Sunil Poonia

• Responsible for operation and maintenance of AWS metro and long-haul optical networks. Designed and developed automation tools and services to help operations and deployment teams streamline manual tasks.
• Spearheaded the development of critical services such as "Fiber Maintenance Automation," "Traffic Shift Orchestrator," "Auto Remediation," "Span Degrade Tool," and "Tool to Catch Packet Drops in Network." These innovative solutions have helped AWS automate network problem-solving, improve performance, and enhance availability.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to implement Acacia 400G C-band optics on routers, providing a total capacity of 25.6Tbps per optical span with 64 channels of 75-GHz spacing. Planned and created necessary tooling, including traffic check, span error check, auto-RMA, and device drivers, to deliver this high-capacity solution.
• Currently, working on new Amazon Kuiper Project, which aims to launch 3,200 satellites in low-Earth orbit to provide internet services. In this project, I am leading team of 6 test engineers and 2 software engineers to test and verify critical satellite boards that include switches and lasers. The testing encompasses range of electrical, network, thermal, and optical functionalities. Within just 3 months, our team has developed two distinct test rack designs that supports automated testing of two boards per day.

In my eight years at Cisco, I created network designs for different types of optical networks for multiple customers, such as Charter Communication, Cogent, Windstream, Verizon, Oracle, and Ford. I helped the sales and marketing team provide design and implementation support to ensure customer success.
I also participated in daily on-call support for all types of customer issues related to Cisco's optical equipment, including the ONS 15454 MSPP, NCS2K MSTP, NCS4K, NCS1K, and CPO. My troubleshooting often involved complex problem recreation in the lab to identify known and new software/hardware defects, and I took escalation calls from colleagues, driving them towards resolution.
Additionally, I started many successful programs to improve customer satisfaction and increase Cisco's trust. Examples include OTSR (Optical TAC Service Readiness), Workbooks for all new products, Escalation Reviews (which included data analysis to reduce escalations and enable faster resolutions), "Foundation to Success" (to improve non-technical skills), and Bootcamps (with video content to increase TAC and partner knowledge).
These initiatives contributed to enhancing the overall customer experience and strengthening Cisco's reputation as a trusted partner in the optical networking industry.

As part of my responsibilities, I oversee the operations of an optical network consisting of Huawei DWDM equipment. This includes provisioning and testing the optical network, as well as publishing weekly and monthly reports detailing the uptime, link availability, hardware, and infrastructure faults.
Additionally, I perform a range of Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) functions as desired by the customer, such as link commissioning, service provisioning, traffic migration, technical assistance, and fault case analysis.

Responsible for the installation and commissioning of optical network equipment from vendor ECI, including Micro-XDM, BG-20, BG-40, XDM-100, XDM-500, XDM-1000, and XDM-2000. Performed comprehensive Acceptance Testing (ATP) procedures, covering E1, STM, Ethernet, Wavelength, and Electrical power testing to ensure the proper functionality and integration of the optical network infrastructure.
Demonstrated expertise in setting up network racks, power tapping, and the end-to-end deployment of the optical equipment, contributing to the successful rollout and optimization of the network.