Tuesday 28 November, 2006
8:00am

Access '06 will open with keynote presentations from key policy makers and industry leaders, focusing on the importance of broadband deployment.

Chair – Dr. Adam Drobot,
President Advanced Technology Solutions and CTO, Telcordia Technologies

Keynote Speaker:

Bill Smith,
CTO BellSouth Corporation

Technical, Operational, and Business Considerations of "The Last Mile"

"The Last Mile" of a communications network continues to present some of the largest challenges to a service provider. Some of these issues are technical in nature, but technology has matured to the point that many of those issues have been or will soon be resolved. The remaining challenges are often in other areas. This presentation will address many of the technical considerations associated with various access technologies, but it will also address many of the operational, financial, regulatory, and competitive considerations that often are the primary drivers in addressing " the last mile" today.

Bill Smith is Chief Technology Officer for BellSouth Corporation. In this role, he is responsible for setting the technology direction of BellSouth's core infrastructure. His department includes, network and operations technology, Internet protocol (IP) applications, next generation strategy as well as BellSouth Entertainment, LLC.  

A native of Asheville, North Carolina, he attended North Carolina State University at Raleigh, where he graduated with honors in 1979.

Bill began his career with BellSouth in 1979 and moved through a variety of job responsibilities over the next several years. He has been involved in BellSouth's advanced technology efforts since returning from an assignment at Bell Communications Research in New Jersey in 1987. He has held a number of assignments dealing with a variety of issues including technology, operations, marketing, and public policy. Bill was also an active participant in National and International Telecommunications Standards. Most recently Bill was responsible for BellSouth's DSL, Internet and wholesale business units.

Bill serves as Chairman of the Board of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), a Washington, D.C. based technical planning and standards organization serving the telecommunications industry. He serves on the Board of Directors of eAccess, Ltd., a communications firm based in Tokyo, Japan. He is also involved in a number of organizations within the Atlanta community, including serving on the Executive Board of the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and as Chairman of the Board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Georgia and Alabama. Bill is also on the Board of Advisors for the Graduate School at North Carolina State University.

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
9:00am

Chair:

Dr. Adam Drobot,
President Advanced Technology Solutions and CTO, Telcordia Technologies

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
9:45am

Chair:

Thomas Pfeiffer,
Alcatel SEL AG

Fiber access systems are moving beyond trials, with GPON, EPON and active Ethernet systems all beginning volume deployment. This session will provide an up-to-date industry status of fiber access networks addressing both market and business aspects as well as design considerations and technological evolutions. Leading system suppliers give insights into their fiber access business.

Invited Speakers:
David Cleary – Calix
Mark Klimek – Alcatel
David Meis – Corning
Thomas Pfeiffer – Alcatel

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
9:45am

Chair:

Dr. Douglas Zuckerman
Telcordia Technologies

Customer demand for a diverse range of broadband services, such as IPTV, is on the rise. Existing operations infrastructures were designed mainly for services tightly coupled to specific network technology. The real challenge comes from IP – and the decoupling of services from the underlying network it enables. Until recently, Network Management and Service Management were largely indistinguishable. Today, they are becoming quite separate disciplines, presenting a stress on older systems, and a challenge for the designers of new systems and operations architectures.The existing OSS environment has been hard pressed to economically provision, maintain and even bill the new services. Providing a high Quality of Service and difficulties in scalability have also been at issue.This panel provides carrier and vendor views on the main issues - and potential solutions - for successful operations of broadband networks and services.

Invited Speakers:
Roberto Saracco – Telecom Italia
Masayoshi Ejiri – Fujitsu
Daniel Martin – IBM
Laurie Spiegel – Telcordia Technologies
David Stevenson – Alcatel

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
9:45am

Chairs:

Dr. C. Skianis,
NCSR

Dr. Jie Zhang,
University of Bedfordshire

The history of modern communication commences with analog cellular systems (1st generation), passes to the digital era with the GSM, PDC, cdmaOne and US-TDMA (2nd generation) systems, enabling mainly voice communications, text messages and light access to data networks. The need for enhanced services in every day communications, such as multimedia communications (video messaging, images, audio), demands higher data rates and QoS. This need drives towards the deployment of third generation systems (3G networks). Those systems will coexist in the same environment with earlier 2nd generation systems as well as alternative wireless technologies. Key elements in such a coexistence include proper planning and optimization of deployed networks in terms of cost, coverage, capacity and quality constraints. This new setting creates new challenges in the field of planning and optimization for a number of sectors, such as regulatory bodies, telecom operators, equipment vendors, and companies producing related tools (planning and optimization).

Invited Speakers:
Jie Zhang – University of Bedfordshire
Costas Vlahodimitropoulos – Cosmote
Chris Brunner – Qualcomm
Dimitris Dernikas – Aircom
Spyros Denazis – Hitachi Europe & University of Patras

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
9:45am

Chair:


Dr. Robert Fish,
VP, Panasonic Research Lab

Network architects need to be cognizant of terminal equipment, and this increasingly means the world of consumer electronics. The proliferation of digital devices and local networking technologies provides a rich but challenging set of opportunities for network and service providers to leverage. This session addresses the latest trends in consumer devices and in consumer device networking.

Invited speakers:
Jack (Norikazu) Endo – EVP, Toyota IT Center US
Dr. Marwan Jabri – Dilithium Networks
Anton Monk – Entropic Communications
Dr. Robert Fish – VP, Panasonic Research Lab

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
2:00pm

Chair:

Dr. Tetsuya Yokotani, Mitsubishi Electric

As optical access systems emerge, standardization, applications support and evolution to NGN are key systems issues. This session addresses the broader context of optical access system deployment, including harmonization with network evolution trends and emerging home network technologies.

Invited Speakers:
Shoichi Hanatani – Hitachi and President, Fiber-To-The-Home Council, Asia Pacific
Armin Schulz – AMCC
Dr. Robert Keys – Bookham
Reuven Segev – Iamba Networks
Dr. Tetsuya Yokotani – Mitsubishi Electric

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
2:00pm

Chair:

Professor Richard S. Wolff,
Gilhousen Chair, Montana State University

As network technology options mature, it becomes increasingly realistic for organizations and coalitions to consider building their own infrastructures. Often this approach can meet the needs of constituencies that might not otherwise be served. This session discusses some of the latest trends and examples, including:
• Should a municipality be a service provider?
• What are the incentives for a franchise holder?
• What is the business model?
• Will unlicensed spectrum really work
(interference issues)?
• Will these networks provide adequate capacity
and scalability?
• What can we expect in future technologies
(WiMAX replaces WiFi, for example)?

Invited Speakers:
Dr. Richard Wolff – Montana State University
Tim Ryan – City College San Francisco
Todd Graetz – CEO, TransAria
Cyrus Behroozi – Tropos Networks
Larry Alder – Google
Avi Gannon – College of Staten Island

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
2:00pm

Chair:

Norman Thiel,
Thiel Consulting

Broadband wireless technologies are rapidly emerging from research and development labs. Will broadband wireless emerge to displace wired equivalents in the same way cellular telephony has dominated? This session brings renowned experts together to discuss industry status.

Invited speakers:
Ben Vos – Sprint Nextel
Garett Doyle – Airspan
Dr. J.S. Shieh – Z-Com
Dr. David A. Whelan – Boeing

Tuesday 28 November, 2006
2:00pm

Chair:

Bart Stuck,
Signal Lake Venture Fund

Broadband access represents a make-or-break investment for the operator franchise. What is the business case for broadband deployment, and what will broadband mean for the health of the telecommunications industry? Join the experts in this session to hear the answers to these and other critical questions.

Invited Speakers:
Dr. Bharat P. Dave – Aliphion
Mike Weingarten – Signal Lake
Chi-Kuo Mao – Dean Management College National Chiao Tung University, former Chairman Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan
Sammy Thomas – Telcordia Technologies
Frank Galuppo – Amedia Networks
Robin Grindley – SOMA Networks