Principal Architect · Educator

Upanshu
Singhal

25+ years building systems that matter

From petabyte-scale data protection at Dell Technologies to AI-native cloud platforms — I architect, educate, and lead.

Cloud Architecture AI & GenAI Data Protection Storage Systems Training & Mentorship Tech Leadership
25+ Years in IT
100+ US Patents
16PB Data Protected
View My Experience Get In Touch
NAS / SAN AWS · Azure GenAI Agents Kubernetes OpenTelemetry Prompt Engineering
US
About Me

Architect. Inventor.
Educator.

I am a Principal Architect with over 25 years at the forefront of enterprise technology. My journey spans from writing compilers and DBMS components in the late 1990s to designing AI-driven cloud platforms that serve Fortune 500 companies today.

At Dell Technologies, I spent 25 years as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff — leading global teams of up to 100 engineers across India, USA, China, and Israel. I incubated solutions now protecting over 16 petabytes of enterprise data across 400+ customers, and hold 100+ US patents in data protection and storage technology.

Beyond architecture and engineering, I am passionate about education and knowledge transfer. Whether teaching cloud-native principles, generative AI, soft skills, or storage fundamentals — I believe great technology starts with great understanding. This site is my platform to share both.

Based In
Bangalore, India
Education
B.Tech, Computer Science
Rohilkhand University
Certifications
Scrum Master & PO · Cloud Native Architecture · IIM Bangalore Leadership · Python – U of Michigan
Career Span
1996 → Present
Softek → Legato → EMC → Dell → Cohesity
Domains
Storage · Data Protection · Cloud · AI/ML · Software Architecture
Knowledge Hub

Mentorship & Education

I believe the best technology leaders are also great mentors. Here's what I can mentor on — from foundational concepts to cutting-edge AI.

What I Can Mentor

🧠
Soft Skills & Leadership
Communication · Time Management · Career Development · Problem Solving · Interpersonal Skills · Stress Management
⚙️
Software Development
SDLC Top-to-Bottom · Agile & Waterfall · Software Architecture · High & Low Level Design · Innovation Process
💾
Storage & Data Protection
Disk to Enterprise Arrays · Block · NAS · Object Storage · Backup & Recovery · Cyber Protection
☁️
Cloud & Virtualization
Cloud Native Architecture · Microservices · Containers · Kubernetes · Hypervisors · AWS Fundamentals
🤖
Generative AI
Introduction to GenAI · Prompt Engineering · GenAI Agents · Neural Network Layers · Embeddings · Attention Mechanism
🔬
Deep Tech
Feedforward Layers · Embedding Layer · Attention Mechanism · Fundamentals of Prompt Engineering · AWS Deep Dive

How I Deliver

Live Workshops
Occasional live sessions on cloud architecture, AI, and engineering fundamentals.
Video Courses
Self-paced recorded modules available on this platform — watch anytime, anywhere.
Webinars & Talks
Live online sessions with Q&A — subscribe to be notified of upcoming events.
1:1 Mentorship
Happy to chat with engineers looking to grow — career, architecture skills, or leadership.
Featured Content
Video tutorials, webinar recordings, and educational sessions — more being added regularly.
Coming Soon
Generative AI
Introduction to GenAI — What It Is & Why It Matters
Module 1 · ~45 min
Coming Soon
Cloud Architecture
AWS Fundamentals for Architects — From Zero to Cloud-Native
Module 1 · ~60 min
Coming Soon
Data Storage
Storage Demystified — From a Disk to Petabyte Arrays
Module 1 · ~50 min
Video library launching soon. Subscribe via email or follow on LinkedIn to be notified when new modules drop. All modules will be free.
Resources

Documents & Guides

Downloadable resources, guides, and reference documents to help you learn and decide faster.

🗺️
PDF · Architecture
Cloud-Native Architecture Primer
A beginner-friendly guide to microservices, containers, Kubernetes, and cloud-native design patterns. Coming soon.
→
🤖
PDF · AI
Prompt Engineering Fundamentals
A practical reference guide to writing effective prompts — for engineers, product managers, and business users. Coming soon.
→
💾
PDF · Storage
Enterprise Data Protection — A Field Guide
The fundamentals of backup, replication, snapshots, and disaster recovery — distilled from 25 years of hands-on experience. Coming soon.
→
📈
Template · Leadership
Engineering Team Health Checklist
A practical checklist for engineering managers to assess team health, culture, process maturity, and technical practices. Coming soon.
→
🔗
External · LinkedIn
LinkedIn Profile & Articles
Follow me on LinkedIn for articles, opinions, and updates on cloud architecture, AI integration, and technology leadership.
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Career

25+ Years of Building

A journey from writing compilers in New Delhi to architecting AI systems for Fortune 500 enterprises globally.

Cohesity
2026–Present
Rapyder
2025–2026
Dell Technologies
2009–2024
EMC / Dell Technologies
2003–2009
Legato Systems
1999–2003
Softek
1996–1999
August 2026 — Present
Staff Engineer
Cohesity · Performance Engineering, Data Protection
May 2025 — March 2026
Principal Consultant
Rapyder Cloud Solutions · Bangalore
  • Architected an intelligent multi-cloud governance platform providing AI-driven cost visibility and operational insights across AWS and Azure.
  • Built and led a team of 10 engineers for AI product development, customer POC demos, and internal automation tooling.
  • Designed AI-based document processing pipelines for Healthcare, Insurance, and BFSI — enabling intelligent extraction and workflow automation.
  • Developed Python-based AI automation scripts and data processing pipelines hands-on alongside architecture responsibilities.
AWSAzureGenAIPythonTeam Leadership
2009 — 2024
Distinguished Technical Staff — Architect
Dell Technologies · Data Protection & Storage

Spent 15 years at Dell Technologies architecting its data protection portfolio end-to-end — starting with unified Microsoft application and hypervisor protection (Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, VMware, Hyper-V) that cut protection time by 50% and grew to 3,000+ customers and $120M+ in revenue, including the data protection backbone for Government of India's UIDAI (Aadhaar) system. Later moved deeper into storage, incubating NAS and block-level data protection built on cloud-native principles, protecting 16PB+ of data for 400+ enterprise customers, and building an OpenTelemetry-based observability layer for real-time performance diagnostics. Along the way, filed 20+ patents and led global engineering teams of up to 100 engineers across India, USA, China, and Israel.

VMwareHyper-VNASBlock StorageOpenTelemetryCloud NativePatents$120M+ RevenueGlobal Teams
2003 — 2009 · Seattle, USA
Principal Engineer
EMC / Dell Technologies
  • Designed application-aware and storage-aware data protection for enterprise applications.
  • Designed and built snapshot-based disaster recovery solutions.
Disaster RecoverySnapshotsEnterprise Apps
1999 — 2003
Senior Engineer
Legato Systems (acquired by EMC in 2003)
  • Developed snapshot-based bare metal disaster recovery for Windows and Unix platforms.
WindowsUnixBare Metal Recovery
1996 — 1999 · New Delhi
Associate Software Engineer
Softek Limited
  • Developed compiler, IDE, and DBMS components in C/C++ — the foundation of a lifetime in engineering.
C/C++Compiler DesignDBMS
Recognition

Awards & Milestones

A few highlights from 25+ years of building, inventing, and leading.

Inventor
100+
US Patents
Over 100 US patents in Data Protection and Data Storage Technology — one of the most prolific inventors in the enterprise storage space.
Dell Technologies
DMTS
Distinguished Member of Technical Staff
The highest individual contributor recognition at Dell — awarded to engineers who demonstrate exceptional technical leadership and sustained innovation.
2012
★ PoY
Product of the Year
Data Protection solution built for UIDAI Aadhaar — India's national identity platform — awarded Product of the Year for its scale and national impact.
Zinnov 2015
TRM
Technical Role Model
Recognised by Zinnov as a Technical Role Model for excellence in engineering leadership, mentoring, and industry-wide technical innovation.
2017
🏆
Smart India Hackathon Winner
Winner at India's largest open innovation platform — solving real government challenges as part of a national-level competition.
Revenue Impact
$120M+
Products Delivered
Products architected and shipped under my leadership generated over $120M in revenue across 3,000+ enterprise customers over five years.
The Human Behind The Architecture

Beyond The Resume

A few things about me that don't fit neatly in a LinkedIn profile.

🌏
Global Citizen Led teams across 4 countries — India, USA, China & Israel. Lived and worked in Seattle for 5 years. Believe diversity of thought makes better engineers.
📚
Lifelong Learner Completed Python certifications from University of Michigan in 2025 — still learning at 25+ years into a career because curiosity never retires.
💡
Accidental Inventor 100+ patents sounds planned — it wasn't. Each one started as a "what if" conversation. Innovation is just curiosity with follow-through.
🏛️
Government Scale Architected the data protection backbone for Aadhaar — India's identity system for 1.4 billion people. The biggest "user base" project of my career.
🎯
Hackathon Veteran Won Smart India Hackathon 2017 — proving that 20-year career veterans can still code fast and think fresh under pressure.
🎓
Teacher at Heart I get more satisfaction from watching an engineer "get it" in a workshop than from any architecture diagram I've ever drawn. Teaching is the real multiplier.
🔐
Data Whisperer 16 petabytes of enterprise data protected. If all that data were books, it would fill 8 million Libraries of Congress. Reliability is not optional at that scale.
☕
Bangalore Local Based in Bangalore — India's Silicon Valley. Available for coffee meetings, whiteboard sessions, or a good debate about whether Kubernetes is over-engineered.
Outside The Architecture

Articles, Travel & More

A few things I write and do when I'm not designing systems.

Articles
Travel
Photos
Stand-Up Comedy
Not a Wrapper — Here's What I Actually Built
DocMind Series · Post 2 of 4 · August 2026
Not a Wrapper — Here's What I Actually Built
The arguments I had with my AI coding assistant, and the one framework I refused to use.
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 The Builder's Mindset
DocMind Series · Post 1 of 4 · June 2026
The Builder's Mindset
The difference between a demo and a production system isn't the code — it's the thinking before the code. How I build: alone, with AI, and years of instinct.
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 The Backup Catalog: The One File Ransomware Wants Most
Cyber Resiliency Series · Part 2 · June 2026
The Backup Catalog: The One File Ransomware Wants Most
Your backup jobs showed green last night — every single one. So why would a ransomware attack still leave you unable to recover a single file? Because it didn't touch your backups. It took something smaller, and far more important.
↗
 Why Cyber Resiliency Is the New Backup
Cyber Resiliency Series · Part 1 · May 2026
Why Cyber Resiliency Is the New Backup
Backup working is not the same as recovery working. Cyber resiliency isn't a rebrand of backup — it's a different architecture entirely.
↗

Travel stories coming soon.

Photos coming soon.

Stand-up clips coming soon.

Get In Touch

Get In Touch

Happy to connect, talk shop, or just say hello — reach out through whichever works best for you.

✉
upanshu@upanshu.com
Email · Best way to reach me
in
linkedin.com/in/upanshu
LinkedIn · Connect & follow
☎
+91 99002 30622
Phone · Bangalore, India (IST)