systems can be connected, but also to which system should own each responsibility.

Selected Work

MHVG — High-Scale SIP Communications Platform

From an open-source platform struggling beyond approximately 2,000 endpoints to a purpose-built SIP appliance supporting large healthcare deployments.

I designed and built the backend architecture for MHVG, a Linux/Asterisk-based communications appliance designed for large-scale mobile communications. The platform was designed for more than 10,000 configured users and 4,000 simultaneously registered endpoints per active server and was initially load-tested beyond those requirements. First deployed to customers in 2015, the architecture remains in production today.

Read the MHVG case study →

From Startup Server Closet to Enterprise Infrastructure

The request was for more servers. The real problem was the architecture.

I progressively transformed an environment of individually managed VMware hosts, local storage and aging physical servers into a redundant virtualization platform and ultimately an enterprise architecture built around Cisco UCS, Fibre Channel and all-flash storage. The transformation dramatically increased compute, storage and network capability while remaining within approximately the same physical footprint.

Read the infrastructure transformation →

Building a Resilient Network Across Carriers, Datacenters & Cloud

An architecture that evolved from a single small-business Internet connection to BGP, dual providers, disaster recovery and hybrid cloud.

The environment evolved through multiple network and datacenter generations into redundant Internet connectivity, public BGP, dedicated DR connectivity and tested routing failover. The next generation incorporates company-owned public address space, Azure BYOIP, colocation infrastructure and multi-region disaster-recovery planning.

Read the network & cloud architecture story →

Emergency-Call-Handling Integration

Solving a customer problem that crossed mobile applications, SIP, enterprise communications, Wi-Fi infrastructure and third-party systems.

I worked between a healthcare customer, communications vendors and internal engineering to evaluate multiple architectures and develop a vendor-neutral mechanism for carrying useful location-assistance information through SIP signaling. The project required more than an interface. It required establishing responsibility boundaries, explaining architectural tradeoffs and helping multiple organizations understand how their pieces fit together.

Read the integration case study →

Datacenter & Infrastructure Modernization

Replacing a predominantly physical server environment with a modern two-site virtualization, storage and datacenter network architecture.

I planned and led a multi-year transformation using VMware, Compellent storage and high-speed Force10 networking, reducing the physical server footprint by 75%. The project also modernized datacenter networking, power, redundant cooling and disaster-recovery infrastructure across primary and secondary facilities.

Read the datacenter modernization case study →

More Technical Work

Not every project needs a full case study. Additional examples include cloud communications, WebRTC, Twilio and Bandwidth integrations, hybrid cloud, APIs, automation and cross-platform troubleshooting.

Explore Selected Technical Work →

Technical Toolbox

Networking

BGP • OSPF • TCP/IP • Routing & Switching • VLANs • NAT • VPN/IPsec • 802.1X • Packet Analysis • Cisco IOS • Cisco Wireless/WLC • Palo Alto • Fortinet • Force10/Dell • Aruba • Load Balancing

Voice & Communications

SIP • RTP • WebRTC • SIP Trunking • PSTN • DIDs • Twilio • Bandwidth • Asterisk • Cisco CUCM • Avaya Aura • PBX Integration • Mobile Communications • Protocol Analysis • Emergency-Call-Handling Integration

Infrastructure & Virtualization

VMware • Hyper-V • Nutanix • Cisco UCS • SAN • Fibre Channel • iSCSI • Multipath Storage • EMC • Pure Storage • Compellent • High Availability • Disaster Recovery • Datacenter & Colocation

Cloud & Identity

Microsoft Azure • Hybrid Cloud • Azure Networking • Entra ID • SAML • Microsoft 365 • Certificate-Based Authentication • Identity & Access Management • High Availability & Disaster Recovery

Linux, Data & Automation

Ubuntu/Linux • Bash • PowerShell • PHP • SQL • MySQL/MariaDB • Apache HTTPD • Python • Ansible • APIs

Security & Operations

Network Security • Firewalls • VPN/IPsec • 802.1X • Vulnerability Management • SIEM • Monitoring • Data Protection • Security & Regulatory Compliance HIPAA/HITECH, SOC2

Training and Certifications

Extensive technical training in networking, infrastructure, security and communications. (I never prioritized certifications). ITIL Fundamental v4 • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)

Development

I have done a fair share of web application development, worked on Apache/PHP systems for more than 20 years, accompanied by tons of systems and back end related scripting and automation.

From Industrial Automation to Modern Infrastructure

My engineering career began with industrial automation, control systems, PLCs, HMIs, robotics and motion control. From there, I moved increasingly into networking and systems engineering, followed by enterprise infrastructure, virtualization and storage. Networking led naturally into telecommunications and SIP, while increasingly distributed systems brought cloud, security, high availability and disaster recovery into the picture. Today, my work crosses many of those boundaries at once.

1. Industrial Automation & Controls
   PLC • HMI • Robotics • Motion Control • Programming
2. Networking & Systems
   Routing • Switching • Security • Linux/Windows • SAN • Virtualization
3. Infrastructure Architecture
   Datacenters • Compute • Storage • HA/DR • Enterprise Networks
4. Communications & Integration
   SIP • Asterisk • Cisco CUCM • Avaya • APIs • Mobile Communications
5. Cloud, Security & Technical Leadership
   Azure • Hybrid Architecture • Security • SaaS • Teams • Strategy
6. Automation & AI
   Automation & Emerging Technology — Python • Ansible • APIs • Enterprise AI Integration • AI-Assisted Automation

About Me

My engineering career started in Norway working with industrial automation, control systems, robotics and machinery. That background taught me to approach technology as a system: understand the inputs, understand the outputs, determine what happens between them, and find the actual cause when something doesn't behave as expected. That same approach followed me into networking, infrastructure, communications, cloud and technology leadership. Over more than three decades in technology, the systems have changed dramatically. I have gone from industrial machinery and control systems to enterprise networks, Linux, virtualization, SIP communications, cloud infrastructure and AI. What hasn't changed is that I still enjoy building things and solving difficult technical problems.

Let's Talk

Have a difficult technical problem?

I am always interested in discussing technology, architecture and challenging integration problems.

Contact Information

• www.linkedin.com/in/stokkeland/
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• Resume (CV)