My DIT Immersion Journey Part IV

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Almost at the final frontier of my journey to finish the immersion with my mentor and warm accolades of the staff comprising PLDT South Luzon Fixed Access and Transport Operation in the Bicol Region Field Force 5 Office.

This is a busy week because I got the chance to properly witness the management and operations and make a personal encounter with the confidential Domestic Fiber Optic Network (DFON).

Fig. 1 Hitting the road to Pasacao

I along with my colleague Sir Ian were very excited to go to Pasacao, Camarines Sur to visit one of their installation sites. We were lucky to get permission from Sir Rhomar our mentor to accompany them during inspection. Actually, taking pictures of the machineries and equipment is not allowed so we just feast our eyes on the magnificence of fiber optic transport and its complete package.

Fig. 2 Pasacao PLDT at the background

It was almost a 1 1/2 hr ride from the headquarters and I am personally excited to hit the road and take on another adventure and learning. The road to Pasacao is full of new things to explore because it is close to the mountain and on our left side is the ocean. We were on the service vehicle but I am imagining the ambiance would be great. There are lots of traffic ahead but we were manage to arrive on time.

Fig. 3 A great view, way ahead...

The guard opened the gate and we open the door of the vehicle and we saw the building where the DFON is installed. At first we thought we will not have a chance to see the equipment but a gesture from Sir Rhomar to follow him inside on a highly secured facility make my day.

Fig. 4 PLDT Pasacao near the beach

Inside was a big room full of wirings and fiber optic cables connected through layers of switches and relays. I am just stating generic impressions, other stuff are confidential so to summarize it all, it was awesome.

Fig. 5 Foodies and goodies, courtesy of PLDT friends

The next thing we knew is that we were already at the beach looking at the marvelous horizon thinking about the research that we need to do.

Fig. 6 Setting up the mood at the nearby beach

Days passed and I am still wondering how to finally start my research. Then it came as an idea but I now have the lead. Thanks for the experiences I learned from PLDT.

Fig. 7 Thanks PLDT for the experiences

I would like to personnally thank the management of PLDT SLFxATOP for giving me and my colleague this chance and opportunity to be able to work with them through observations and the pieces of advices we got from our dear mentor Mr. Rhomar Encanto.

My DIT Immersion Journey Part III

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Fig. 1 Making it easy on the road with Sir Ian

An exciting day for me and my partner Sir Ian as we start driving our way to PLDT Naga. It is indeed lucky for me since Sir Ian brought his finest car as our getaway vehicle. We can never hide our excitement as shown in picture on the right. We have itineraries that day and we came to make use of our time wisely to finish our target on schedule.

Fig. 2 Sir Rhomar giving lectures on Access Gateway and VLan

Many things happened that day worth the wait for our mentor to give us some background and how they handle day-to-day operations despite his busy schedule. This gives us idea about their work environment and significant insights on PLDT South Luzon Fixed Access and Transport operations. Personally, I was amazed on how Sir Rhomar managed to teach us and provide learning worth remembering such as discussions on access gateways and virtual LAN among others. His understanding of network management especially as applied in the field is surely amazing. I managed to understand some of his discussions but the theories taught at school has gap compared to what is really practiced in the field. I thought, this person is truly an embodiment of an experienced industry professional and this experience is an eye opener in the sense that I realized personal lapses as an educator that this gave me industry level experience I could impart to my students in the future. 

Fig. 3 Showing the NMS system to manage their operations

After discussing basic network principles and its interconnections, Sir Rhomar graced us with an opportunity to see how he use the Network Management System (NMS) to remotely control, manage, and access remote networks like routers, perform remote maintenance and troubleshooting and other important operations. He made mention about the importance of NMS in their day-to-day operations and that it provides certain authority to manage and control access privileges. The system is not suited for exploration especially for beginners since any mistake could spell disaster to their operations and that is a valid ground for dismissal. So, he said that in order to use the system make sure that you know what you do and be accountable for any actions you performed. There are many things I learned and this gave me an idea on what research direction I would like to benchmark as a start-up project. I would like to deal with customer complaints through managing ticketing resolution and fault escalation because this is their priority program of providing customer satisfaction.

We left the office late at night about 8:30pm if I am not mistaken. Full of hope that the next day and other days to come would give me more insights about customer complaints which I decided as the focus of my research. Sir Rhoman promised to show us more and gave us words of encouragement as we leave the PLDT office.

Fig. 4 Our good mentor Sir Rhomar (left) and his two star pupils (center and right)

This is yet another exciting day of my life as a DIT student working my way through finishing immersion. I hope the next few days would be abundantly productive as we are now ready to challenge ourselves.

My DIT Immersion Journey Part II

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This is the next episode of my journey, continuing the epic of my adventure towards achieving my Doctor in Information Technology.

It was 1:39PM April 26, 2017 when I received a message from Sir Ian. We got an approval from PLDT Naga City and Sir Ian was there discussing terms with Sir Rhomar Encanto the head of PLDT South Luzon Fixed Access and Transport Operation (SLFxATO). They talked about some of the operations being performed by his department called South Luzon Fixed Access and Transport Operations, a technical division of PLDT. According to Sir Ian my partner in the Immersion, in that meeting, he introduced the technical aspects of their jobs. This includes the area where they operate, the personnel's duties and functions, the physical equipment used and the network management system used in remote access of network and infrastructure deployed in the different parts of the country. Also, he made mention that Sir Rhomar will be out of Bicol Region this week to attend some important matter in Batangas.

Fig. 1 Sir Rhomar Encanto discussing PLDT Background and Operations as shared by Sir Ian

We will start our immersion shortly on May 8, 2017 and I am looking forward to learn and become familiarized with Telecommunication industry problems and hopefully find my way towards developing my very own research.

While I am waiting, I am attending to my personal life as a husband and a father to my children.

Fig. 2 Having fun with my family

The whole week is full of anticipation and excitement as I am looking forward for next week departure for Naga City for the Immersion scheduled by our very own mentor Sir Rhomar. I made efforts to look for journals and find direction relevant to the fields which I am interested such as Artificial Intelligence, Network Security, and Data Mining possibly making an application out of Telecommunication Company which I will be deployed.

Hoping that this coming week will be full of fruitful activities, new discoveries, inspiration, and finally working out requirements for the Immersion.

My DIT Immersion Journey Part I

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This is an exciting experience out of my comfort zone when summer time became one of the most stressful and adventurous time of my life. I am enrolled right now in Industry Immersion, a journey towards completing my Doctor in Information Technology in Technological Institute of the Philippines in Quezon City. This is my first blog sharing my own experiences since Dr. Ruji our Dean and immersion professor gave us details of our Industry Immersion.

One of the requirements is to look for a partner agency to establish industry experience and work out our research output while preparing for our Dissertation paper. It is very challenging especially for the first three weeks looking for an industry to work with. The first time I searched for partner industry, I am with two other colleague sir Larry and sir Ian. I thought this will be better since the more of us to look for an agency the more chances that we could find one and also that would help us with the budget since working our way in Manila is an expensive treat. First day we went to Department of Justice located in F. Paura since Sir Larry made an appointment already with Atty. Yu. We were very much welcomed and we were also given some interesting topics related to cybercrime such as determining pornography sites through a proposed image processing system. In fact, Atty. Yu is looking forward for us to work on the project, however we were advised to wait a while because our application will be processed first. We left DOJ wondering if they will approve our immersion.

Next stop, just a few blocks away from DOJ is the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). I ask them for us to try visiting the office because they also have a cybercrime division and also since we are there at the site already. I was excited to see if NBI would provide us a better venue for immersion. We went inside following strict protocols and security and we were able to speak with the Director. Unfortunately, based on his descriptions and explanations it would be difficult for us to fit in our agenda for immersion due to confidentiality issues. We left NBI office with a heavy heart.

It came as an idea that we try visiting the first agency we applied for even before the start of immersion enrolment, that is the DOST-ASTI located also in Quezon City. Sir Larry and Sir Ian got an email of appointment to meet with the head of research five days from that day. However, we all decided to visit and try our luck to meet-up ahead of time. So we go to ASTI near University of the Philippines and we were advised to wait for an hour or after their meeting ends. We finally met the Director through Madam Mylene Monton the Human Resource personnel. They gave us research ideas such as preventive maintenance through application of Artificial Neural Networks and others. We thought we were lucky since they said that we could use all their facilities including portal access to resources but made mention that they could not give us mentoring. Likewise, they gave us condition that we need to propose first before he including the higher-ups could decide if we will be accepted. It is a big gamble on our part since we are at present looking for possible proposal and the requirement for us in our immersion is to find a mentor which they will not provide. We end up having second thoughts whether to continue or make them a possible partner in the future.

However, a week passed by and we were not able to secure a signed acceptance letter since each partner agency needs to submit our letter to the higher ups so decision making will take some time while the other one needs our personal proposal before they agree to accept us. So we end up getting worked up the whole week while tearing up our budget each and everyday. The most significant thing that happened for that week is understanding how government agencies work and teach us a very valuable lesson that we will never forget. Since the three of us are working on a direction about cybercrime and security one of the agency that we opt for is the Cybercrime Division of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame Quezon City. However, after several days of waiting we got a message that we were not approved especially from the IT Forensic Experts themselves because they are afraid that we could compromise confidentiality affecting their operations.

After our week of searching in Metro Manila, we go back home sad and frustrated. Sir Ian suggested we have to try Plan C which means we have to look closer within the Bicol Region. I have to agree and believe that it would be the best way to end up since not only we are close to our families but also Naga which is located at the heart of the Bicol Region have different industry agencies particularly Telecommunication Company such as PLDT. I have no choice but to leave everything to my colleague Sir Ian to prepare our papers and make a personal contact with PLDT since I am sick for almost three days and Naga City is a two-hour ride from Daet, Camarines Norte where I am right now. I have had a loose bowel movement since I got home from Manila, I don't know where I get that maybe from eating at the nearby "turo-turo" restaurant in Cubao. I am really thankful for Sir Ian since he made efforts of taking care of my papers and all I have to do is to send my resume online.

This is the start of my personal journey towards my very first Industry Immersion experience. I am hoping that all the learning and experiences will help me grow and give me direction on the research area that I would like to pursue.