Network Switching Systems
Implemented voice, wireless, and circuit-switched networks in strategic and tactical environments. Foundation of every cleared role since.
U.S. Army Veteran · Disabled Veteran · CCIE (DC) #49023 · Active TS/SCI
H. Luis Garcia.
Cloud & AI Solutions Engineer.
20+ years architecting and selling mission-critical infrastructure for the U.S. federal government and Defense Industrial Base. I translate complex business requirements into AI/HPC and data center architectures that win deals and ship.
01.
About
Philly native, Army veteran, and presales Solutions Engineer based in Ashburn, Virginia. My work sits at the intersection of federal mission owners, defense industry primes, and frontier infrastructure: the AI/HPC fabrics, Cisco UCS compute, VXLAN/ACI, and hybrid-cloud systems that make modern workloads possible inside cleared environments.
Current focus is AI infrastructure for the Defense Industrial Base. That means designing 400/800Gbps AI/HPC Ethernet fabrics, advising customer teams from engineer to C-suite, and translating ambiguous business problems into architectures that actually get bought and built.
02.
Proof points
0
+
years in federal & DIB
Cisco, General Dynamics, ITT, U.S. Army
0
:1
pipeline-to-gap coverage
FY25 DIB segment at Cisco
0
G
AI/HPC Ethernet fabric
Top-prime competitive win, < 1 mo onboarding
Largest in Cisco history
Key architect on the largest ACI purchase Cisco has ever booked
Partnered with sales as the technical anchor on the deal.
Non-substitutable
Active TS/SCI
Continuously cleared. Native to the DMV federal ecosystem.
Recognized
FBI Director's Award nominee
For large-scale ACI network design in support of the FBI mission.
03.
Journey
The Architect's Odyssey, from tactical comms to AI frontiers. Tap any pulsing marker to open that stop's window below.
Network Operations Lead
Expanded satellite IP network infrastructure and trained engineers in support of MND-Iraq. Where the belief in the mission was forged.
Network Engineer
Delivered a mission-critical 10-gigabit backbone and data center environment supporting HQ U.S. Army Europe.
Network Consulting Engineer
Architecture and engineering on the largest, most critical projects essential to federal agency missions. Consulted senior customer leadership on major architectural plans.
Chief Solutions Architect
Owned stability and performance of hybrid cloud and infrastructure for a federal customer. Presales and postsales end to end: requirements, roadmaps, whiteboards, demos, BOMs.
Network Architect — Federal
Architected and stewarded a large-scale ACI network in support of the FBI mission. Earned Cisco's Extraordinary Together Award; nominated for the FBI Director's Award. Trusted advisor across the full presales-to-postsales lifecycle.
Cloud & AI Solutions Engineer
Built a 21.8:1 pipeline-to-gap coverage ratio across DIB accounts. Led a competitive 400/800Gbps AI/HPC Ethernet fabric win at a top defense prime within one month of starting the role. Designed AI/HPC/RoCEv2 fabric architectures positioning Cisco as foundational infrastructure for cleared AI workloads.
04.
Values
Three things sit underneath every account I touch and every deal I work. Forged in the Army, sharpened across two decades of federal and defense work.
01
Foster relationships
Reputation is the moat. Everything else is a feature.
A great reputation is what builds trusting relationships. Customers, partners, account teams, business units. The relationship is the asset that compounds across deals, across roles, across decades.
02
Competition
Striving to be the best is the ultimate motivator.
I want the hardest deals, the most complex fabrics, the highest-stakes mission. The bar I measure myself against is whether I am pushing the team forward, not just keeping up.
03
Commitment
I will not let the customer down.
My belief in the mission means I use our products and my expertise as instruments of that mission. Not as line items in a quota. Customers feel the difference, and so do partners.
05.
Two truths and a lie
Three statements below. Two actually happened. One didn't. Click the card you think is the lie.
I keep the answer for live conversations. Lock in your guess, then come ask me in person.
Locked in
Your guess is logged. The answer waits for a real conversation.
I save the reveal for in-person and live calls. If you want to find out whether you nailed it (and trade your own two-truths-and-a-lie back), the fastest way is email.
06.
Skills
AI & HPC
- GPU networking
- RoCEv2
- 400/800G AI fabric
- AI RDMA QoS/DLB
- NVIDIA ecosystem
- HPC design
Data Center
- Nexus / NX-OS
- ACI / APIC
- VXLAN / EVPN
- Nexus Dashboard
Compute & Storage
- Cisco UCS (UCS-X)
- Intersight
- SAN / MDS
- Fibre Channel
- Virtualization
Cloud & Hybrid
- Public / private / hybrid
- VMware NSX
- Nutanix
- VDI
Automation
- Python
- NX-API
- REST APIs
- Terraform
- Kubernetes
- Claude Code agents
Security
- TS/SCI environments
- Secure Workload
- Microsegmentation
- Hypershield
Routing & Switching
- BGP
- OSPF
- vPC / MLAG
- QoS
- Load balancing
Presales
- Solution architecture
- BOM development
- Demo-led selling
- Account planning
07.
Recognition
- ★
Competitive HPC fabric win at top defense prime
Secured the 400/800Gbps AI/HPC Ethernet fabric within one month of starting in the SE role.
- ★
Cisco Extraordinary Together Award
Design and stewardship of a large-scale ACI network in support of the FBI mission.
- ★
FY25 Q4 Extended Team of the Quarter
Defense Industrial Base segment, Cisco Systems.
- ★
FBI Director's Award nominee
For ACI network design in support of the FBI mission.
08.
Get in touch
The fastest way to reach me is email. I'm currently exploring AI Infrastructure SE and federal-cleared SE roles. Remote-US or DMV-hybrid.