Laugh out Loud (LOL) with one of today's most popular touring comedians, Jim Gaffigan, at the VoiceCon Official After-Hours Party, sponsored by Siemens Communications. You'll likely recognize Jim from his highly rated one-hour Comedy Central special, Beyong the Pale, as well as TV shows such as FOX's That 70's Show, HBO's Sex and the City, and NBC's Ed, Third Watch, and Law and Order, and guest appearances on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman, and NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Jim can currently be seen on TBS's My Boys. Come share in a laugh-out-loud good time with Siemens Communications!
There's been a lot of concern about voice over IP security, but have there been many actual exploits? This session will inform you about the state of VOIP security. You'll learn about generalized IP attacks that have affected IP telephony systems deployed on IP networks, and you'll also find out what VOIP-specific attacks have actually been observed "in the wild"--and what to expect in the future. KEY QUESTIONS: * What are the most serious voice-oriented attacks that are actually being carried out? What potential attacks haven't occurred yet but probably will before long? * How do you protect your VOIP systems against these attacks? * What types of equipment and technologies must you implement to stop voice-oriented attacks? * What specific kinds of damage can these attacks cause?
Mark Collier is CTO of SecureLogix Corporation, an enterprise telephony management and security company. Mr. Collier is responsible for technology research, development, and related intellectual property, including a special focus on VoIP security solutions. In addition to his corporate R&D work, he has completed publicly-funded research into current and future threats to VoIP systems, protocols, and application services. Mr. Collier is a frequently-quoted author and presenter on the topic of voice and VoIP security, and has co-authored a book on VoIP security for McGraw-Hill's popular "Hacking Exposed" IT security series. Mr. Collier is a founding member of the VoIP Security Alliance (www.voipsa.com), an industry group focused on VoIP security education.
Panelist - David Endler, Director of Security , TippingPoint
David Endler is the Director of Security Research for TippingPoint, a division of 3Com. In this role, he leads 3Com's internal product security testing, VoIP Security Center, and vulnerability and malware research. David founded an industry-wide group called the Voice over IP Security Alliance (VOIPSA) in 2005 and is currently it's chairman. VOIPSA which boasts over 100 members from the VoIP vendor, carrier, and security space. Endler is also the author of numerous articles and papers on computer security, is the coauthor of Hacking Exposed VoIP, and holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Computer Science from Tulane University.
Panelist - Sachin Joglekar, Vulnerability Research Lead, Sipera Systems
Sachin Joglekar is a "Vulnerability Research Lead" in Sipera VIPER Lab where he actively researches vulnerabilities and security exploits in VoIP/Unified Communications products and services. As a result, Sipera has published over 60 VoIP vulnerabilities and threats in 2007. Sachin also leads Sipera's VoIP vulnerability assessment services and LAVA tools which assess security readiness of VoIP/UC networks. He has developed several core security algorithms for Sipera's IPCS product line. Sachin comes from a security background and holds an MS in Computer Science with specialization in computer security from University of North Texas.
Moderator - Dan York, Dir of Emerging Comm Tech, Voxeo
Dan York, CISSP, is Director of Emerging Communication Technology reporting to the CTO of Voxeo Corporation focused on analyzing/evaluating emerging technology, participating in industry standards bodies and addressing VoIP security issues. He is also leading Voxeo's move into "social media" with the deployment of blogs and podcasts. Dan also serves as Best Practices Chair for the VoIP Security Alliance (VOIPSA) where he will be leading the project to develop and document a concise set of industry-wide best practices for security VoIP systems. Additionally, Dan writes for VOIPSA's group weblog is the producer of "Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast" where since October 2005 each week he and co-host Jonathan Zar discuss VOIP security news and interview people involved in the field. Prior to joining Voxeo, Dan was Director of IP Technology in Mitel's Office of the CTO focused on emerging technology and VoIP security. As chair of Mitel's Product Security Team, he coordinated the efforts of a cross-functional group to communicate both externally and internally on VoIP security issues, respond to customer inquiries related to security, investigate security vulnerability reports and monitor security standards and trends. Previously, Dan served in Mitel Product Management bringing multiple products to market including Mitel's secure VoIP Teleworker Solution in 2003. A dynamic speaker with over 20 years in information technology, Dan routinely presents at conferences, has authored multiple books and has written numerous articles in print and online. His writing can be found online both at the "Voice of VOIPSA" weblog and also his own weblog, "Disruptive Telephony." http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/
While enterprises are used to grappling with issues around quality of service (QOS), especially for applications over the wide area, vendors have begun talking about a new metric: Quality of Experience, or QOE. In this session, you'll learn whether QOE is a valid concept, separate from QOS that can be measured via metrics like latency, jitter and packet loss--or whether QOE is a marketing term used only by vendors that can't deliver QOS. And you'll learn how to make sure high-quality voice is being delivered, regardless of what name you give the metric. * What's the best way to guarantee that real-time multimedia traffic will get the treatment it requires in order to sound best--especially when traversing the WAN? * What are the concrete metrics you should be using to tell you whether your end users are actually getting acceptable-quality voice? * How is QOE defined, and from whom do these definitions come? * How is QOE different from QOS, and what's the importance of this distinction?
Speaker - John Bartlett, Vice President, NetForecast
John Bartlett John Bartlett is a leading authority on real-time traffic, application performance and Quality of Service (QoS) techniques. He specializes in helping enterprises manage voice, video and data application performance. John has engaged with over 50 enterprises and over 20 network vendors to analyze network performance problems, design network solutions, and support network solutions. John has 29 years of experience in the semiconductor, computer and communications fields in marketing, sales, engineering, manufacturing and consulting roles. He has contributed to microprocessor, computer and network equipment design for over 40 products. He has been consulting since 1996. Prior to working as a consultant, John was a founder and VP of Engineering and Manufacturing at Agile Networks, now part of Lucent Technologies. Under his leadership, the company designed and built a high performance Ethernet switch implementing VLANs, and one of the first commercial ATM switches. Both products were successfully introduced to the market and the firm became profitable before it was acquired. Mr. Bartlett also served on the IEEE 802.1 committee during this period, and contributed to the development of the IEEE 802.1P and IEEE 802.1Q standards (priority and VLANs.) He previously worked for 9 years at Encore Computer, Corp. in engineering and engineering management positions designing networking equipment and large scale multiprocessor systems. At the end of this time Mr. Bartlett was managing 70 engineers across 2 geographic sites. John also spent six years with Intel Corporation during the early years of microprocessor design and acceptance into the market. John is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering, where he received the Dartmouth Society of Engineers Annual Prize for the quality of his thesis presentation. John is co-owner of a patent in shared memory multiprocessor design.
Dr. Mike Hollier is a technical and commercial pioneer in perceptual engineering. He directed BT?s research into audio, video and multimedia performance assessment for nearly a decade before leading the incubation of Psytechnics Ltd. in 2000. He left BT to become the company?s CEO and since October 2002 has served as its CTO.
Panelist - Jeff Ridley, Product Management, ShoreTel
Jeff Ridley, ShoreTel?s director of product management for application products, leads the company?s Unified Communications and Contact Center product and market strategies. Jeff has more than 15 years of experience in the communications and mobile computing marketplaces and has been with Shoretel for 8 years. Prior to joining ShoreTel, Jeff was an associate with ViaSphere Ventures where he helped identify new technologies and worked with early-stage hand-held computing companies on defining and developing their products and services. Before that, Jeff spent 10 years providing strategic and technical leadership for enterprise and wireless communications initiatives at NorTel Networks and Intel. Jeff attended Vanderbilt University where he graduated with a bachelor?s degree in electrical engineering. Recent Speaking Engagements: - VoiceCon Tour 2007 - ITExpo West 2007
Panelist - Robert Blanton, Senior Sales Engineer, ShoreTel
If the new world is about communications-enabled business processes and open development platforms, who will the enterprise rely on for these applications and capabilities? In this session, you'll hear from the vendors who are driving the UC/CEBP push; these vendor representatives will explain their strategies and programs for nurturing an ecosystem of applications and developers that will take enterprise communications to the next level. KEY QUESTIONS * What role will independent software vendors (ISVs) play in the future of communications systems? * How will the "platform" vendors work with internal enterprise development teams to build on the core communications capabilities? * What should you look for in a communications platform to ensure that it is the optimal choice to leverage future application development, whether internal or external development? * All the platform vendors will be touting their "open" interfaces, but how open will these interfaces really be?
Speaker - Albert Kooiman, Director, Unified Communications, Microsoft Corporation
Albert Kooiman is a Director in the Microsoft Unified Communications team. He is responsible for the extensibility and APIs of Microsoft?s real-time communications products like Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Office Communicator. With twelve years of experience in the telephony and speech technology industry, he has been involved in projects encompassing the wide spectrum of speech driven telephony solutions currently in the market: from information systems to personal call assistants, from customer care solutions to value added services voice portals, based on pure telephony as well as multimodal systems, serving customers all over the world. Albert holds a Masters Degree of the Medical Faculty of the University of Amsterdam. After his graduation, where he specialized in Medical Informatics databases, he worked in the field of Hospital Information Systems and Medical Statistics for several years.
Speaker - Joe Burton, CTO - Voice Technology Gr, Cisco
Joe Burton is Senior Director of Engineering and CTO of Cisco?s Voice Technology Group. His team is responsible for Cisco's Unified Communications solutions including MeetingPlace voice, video, and data conferencing products, IPVC video conferencing, IP Communicator, Unified Advantage, Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, productivity application integrations, and Cisco Unity Connection integrated voice messaging products. During his career at Cisco, Joe has led the development of media-based applications for Cisco's CallManager team and the Cisco-wide Voice Systems Architecture group that coordinates standards development and architecture for all voice products at Cisco. Previously, he was the Chief Architect for Cisco's messaging products, including the Unity unified messaging system. Before joining Cisco, Joe was the Chief Architect for Active Voice Corporation, a leading provider of voice messaging systems.
Speaker - David Millen, Director Lotus Sametime Development, IBM
As Director of Sametime Worldwide Development in IBM Software Group, David Millen mobilizes a large development team to advance IBM's Unified Communication Strategy. The team is responsible for all aspects engineering, design, and delivery of the Sametime product portfolio. In today's connected world, Unified Communications is at the forefront of business differentiation within organizations of many sizes, across many industries, globally. David has 20+ years of building enterprise class software. He began his IBM career in the mid-1980's, focusing on infrastructure enablement in what was then Lotus Development Corporation. Over the years, he has held a variety of engineering and management positions across IBM. Along with being a Development Manager on 1-2-3, the iconic spreadsheet of the 1980's, he has also held technical leadership roles on Notes/Domino, IBM Workplace, and now as an executive on working on Sametime. David received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts.
Eric Rossman is the vice president of Developer Relations and Technical Alliances at Avaya. He has responsibility for the Avaya DevConnect Program which provides a single, worldwide, integrated partnering framework for third-party relationships. Through this program, ISVs, IHVs, corporate developers, system integrators and service providers can develop, quality test and promote their solutions and services that interoperate with Avaya?s standards based products and solutions in a multi vendor network environment. Avaya currently has more than 8,000 companies registered in the DevConnect program. In addition, Mr. Rossman is responsible for bringing to market Avaya?s alliances and partnerships with industry leading service providers, systems integrators and technology providers. Prior to joining Avaya, Mr. Rossman had held various sales, marketing and information technology management positions at Eastman Kodak, Lucent Technologies, and in the public sector. Eric is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania?s Penn Engineering and Wharton School with a Master?s Degree in Technology Management.
Moderator - Zeus Kerravala, SVP Enterprise Research, The Yankee Group
Zeus Kerravala manages Yankee Group's infrastructure research and consulting. His areas of expertise involve working with customers to solve their business issues through the deployment of infrastructure technology solutions. Before joining Yankee Group, Kerravala was a senior engineer and technical project manager for Greenwich Technology Partners, a leading network infrastructure and engineering consulting firm. Prior to that, he was a vice president of IT for Ferris, Baker Watts, a mid-Atlantic based brokerage firm, acting as both a lead engineer and project manager deploying corporate-wide technical solutions to support the firm?s business units. Kerravala's first task at FBW was to roll out a new frame relay infrastructure with connections to branch offices, service providers, vendors and the stock exchange. Kerravala was also an engineer and technical project manager for Alex. Brown & Sons, responsible for the technology related to the equity trading desks.
The range of mobility options is exploding with the introduction of new wireless services and technologies. However, as the collapse of the Muni Wi-Fi business has demonstrated, success is difficult to achieve in deploying radio-based networks, and the wireless business has seen more losers than winners. This session is designed to being you up-to-date on some of the major developments in the wireless arena, where they fit, as well as when and how they will be a factor in enterprise networks. KEY QUESTIONS: * Is 802.11n a game-changer in wireless LANs, and how will it impact network planning? * Is WiMAX service finally a reality, and how will it stack up against 3G cellular services in the near term? * Have the cellular carriers finally abandoned their "walled garden" strategy and what will that mean for developments like femtocells, fixed-mobile convergence, and Google's Android platform? * Now that the 700 MHz auctions are complete, who are the winners and losers, and what will this mean in terms of enterprise wireless service options?
MICHAEL F. FINNERAN, President of dBrn Associates, Inc. is a consultant and industry analyst with over 30-years experience in the specification, design, and installation of communication networks. His specialty is wireless networking and he has held management positions in Sales, Marketing, Product Planning, and Systems Engineering with ITT WorldCom, AT&T Long Lines, and MDS Systems. As an independent consultant, Mr. Finneran has provided assistance to a number of major firms including: IBM, AT&T, Prudential Insurance, McGraw-Hill, and Merrill Lynch. He has appeared on the National Public Radio?s ?All Things Considered?, and been quoted in Business Week and The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Finneran has published over 200 articles and columns for such industry publications as Business Communications Review, Computerworld, The Ticker, and The ACUTA Journal. His column titled Networking Intelligence ran for almost 25-years in Business Communications Review. He recently published his first book titled Voice over WLANs- The Complete Guide for Elsevier. In the training area, Mr. Finneran has conducted over 2000 seminars for vendors and users in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He served as an Adjunct Faculty member in the Graduate School of Computer Science at Pace University, and taught at the Center for the Study of Data Processing at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a frequent speaker at industry trade shows including InterOp, VoiceCon, Mobile Business Expo, IPComm, and ComNet. Mr. Finneran has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Manhattan College, a Masters Degree from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and is a long-standing member of the IEEE.
How has the Unified Communications market been developing? Who is emerging as the major players? In this session, a leading UC analyst will present the current market structure, highlight the major players and discuss future market scenarios. KEY QUESTIONS: * Who are the principal players, and how are they positioning themselves? * What are likely patterns of adoption--e.g., by job type, mobile work, business process? * What variables affect adoption of UC technologies and products? * Are traditional vendor categorizations--e.g., PBX vendors, application vendors, service providers--likely to change as UC becomes more widespread?
Blair Pleasant is President & Principal Analyst of COMMfusion LLC and a co-founder of ucstrategies.com, an industry resource on the growing UC arena. She provides consulting and market research analysis on voice/data convergence markets, applications, and technologies, aimed at helping end-user and vendor clients both strategically and tactically. Prior to COMMfusion, Ms. Pleasant was Director of Communications Analysis for The PELORUS Group, a market research and consulting firm, and President of Lower Falls Consulting. With 20 years experience, her primary areas of focus are convergence applications, including Unified Communications, Unified Messaging, the contact center, computer telephony integration (CTI), and voice processing. Blair has authored many highly acclaimed multi-client market studies and white papers, as well as custom research reports, and provides market research analysis and consulting services to both end user and vendor clients. Ms. Pleasant received a BA degree in Communications from Albany State University, and an MBA in marketing and an MS in Broadcast Administration from Boston University.
Avaya CEO Lou D'Ambrosio will discuss the extraordinary transformation of Unified Communications. He will focus on how successful enterprises are using Unified Communications and presence to drive competitive advantage. He will also discuss the compelling technology solutions of communications-enabling business processes, and how businesses are using it to innovate and create competitive advantages.
Louis J. D'Ambrosio is President and Chief Executive Officer of Avaya, responsible for the overall strategy, direction and operations of the corporation. Avaya is a leading global provider of business applications, systems and services. Previously, D'Ambrosio was SVP and President, Global Sales and Marketing at Avaya, and he also led Avaya's Global Services business unit. Before joining Avaya, D'Ambrosio spent 16 years at IBM in key leadership roles across IBM Global Services, Software, and Sales and Marketing, and where he served as a member of IBM's Worldwide Management Committee. D'Ambrosio received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and Bachelor of Science from Pennsylvania State University, summa cum laude and valedictorian.
Moderator - Fred Knight, Publisher, NoJitter.com, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon
Fred Knight is GM/Co-Chair of VoiceCon, and the publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred was part of the team that launched the VoiceCon Conference in 1990. He served as Program Chairman through 2003 when he also became VoiceCon General Manager. Since then, VoiceCon has grown into the leading event for enterprise IP Telephony, converged networks and unified communications. Fred led the evolution of VoiceCon from an annual conference into a 12-month per year operation, comprising two major conferences: VoiceCon Orlando and VoiceCon San Francisco: the VoiceCon Webinar series and two e-newsletters: VoiceCon eNews and VoiceCon UC eWeekly. From 1984-2007 Fred was editor and then publisher of Business Communications Review. During that period, he covered the ensuing tumultuous changes that dramatically changed the industry. Under his stewardship, BCR received numerous awards from industry and publishing groups and associations. In December 2007, BCR ceased publication and the editorial product shifted to the Web with the creation of a new website: NoJittier.com. Fred has managed the organization's migration from print to electronic publishing and serves as publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred earned his BA in journalism at the University of Minnesota and a Master's Degree in public administration from The Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
10:30 am–11:30 am
Keynotes
Keynote Presentation: Microsoft (Location: Osceola C)
Gurdeep Singh Pall is responsible for developing Microsoft?s Unified Communications and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) strategy, and his teams are responsible for Unified Communications product and service deployment. Pall joined Microsoft in January 1990 as a software design engineer and has worked on many products in his tenure. During his work on Windows, he led design and implementation of award-winning technologies such as PPP, TCP/IP, VPNs, routing and Wi-Fi. He co-authored the first VPN protocol in the industry ? Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), and also authored several Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) documents and standards during the mid-1990s. Pall was appointed general manager of Windows Real-Time Communications efforts in January 2002, and helped develop a broad RTC strategy that led to the formation of the Real Time Collaboration division and the acquisition of PlaceWare Inc. (now called Microsoft Office Live Meeting). Pall holds several patents in networking, compression and collaboration. He holds a master?s degree in computer science from the University of Oregon and an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India.
Moderator - Fred Knight, Publisher, NoJitter.com, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon
Fred Knight is GM/Co-Chair of VoiceCon, and the publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred was part of the team that launched the VoiceCon Conference in 1990. He served as Program Chairman through 2003 when he also became VoiceCon General Manager. Since then, VoiceCon has grown into the leading event for enterprise IP Telephony, converged networks and unified communications. Fred led the evolution of VoiceCon from an annual conference into a 12-month per year operation, comprising two major conferences: VoiceCon Orlando and VoiceCon San Francisco: the VoiceCon Webinar series and two e-newsletters: VoiceCon eNews and VoiceCon UC eWeekly. From 1984-2007 Fred was editor and then publisher of Business Communications Review. During that period, he covered the ensuing tumultuous changes that dramatically changed the industry. Under his stewardship, BCR received numerous awards from industry and publishing groups and associations. In December 2007, BCR ceased publication and the editorial product shifted to the Web with the creation of a new website: NoJittier.com. Fred has managed the organization's migration from print to electronic publishing and serves as publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred earned his BA in journalism at the University of Minnesota and a Master's Degree in public administration from The Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
Speaker - Dennis Schmidt, Senior Vice President, VoIP Program Executive, Bank of America
Dennis Schmidt joined Bank of America in 2002, and during his tenure he has led Strategic Sourcing for Bank of Americas Voice and Data Networks and also led the team responsible for procuring Bank of America?s Fiber based Optical MAN Network and DWDM WAN core. He then assumed end-to-end Voice Services Product Management for Bank of America?s Domestic Corporate Enterprise and Consumer Branch Voice Network, and more recently, led the combined VoIP Converged Technical Services team through the Bank of America?s VoIP Demonstration, Proof of Concept, Pilot and Production Year one phases. Mr. Schmidt is now Senior Vice President and Program Executive responsible for the Voice Over IP Program Management Office (VPMO), which is responsible for the implementation of, and transformation to, VOIP and IPT for all Consumer, Enterprise, Call Center, and Trader telephony within Bank of America?s domestic footprint. This rollout has transformed over 2900 bank locations and will have deployed over 100,000 active VoIP ports by end of year 2007. Mr. Schmidt was awarded in February of 2007 the Bank of America?s most prestigious award, ?The Award of Excellence,? for the Network Services organization.
Moderator - Fred Knight, Publisher, NoJitter.com, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon
Fred Knight is GM/Co-Chair of VoiceCon, and the publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred was part of the team that launched the VoiceCon Conference in 1990. He served as Program Chairman through 2003 when he also became VoiceCon General Manager. Since then, VoiceCon has grown into the leading event for enterprise IP Telephony, converged networks and unified communications. Fred led the evolution of VoiceCon from an annual conference into a 12-month per year operation, comprising two major conferences: VoiceCon Orlando and VoiceCon San Francisco: the VoiceCon Webinar series and two e-newsletters: VoiceCon eNews and VoiceCon UC eWeekly. From 1984-2007 Fred was editor and then publisher of Business Communications Review. During that period, he covered the ensuing tumultuous changes that dramatically changed the industry. Under his stewardship, BCR received numerous awards from industry and publishing groups and associations. In December 2007, BCR ceased publication and the editorial product shifted to the Web with the creation of a new website: NoJittier.com. Fred has managed the organization's migration from print to electronic publishing and serves as publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred earned his BA in journalism at the University of Minnesota and a Master's Degree in public administration from The Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
When VOIP first emerged, the organizational challenge was simple to state, but difficult to overcome: "Voice" and "data" people needed to work together and learn from each other. Today, the challenge is broader, and involves those who deal with email/messaging systems and line-of-business applications. This session will help you understand the new organizational challenges and how to overcome them. KEY QUESTIONS: * Has the "voice/data divide" been bridged in most organizations? If so, how? If not, will it ever? * Are most communications specialists doing the same job they were doing a few years ago? Or have roles fundamentally changed? * What kind of a road map does your IT department need that can respond to the organizational demands created by the new unified communications technologies and application integration? * What new mobility expertise is required, and how do you make sure your organization has it? * How can you break down barriers among staff members with different areas of expertise and responsibility?
David E. Wilcox- Dave Wilcox is the President and CEO of Global Skills X-change . Mr. Wilcox was the former Executive Deputy Director of the NSSB in Washington, DC. In this role he was responsible for developing strategies for infusing industry skills standards and certifications in the Workforce Development and Educational systems of the United States. Experienced in management skills and business leadership development, Mr. Wilcox holds a Master of Science degree in Counseling and Human Resources and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer. GSX has conducted skills/knowledge research to support the development of career professionals across the Information Communications Sector since 2001. This research is providing guidance to enterprises that are restructuring operational responsibilities, professionals that are preparing for a changed organizational environment, and training providers that are preparing relevant courseware. Prior to his role with GSX, he provided quality leadership and strategic management services for major corporations, the Department of Defense, and many public agencies. He serves on numerous national task forces, Boards, and committees and has been recognized in many publications including "Who's Who in America".
Speaker - Marvin Simpson, Manager, Network Support, Southern Company
I am currently Manager, Data Network Support Southern Company Services. Previous management assignments at Southern Company include, Manager, Shared Services and Manager, Network Operations Center I have work experience in Computer System Support and I have worked with a Telco. I have been with Southern Company 24 years I have done previous presentations on Converged Networks and Disaster Recovery at VON, Voice Con and The Siemens User Group. BS in Electrical Engineering Technology JD and Licensed Attorney in Alabama
Gary Audin has more than 40 years of computer, communications and security experience. He has planned, designed, specified, implemented and operated data, LAN and telephone networks. These have included local area, national and international networks as well as VoIP and IP convergent networks in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia. He has advised domestic and international venture capital and investment bankers in communications, VoIP, and microprocessor technologies. For 30+ years, Gary has been an independent communications and security consultant. Beginning his career in the USAF as an R&D officer in military intelligence and data communications, Gary was decorated for his accomplishments in these areas. He has analyzed the US Navy?s future for IP transmission via satellite and prepared a VoIP feasibility for a major multinational firm. He has participated in VoIP procurement, RFP preparation and review for converged systems and networks for enterprises and state governments. Mr. Audin has been published extensively in the Business Communications Review, ACUTA Journal, Computer Weekly, Telecom Reseller, Data Communications Magazine, Infosystems, Computerworld, Computer Business News, Auerbach Publications and other magazines. He has been Keynote speaker at many user conferences and delivered many webcasts on VoIP and IP communications technologies in 2004 through 2007. He is a founder of the ANSI X.9 committee, a senior member of the IEEE, and is on the steering committee for the VoiceCon conference. Most of his articles can be found on www.webtorials.com, www.bcr.com and www.acuta.org. He writes a weekly blog on communications subjects that can be found at www.voiploop.com and www.nojitter.com and publishes technical tips at www.Searchvoip.com.
Shipments of IP stations now outnumber TDM station shipments, and Cisco has assumed PBX market share leadership by outpacing the legacy PBX suppliers. At the same time, consolidation and private-equity buyouts are beginning to change the vendor landscape. In this session, Allan Sulkin will present system market forecasts, assessments of IP-based applications, analyze and handicap the leading system suppliers and their solutions, and discuss potential realignments among the market-leading equipment suppliers. KEY QUESTIONS: * Which market segments in IP Telephony are hot, and which are not? * Which suppliers are moving up in market share and at whose expense? * Is anyone buying IP-based applications? If so, then which applications are selling? * How will Microsoft's entry into enterprise communications change the market dynamic? How might consolidation among vendors further change it? * How are the traditional vendors coping with the transition to an IP Telephony and Unified Communications landscape?
Speaker - Allan Sulkin, President, TEQConsult Group
Allan Sulkin, founder and president of TEQConsult Group (www.teqconsult.com), is a universally recognized enterprise communications market analyst and consultant. He has thirty years telecommunications industry experience; was contributing editor to Business Communications Review for twenty years; designed and presented BCR's PBX Systems training class; has been a featured speaker at VoiceCon sinces its inception in 1991; and authored PBX Systems for IP Telephony (McGraw-Hill). He can be reached at amsulkin@aol.com.
Moderator - Fred Knight, Publisher, NoJitter.com, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon
Fred Knight is GM/Co-Chair of VoiceCon, and the publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred was part of the team that launched the VoiceCon Conference in 1990. He served as Program Chairman through 2003 when he also became VoiceCon General Manager. Since then, VoiceCon has grown into the leading event for enterprise IP Telephony, converged networks and unified communications. Fred led the evolution of VoiceCon from an annual conference into a 12-month per year operation, comprising two major conferences: VoiceCon Orlando and VoiceCon San Francisco: the VoiceCon Webinar series and two e-newsletters: VoiceCon eNews and VoiceCon UC eWeekly. From 1984-2007 Fred was editor and then publisher of Business Communications Review. During that period, he covered the ensuing tumultuous changes that dramatically changed the industry. Under his stewardship, BCR received numerous awards from industry and publishing groups and associations. In December 2007, BCR ceased publication and the editorial product shifted to the Web with the creation of a new website: NoJittier.com. Fred has managed the organization's migration from print to electronic publishing and serves as publisher of NoJitter.com. Fred earned his BA in journalism at the University of Minnesota and a Master's Degree in public administration from The Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
Everyone agrees that applications are the payoff for IP Telephony, UC and converged networks, but talk is cheap. In this session, you'll hear technologists who have implemented communications-enabled applications and are realizing business benefits from the effort. KEY QUESTIONS: * What types of applications can yield significant business benefits when integrated with communications capabilities? * What are the technical challenges involved in implementing and running these communications-enabled business applications. * How does an enterprise IT organization support communications-enabled business applications most effectively? * What are the different issues involved in implementing communications-enabled business applications via internal development teams, versus working with ISVs and other outside providers?
Marty Parker provides Unified Communications consulting support to both private and public sector enterprises. As a Principal of UniComm Consulting (mparker@UniCommConsulting.com) and as co-founder of UCStrategies.com, Marty is part of a network of talent and ideas to assure clients of the best and latest information about Unified Communications (UC). Marty's focus is on the applications for UC and how those applications optimize business processes to deliver hard-dollar ROI. This focus is the basis for his BCR Training course, "Planning and Implementing VoIP Unified Communications"; for his articles in BCR Magazine and on NoJitter.com (see ?Top UC Applications Now Apparent?, June 2007); and for his UC RFP Templates available at UCStrategies.com. Marty is a regular moderator and presenter at VoiceCon and in other UC industry venues. His applications and industry-oriented perspectives on UC are based on sales, marketing, product management and executive experience with IBM and ATT/Lucent/Avaya as well as with a major Telecom VAR and as founder and CEO of venture-funded startups in the early phases of the voice messaging industry.
Panelist - Rif Kiamil, IT Manager, JJ Food Service
Panelist - Karen Dean, Director Global Voice Communications, Black & Decker
Panelist - Michael Fuqua, SVP Global Information Systems , Global Crossing
Michael Fuqua is Senior Vice President of Global Information Systems for Global Crossing and is responsible for Global IT systems development, architecture, and operations. Mr. Fuqua oversees the definition, creation, implementation and operations of all Global Crossing?s IT core systems including service delivery, customer management, service management, network management, partner management, cost of access, and general corporate management platforms.
The idea of fixed/mobile convergence (FMC) is that both the voice and data users should be able to move between wireless and wireline networks without having to break and then re-establish the connection. For voice applications, FMC has been implemented in various ways, such as the "extension to cellular" feature, but it's not clear whether FMC is the right solution to enterprise-centric communications problems. This session will help you understand the range of FMC options, how they are implemented, and the status and prospects for more functional fixed/mobile convergence solutions. KEY QUESTIONS: * Which users and applications are most likely targets for FMC? * Can FMC be justified by savings in cellular expenditures or should users focus on productivity enhancements? * What are the technical challenges to implementing FMC, both for the enterprise and within the public networks? * What infrastructure must be installed in the enterprise or public network to support the various FMC solutions? * What is the likelihood that the cellular carriers will embrace FMC, which carriers are most likely to participate and when?
MICHAEL F. FINNERAN, President of dBrn Associates, Inc. is a consultant and industry analyst with over 30-years experience in the specification, design, and installation of communication networks. His specialty is wireless networking and he has held management positions in Sales, Marketing, Product Planning, and Systems Engineering with ITT WorldCom, AT&T Long Lines, and MDS Systems. As an independent consultant, Mr. Finneran has provided assistance to a number of major firms including: IBM, AT&T, Prudential Insurance, McGraw-Hill, and Merrill Lynch. He has appeared on the National Public Radio?s ?All Things Considered?, and been quoted in Business Week and The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Finneran has published over 200 articles and columns for such industry publications as Business Communications Review, Computerworld, The Ticker, and The ACUTA Journal. His column titled Networking Intelligence ran for almost 25-years in Business Communications Review. He recently published his first book titled Voice over WLANs- The Complete Guide for Elsevier. In the training area, Mr. Finneran has conducted over 2000 seminars for vendors and users in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. He served as an Adjunct Faculty member in the Graduate School of Computer Science at Pace University, and taught at the Center for the Study of Data Processing at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a frequent speaker at industry trade shows including InterOp, VoiceCon, Mobile Business Expo, IPComm, and ComNet. Mr. Finneran has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Manhattan College, a Masters Degree from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and is a long-standing member of the IEEE.
Panelist - Richard Watson, Dir. Technical Marketing, DiVitas Networks
Richard Watson is Director of Technical Marketing for DiVitas Networks, Inc. Prior to taking on the TM role at DiVitas, he held positions as director of product management for Longboard, Inc?s. FMC product and was director of engineering and product marketing for Symbol Technologies? embedded WiFi Telephony VoIP products, where he managed the software engineering team and was responsible for directing Symbol?s WiFi telephony products. Before joining Symbol, he worked in a variety of senior engineering and marketing roles for network and wireless companies that included 3Com and Motorola. He contributes regularly to trade journals writing on leading edge topics on wireless VoIP and FMC and frequently participates on panels at industry shows.
Panelist - Brian Gregory, Product Marketing Manager, VoIP and FMC, Sprint Nextel
Brian Gregory serves as Product Marketing Manager for VoIP and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) for Sprint Nextel. In his role, Brian has responsibility for the product strategy, go-to-market planning, and market execution of Sprint?s business VoIP portfolio. This portfolio includes a full suite of VoIP products, including IP Voice Connect (Hosted IP Centrex), IP Trunking, and Sprint Wireless Integration, the first IMS-based FMC product to be released in the US. Brian has served in a variety of capacities since joining Sprint in 2001, including marketing, operations, and systems development. Prior to joining Sprint, Brian spent 10 years in the aerospace and defense industry, focused predominantly on satellite development and communications systems. Brian received his Bachelors in Engineering from Syracuse University and an MBA from Cornell University.
Mr. Rob Markovich was retained as President and CEO for Agito Networks in late 2006. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors. A successful veteran executive, Mr. Markovich has more than 20 years of experience in growing network technology startups, and has served on the board of directors for several successful companies. Mr. Markovich was most recently the President and CEO of Network Chemistry, the leading provider of wireless security and management products, and later sold to Aruba Networks. He championed the development of the RFprotect product family, used by more than 300 enterprises to protect their networks and mobile devices from wireless-specific degradations and attacks. Previously, Mr. Markovich was a founder and executive of Visual Networks, a leading network and systems management company he helped lead from $0 to $100M in annual sales and a successful IPO, and later sold to Fluke Networks. Mr. Markovich also was Chief Marketing Officer of iBahn (formerly STSN), which he helped grow to become the worldwide leading provider of business-quality wireless hotspots and network services to the hospitality industry. Earlier, he held executive positions with Cray Communications and Acterna. Mr. Markovich started his career as a data center engineer for the chemicals conglomerate, Dupont Company, and was responsible for designing and maintaining networks across a global operation. Mr. Markovich earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon.
Panelist - Craig Jordan, Sales Director New Business, Ericsson
In this session, executives from the leading vendors offer their assessment of Unified Communications and discuss what's available now and what's coming over the next six to 12 months. They'll also discuss how customers are deploying UC solutions, and the prospects for this emerging architecture and set of products and services. KEY QUESTIONS: What elements compose a Unified Communications Solution? * What are the key indications of UC adoption and success in the past year? * What are the top UC applications in terms of actual implementation? * What UC investments should enterprises consider making in the next 12 months? * Who do you need to work with to make this happen?
Dilshad Simons is Vice President of Unified Communications Solution Marketing for Avaya. Prior to Avaya, Dilshad served in product marketing, R&D and business strategy senior leadership roles at Sun Microsystems and at Microsoft Corporation. At Sun, she had full P&L responsibility for the Collaboration software which included Sun's market leading Messaging Server and the award winning StarOffice product and its opensource community OpenOffice.org. She led Sun's push in the collaboration space with enterprise solutions. She was instrumental in driving Sun's server software to convergence with the Solaris Advantage Pack, which later became Sun Java Enterprise System. At Microsoft, Dilshad played a key role in the success of Microsoft Exchange with her work on press and analysts for the initial release of Exchange Server. In her earlier years with Microsoft, she was recognized for her work on kicking starting Microsoft?s presence in Turkey with the opening of the subsidiary and building Microsoft's business in the country prior to that. Dilshad holds has a B.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering from Bosphorus University in Istanbul, Turkey.
As senior director of product management in the Unified Communications Group at Microsoft, Eric Swift is responsible for managing customer and industry requirements, product positioning, and marketing strategies for the next generation of Microsoft Unified Communications products and services, including Microsoft Office Communicator, Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Microsoft RoundTable. Swift has been with Microsoft for nearly seven years. Previous to his current position with the Unified Communications Group, he was director of product management in Microsoft?s Application Platform group. Prior to joining Microsoft, Swift held vice president positions at enterprise application integration and CRM software vendors where he managed product management, directed CRM and Data Warehouse implementations, and oversaw technical support operations. Swift has an MBA from Columbia University in New York, NY.
Christopher Thompson is the Senior Director for Solutions Marketing at Cisco. Chris manages the launch and positioning of the full range of Cisco solutions for telephony, messaging, and collaboration. Prior to joining Cisco, Christopher Thompson was the vice president of worldwide marketing at Netopia, a Motorola Company. Previously he was also the vice president of product management and marketing at Visionael Corporation and the Vice President of marketing for network security and management at Network Associates. There he was a member of the management team that led the divestiture and launch of Network General Corporation. He has also held executive positions at Brooktrout Technology and Nortel. Thompson has been active in the industry since 1987 and brings a strong understanding and expertise of the network infrastructure and applications market. He established himself as a thought-leader in the enterprise networks industry while serving as a director and principal analyst for Gartner Group. He is a frequent featured speaker at industry forums around the world. Thompson completed his graduate thesis in Geneva, Switzerland, studying the issues faced by information technology professionals managing trans-national communications networks. Thompson received his bachelor?s degree in macroeconomic theory and a master?s degree in management of innovation from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Panelist - Laurence Guihard-Joly, Vice President, Integrated Communications Services , IBM Global Technology Services
Laurence Guihard-Joly is Vice President, Integrated Communications Services, a world wide business unit, to be responsible for IBM?s strategy, services portfolio and overall business performance, and provide leadership to the IBM Integrated Communications Services sales, consultants, architects and technical specialists teams dedicated to helping our clients around the world achieve their business goals, getting the best value from networking. During her 22 years career at IBM, Laurence held various leadership roles in sales, services and business management, mostly based in Paris, covering France, Belgium, Luxemburg and Middle East/Africa : ? Industrial Sector experience: 15 years of business development, sales and services experience with electronics, automotive, process & petroleum, manufacturing, pharmaceutical labs and CPG large companies. ? Services experience: new markets & capabilities development, P&L, marketing, sales, contract and delivery management, in local & international environments ? Consulting and systems integration services with complex ERP implementations ? Outsourcing and Application hosting services : ERP, CRM, SCM, Workplace, Grid computing ? Business transformation, Change management, Communications strategy Laurence earned the Scientific Graduation, and her MBA from Lille Business University. As a freelance she joined a Consulting organization in 1983, before joining IBM in Paris in 1984. Laurence and her husband reside in Larchmont, NY USA since February 2003, and have two boys, respectively 17 and 15 years old.
Moderator - Jim Burton, Co-Founder, CT Link/UCStrategies.com
Jim Burton is Founder and CEO of CT Link, LLC. Burton founded the consulting firm in 1989 to help clients in the converging voice, data and networking industries with strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances and distribution issues. In the early 1990s, Burton recognized the challenges vendors and the channel faced as they developed and installed integrated voice/data products. He became the leading authority in the voice/data integration industry and is credited with "coining" the term computer-telephone integration (CTI). Burton helped companies including Microsoft and Intel enter the voice market and helped AT&T (now Avaya), Mitel, NEC, Nortel, Siemens and Toshiba with their CTI strategies. In the late 1990s, venture capitalists turned to Burton for help in evaluating potential investments in IP PBX start-ups. He went on to help these and other companies with strategic planning and partnering, including NBX (acquired by 3Com, Selsius (acquired by Cisco), ShoreTel and Sphere Communications. In the early 2000s, Burton began focusing on wireless services and technologies. In 2005 Burton started helping vendors with their Unified Communications strategy and in 2006, along with several colleagues, created a web site, UCStrategies.com, to provide information for enterprise customers and vendors.
Colleges and universities face unique challenges: Their user base is technically sophisticated and eager to try every new gadget or service. However, it's difficult to maintain centralized control over the infrastructure and the cost model for providing services to the student population is changing radically. This session will examine the varying responses to these challenges and provide options for moving forward. KEY QUESTIONS: * How can college and university IT administrators offer students the maximum flexibility in end device and connectivity support while still maintaining a stable, robust communications system? * What is the best way to manage user directories and maintain security in a converged network environment which features a large base of transient users? * What opportunities do IP Telephony and Unified Communications offer in providing functionality and reducing cost for faculty and staff users? * Are open source PBX solutions especially appealing and appropriate for colleges and universities to consider? * Are higher education institutions likely to see cost reductions from IPT/UC?
Speaker - John Turner, Dir. Networks & Systems, Brandeis University
John Turner is the Director of Networks and Systems at Brandeis University in Waltham MA. John was the principal VoIP investigator of their telephone upgrade project in 2002 and continues to be a champion of the converged network at Brandeis. He has also brought many other technologies to the Brandeis campus such as IPTV and IP video on demand as well as blanketing the campus in wireless coverage in 2005.
Speaker - Andrew McAusland, Associate Vice-President, Instructional and Information Technology Services, Concordia University
As a specialist in information technology, Andrew McAusland (Concordia alumnae) has been instrumental in introducing and developing key technologies at the university level and beyond. With over 20 years experience in the field, McAusland is able to present a wealth of techniques and strategies for implementing cutting-edge technology in the workplace. His work specifically relates to enterprise resource planning (ERP) installations, security, information gathering and commercial transactions. McAusland, who was named 2003 IT Executive of the Year by Computing Canada, is also an international consultant in web development, focusing on web security issues and the development of systems architecture. He also heads a multimedia facility responsible for the production of live web-casting and web-dedicated video for advertising and instructional purposes. As President and CEO of eConcordia, a private company mandated by the university that offers credit courses on the web, McAusland has made learning digitally a reality for thousands of students.
Moderator - Walt Magnussen, Ph.D, Director of Telecommunications, Texas A&M University
Version 1.) Walt Magnussen, Ph.D. has his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the University of Minnesota and his Doctorate from Texas A&M University. He is the Director of Telecommunications at Texas A&M, an Associate Director for the Academy for Advanced Telecommunications and Learning Technology, an Adjunct Faculty Member at Texas A&M University and the Co-Director for the TAMU VoIP Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (ITEC). Walt is also the Chair of the Internet2 VoIP Working Group, the President Elect for the Association for Communications Professional in Higher Education (ACUTA), a member of the State of Texas Telecommunications Planning Oversight Council (TPOC) and a Board member for the SIP Foundry, an Open Source SIP Organization. He has worked on the engineering of the Trans Texas Video Network, one of the largest Distance Education Networks in the World, the Lone Star Education and Research Network (LEARN) a Texas regional optical network and distance education projects in over 30 countries internationally. He is the Principal Investigator for a United States Department of Commerce grant to demonstrate a Next Generation 911 VoIP based Emergency Call Center.
been innovative creators of applications that offer new functionality to traders, brokers and others. At the same time, financial services firms face stringent compliance requirements, which now will likely apply to voice and other real-time communications. In this session, you'll learn about the unique opportunities and challenges facing cutting-edge financial services companies, insurance firms and others. KEY QUESTIONS: * How can a financial services firm realize "quick wins" from building new applications/capabilities on top of VOIP implementations? What's the best way to create these new applications/capabilities? * What are the technical underpinnings (e.g., SOA) of these new applications and capabilities, and where do they likely reside within your organization? * What are the legal/compliance issues at each step of the convergence migration/optimization process? * What security requirements exist, and how might these affect or constrain the use of convergence technology?
Speaker - Jody Walls, VP of Operations, Insight Financial
Jody earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Communication from Florida State University. She has more than fifteen years of experience in the field of operations, marketing, human resources and public relations. Jody has worked in the credit union movement for fourteen years, working at two Florida credit unions. She is currently the Chief Operations Officer and Vice President of Operations at Insight Financial Credit Union where she is responsible for the overall operation of branches, sales and service, training and facilities management. Insight Financial Credit Union has 11 branches and serves 55,000 members with $440 million in assets. Jody is active in the Central Florida Chapter of the Florida Credit Union League and is a member of the Credit Union Political Action Committee, and she is a frequent lobbyist. She is a member of the CUNA Marketing Council and a member of the Credit Union Executive Society (CUES). She has also received her designation as a Certified Marketing Executive from CUES. In 2007 Jody was named one of the Top 100 Executives by CUES. In addition, she has been fortunate to serve on numerous civic and community boards as well as being appointed to serve in county and state volunteer positions. Jody and her husband Trevor have been married 18 years and have one daughter, Bryn. They reside in Oviedo, FL.
Speaker - Ray Carsey, Vice President of Technology, Mountain America CU
15 Years experience in the banking/credit union industry Keynote Speaker - CIPTUG National Conference 2006 Security Speaker - Defense Credit Union Council National Conference 2005 Telecommunications / Video Speaker - Bankers BAI National Conference and Expo 2007 Call Center Speaker ? Cisco National Sales Conference 2005 Security / CITRIX Speaker ? Northwest Symitar User Group Meetings Quoted in various Credit Union and Information Technology articles: ? Credit Union Journal ? Credit Union Business ? Credit Union Magazine ? CUES Magazine ? Credit Union Times ? Credit Union Innovation ? Cisco Packet Magazine
Moderator - Irwin Lazar, Principal Analyst & Program Director, Collaboration & Convergence, Nemertes Research
Irwin Lazar is the principal analyst and program director for convergence and collaboration at Nemertes Research, where he develops and manages research projects, develops cost models, conducts strategic seminars and advises clients. His background is in network operations, network engineering, voice-data convergence, and IP telephony. Mr. Lazar is responsible for benchmarking the adoption and use of emerging technologies in the enterprise in areas including VOIP, unified communications, Web 2.0 initiatives, social networking, and collaboration. A Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and sought-after speaker and author, Mr. Lazar is a columnist for Business Communications Review magazine and Collaboration Loop. He is a frequent resource for the business and trade press. He is regular speaker at events such as Interop, VoiceCon, and Enterprise 2.0. Mr. Lazar serves as the conference director for FutureNet (formerly MPLScon), the chair for Network World IT Roadmap Web 2.0 track, and is on the advisory board for the Enterprise 2.0 conference.
Financial services firms have been not only been among the earliest adopters of new technologies, they've also Governments at the federal, state, county and local level have different communications needs and issues, but they also have much in common. This session will present a mix of speakers addressing the discrete levels of government, as well as a general discussion of shared concerns. We'll look at the role of IP Telephony and Unified Communications in areas including disaster preparedness and public safety, and we'll examine the constraints and mandates--legal and budgetary--that affect rollout plans. KEY QUESTIONS: * How can communications convergence be leveraged to enhance the resiliency and efficiency of public services? * What unique opportunities are there for integrating previously-standalone applications with communications capabilities in government networks? * What role might 802.11 and other wireless technologies play in government communications networks? * How are government agencies balancing the need for information security and privacy vs. the right of citizens to have access to information that affects their safety and tax load?
My name is Craig Bowser, I've been working in networking for 14 years, the last seven doing Information Assurance. I spent ten years in the US Air Force and the last job I had was Chief of Network Security for two world-wide networks, one classified and one unclassified. After I got out, I worked for several contracting companies doing network security engineering and certification and accreditation. So I've had extensive experience securing networks and devices per DoD requirements and doing DoD C&A under both DITSCAP and DIACAP. At my last job, I spent about two years working IA on a DoD pilot of a VoIP solution where we evaluated several vendor solutions. My current job as IA Manager includes ensuring their VoIP system operates securely and remains in compliance with DoD, Army and DISA regulations and maintains its accredited status.
Speaker - Garrett Myers, Sr. Consultant, Gateway Group
Garrett Myers is the managing director of the Gateway Group which he founded in 1990. The Gateway Group guides companies and organizations through the selection and strategic application of major software systems for distance learning, customer relationship management, on-line marketing and telecommunications. Garrett started his career as an Electrical Engineer in Boston and then co-founded and founded two high-tech companies in the Boston Area. Prior to founding the Gateway Group, Garrett was VP of Technology for Visual Services, Inc, a Detroit area 1,000 person marketing services company providing database marketing and CRM services including telemarketing and fulfillment. While at VSI, he pioneered some of the first on-line automotive marketing programs on Compuserve, Prodigy and then on the Internet for Volkswagen, Audi, Subaru and Chevrolet Trucks. Around 1990, he created some of the world?s first unified communications response programs that allowed prospects to interact with VSI operated VW and Audi customer response centers by phone, fax or e-mail. The Gateway Group has been focusing primarily on unified communications telecom systems for mid sized businesses for several years. Garrett?s recent projects include a large out-patient health care chain in Indiana, the Allen County Public Library, Child and Family Services in Buffalo, NY and the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Garrett is based in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, just outside of Detroit and has an office in Surrey, England. Garrett is a member of the Society of Telecom Consultants, and a member of consultant liaison programs for major telecom equipment providers. He is a regular speaker to business leaders and consulting peers on UC strategies and tactics. Garrett@gg-mi.com
Moderator - Byron Battles, Principal, The Battles Group, LLC
Mr. Battles has 25 years of telecommunications consulting and industry experience in direct voice and data telecommunications evaluation, technical and project consulting, and applied market and subject research with an additional five years? experience in direct sales, marketing, and territory management. He has voice and personal computer-related consulting experience that includes requirements analysis, needs projections, RFP preparation, proposal evaluation, technical evaluation and support, and project management. Mr. Battles is a recognized expert in the field of Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) and President of The Society of Telecommunications Consultants (www.stcconsultants.org ), a professional association of independent consultants.
No topic is higher on the domestic agenda than health care, and there are significant pressures on health care firms ? hospitals and clinics ? to save money while simultaneously improving the quality of care. IP Telephony and Unified Communications offer great potential to help achieve both those goals. This session will present IT executives from health-care companies, who will describe their experiences deploying convergence technologies and the lessons learned. KEY QUESTIONS: * How can communications convergence technologies be integrated with existing clinical systems such as nurse call and telemetry to maximize efficiency and patient care? * What role will wireless communications, particularly wireless voice, play in the future of clinical health care? What factors must be considered before rolling out VoWLAN to nurses, doctors and other hospital staff? * What HIPAA requirements are applicable in the converged communications area? * How can converged communications benefit the administrative networks and applications deployed by health care companies?
Speaker - Randy Cleghorne, Director IT/CTO , Visiting Nurse Service of New York
Randy Cleghorne, Director IT/CTO for the Visiting Nurse Service of NY. I have been in the IT industry for over 20 years, working for Financial, Insurance, Consumer products, Media and health care companies. I have been with VNSNY for 7 years providing strategic direction for VNS' infrastructure teams, bringing VoIP and Wireless to the agency.
Speaker - Kathy Burek, Senior Telecom Analyst, Froedtert & Community Health
Kathy Burek is a Senior Telecommunications Analyst responsible for design and engineering of telecommunications equipment and networks for Froedtert and Community Health in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kathy has over twenty years progressive experience in the telecommunications industry as both a client and vendor working for such companies as Citicorp, Cigna Healthcare/Intracorp, PNC Financial Services, as well as Avaya Business Partners and Telecom and Cable companies. She specializes in RFP development, network engineering, contact center design and installation, VoIP design and installation and business requirement development. Kathy is a certified systems administrator for both Avaya and Siemens PBXs and voicemail systems and is active in the Wisconsin Telecommunications Association as well as being a regular member of the Telecom Talk list-serve and Telecom Junkies podcasts.
Speaker - Marvin Reece, Director, Technical Services, Health First, Inc.
Marvin H. Reece II is the Director of Technical Services for the Health Information Technology department at Health First. He has been with Health First for over 5 years. He joined the organization as the Manager of Network and Telecom Services. Prior to joining Health First, he worked with Agilent Technologies as a Senior IP Network Engineer/Project Manager for the Advance Business Development team. Marvin has over 20 years of experience in Information Technology in primarily focused in the aerospace community. He is responsible for all infrastructure and field operations necessary for 3 major hospitals, 51 remote clinics, Heath First Health Plan and corporate location. This includes the development of architecture solutions that leverage technology advances that directly benefit patient care services. He holds a Bachelors of Business Administration with emphasis in Computer Information Systems from National University, San Diego, Ca. Marvin is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Information Technology Management from Webster University. In addition, he holds various certifications in Certified Cisco Network Associate and TIA Certified Convergent Network Technologies. He has been interviewed and featured in published articles by Cisco for the design and deployment of Dense Wave Division Multiplex devices (DWDM) and by Bluesocket for the implementation of their secure wireless authentication model.
Moderator - Janet Smith, Principal, Janet L. F. Smith & Associates, LLC
Janet Smith is a 30 year veteran of telecommunications and has worked and consulted in healthcare since 1985. Her consulting practice focuses on strategic consulting in healthcare where she has developed a passion for the benefits of communications-enabled hospital processes, the challenges of integrating voice and data organizations and the necessity of developing management systems to support a converged network. Prior to starting her consulting practice in 2001, she headed telecommunications at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia where she successfully merged the voice and data networking groups in 1992.
IP Telephony and Unified Communications promise major advances in integrating communications capabilities with all the other applications that manufacturing companies use, from supply chain automation to factory floor applications to sales and marketing. In this session, you'll hear from companies on the cutting edge of making communications work for manufacturing companies. KEY QUESTIONS: * What business applications are already being communications-enabled, and which can we expect to be so enabled in the near future? What are the technical requirements and what are the concrete benefits? * How might communications-enablement affect the way you purchase, integrate and develop your internal business applications? * How can manufacturing companies use mobility, integrated with communications capabilities and business applications, to improve business cycle times? * What are the primary opportunities for using IPT/UC to decrease communications costs and increase sales for manufacturing companies that do business globally?
Speaker - Steve Bergstrom, Enterprise Voice Architect, Caterpillar, Inc.
Steve Bergstrom is the Enterprise Voice Architect for Caterpillar, Inc. with architecture and design responsibility for the company's legacy and IP voice networks. During 2005, Caterpillar converted the Peoria, Illinois corporate campus from traditional to IP telephony which consisted of 24,000 phones in one super cluster, 4 large call centers, and 20 minor call centers. Currently the company is deploying three regionalized clusters to provide centralized call processing for approximately 500 locations around the globe. Through conversion to this technology, Caterpillar has standardized communication support processes resulting in a lower TCO, invested in building one robust network (voice and data), and created the platform to enable business for the future. Mr. Bergstrom has garnered well-rounded experience in the following vertical markets: Manufacturing, Finance, Entertainment, Technology, and Government sectors. In addition his employment includes working for a vendor, Cisco Systems, Inc., an integration partner INX, Inc., and as a customer at his existing employer Caterpillar, Inc. He holds also, an MBA and Bachelor's degree in Business from Bradley University.
Speaker - Kathy Benner, IT Director, Gibson Guitar
Kathy Benner Director of Information Technology Kathy Benner, MCSE, develops technical strategies for tactical and operational management of Gibson Guitar Corp's information systems including planning, research, evaluation and networking. Kathy has more than 20 years of experience in the computer field. Her expertise includes infrastructure design, messaging and telecommunications. Prior to joining Gibson Guitar in September of 2004, she was the Networking Manager for O?Charley?s Inc.
Moderator - Stephen Leaden, President, Leaden Associates
Stephen Leaden is founder and President of Leaden Associates, Inc., an independent Telecommunications IT consulting firm providing specialized support in Telecommunications technologies and ROI strategies. Mr. Leaden has been in the Telecommunications field over 25 years, with 17 of those with his own firm. Clients include renowned enterprise clients in education/healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, publishing, and government vertical market segments. Mr. Leaden?s firm focuses as an extension of IT staff to facilitate the design, procurement, project implementation, and outsourcing for converged voice and data solutions. During their engagement, Leaden Associates proactively adds value via ROI strategies integrated into the projects they serve on. Mr. Leaden?s practice has focused on Voice over IP and key market trends in this area ? he has spoken at national and International conferences on VoIP, has written four papers on VoIP strategies, troubleshooting and security, and has been quoted in national industry publications including BCR Magazine, Computer World, Information Week, and the Washington Post among others. Mr. Leaden is on the faculty of BCR Training and teaches a two day training course entitled ?Optimizing Enterprise Networks?. Mr. Leaden is Past President and member of the Society of Telecommunications Consultants, a national Telecommunications association that requires objectivity and professionalism as a prerequisite for membership. Mr. Leaden's degree is from Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York.
Unified Communications and IMS will deliver new services to business and residential customers. But the worlds of enterprise UC and of IMS carriers has yet to converge. This session will focus on what needs to happen within the global network to enable access to the same multimedia services from the office, home, while working somewhere far from home or while visiting next door? This session is open to all attendees with a valid VoiceCon badge.
Moderator - Manuel Vexler, VP Operations and IMS Int, IMS Forum
Manuel Vexler, known for his expertise in voice and multimedia over Internet, brings over 20 years of experience to roles such as the CTO of CopperCom and vice president of IMS Interoperability at the IMS Forum. He has worked toward the development of new Internet standards and services through leadership in groups such as the DSL, SIP and IMS Forums. Manuel has presented at over 50 global conferences. In 2006, Manuel participated in the World Congress on IT (WCIT) as a panelist on future technologies. Manuel drove high tech M&As at Cisco, and launched new technologies at CopperCom, AMD, Alcatel (Newbridge) and Nortel. Within these organizations, he led new initiatives and drove North American and international market expansion through the development of new products and market strategies. As an entrepreneur, he has provided consulting services on technology, marketing, business development and mergers and aquisitons, and co-founded two companies, MotorWiz and Integra100. Manuel holds an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Jassy, a network engineering certificate from the University of Toronto and an executive marketing certificate from Queens University
In this session, we'll focus on two different but equally important challenges that confront network managers and planners when facing emergency preparation: Disaster recovery/business continuity challenges and E-911. This session will help you understand the latest approaches in providing E-911 coverage for an IP Telephony-enabled enterprise; and it will describe approaches to designing resilient networks and building disaster recovery procedures into your network and operations plans. KEY QUESTIONS: * How have enterprises tackled the challenges of providing E-911 that's location-specific? * What product features are being offered to provide resilient connections in case of disaster? * What levels of redundancy are appropriate for disaster planning, and how do you handle the inevitable cost tradeoffs? * What are the elements of a comprehensive business continuity plan, and who within the enterprise needs to be involved in its creation, maintenance and execution?
Speaker - Nicholas Maier, Senior VP, RedSky Technologies Inc.
Nicholas (Nick) Maier, SVP, Marketing and Channel Development - Mr. Maier is a senior executive with over 15 years in telecommunications marketing, product development and channel development. In his current role, Mr. Maier is responsible for the product roadmap for RedSky?s enterprise software products and its strategic channel relationships with OEM VoIP platform providers. Mr. Maier has served as the co-chairman of the Avaya DevConnect Advisory Council that represents over 175 ISVs and is active in the developer programs of Nortel and Cisco. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Maier was the CEO of Newzing, Inc., a Softbank company, which developed a hosted transactional commerce site and rich media client applications. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Maier was Vice President of OEM Sales for Plantronics, the leading provider of hands-free communications devices. From 1983 to 1993, Mr. Maier was a senior sales and operations executive for Solitec, Inc., a diversified semiconductor equipment company in the Silicon Valley.
Moderator - Eric Krapf, Editor/Lead Blogger, No Jitter, Co-chair, VoiceCon
Eric Krapf is co-chair of the VoiceCon events, helping to set program content and direction for the leading conference events in the enterprise IP-telephony/convergence/Unified Communications marketplace. In addition, Krapf serves as editor & lead blogger for the website No Jitter, CMP Media?s online community for news and analysis of the enterprise convergence/Unified Communications industry. He is also responsible for electronic content including webcasts and e-newsletters. From 1996 to 2004, Krapf was managing editor of Business Communications Review magazine, and from 2004 to 2007, he was the magazine?s editor. BCR was a highly respected journal of the business technology and communications industry. Before coming to BCR, he was managing editor and senior editor of America?s Network magazine, covering the public telecommunications industry. Prior to working in high-tech journalism, he was a reporter and editor at newspapers in Connecticut and Texas.
Product developers continue to create new features and functions to both hard phones and softphones. But as the Unified Communications trend continues and as user expectations change, what specs will tomorrow's desktop phone have to meet? In this session, a leading consultant will present an analysis and then discuss his conclusions with a panel of vendor representatives. You will gain an understanding of the issues as you prepare for ongoing investment in desktop endpoints. KEY QUESTIONS * How do you ensure phones' compatibility and integration with emerging Unified Communications platforms? Is SIP compliance enough? * What hardware capabilities (Gigabit Ethernet cards, firmware upgradeability) do you require for future-proofing? * What is the price/performance of the latest phone sets? What is their expected life-cycle? * What degree of multi-vendor interoperability can we expect in the next generation of hard phones? * What quality and security challenges need to be overcome before softphones go more mainstream?
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