Kamal Taynaz is a senior systems engineer working for the EMT group, a part of the IT department. He joined Carnegie Mellon in January 2008 as a user support specialist. During his time at CMU-Q, Taynaz has been part of several major IT projects, including the move from the LAS building to the new building. Upon joining CMU-Q, he was part of the service desk team, and worked in the areas of desktop deployment, software packaging, and new staff and faculty orientation.

Diploma, Computer Support Specialist, The College of the North Atlantic Qatar

Client and mobile management

Endpoint Backup and Protection

Apple products

Learning Management Systems

WordPress

Taynaz has a keen interest in learning new skills, including Unix, Blackboard and Mac. In 2009, he became point on Blackboard support and was certified as Blackboard Server Administrator (Unix) and Blackboard GUI Administrator. Since then, Taynaz has taken care of the support, management and administration of most aspects of the Blackboard service in Qatar.

In 2010, Taynaz introduced the Mac platform to CMU-Q. This was a joint effort between IT and the MPR group, to fulfill a need for a computing platform that can leverage the power of Final Cut Pro, and be in line with peers on main campus.  The Mac support has expanded to teaching, including a Mac computing lab, and to the library. Over a third of our faculty are now Mac users, as well as becoming the dominant platform amongst our students. The Macintosh infrastructure at CMU-Q is based on the Casper Suite by JAMF Software, in which Taynaz holds several certifications (CCA, CMA, CJA and CCE).

In 2012, Taynaz pioneered the introduction of CrashPlan PRO to Carnegie Mellon. This was a first for the IT department to lead an effort in which main campus would then follow. CrashPlan is a client backup system responsible for keeping files on IT-provided computers protected.