Tony Barber – Head of the GÉANT Operations Centre
Tony has worked in the I.T./Telecoms/engineering industry since 1985. Starting with OSS support in the UK Ministry Of Defence, network administration at the University of Oxford and then through the early days of the European internet designing and building ISP backbones for the largest UK, European and global ISPs of their day. He then left the enterprise world to start an engineering business which grew successfully for nearly 10 years before he decided on a change of direction. Following a career break and a brief spell of commercial flying he ended up working back in the academic world with the GÉANT Project. He has a degree in Information Technology and Telecommunications. Tony has been at GÉANT since 2012 and one of his primary roles is to make the tea and eat the chocolate that Temoor provides.
Temoor Khan – Team Leader Network Management Team
Temoor is the team leader of the GÉANT Network Management Team in the Operations Centre. He began his career in the ISP industry and latterly worked in voice and transmission. As such Temoor is equally at home with all levels of the OSI stack. Temoor has a MSc in Electrical Engineering from UET Lahore. He has worked in the GÉANT Operations Centre Team since 2012 where one of his primary roles is to provide chocolate to the team.
Ashley Brown
Ashley joined GÉANT in January 2019. He gained his degree in Computing from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge in 2017 and prior to joining GÉANT, he spent a year working in a customer facing role gaining valuable experience. He is a local Cambridge resident and enjoys working for a Pan-European organisation that supports global research. Ashley brings an abundance of enthusiasm and fresh ideas to the GOC and will radically reduce the average age of the team. He is currently working on acquiring knowledge about which chocolate is favoured by team members and understanding the patriarchal sense of humour in play. Ashley’s hobbies are golf and building information superhighways around his house.
Callum Storey
Callum is a 2022 graduate from Cambridge’s local university where he achieved a first in Computer Science. Callum returns to GÉANT having been an intern in 2020/21 where his boundless enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge shone through brightly. Upon graduation he was keen to return and is now building on his experiences and university learning. It is not true that Callum was recruited to bring down the average age of the team, this is just a malicious rumour. In his spare time Callum enjoys software coding, online gaming and travelling to new places.
Darren Clarke
Darren’s career has been varied and largely within technical service support and delivery roles. His decision to return to academia to complete a Computer Science Degree was driven by a desire to learn more about areas in which he was frustrated by inefficiencies. Prior to that Darren held senior roles in various organisations in the Cambridge area of England. He joined GÉANT following graduation in order to work in the world of computer networks. He brings his broad skills, maturity and a sense of joy-de-vivre to the GÉANT Operations Centre team where he has worked since 2011.
Josep Rovira
Josep has a varied background and came to I.T. and telecommunications later in his career. Before coming to research he combined a part time Computer Science Degree with his previous technical support role. Josep is from Spain and is a great assistance when dealing with Spanish or French speaking colleagues. Josep has worked at GÉANT since 2010 and has now finally learned to make English tea.
Laurentiu-Dorin Sandu-Bufi
Laurentiu has been in the information Technology and networking world since 2005. He graduated in Engineering from the University of Galati in Romania in 2000. He has performed a variety of roles including setting up hosting systems and banking networks. Over the last decade he has focussed more on securing I.T. systems, latterly working as a consultant implementing SIEM systems. Outside of work Laurentiu enjoys travelling and anything to do with commerce and technology.
Luca Rinaldi
Luca is an industry veteran specialising in optical transmission networks. He has had three spells working with GÉANT in between travelling the world so we think he must really like it here. Luca has a Degree in Electronical Engineering specialising in electromagnetic fields and waves from La Sapienza University in Rome. His hobbies include working on complex physics equations, travel, exercise and promoting healthy eating to the rest of the team.
Ryan Richford
Ryan is a UK East Anglian local who graduated in Cyber Security from Leicester, UK in 2022. He finds the world of online security fascinating and is especially interested in forensic security. Ryan is looking forward to extending his skills and knowledge whilst safeguarding the high profile GEANT network. In his spare time Ryan enjoys driving fast cars, health management, working out and watching back episodes of ‘BlackAdder’. Ryan is also unsuccessfully trying to educate some of his colleagues about healthier lifestyles.
Sajid Mahmood
Sajid has worked in the industry since 2003 and has a wide diversity of telecoms experience, latterly working as a NOC Engineer within Telefonica. He brings excellent analytical and troubleshooting skills to the GÉANT Operations Centre. Sajid has a degree from The University of Lahore and a strong background in transmission networks. In his spare time Sajid is a family man and takes a keen interest in the game of cricket supporting the Pakistan national team. He is looking forward to watching them try in vain to defeat England in the coming summers and hoping the umpires keep a keen eye on the ball.
Will Barber
Will is an experienced network engineer who has worked in research environments since 2007. He has also acquired some private sector experience in his career. He has extensive experience in managing LAN and WAN systems, and has a wide range of other IT knowledge and qualifications. He is a keen cyclist which in Cambridge involves also being good at dodging cars and he enjoys travelling and reading.
First Line Support
1st Line Support Engineers
GÉANT’s Service Desk function is fulfilled under commercial contract. A collective of engineers support GÉANT 24*7.