Helping smart people achieve amazing outcomes

The image shows a plot with a black background at the top and a white background at the bottom, separated by a diagonal line. The bottom section contains multiple yellow horizontal lines of varying lengths and spacings.
The image shows a plot with a black background at the top and a white background at the bottom, separated by a diagonal line. The bottom section contains multiple yellow horizontal lines of varying lengths and spacings.
Close-up view of mounted LED screens or digital displays connected with cables, experienced business network solutions Auckland New Zealand
Close-up view of mounted LED screens or digital displays connected with cables, experienced business network solutions Auckland New Zealand

Grounded in experience

We started because good organisations kept getting stuck: sold something they didn't need, locked into a vendor relationship that had stopped serving them, or without the in-house depth to make a hard decision with confidence.

We built Searchlight to sit on the other side of that problem, being independent, technically deep, the trusted partner, and willing to say the unpopular thing if it's the right one.

That founding idea came out of deep roots in telco and ISP networking, and it still shapes how we work today. A decade on, we're still the same kind of business, distributed across New Zealand, technically deep, and answerable to our clients rather than to a vendor's sales target.

TELCO & MOBILE NETWORK OPERATORS

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ISPs

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CRITICAL NETWORK OPERATORS

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TELCO & MOBILE NETWORK OPERATORS ⁕ ISPs ⁕ CRITICAL NETWORK OPERATORS ⁕

Who we work with:

OUR APPROACH

We start by asking questions, not by proposing answers.

Many engagements begin with something that looks like a technology problem and turns out to be something else, an unclear requirement, a vendor relationship past its use-by date, a decision nobody's had the standing or independence to make. Getting underneath that first is what makes the rest of the work fit.

A close-up of server racks in a data center, Enterprise Network Architecture & Managed Infrastructure experts, Auckland New Zealand

From there, our approach is deliberately unglamorous: independent advice, technical depth that doesn't get outsourced the moment things get hard, and a bias towards telling clients what they need to hear over what's easiest to say.

We work embedded or at arm's length depending on what's useful; some engagements are a few hours of architectural sanity-checking, others are multi-year relationships where we're effectively part of the team. Either way, the same standard applies: would we be comfortable if the client could see exactly how we arrived at this recommendation? If the answer's yes, we've done our job properly.

Close-up of server cables, Designing, Delivering and Operating Mission-Critical Networks

Meet our team

Our team is made up of people who've actually done this, not those who've read about it. Everyone on the Searchlight team has carried a pager, been on the call when something's on fire at 3am, and made the judgement calls that only come from having been burned once or twice. That's not a nice-to-have for us; it's the whole point. When we tell a client what we'd do in their position, it's because we've been in it.

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Nathan - founder and principal consultant at Searchlight, a smiling man with glasses, a beard, wearing a black jacket and a white shirt, standing against a white background.
Nathan - founder and principal consultant at Searchlight, a smiling man with glasses, a beard, wearing a black jacket and a white shirt, standing against a white background.

Nathan

FOUNDER / PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

  • Nathan has been working in the Internet industry for over 25 years, in New Zealand and around the world, on networks from the smallest to the largest and most critical. In that time he's been involved in many parts of the Internet community, including as part of the NZNOG team, IETF standards work, and leading IPv6 deployment. He has a "full stack" mix of skills, across Networking, Systems, Infrastructure, Security, and Software Engineering and is equally at home stepping back to understand the "why" when developing an enduring solution, as he is deep in the details resolving faults quickly under pressure.

    Nathan is based in Auckland, and enjoys cooking, coffee, and making things out of wood.

Neil, CEO and principal consultant at Searchlight, experienced Critical Network Infrastructure, a smiling man with glasses, a beard, and short hair wearing a gray hoodie with a peace sign patch, standing against a plain background.
Neil, CEO and principal consultant at Searchlight, experienced Critical Network Infrastructure, a smiling man with glasses, a beard, and short hair wearing a gray hoodie with a peace sign patch, standing against a plain background.

Neil

CHIEF EXECUTIVE / PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

  • Neil brings 25+ years' experience spanning hands-on network engineering to executive leadership, from mid-90s ISP roots through to critical national networks. He's known for a question-led approach to strategy, architecture, and security: getting to the real problem before proposing the fix.

    Based in Lower Hutt, he spends downtime working on the lifestyle block, mechanical watches, and motorsport.

Steve, founder and principal consultant at Searchlight – Auckland's leading IT networking consultancy, a smiling man with short hair, wearing a navy blue shirt, standing against a plain white background.
Steve, founder and principal consultant at Searchlight – Auckland's leading IT networking consultancy, a smiling man with short hair, wearing a navy blue shirt, standing against a plain white background.

Steve

FOUNDER / PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

  • Steve has spent 25+ years moving from hands-on network engineering into co founding Searchlight, starting out at ISPs and carriers in the early 2000s and going on to design mobile, broadband, and international backbone networks across New Zealand, Asia-Pacific and the UK. His approach centres on finding the actual bottleneck before reaching for a fix, helping ISPs, carriers and telcos with strategy, network architecture and security.

    Based in Auckland, he spends his spare time raising two young boys, tinkering with Arduino projects, and tramping.

Stuart, founder and principal consultant at Searchlight - New Zealand's leading Business network consulting, man with short, brown hair, smiling and wearing a button-up shirt against a plain white background.
Stuart, founder and principal consultant at Searchlight - New Zealand's leading Business network consulting, man with short, brown hair, smiling and wearing a button-up shirt against a plain white background.

Stuart

FOUNDER / PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

  • Stuart started his career in electronic component level design and repair progressing through industrial automation and control to field service before falling in love with networking around 30 years ago. He now specialises in Data Centre design, migration and security work. As a joint founder of Searchlight he finds himself in the enviable position of working in a job he loves with people who are both friends and colleagues. 

    Outside of work Stuart enjoys Aikido, gym work and reading.

Dave, senior consultant at Searchlight, digital infrastructure specialists in Auckland, a man with glasses, short brown hair, and a beard, wearing a green shirt, smiling against a plain white background.
Dave, senior consultant at Searchlight, digital infrastructure specialists in Auckland, a man with glasses, short brown hair, and a beard, wearing a green shirt, smiling against a plain white background.

Dave

SENIOR CONSULTANT

  • Dave brings over 25 years of experience in the internet and networking industry. He has built, operated, and expanded Internet Service Providers and has been instrumental in developing and running local Internet Exchanges in New Zealand. He brings a wealth of networking expertise, combined with a practical, common-sense approach to delivering the outcomes an organisation needs.

    Dave moved to Palmerston North for university three decades ago and somehow forgot to leave. Outside of work, he enjoys playing poker at a competitive level, spending time with his family, and occasionally playing computer games.

Rebekah, finance administrator at Searchlight - Enterprise network solutions NZ, woman with curly brown hair smiling at the camera against a plain white background, wearing a white T-shirt with a floral design.
Rebekah, finance administrator at Searchlight - Enterprise network solutions NZ, woman with curly brown hair smiling at the camera against a plain white background, wearing a white T-shirt with a floral design.

Rebekah

FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR

  • Rebekah brings a diverse background backed by a decade of experience optimising workflow and administration at an accounting firm, where she developed a keen attention to detail. She also spent 2 years of dedicated work as a passionate dental assistant. After taking intentional time away from her career to raise her family, she successfully returned to the workforce to join the team at NZNOG to drive administrative efficiency and support the tech community.

    Based in Palmerston North, Bekah remains a staunch, hardcore supporter of Taranaki rugby. When she isn’t cheering on her home region, she spends her time ferrying her three children to various activities, spending most weekends supporting from the football sideline.

Richard, OpenLI Consultant at Searchlight - Infrastructure lifecycle management Auckland New Zealand, smiling man with glasses, wearing a plaid shirt, posed against a plain white background.
Richard, OpenLI Consultant at Searchlight - Infrastructure lifecycle management Auckland New Zealand, smiling man with glasses, wearing a plaid shirt, posed against a plain white background.

Richard

OPENLI CONSULTANT

  • Richard brings three decades of network research and engineering experience, bridging the gap between deep academic theory and real-world telecommunications. His experience spans leadership of major network research projects, teams developing practical, open-source solutions and advising government and global providers.

    Based in Christchurch, he’s now focused on building OpenLI into a sustainable, global standard for open-source lawful interception.

    Outside of work, Richard keeps busy with outdoor sports, flying RC aircraft and drones, and avid reading.

Shane, Senior Software Developer at Searchlight, Resilient network architecture Auckland New Zealand, man with curly hair, glasses, and a beard, wearing a maroon shirt, against a white background.
Shane, Senior Software Developer at Searchlight, Resilient network architecture Auckland New Zealand, man with curly hair, glasses, and a beard, wearing a maroon shirt, against a white background.

Shane

SENIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

  • Shane is a software developer with over 20 years' of experience in building systems to measure and understand Internet traffic. Shane was a research programmer for the WAND Network Research group, where he created (among other things) OpenLI — the world's only open-source implementation of the ETSI standards for Lawful Interception. 

    Shane joined Searchlight in 2023 to continue his work in maintaining and extending OpenLI to meet the needs of network operators around the world.  

    When he is not coding, Shane likes to take his border collies on long walks, play old PC games, and keep an eye on cricket and the NRL.

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Got a network problem?

Got a network problem you're not sure how to describe yet? That's usually a good place to start. Get in touch and tell us what's not working, or what you're not sure is right; we'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and what that would actually look like.

GET IN TOUCH