TECHNOLOGY ARCHITECT
British-American architect with 20+ years designing resilient enterprise infrastructure — from data center foundations to nationwide HCI solutions. Currently leading Nutanix HCI architecture and cloud-native BCDR design.
Andy Barber
// Zap-Robo
20+
Years in IT
MSP
Specialisation
IaaS
Focus Area
BCDR
SME
ABOUT ME
Born in Derby, UK — now based in Youngstown, Ohio — I'm a Technology Architect who has spent over twenty years navigating every layer of enterprise IT. My career began in Technical Support and systematically evolved through Network Operations, Systems Administration, Systems Engineering, and on to full Architecture.
My professional home has consistently been Managed Service Providers and Internet Service Providers, giving me a broad lens across many client environments and architectures — physical, virtualised, and cloud-native. In my current role I focus on the logical and physical design of private cloud IaaS environments — currently designing and building a national Nutanix infrastructure network centred on Prism Central and the AHV hypervisor, alongside deep specialisation in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery.
Outside of work you'll find me gaming — particularly MMO titles — running tabletop RPG campaigns as GM and player, or livestreaming on Twitch. I've channelled that passion into community leadership, co-founding and running major gaming fan sites over the years.
// CURRENT ROLE
Technology Architect
ark data centers
// ORIGIN
Derby, UK → Youngstown, Ohio
British-American dual citizen
// CAREER PROGRESSION
Tech Support → Network Ops → Sysadmin → Systems Engineering → Technology Architecture
// BEYOND THE TERMINAL
MMO gaming · Tabletop RPGs (GM & Player) · Twitch streaming · Fan-site editor
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
Specialising at the intersection of virtualisation, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise resilience engineering.
Designing and deploying private cloud IaaS environments across both Nutanix and VMware platforms. Architectural lead for logical and physical design of cloud platforms serving enterprise clients nationally.
Deep expertise across leading hypervisors — from bare-metal deployment to managing complex multi-tenant virtual infrastructure at enterprise scale, on both Nutanix AHV and VMware vSphere, including virtual networking and SDN.
Designing and deploying national DRaaS networks with tiered RPO/RTO service levels — with deep specialisation in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery architecture across both Nutanix and VMware platforms.
Engineering Python-based CLI tooling and REST API integrations to automate infrastructure workflows — including IAM role portability, RBAC governance, and post-replication VM metadata assignment across Nutanix environments.
Hands-on background progressing from data center operations through engineering to architecture — deep understanding of physical infrastructure layers across colocation and managed services environments.
Designed CMMC Level 2 compliance frameworks mapping NIST SP 800-171 controls to Nutanix platform capabilities. Security-conscious approach embedded across all architecture, IAM design, and infrastructure work.
CAREER HISTORY
Over 20 years across Managed IT and Internet Service Providers — always expanding architectural scope.
MAY 2025 – PRESENT
Technology Architect
ark data centers · Youngstown, Ohio
Providing strategic architectural direction for core cloud technologies across ark's national infrastructure footprint. Leading the design and rollout of a nationwide Nutanix AHV hyper-converged infrastructure solution — defining physical and logical design standards across multiple sites using Prism Central and the AHV hypervisor — alongside development of a tiered DRaaS product on Nutanix and associated Python-based automation tooling.
JUN 2023 – MAY 2025
Infrastructure Engineer
ark data centers · Youngstown, Ohio
Led the architectural design for the logical and physical elements of ark's private cloud IaaS environments. Delivered robust BCDR systems design and implementation — including deployment of a nationwide Zerto replication network with a customised central identity management solution, and a national-level Cloud Director Availability replication solution.
FEB 2022 – JUN 2023
System Analyst
ark data centers (formerly Involta) · Youngstown, Ohio
Administered and implemented MSP systems across internal and external client environments. Held primary responsibility for maintaining and deploying multiple nationwide VMware vSphere and Cloud Director implementations, together with their associated BCDR and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments — including Zerto Virtual Manager, Cloud Director Availability, and Horizon VDI.
FEB 2017 – FEB 2022
System Administrator
Involta · Youngstown, Ohio
Responsible for administration of MSP systems for Involta/ark clients, with primary duty of maintaining a national network of VMware vSphere and vCloud Director implementations and a secondary duty of administering associated backup infrastructures.
JUN 2015 – FEB 2017
NOC Specialist
Involta · Youngstown, Ohio
Operated within a 24/7 Network Operations team dedicated to monitoring and running national colocation and managed services data centers — covering computing, virtualisation, networking, and environmental systems.
APR 2011 – JUN 2015
Data Center Operations
DRS LLC (now Involta) · Youngstown, Ohio
A progressive four-role tenure spanning Operator through to Senior Operator, covering 24/7 NOC monitoring of colocation and managed services data centers. Built operational leadership skills through technical oversight, customer escalations, staff training, procedure documentation, and hardware installation co-ordination.
MAR 2006 – SEP 2010
Technical Support (1st & 2nd Line)
Griffin Internet · Derby, England, UK
Progressed from 1st Line to Partner Support Agent (2nd Line), providing comprehensive technical support across domain hosting, ADSL provisioning, mail hosting, and server maintenance. Second line responsibilities added managed server client support and 24hr on-call network operations duties.
JUL 2001 – MAR 2006
Technical Advisor
ClientLogic · Derby, England, UK
Multiskilled first-line technical support across BT Broadband and Narrowband campaigns, covering Windows and MacOS desktop support, ADSL router configuration, and network services. Developed internal training documentation for the department — an early indicator of the systems-thinking approach that has defined the career since.
CERTIFICATIONS & CREDENTIALS
Professional credentials across virtualisation, cloud, and resilience platforms — verifiable on Credly.
NCP – Multicloud Infrastructure 6
Nutanix
NCP – Multicloud Automation 6
Nutanix
VCP – Data Center Virtualization 2022
Broadcom / VMware
Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
Microsoft
ZCP: Enterprise Engineer (Zerto 9)
Zerto
Full Verified Badge Portfolio
PROJECTS
// PROFESSIONAL · LINKEDIN PULSE
A practical guide to secure internet passwords, born from a personal brush with account compromise. Covers the most common password hygiene mistakes and how to avoid them — written for a general audience.
Read on LinkedIn →// PROFESSIONAL · LINKEDIN PULSE
Originally a Network Abuse Team training document, adapted for public consumption. A deep-dive into how email headers reveal the true path of a message — invaluable for identifying spam and phishing.
Read on LinkedIn →// PERSONAL · COMMUNITY · 2010–ARCHIVED
Founded and led as Editor-in-Chief. MMO Central was a full media operation — website, social channels, and editorial team — dedicated to covering the Massively Multiplayer Online gaming genre.
View on Wayback Machine →// PERSONAL · COMMUNITY · 2009–ARCHIVED
The first fansite for NCSoft's WildStar Online, founded in 2009. At its peak it hosted forums, livestreaming, video and download directories — and was frequented by the game's own development team during beta.
View on Wayback Machine →// PERSONAL · LIVE STREAMING
For ongoing gaming content across MMO adventures, strategy titles, and tabletop RPG sessions — catch live streams and chat at twitch.tv/zaprobo.
Watch on Twitch →CONTACT
Whether you're exploring enterprise cloud solutions, have an architecture project in mind, or just want to connect — feel free to reach out directly.
// CURRENTLY OPEN TO
// LOCATION
Youngstown, Ohio, USA
Available for remote engagements globally. Open to in-person consultations in Greater Ohio / Northeast US.
// RESPONSE TIME
Professional enquiries: within 48 hours via email or LinkedIn. For gaming community matters, find me on Twitch or Bluesky.