Alan Rickels

About Alan Rickels

I’m a Principal Azure Architect focused on designing and delivering enterprise-scale cloud solutions that align technology strategy with real business outcomes. I help organizations modernize platforms, establish secure and scalable cloud foundations, and make confident architectural decisions in complex and regulated environments.My work spans Azure architecture across compute, storage, networking, identity, security, DevOps, and resilience, with deep experience in large-scale migrations, hybrid cloud, Azure landing zones, and application modernization. I regularly partner with executive stakeholders, engineers, and delivery teams to translate business requirements into practical, well-governed architectures that balance innovation, reliability, and operational excellence.As a trusted advisor and thought leader, I lead architecture workshops, technical deep dives, and design sessions while contributing to standards, best practices, and reusable frameworks that elevate delivery quality. I’m driven by building systems that scale, teams that are enabled, and cloud strategies that actually work long after the project ends.

Experience

1. Principal Architect Azure at Shi International Corp

   SHI International Corp.

   Oct 2025 — Present

   Serve as a lead architect and trusted advisor for enterprise Azure engagements, owning end-to-end solution architecture, technical governance, and successful delivery across complex cloud initiatives. Partner closely with customers, sales, and delivery teams to translate business and technical requirements into secure, scalable Azure architectures aligned with best practices and operational excellence. Lead workshops, assessments, and deep-dive design sessions across IaaS, PaaS, networking, identity, security, and DevOps, with a strong focus on large-scale migrations, hybrid cloud, Azure landing zones, and application modernization. Drive architectural risk mitigation, ensure delivery quality, and contribute to continuous improvement of methodologies, templates, and reusable frameworks. Actively support practice growth through thought leadership, enablement, and content development while staying current on Azure innovations to deliver a world-class professional services experience.

Education

• Ball State University - Miller College of Business

  BS, Marketing / Computer Science

  1993 — 1997

Skills

• Virtualization
• Vmware
• Vmware Esx
• Netapp
• Cloud Computing
• Data Center
• Linux
• San
• Itil V3 Foundations Certified
• Active Directory
• Network Security
• Windows Server
• Vsphere
• Microsoft Exchange
• Group Policy
• Networking
• Unix
• Computer Hardware
• Windows 7
• Servers
• System Administration
• Vmware Infrastructure
• Troubleshooting
• Aix
• Dns
• System Deployment
• Operating Systems
• Emc Storage
• Hyper-V
• Red Hat Linux
• Sharepoint
• Disaster Recovery
• Citrix
• Technical Support
• Infrastructure
• Cluster
• Storage
• Dhcp
• Itil
• Nas