2009 Executive Forum
Strategies for Success in Optical Communications
Bandwidth and Applications on the Rise: Will Profits Follow?
Program Schedule and Speakers
| Sunday, March 22, 2009 |
| 3:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. |
Registration |
| 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. |
Networking Reception |
*Schedule Subject to Change
KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
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Surya Panditi, Vice President and General Manager, Access and Transport Technology Group, Cisco |
Surya Panditi leads Cisco Systems’ Access and Transport Technology Group (ATTG), which includes Cisco’s portfolio of Optical products, Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTS), Access Transmission and Edge Modulation market segments, Mr. Panditi has P&L responsibility for this Group and is responsible for strategic direction, product development, product positioning and introducing leading-edge technologies and competitive products. With more than 25 years of senior leadership experience with several public and privately-held data and telecommunications equipment provider companies, Mr. Panditi brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Cisco and its service provider routing technology group. Mr. Panditi assumed his current position in December 2005 after serving as general manager of Cisco’s service provider voice business, his first senior executive position with Cisco.
Before joining Cisco in August 2005, Mr. Panditi served as president and CEO of Polaris Networks, a provider of optical transport switches. He also held the CEO position for Convergent Networks Inc., a provider of broadband voice infrastructure products for cable and telecom service providers. Mr. Panditi also served as chairman, president and CEO of Avici Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: AVCI) where he successfully managed the company’s growth and its transition from a private to a public company. Avici markets and manufactures carrier-class core routing products. Prior to that, Mr. Panditi was vice president and general manager of the local area network (LAN) infrastructure business unit at USRobotics.; Earlier in his career he worked for Intel Corporation, Ungermann-Bass and Telco Systems.
Mr. Panditi has served on the boards of enKoo, a developer of remote access products, now a part of SonicWALL; Internet Photonics, a company acquired by Ciena Corporation in 2004; and Avici Systems. Mr. Panditi earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
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Ryan Limaye, Head of Communications/Technology Investment Banking, Goldman Sachs & Co. |
Ryan Limaye is head of Communications/Technology Investment Banking. He has focused on financing and strategic assignments for leading companies in the communications and technology sectors since joining Goldman Sachs in 1994. He has worked on transactions with companies such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Alcatel, Lucent Technologies, Juniper Networks, Siemens, Ericsson, JDSU, Citrix, VeriSign, Neustar and 3Com. He has also worked on numerous technology IPOs including: Lucent, Juniper, Riverbed, Sonus, NetScreen, Acme Packet, Synchronoss, OpNext, West Teleservices and Glu Mobile. Mr. Limaye was named managing director in 2001 and partner in 2002.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Limaye worked at McKinsey & Company. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with distinction and designated a Palmer Scholar. He also holds a B.S. in Economics and a B.A.S in Applied Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated summa cum laude and as a Ben Franklin Scholar, Nelson Scholar, and Joseph Wharton Scholar.
SPECIAL PRESENTATION
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Nick Kolovos, Partner, Ryan, MacKinnon, Vasapoli & Berzok, LLP |
Nick Kolovos specializes in legislative and regulatory affairs and public policy with extensive experience in the telecommunications and high-tech industries. For the past ten years he has worked closely with many of the country’s largest and most innovative high-tech, cable and telecommunications companies.
From 2000-2003 Mr. Kolovos served as Senior Legislative Assistant and Counsel for Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo (D-California) where he led the development of Rep. Eshoo’s legislative agenda and high-tech policy. During that time he was involved in legislation on comprehensive telecom reform and other issues within the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He came to Rep. Eshoo’s staff after serving as an attorney in the Federal Communication Commission’s Wireless Bureau where he developed research strategy for a variety of complex wireless telecommunications issues.
Mr. Kolovos’ prior experience includes lobbying on behalf of the cable industry as Vice President of Government Relations at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the wireless industry while Director of Government Affairs with CTIA – the Wireless Association, and the high-tech industry as Counsel and Director of Government Affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association representing leading high-tech companies.
Mr. Kolovos is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. He has also served two judicial clerkships; first, for the Honorable Edward H. Johnstone of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, followed by his service to the Honorable Peter C. Economus of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Successful Strategies for Supporting Bandwidth-Intensive Applications
The need to support bandwidth-intensive applications such as video delivery and high-end computing is clear – but how can this be done in today’s climate and maintain an adequate return on investment? A panel of carriers and systems suppliers discusses the evolution of optical networks and equipment to meet the challenge of expanding requirements. In addition, they will describe what role they expect their suppliers to perform.
Speakers
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Stephen Carlton, Vice President, Planning and Product Management, Fujitsu Network Communications |
Stephen Carlton is vice president of Planning and Product Management at Fujitsu Network Communications. In this role, Stephen is responsible for planning and writing of requirements for new product developments and also product line management of FLASHWAVE products. Stephen’s career in telecommunications began in 1982 at Bell Northern Research (now Nortel) as a design engineer. In this position, he helped develop pointers, a key innovation on the SONET standard. Stephen moved to Rockwell International (now Alcatel) in 1986 to be a system designer of fiber optics transmission and progressed to the position of director of development where he was responsible for 140 developers engaged on the design of SONET and WDM systems, hardware, and software. Stephen joined Fujitsu in 1998 as an individual contributor to assist planning of SONET system requirements. He eventually became vice president responsible for product line management and planning of SONET and WDM products developed by Fujitsu. Stephen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics from De Montfort University in Leicester, UK. He holds seven patents relevant to the field of transmission engineering.
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Stuart Elby, Vice President, Network Architecture, Verizon |
Dr. Stuart Elby, Vice President of Network Architecture, is responsible for Verizon’s network vision and evolution towards this target. He is also responsible for the design and specification of Verizon’s metro, regional, and long haul optical transport networks, VoIP and IMS networks, and emerging converged services platforms. Additionally, Dr. Elby is responsible for collaborative R&D activities with universities and government, and the Verizon Interoperability Forum. He has previously held several positions in Verizon including network platform testing, and technical support of product development and sales. Prior to joining the phone company in 1993, Dr. Elby was a Research Associate at the National Science Foundation’s Center for Telecommunications Research at Columbia University. There he was responsible for leading research in optoelectronic devices, all-optical networks and developing early ATM/WDM platforms. He was co-director of a multi-university research program on all-optical packet switched networking, and collaborated with Teachers’ College in the development and deployment of a multi-media educational network for primary and secondary schools. In 1985, Dr. Elby was the Manager of Technology in a laser surgery start-up where he was responsible for FDA clinical trails, laser surgery product development, and brought the first ever disposal plastic fiber-optic delivery system to the medical market. In 1982, he was a Staff Engineer at StorageTek, where he contributed to the development of the first commercial optical disk system. Dr. Elby received a BS degree in Optical Engineering from the University of Rochester, NY, in 1982 and received a MSEE and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1989 and 1994, respectively.
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Joseph P. Huggins, Director – Access & Transport Technology Management, Qwest Communications |
Joe Huggins is the director for access and transport technologies within the technology management organization at Qwest. He is responsible for the evaluation, selection, and certification of these technologies for Qwest’s local and national networks; as well as driving the overall strategy of the Qwest access and transport networks. He has held positions in network engineering, planning, strategy and economic analysis. He has experience in transport, packet technologies, switching and finance. Mr. Huggins graduated from The Colorado College in 1977 with a degree in Geology and received an MBA - Finance degree from Regis University in 1985. He holds three patents related to VDSL and ATM.
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Kou Miyake, Director, NTT Service Integration Laboratories, NTT |
Since joining the NTT Electrical Communication Laboratories in 1980, Dr. Kou Miyake has been active in network design and traffic engineering for satellite communications networks, packet-switched networks, and broadband communication networks. From 1998 to 2002, he was responsible for the research and development of the Next Generation Network architecture and system engineering in NTT R&D Labs. From 2003 to 2007, he was the president of NTT Data Intelli-link Corporation, providing cutting-edge technologies to the telecommunication market. Currently, he is the director for NTT Service Integration Laboratories.; Dr. Kou Miyake has been an active participant in ITU-T Study Group 13 since 1990 as an expert on B-ISDN and ATM systems. Since 2000 to 2002, he was a board member of Multi-service switching Forum (MSF). Dr. Kou Miyake received B.S. and M.S. degrees in mathematics in 1978 and 1980, and a Dr. Eng. degree on network performance analysis in 1991 from Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, respectively.
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Vik Saxena, Senior Director, Network Architecture, Office of the CTO, Comcast Cable |
Vik Saxena is the Senior Director of Network Architecture in the CTO Office at Comcast Cable Dr. Saxena has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and a B.E. in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology, India. He started his career at Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, and went on to hold technical leadership positions at JDS Uniphase and Narad Networks, and most recently, at Comcast Cable. Dr. Saxena is a Senior Member of IEEE, holds 9 patents, and has been invited to publish in several journals and present at international conferences, industry forums, and technical workshops.
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David F. Welch, Founder and Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Infinera Corporation |
David Welch is co-founder of Infinera, a leading supplier of optical systems based on innovative Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) technology. Originally he was CTO, responsible for execution of the optical transport system, including PIC and optical line system architecture, specification, performance, and transition from concept to manufacturing and deployment. Dr. Welch is currently in the role of CMO/CSO, responsible for overall corporate technology vision; primary interface for complete system architecture, optical architecture, specifications/validation of design; development/execution of product roadmaps, product line management, corporate marketing, and business/corporate development. He was previously CTO and VP of Corporate Development of SDL and JDS Uniphase, responsible for technology and acquisition strategies. Dr. Welch has published over 250 articles and over 100 patents in optical components and systems. Awards include the 1992 Adolph Lomb Award from OSA, the 1998 Engineering Achievement Award from LEOS, the 1999 OSA Joseph Fraunhofer/ Robert M. Burley Award, and over 17 product of the year awards at SDL. He serves on the board of directors of OSA and is a fellow of the IEEE. Dr. Welch has a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Delaware and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Cornell University.
Optical Components: Technology for New Business Strategies
The tough times in the optical components space, and the recent economic downturn requires shrewd business practices. Several companies exemplify these practices as they continue to innovate to solidify their bottom lines. This panel of senior executives will discuss their strategies for maneuvering through this challenging environment.
Speakers
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Giovanni Barbarossa, President and CEO, Avanex Corporation |
Dr. Giovanni Barbarossa joined Avanex in 2000 as Director of Research and Development. He was then promoted to Chief Technology Officer and Sr. Vice President of Product Development, and served in this capacity until 2004. From 2004 through 2005, Dr. Barbarossa was responsible for the Avanex Active Component Business Unit. From 2005 until his appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2008, Dr. Barbarossa continued to serve as Avanex Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Barbarossa has played a pivotal role in all acquisitions that Avanex has made, including the acquisitions of the Photonic Business Division of Corning, Alcatel Optronics, and the Optical Networking Division of Vitesse Semiconductor that radically transformed the company in 2003. Before joining Avanex, Dr. Barbarossa had management responsibilities for the development of advanced optical switching platforms in the Optical Networking Division of Agilent Technologies. In addition, he led the design team of the Optical Application Specific Integrated Circuits department at Lucent Technologies. Earlier, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Labs and a research associate in the Oxide Glasses for Future Networks Group at BT Labs. Dr. Barbarossa received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and a bachelor of science in electrical engineering, cum laude, from the University of Bari, Italy.
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Fariba Danesh, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Fiber Optic Products Division, Avago Technologies |
Fariba Danesh is senior vice president and general manager of the Fiber Optic Products Division (FOPD) for Avago Technologies. FOPD is a leading manufacturer of Ethernet, Fibre Channel and SONET/SDH fiber optic transceivers and components. Ms. Danesh most recently served as executive vice president, operations at Maxtor Corporation. Preceding Maxtor, she was chief operating officer and senior vice president operations at Finisar Corporation, a technology leader in fiber optic subsystems and network performance test systems. She was also president and CEO of Genoa Corporation and has held senior operations and engineering executive roles at Sanmina-SCI, Seagate Technology and Conner Peripherals. Ms. Danesh holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemical engineering from Santa Clara University.
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Alan Lowe, President, Communications and Commercial Optical Products Business Segment, JDSU |
Alan Lowe is president of the JDSU Communications and Commercial Optical Products (CCOP) business segment. Prior to joining JDSU in September 2007 as senior vice president of the Commercial Lasers business, Mr. Lowe was senior vice president, Customer Solutions Group at Asyst Technologies, Inc. a leader in automating semiconductor and flat panel display fabs. From 2000 to 2003, he was president and chief executive officer of Read-Rite Corporation, a manufacturer of thin-film recording heads for disk and tape drives. From 1989 to 2000, Mr. Lowe served in roles of increasing responsibility at Read-Rite, including president and chief operating officer, and senior vice president, customer business units. Prior to joining Read-Rite, he served in various sales positions with Microcom Corporation and IBM Corporation. He is a member of the advisory board of ETM Inc., a privately held provider of tailored power subsystems. Mr. Lowe holds bachelor's degrees in computer science and business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and also completed the Stanford Executive Program in 1994.
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Near Margalit, Chief Executive Officer, Source Photonics |
Dr. Margalit has served as Chief Executive Officer of Source Photonics, Inc. since February 2003. From February 2003 to July 2007 he also served as President. From May 2002 until February 2003, he served MRV as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. From 1998 until May 2003, Dr. Margalit was founder, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer for Zaffire, Inc., a DWDM Metro Platform company, which was acquired by Centerpoint in October 2001. At Zaffire, Dr. Margalit was responsible for product vision and architecture of integrating DWDM and SONET technology. Prior to founding Zaffire, Dr. Margalit was employed by MRV, both in the optical component and networking divisions. Dr. Margalit earned a Bachelor of Science degree in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in optoelectronics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Margalit is the son of Dr. Shlomo Margalit, the Chairman of the Board, Chief Technical Officer and Secretary of MRV.
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Haruki Ogoshi, Vice President, FITEL Products Division, Telecommunication Company, Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. |
Haruki Ogoshi has been with Furukawa Electric Company, Ltd. since April 1980 and has been Vice President of FITEL Products Division since November 2005. Prior to this, he worked on optical amplifiers and optical components development and manufacturing since 1988. During this period Mr. Ogoshi held various management positions. He received a Masters degree in electrical engineering from Ibaraki University in Japan.
How to Increase Profits through Market Expansion
The optical communications marketplace has never been more global and dynamic. But expanding from one geographical region to another, or serving a new customer base, can be a difficult proposition. Senior executives describe how they chartered a new course for their companies – and the methods they will use to transplant success into new territories.
Speakers
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Laura Howard, Chief Marketing Officer, ECI Telecom |
Laura Howard was appointed Chief Marketing Officer of ECI in 2006. She leads ECI's corporate marketing strategy and orchestrates the company's global marketing activities. Ms. Howard's vast experience spans 20 years of leadership roles in data and telecommunications marketing. Prior to joining ECI, she served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Development at US-based Ciena Corporation. She has also held the position of Senior Vice President at Ericsson AB, expanding the company through global marketing, and as Vice President at 3Com Corporation, where she led business development and marketing initiatives. Ms. Howard holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Southern New Hampshire, USA.
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Harmeet Singh, Vice President Business Development and Marketing, Tejas Networks |
Dr. Harmeet Singh is responsible for the Business Development and Marketing functions at Tejas Networks where he manages the strategic sales, partnerships and marketing functions for the company. Prior to joining Tejas Networks, he was the CEO of Optovia Corporation which he founded in 2002. Prior to that, Dr. Singh led the transmission system and optical component teams at Nortel Networks which he joined through the acquisition of Qtera Corporation in January 2000. At Qtera, he was a key contributor in architecting one of the earliest OC192 ultra long haul products. Previously, he held various positions at 3M Company where he worked in Product Management, Development and Operations role and was instrumental in helping launch new products. Dr. Singh holds a Bachelor's degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India, has earned a Ph.D. from University of Maryland, College Park and has an Executive Education in Finance from Harvard Business School.
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George Z. Sun, CEO, ZTE USA, Inc. |
George Sun began his career at ZTE Corporation in 1998 when he graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering with a focus on signal processing. Dr. Sun was previously the director of the Technology Center at ZTE’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China. He was responsible for all of the advanced technology research at ZTE as well as the strategic development of technology and its global implementation. In 2005, Dr. Sun took the current position at ZTE USA and started the ZTE business in the U.S. market.
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Ashish Vengsarkar, Chief Executive Officer, Nistica |
Dr. Ashish Vengsarkar joined Nistica as CEO in the Spring of 2006. Prior to Nistica, he founded the ROADM pioneer Photuris in January 2000. Dr. Vengsarkar began his career in Bell Labs developing optical fiber devices and subsystems. He transitioned to Lucent's optical business unit and led Product Management organizations for Metro and Long-Haul Optical Networks. Dr. Vengsarkar received his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Master's and Ph.D. Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an Executive MBA from the Wharton School.
Bold Moves and the M&A Stories behind Them
To maintain a competitive advantage as well expand market share, some forward-thinking executives decided to reshape their companies and the markets they serve through aggressive M&A strategies. In this panel, they will describe the thinking behind the deals and how they foresee their markets changing even more in the future.
Speakers
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Harry L. Bosco, President and CEO, Opnext |
Harry Bosco brings Opnext (OPXT) a background rich in fiber optic technology and corporate leadership. As President and CEO, he drives the strategic direction of one of the global leaders in high-performance optical components. Prior to joining Opnext, Mr. Bosco spent more than 30 years at AT&T, Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies. During his tenure at Lucent, he led the optical networking group, serving as group president and COO. Leveraging a solid business and technology background with expertise across all business functions, Mr. Bosco also served as CTO for Lucent consumer products, vice president of the wired technology and initial production center, president of the network systems broadband networking unit, and CTO for the service provider networks. Highlights during his time at Lucent include leading the development of Lucent’s core data networking architecture, helping mastermind the company’s broadband networking strategy and deploying Lucent’s optical networking product portfolio.
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Arvind Chhatbar, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Enablence Technologies, Inc. |
Arvind Chhatbar is the chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Enablence Technologies, Inc. (TSXV: ENA). Prior to assuming this role, he was the chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Directors of Enablence which he co-founded in December of 2003. Prior to Enablence, Mr. Chhatbar had a distinguished career with the National Research Council of Canada. He was responsible for the creation of several NRC technology spin-off companies, including Sige MicroSystems, Iridian Spectral Technologies, CrossLight Software, Toth Information Systems, and several other successful companies. In 1996, Mr. Chhatbar founded Vitesse Re-Skilling and held the position of president from its inception until the launch of Enablence. He is a previous executive director of the Ottawa Regional Innovation Forum and in December 2005, Mr. Chhatbar was elected to be director and chair of the Ottawa Business Council's - Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Chhatbar has an MBA from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Arts (Development Economics and Administration) from Carleton University. In addition, he is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in London, United Kingdom and he has a Diploma in Banking from the Institute of Finance Management.
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Hong Q. Hou, Chief Executive Officer, EMCORE Corporation |
Hong Hou joined EMCORE in March 1998 and has served in a variety of leadership roles. He co-started EMCORE's Photovoltaics Division, and subsequently managed the Fiber Optics Division. He was Executive Vice President of Business Development and Product Strategy before becoming Vice President and General Manager of EMCORE's Ortel Division. From 1995 to 1998 he was a Principal Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. Prior to that, he served with AT&T Bell Laboratories, engaging in research on high-speed optoelectronic devices. He holds a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego and a Bachelor of Science degree from Jilin University in China. He has published over 150 journal articles and holds seven U.S. patents.
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Jerry S. Rawls, Executive Chairman, Finisar |
Jerry Rawls was elected Chairman of the Board in 2006. He has also served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors for Finisar Corporation from 1989 to 2008. From 1968 to 1989, he was employed by Raychem Corporation, a materials science and engineering company. At Raychem he held various management positions including Manager of Product Marketing, National Sales Manager, General Manager of the Aerospace Products Division, and General Manager of the Interconnection Systems Division. Mr. Rawls holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University and an M.S. in Industrial Administration from the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma engineering honorary societies.
*Speakers subject to change.
Advancing the Science and Technology of Light
