Kothandaraman Chidirala
South Brunswick Township,NJ
Summary
Results-driven Senior Manager leading global teams in enterprise storage architecture and infrastructure automation. Delivered significant cost savings and improved data protection through strategic optimization. Expert in capacity management and team development, driving large-scale storage initiatives and innovative solutions.
Overview
36
36
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Manager - Storage Engineering Management
Intercontinental Exchange
Newyork, New York
05.2021 - Current
- Managed 100PB+ storage environment comprising block, file, and object storage technologies.
- Led end-to-end delivery of multiple large-scale Storage Infrastructure programs including Datacenter Migrations, New DC buildouts, Storage consolidations and refreshes in collaboration with DCO, Networking, Linux/Windows/VMware, Operations, Database, Cloud and Application teams.
- Managed storage platform budgets, resulting in multi-million dollar annual savings through cost optimization initiatives.
- Conducted capacity planning, gathered requirements, managed budgeting, and oversaw infrastructure life cycle management.
- Hired and mentored storage team members to enhance skills and performance.
- Provided strategic roadmap storage technologies (Architecture), Environment up keeping (code upgrades) and capacity.
- Implemented archival solution using tiered configuration with DELL Isilon scale-out clusters set in enterprise/compliance mode to ensure retention.
- Automation:Directed strategic planning and architecture of end-to-end provisioning using REST APIs and scripts, improving server deployment speeds by 10x. Developed automated DR failover/failback scripts and integrated with Rundeck for self service.
- Tool development:Designed capacity planning and reporting tools to consolidate vendor agnostic product metrics using home-grown scripts and Tableau for custom monitoring of capacity and performance trends.
- Vendor management. Worked closely with storage vendors (DELL/EMC, Hitachi, NetApp) to enhance platform functionality and bridge technology gaps.
- Experienced with Spectrum for alerting, Splunk and Splunk plugins for alerts and usage monitoring.
- Managed an organization of 12 to 15 engineers.
- Built and trained offshore teams to improve global support coverage and service delivery.
Manager/Architect - Storage Engineering and Administration
Intercontinental Exchange
New York, New York
08.2012 - 04.2021
- Designed and deployed ransomware protection using PowerMax and NetApp AFF arrays.
- Designed and implemented NetApp Metro Clusters for HA and SnapVault Snapshots for ransomware resilience.
- Architected and implemented SRDF/Metro & SMART-DR solutions with secure snapshots.
- Designed air gap solution using snapshots for ransomware protection.
- Implemented archival solution with tiered configuration on DELL Isilon scale-out clusters in enterprise/compliance mode to ensure data retention.
- Architected SAN solutions, migration and consolidation plans.
- Executed POC initiatives to evaluate functionality and performance of storage products using synthetic and simulated workloads with tools including vdbench and fio.
- Infrastructure Life Cycle Management.
Lead Engineer / Architect - Storage Engineering
Barclays
08.2005 - 08.2012
- Barclays is a leading British multinational investment bank and financial services company with a strong global presence. The firm offers personal, corporate, and investment banking services and has a major infrastructure footprint in the U.S. and Europe.
- Led a team of 6-12 engineers managing infrastructure across multi-vendor block, file, and object storage systems.
- Led large integrations of teams and data centers from acquisitions, ensuring system availability and controlled costs.
- Modernized infrastructure to eliminate obsolete technologies and adopt innovations.
- Built new storage environments from the ground up, including SAN/NAS and backup setups.
- Deployed EMC Symmetrix with FAST-VP, NetApp FlexPod to accelerate VM deployments and SnapClone to optimize backup performance.
- Executed end-to-end Block and NAS migrations from discovery through scheduling to execution in collaboration with operations and app teams.
Solutions Architect
EMC
11.2000 - 07.2005
- Implemented EMC solutions for clients in NY metro area, enhancing their data management capabilities.
- Designed and deployed SAN solutions for SUN/IBM/HP systems.
- Played a pivotal role in migrating Goldman Sachs from direct-attached storage to a SAN-based architecture.
- Implemented automated SAN storage provisioning for Merrill Lynch using Perl and Sybase.
- Conducted performance analysis and tuning, including SRDF implementation and EMC Control Center deployments.
- Helped clients boot from SAN using Jumpstart automation.
- Delivered full-stack implementations including SAN design, database tuning, and performance troubleshooting to optimize system performance.
- EMC Corporation, now part of Dell Technologies, was a global leader in data storage, information security, and cloud infrastructure solutions. EMC served enterprise customers worldwide with technologies ranging from SANs to virtualization and backup systems.
Senior Solaris Systems Engineer
BRI Inc. (IBM GS / Lucent Technologies)
05.1998 - 11.2000
- BRI Inc. provided systems integration services to major enterprise clients, including IBM Global Services and Lucent Technologies. Lucent was a telecommunications equipment company and Bell Labs spin-off, known for innovation in networking and systems.
- Designed and implemented system architectures, enhancing functionality for complex telecommunications projects.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams, integrating software solutions to meet project requirements.
- Analyzed system performance, identifying and recommending improvements to enhance overall efficiency.
Software Specialist / Project Manager
CMC Ltd. (India)
06.1990 - 04.1998
- CMC Ltd. was a leading IT services and consulting firm in India, later acquired by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). It specializes in government infrastructure automation, software development, and system integration across various industries.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to gather and analyze software requirements, ensuring alignment with project goals.
- Developed software solutions that streamlined internal business processes at CMC Ltd.
- Implemented system upgrades that improved functionality and user experience for end users.
Education
B.E. - Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Coimbatore Institute of Technology
Coimbatore, India05-1990
Skills
- Storage architecture
- Cloud integration
- Infrastructure Automation
- Data Protection
- Capacity management
- Cost Optimization
- Vendor Management
- Strategic IT Planning
- Global Team Leadership
- Cross-functional Collaboration
- Complex problem solving
- Problem solving
- Cloud technologies
Certification
- EMC Proven Professional - Associate, 04/04
- Sun Certified Solaris Administrator - Solaris, 01/99
Accomplishments
- Architected secure, ransomware-resilient storage solutions using PowerMax, NetApp AFF, Metro Clusters, and secure snapshots.
- Reduced provisioning time by 10x through automation using REST APIs and scripting.
- Successfully managed a 100PB+ multi-protocol storage environment for Intercontinental Exchange.
- Achieved multi-million-dollar cost savings via smart capacity planning and workload-locality optimization.
- Led multiple seamless data center migrations and storage consolidations post-acquisition.
Timeline
Senior Manager - Storage Engineering Management
Intercontinental Exchange
05.2021 - Current
Manager/Architect - Storage Engineering and Administration
Intercontinental Exchange
08.2012 - 04.2021
Lead Engineer / Architect - Storage Engineering
Barclays
08.2005 - 08.2012
Solutions Architect
EMC
11.2000 - 07.2005
Senior Solaris Systems Engineer
BRI Inc. (IBM GS / Lucent Technologies)
05.1998 - 11.2000
Software Specialist / Project Manager
CMC Ltd. (India)
06.1990 - 04.1998
B.E. - Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Coimbatore Institute of Technology