Gartner Expert

Aaron McQuaid

Sr Director Analyst

I am a Network Security Analyst. I provide advise and insight to clients in the following areas:

Network Firewalls

Macrosegmentation

Microsegmentation

Hybrid Cloud interconnection Design

Network Access Control

IDS/IPS

SSE

I also contribute to and write research notes related to Network Security topics.

Previous experience

I have worked at vendors (Cisco TAC 9 years), VARS (Eplus 2 years), large healthcare vendors (Allscripts 2 years), and Large Financials (Truist 2 years). Over my career I have moved from Customer Support Engineer, to Managed Service Engineer, to Principal Engineer, and finally Lead Enterprise Architect. With each move the scope of my responsibility increased and I grew closer to the nexus of technology and business. I went from how does the technology work to how does it enable the business function.

I hope to use this experience going forward at Gartner to help Gartner clients make the correct technology decisions in order to create optimal business outcomes.

Professional background

Allscripts, Principal Systems Engineer, 2 years

Eplus, Managed Services Engineer, 2 years

Truist Financial , Lead Enterprise Architect for Network Security, 2 years

Areas of coverage
  • Security Operations

  • Infrastructure Security

Education

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology - St. Mary's University of Minnesota

Masters of Engineering in Internetworking - Dalhousie University

Masters of Engineering Management - Duke University

Masters of Science in Information Security Engineering - SANS Institute

Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert - Security

Certified Information Systems Security Professional - CISSP

Certified Cloud Security Professional - CCSP

SANS/GIAC x 12

AWS X5

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Top Issues That I Help Clients Address

01

Network Security Architecture review

02

Network Security meets Network Engineering

03

Implementation and Operation of Network Security Solutions

04

How do I select network security products among multiple vendors?

05

Cloud Security and Network Interconnection Strategy