The Official Cyber Security Summit 2025 is where the industry’s most important Network Security aspects were discussed, and this year, Harika Rama Tulasi Karatapu takes the stage as a featured panel member alongside other CTOs and Principal Network Security Architects. Her presence is a testament to a career defined by securing the world’s most complex digital infrastructure and shaping policy for AI-powered cyber resilience.
Karatapu is no stranger to setting technical standards. She is one of the very few Network Engineers globally to hold dual Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert (JNCIE) credentials i.e. for both Data Center and Enterprise Routing. These credentials require multiple prerequisite exams and completing a six-hour practical lab that simulates complex real-world issues. She then bridged this deep traditional networking knowledge with advanced cloud strategy, earning her Professional Cloud Network Engineer (PCNE) and Professional Cloud Security Engineer (PCSE) certifications.
Born and raised in India, Karatapu built a global network engineering and cloud architecture career. At Juniper Networks in Sunnyvale, California, she managed critical routing and switching issues across enterprise networks. Her certification journey ran parallel to client deployments across Juniper’s EX, QFX, and MX hardware lines. She worked hands-on with BGP, OSPF, MPLS, and VPN, applying knowledge tested in the JNCIE exams.
These credentials led to more senior responsibilities and higher-impact roles.
From Traditional Networking to Enterprise Cloud
Since May 2022, Karatapu has been a Networking Subject Matter Expert at Google, starting in the region, the Bay Area, and Western States. She architects network solutions for strategic clients across North America and focuses on scalable, performant, cost-effective infrastructure that supports secure cloud adoption.
Her designs combine routing expertise with modern cloud tools. She helps clients connect legacy environments to cloud-native systems, ensuring uptime, compliance, and visibility across platforms.
Karatapu also contributed to internal Google tools that help SaaS clients understand cloud migration’s financial and operational impact. These models support business decisions and revenue planning. Her work connects technical decisions to performance metrics that matter for enterprise clients.
She focuses on AI-powered secure SaaS applications and multi-cloud environments. In 2025, she presented these solutions at an IEEE Cloud Community event, drawing from real-world use cases across health care, life sciences, and finance.
“Many founders understand how their application behaves. But the network infrastructure and Security are like the foundation! If the network fails, the whole system breaks. Compromised Network Security is the worst nightmare! I help build resilient, scalable and secure Environments for the applications” she says.
Thought Leadership with Technical Impact
As a certified traditional Networking Expert and Cloud professional, Karatapu leads Google for Startups as a technical mentor and helps the CTOs and founders team with the Networking and Security needs in accelerator programs.
Karatapu contributes to Google Cloud’s internal documentation, external Google Cloud Documentation, and engineering resources. She creates video explainers and leads technical briefings for internal teams and enterprise customers.
She is a highly sought-after speaker, having served as a panel member for “The Official Cyber Security Summit 2025 – Network Security Summit” on “Building Resilient Network Architectures: Securing Hybrid and IoT Ecosystems,” and delivered a keynote address at cloudX 2025 on “Zero Trust architecture using Private Service Connect.” She is also a part of panel speakers at other events, and Universities.
Her early work in India informs a global perspective. She brings operational experience, regulatory knowledge, and hands-on leadership to her role in enterprise architecture.
