Aviatrix wants to elevate the work of cloud networking heroes who labor to keep networks secure, effective, and performant. We’re proud to highlight people who have taught themselves the necessary skills, designed and managed successful networks, and have the expertise to share.
Our next hero spotlight is on Naveen Vasantha Kumar, Cloud and DevOps Architect. See our previous hero spotlights here.
Background: From Satellite Transmissions Engineer to DevOps Architect
Naveen’s journey in networking began with his studies in Electronics and Communication engineering. “I was always very interested in topics like computer networks, computer architectures, and signals & systems. I always wanted to create my career based on communication systems, and network technologies, and that's when I began as a satellite transmission engineer (trainee) in a Network Operations Center (NOC),” he said.
He worked with large-scale networking systems, managing and maintaining server racks, configuring networking devices, and observing high-bandwidth fiber optic connections for data transmission. In conjunction with many MUX/DEMUX systems, he maximized use of satellite communication links (effective signal distribution with minimal data loss).
After his first role, Naveen made a “large leap” in the IT industry, working as a Production Support Engineer in an MNC for a US telecom company. He patched and maintained on-prem servers, monitored application uptime, debugged issues, and automated CI/CD pipelines.
“As the years went by, I progressed further into cloud DevOps until I moved into a DevOps Architect position,” he said. “For the last seven years I have been working on governance and securing cloud infrastructures, focused on data and infrastructure migration, cost optimization, and DevSecOps.” Naveen has focused on automating cloud networking, security best practices at every layer and optimizing infrastructure for performance and cost. He leads migration and BCDR (Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery) efforts, plan architecture, automation, and securing processes and data.
The Evolution of Networking and the Next Ten Years
Naveen has watched networking go through phenomenal growth and change during his career. “When I first started as a satellite transmission engineer trainee, networking was tied closely to physical infrastructure—server racks, network cables, and fiber optics. The main purpose of networking was to create and deliver stable, high throughput connections across a wide distance for satellites,” he said. “I spent lots of time configuring MUX/DEMUX systems to manage bandwidth for satellite communications and optimize the use of the limited bandwidth. There were many concerns when working with both satellite and terrestrial networks, especially regarding managing signal quality, latency and the reliability of the comms channels.”
As he shifted to the DevOps space, he experienced the shift to software-defined networks and then cloud computing. SDN took networking out of the hardware. Now, teams could provision, manage, and scale a network using code and automation. Cloud providers like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud changed the way everyone thought about networking. This cloud environment enabled businesses to be more agile because networking could be spun up or changed with just a few commands. In the upcoming decade, Naveen anticipates:
AI playing a significant role – “AI responsive analytics will yield real-time understanding of network traffic and support the automation of connections and bandwidth allocation."
Increasing integration of AI and security – “Edge computing will stretch the limits of low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity and there will be a heightened need for intelligent, self-healing networks. One of these advancements would be the continuous inclusion of AI with security capabilities, which would allow proactive threat detection, automated security policy, and engagement of threat routing in preventing an attack. This would lead to low-latency networks that are seamlessly adaptive and can dynamically scale as required to meet the demands of next-generation applications such as AI, IoT, and 5G networks.”
More integrated, multicloud networking – “Businesses will seek seamless connectivity between multiple providers for proper business continuity.”
Encryption improvements – “I expect to see new implementations of faster, more efficient encryption protocols in the future to account for the increasing size of data and guarantee privacy and data integrity.”
Cloud Network Security: Securing Every Layer of the Network
Naveen discussed how the shift from on-premises networking to the cloud has changed security conversations. “Cloud-based security requires a more layered and continuous security mindset,” he explained. “One of the underlying reasons for the heightened focus on security in the cloud is the paradigm of shared responsibility. In the on-premises world, companies had strict control of the entire infrastructure, and were thus responsible for every aspect of security. In the cloud, service providers are responsible for certain layers of security ("some physical security features" and large portions of the "the infrastructure") while companies are responsible for securing the rest; which can cover basic applications to the data. Most organizations have quickly became more aware of the complexity of strong security controls - which can include encryption, identity access management (IAM), and network segmentation to secure their assets.”
The cloud has also changed security conversations because it enables organizations to scale rapidly, increasing their attack surfaces. “As more services, applications, and data are exposed in the cloud, there are more chances for vulnerabilities to be exploited if security is not tightly integrated into the architecture,” Naveen said. “This is precisely why I am more often involved in embedding security practices in the DevOps lifecycle and to think of security as more than a phase, but rather a practice from development through to deployment. Automated security testing, continuous vulnerability scans, and policy enforcement in the CI/CD pipeline all can help identify risks sooner in the process and ensure compliance with security standards.”
Outside of Work
Outside of work, Naveen enjoys traveling and learning about other cultures, especially through their food. “To me, discovering new meals and tastes is what makes travel memorable,” he said. He also enjoys working out.
"When I cannot I am as active or busy in the world I like to get into the newest tech, whether that be reading about the newest developments in DevOps or setting up a new piece of hardware,” he said.
Naveen also enjoys unwinding through MOBA and open-world games. “To me, gaming has been a reasonable balance of staying engaged, while entertaining myself,” he said.
Curious about other cloud networking heroes like Naveen?
We’ll keep highlighting networking professionals on this blog.
Learn more about the Cloud Networking Heroes program on The Cloud Network Community.
