Technical and security expert Dane Walker, cloud infrastructure manager at LanDynamix, has been recognised for his high-level skills and innovation at the first annual Fortinet SADC Regional Partner of the Year Awards.
Walker was named Fortinet SADC Technical Engineer of the Year at an awards ceremony in Johannesburg late last year.
“The award came as a bit of a surprise, but it’s a really cool award and very gratifying to be acknowledged in this way.
It has given me quite a bit of recognition in the industry, too,” says Walker.
Ethan Searle, LanDynamix technology adviser, says the company is not surprised that Walker won the award. “He is one of the most highly skilled and qualified technicians in the company, and everyone he engages with is impressed by his efficiency and expertise,” says Searle.
LanDynamix believes Walker received the accolade for his approach to innovating and pushing the boundaries of what is possible using Fortinet solutions, as well as for continually upskilling himself in the use of Fortinet technologies.
Walker has the distinction of holding the highest Fortinet Network Security Expert (NSE) certification in Africa — being at level 7 of the 8-level programme. He obtained his NSE7 in November 2016 on the back of several months of study and hands-on training. “It’s an excellent certification to have, and not only gives LanDynamix Fortinet Gold Partner Status (pdf), but also satisfies my need to stay ahead of the latest tools and techniques to mitigate security risks for our clients,” says Walker.
No security breaches
Walker, who has worked for LanDynamix since 2008, takes pride in the fact that the company’s managed security services clients have never suffered a security breach. “Security is a massive issue, and it’s becoming increasingly important,” he says. “We believe security will be the next ‘dot-com’ wave, and we are making sure that our team members are skilled and ready to handle it. It is with this backdrop that we have taken a strategic decision to establish a Security Operations Centre (SOC). We are in the early stages of rolling out our SOC, which will provide our customers with globally competitive levels of protection — essentially we want our customers businesses to be impenetrable to hackers. That’s our goal,” says Walker.