Muruganantham thangavel

Led lab infrastructure programs and operational services to establish and scale engineering labs supporting the Ring Devices India team, enabling device development, firmware regression, and functional testing environments.

Key Achievements

• Established and led lab program operations from day one, enabling the Ring India engineering team to start testing programs on schedule.
• Supported 30+ Ring devices for firmware regression, sustenance, and functional testing, streamlining procurement, shipment, inventory tracking, and lab operations.
• Partnered with GREF and infrastructure teams to acquire and prepare 3,000 sq. ft. of lab space and 100+ workstations across Chennai and Bangalore.
• Worked closely with engineering leadership, QA, and TA teams to define lab infrastructure requirements and successfully constructed 18+ labs across India.
• Built and managed a 4-member lab operations team, delivering lab services supporting Dev, QA, and TA groups.
• Established core lab service programs: lab space management, lab construction, procurement operations, device logistics, and hardware repair/replacement.
• Developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for each lab service, aligned with leadership and stakeholders, and trained the lab team to deliver services within defined SLA timelines.
• Implemented a JIRA-based service management system (RDIPMS) to track lab requests, operational issues, and engineering support tasks.
• Managed complex global device procurement and import operations from Europe and other regions, ensuring timely availability for testing programs in India.
• Led cross-team coordination with QA and onsite lab teams to plan and deploy automation testbeds through a multi-phase rollout, addressing complex device hardware integration challenges (disassembly, soldering, reassembly, Raspberry Pi connectivity).
• Coordinated the deployment of lab network infrastructure using Ubiquiti controllers, Cisco Layer 2 & 3 switches, and Meraki devices.
• Owned the full contract lifecycle for lab and organization-level vendors and contractors, including creating and approving compliance documents with the audit team, managing DocuSign processes, and overseeing contract renewals and billing.
• Built 1P device inventory from scratch to 2,000+ devices within one year, reducing shipment delays and cancellation rates from ~40% to

First Lab Engineer hired in India to establish and scale Lab126’s engineering lab infrastructure, enabling the Device OS organization to execute large-scale device development, testing, and validation programs.

Key Achievements

• Built and scaled 20+ labs and managed 70+ labs across the project lifecycle.
• Reduced lab construction timelines by 40–50% and achieved 10–15% cost savings.
• Managed device inventory for ~3,000 imported 1P devices and multiple 3P testing devices.
• Led lab/device management: firmware migration, device rework, hardware repair, and replacement.
• Ensured compliance with lab safety and EHS guidelines; established safe work practices and device handling protocols.
• Standardized lab deployment, inventory tracking, and workflows; supported 50+ imported connectivity device types.
• Coordinated cross-functional teams and vendors to ensure infrastructure readiness.
• Worked with external vendor labs for Zigbee certification, managing shipments, configuration, and documentation.
• Led 15+ lab relocation projects with minimal disruption.
• Managed 200+ purchase requisitions annually; ensured procurement timelines and budget compliance.
• Onboarded 15+ vendors and managed contracts (NOC approvals, DocuSign, payments).
• Planned annual lab budgets with Device OS leadership and Finance teams.
• Optimized lab utilization via Boomerang dashboard, created 37 device pools, integrated DOTS reporting.
• Enhanced LabX booking system; converted underused labs to public/shared access.
• Designed End-to-End Setup Management system: registration, maintenance guidelines, checklists, monitoring, audits.
• Identified 6 idle setups and redistributed to active programs; avoided $24,324 in procurement costs.
• Supervised a team of 2, conducted lab safety and operations training for all users, including annual refresher sessions.

Managed lab operations, IT infrastructure, and datacenter environments supporting large-scale datacom engineering teams and testing labs.

Key Responsibilities & Achievements

• Managed 2 engineering labs and an ODC datacenter supporting 200+ users.
• Administered 6-rack datacenter: 18 Dell PowerEdge M1000e blade servers, EMC Clariion CX400 storage, Dell tape backup library, core network switches, and routers.
• Maintained VMware environments, Linux build servers, storage, file, and backup systems.
• SPOC for datacenter operations; resolved network, ISP, and infrastructure incidents.
• Supported hardware bring-up and topology setup for new networking devices in labs.
• Participated in ISO, EHS, and internal quality audits; ensured compliance.
• Collaborated with global IT teams to resolve issues and implement initiatives.
• Managed network traffic generator platforms: Spirent Test Center, AX4000, ANT5, Ixia, SmartBits, IxVeriWave (firmware upgrades, licenses).
• Monitored server health: CPU, disk, memory, swap, uptime; performed weekly checks.
• Served as JIRA Project Administrator for software development projects and tool integrations.
• Performed device bring-up: power, network, console access, validation.
• Managed Linux Samba access, Git configurations, and FTP servers.
• Provided OS-level support: RHEL 6/7, CentOS, Ubuntu, Windows Server.
• Supported customer POCs and demos; prepared lab infrastructure.
• Managed device/software inventory, shipment, and logistics coordination.
• Led datacenter and lab relocation, reusing existing lab infrastructure in new facility, cutting project costs by 15–20%.
• Conducted EHS, device handling, and lab usage training for new engineers and annual refreshers.

• Provided support for ~1,000 desktops/laptops, troubleshooting MS Office, Outlook, VPN, connectivity, and internal applications.
• Configured Windows/Linux systems, managed Samba, FTP, and Git environments.
• Created standard Ghost images to reduce deployment effort.
• Managed McAfee endpoint security via ePO and deployed antivirus agents.
• Assisted in Linux OS installations (RHEL, CentOS, Fedora) and user/permission management.
• Prepared monthly IT reports and SOPs for recurring issues.