Leo Brown

Leo Brown

I’m a telecommunications expert with 25 years experience spanning a wide range of carrier and access communications technologies. I am currently focussed on fibre network delivery at Brighton Fibre, a disruptive Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) operator, as well as expanding the dark fibre footprint of Global Reach Networks.

Leo Brown CV (PDF)

Key Talents

Network Transition

I help networks grow and transition to extend reach and improve economy. This might be becoming a fully-fledged ISP using BGP and connecting at internet exchange, or a service provider needing to transition to IPv6.

Project Guidance and Support

With 20 years telecommunications industry experience and a wide-ranging portfolio of disruptive and imaginative projects, I'm well-placed to guide on novel approaches to large or nuanced networking and data challenges.

Fine-grained Data Analysis

With a sharp eye for detail and a uniquely detailed understanding of networks from transistor to datacentre, I can solve problems rapidly that many find time-consuming or impossible.

Experience

Skills and Experience

Principal Skills

Policymaking and Standards

I've had 10 years close experience with telecommunications regulators, and I have published a number of telecoms papers and proposals.

Stakeholder Liaison

My industry background stands me in good stead for speaking the language of the many strata of global networks and interpreting their sometimes competing needs.

Technical Analyst

With a robust grounding in deep packet inspection and protocol design, I am uniquely placed to analyse and critique protocols across the OSI model.

Technical Skills

An approximate gauge of competency for a selection of protocols.

Telecommunications

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol)

95%

SS7 (Signalling System 7)

65%

GSM (Global System for Mobile)

80%

3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership)

65%

IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem)

60%

SBC (Session border controller)

95%

Network and Infrastructure

Core Network

I've rearchitected a number of ISP Core Networks based on a variety of hardware such as Cisco, Mikrotik and Juniper. I've also experience in SDN (Software Defined Networking) and hosting routing services in the cloud with platforms such as CHR (RouterOS Cloud Hosted Router).

Firewalls and Filtering

Having designed and maintained several hundred firewalls, I'm well-versed in intelligent firewall design, including deep layer 4-7 filtering of privileged malicious vectors.

Monitoring and Assessment

I've a wide-ranging experience of NMS (Network Monitoring Systems) including Observium, PRTG, OpenNMS, Nagios and I've authored a number of custom monitoring systems based on open source software like Iptables.

Topological Redundancy

By building in redundancy from the outset, I create networks that tolerate many failures before repair is necessary. With the right deployment of technologies, no network should contain a single point of failure, and should be inherently able to balance loads within.

Transport Protocols

802.1q (Virtual Lans)

95%

GRE (Generic Encapsulation Protocol)

95%

IPIP (IP-in-IP encapsulation)

80%

L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol)

70%

SSH Tunnelling (Remote Port Forwarding)

95%

EoIP (Ethernet over IP Protocol)

95%

PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)

60%

802.3ad (Link Aggregation Protocol)

90%

Routing

BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

90%

Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)

85%

RIP (Routing Information Protocol)

75%

OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)

75%

MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching)

90%

VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service)

80%

Software Design

Software Polyglot

I learned to code aged six (in 1987) in BASIC as it was the only real way to 'enjoy' a home computer. Since then I've written at least 5 million lines of code across several languages. I now only do short stints of actual code in order to solve critical problems, but my knowledge of various languages gives me a solid understanding of common development pitfalls.

Black Box Specialist

I've always built software projects in reusable, self-contained silos, way before the days of popularised containerisation such as Docker. In 2001 I structured a web hosting product line around FreeBSD jails, a protected environment whereby an operating system would run within another, while both efficiently share common resources (kernel modules).

API Evangelist

I've used APIs wherever possible and I've written several dozen APIs over the years. With a focus on simplicity and standards, APIs provide stability and security to hardware, software and networks.

Layer 3-5

DNS (Domain Name System)

95%

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)

95%

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)

90%

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)

85%

NTP (Network Time Protocol)

85%

NAT (Network Address Translation)

85%

SSH (Secure Shell)

95%

Directorships

Current Directorships

Current Appointments

2022
Infrastructure Cooperative

Cooperative Network Infrastructure

Cooperative Network Infrastructure (CNI) brings together public and private sector organisations to build and share fibre infrastructure. My work within the Cooperative is focussed on planning, delivering and maintaining CNI dark fibre infrastructure.

2019
Service Provider

Brighton Fibre

Brighton Fibre (AS60395) was founded in 2019 in order to widen the landscape of connectivity offerings in Brighton and Hove. We have embarked on a core network build in the city including popping the BT Exchanges and are now rolling out FTTP to underserved areas.

2015
Infrastructure Cooperative

Brighton Digital Exchange

The Brighton Digital Exchange (AS44488) is a cooperatively-owned carrier neutral datacentre and "meet me" point. Established to provide a menu of inter-carrier connectivity options in an accessible, central location, the BDX is a novel and disruptive model of an open exchange which helps businesses and carriers access parts of the internet value chain previously locked within large ISPs.

2012
Cloud Voice

Netfuse Telecom

Netfuse Telecom (AS35071) is a consultative IP Telco focussed on improving the link between inherent business data and two way voice telecoms services. Netfuse's primary product is a self-service hosted Cloud Voice platform, but auxiliary to this is a suite of custom integrations and application deployed and in active development.

2002
Wholesale Carrier

Global Reach Networks

Global Reach (AS41099) began as a traditional hosting provider and now plays a role as an aggregator of global voice and data networks, bringing connectivity from 62 countries to SMEs at near-wholesale costs.

Projects

Here's a selection of projects past and present to give a flavour of some of my work.

Brighton Fibre

Brighton Fibre

Company
Netfuse Telecom

Netfuse Telecom

Company
Synthesis

Synthesis

Product
Brighton Digital Exchange

Brighton Digital Exchange

Company
Caller Location Services in the 2015 Ebola Epidemic

Caller Location Services in the 2015 Ebola Epidemic

Academic Publication
OpenMobile

OpenMobile

Product
Typology of Loss in Cold Chain Vaccine Supply

Typology of Loss in Cold Chain Vaccine Supply

Academic Publication
Fusion

Fusion

Product
Telephony Route Exchange Protocol

Telephony Route Exchange Protocol

Academic Publication

Contact

Get in Touch

United Kingdom

01273 000 000

Direct Email

leo@leobrown.co.uk

How Can I Help You?