• Steve Griset, VP Development, Sybase
• Woody Ritchey, CEO, Nextpoint
• Carlos Solari,  VP, Alcatel-Lucent
• Koichi Asatani, Professor, Kogakuin University, Japan

• Norihiro Fukumoto, Research Engineer, Communications Network Planning Laboratory, KDDI, Japan
• Takaya Kitaguchi, Executive Manager, Disaster Prevention Planning Department, NTT, Japan
• Larry Reback, VP Ops, Sybase
• Steve Waken, AVP, Business Continuity Planning, AT&T

Our industry is attempting to deliver more capabilities, requiring more bandwidth, and more accessibility. Our solutions are covered in the umbrella of Next Generation Networks.  The discussion will cover service offerings, bandwidth needs, service coverage, and network requirements. This panel will discuss the merits and issues in moving to Next Generation Networks and Next-Next Generation Networks.  

Key topics to address are; access to capabilities, service delivery assurance, and security of solutions.  Technologies to consider in the discussion are 4G Wireless, Fiber everywhere, VoIP, IMS, IPTV, and any other three or four letter acronyms needed. 

This session will deliver thoughts to consider throughout the presentations in Day Two of the Workshop.

Format: 10 min presentation from each speaker - key highlights and thoughts
             30 minutes Q&A (each participant will get questions to answer)

Session shall answer:

1)      Why are Next Generation Networks needed? 

2)      What are the most difficult challenges in moving to the Next Generation Networks?

3)      How are we responding to these challenges?

4)      What have we learned – What works well? What do we need to focus on?

5)      What are the “best practices” in executing the change to Next Generation Networks?

Proposal Outline:

Businesses are challenged to maintain continuous operation in the face of potential incidents ranging from natural disasters to wars to terrorist activity. Creation and implementation of a comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery plan has achieved an even higher priority since 911, Hurricane Katrina, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and the Taiwan earthquake which caused 7 out of 9 cables in the Luzon Strait  to be out of service. Participants will be asked to describe how their enterprises are responding to these challenges, how their plans have evolved in recent years, and what are the most difficult challenges facing them, as IT architectures have also been evolving.

Format: 10 min presentation from each speaker - key highlights and thoughts
             30 minutes Q&A (each participant will get questions to answer)

Session shall answer:

1)      What are the most difficult challenges facing businesses today with regard to business continuity and disaster recovery?

2)      How have these challenges evolved in recent years?

3)      How are businesses responding to these challenges?

4)      How are new IT architectures such as virtualization causing changes in your company’s BC/DR plan?

5)      What are the most important learnings your company has made in this area?

6)      What do you consider to be key “best practices” in the area of business continuity and disaster recovery

Kelly Krick received his BSEE from the University of Iowa. Kelly is a twenty-four year Nortel veteran leading Global Quality across the corporation. His role is responsible for the company-wide quality management system as well as ISO and TL9000 registrations. He also runs the project office supporting Nortel's Lean Six Sigma improvement efforts.

Kelly's prior roles in Nortel included Engineering, Software Quality Assurance, Total Quality Management and Customer Operations. These roles have supported various business units and have placed him in various locations. With his engineering background, Kelly's highest personal satisfaction is achieved by working with customers to solve issues. 

Kelly is Senior Member of IEEE. He has served the Chair of CQR from 1998 to 2000. In 2005, Kelly received the CQR Chairman's Award for sustained contributions in the field of network system quality, oversight in the publication of valuable technical materials, and bridge building throughout the international community.

Renowned as the subject matter expert for the architecture and technical design of AT&T’s data networks, Christine Sorenson has worked in the field of data communications for more than 20 years.  Initially, she worked in designing very large SNA networks, then began working with the evolving technologies of frame relay and ATM in the years prior to AT&T’s first commercial IP network. Since the rise of the Internet and development of MPLS, Christine has gained company-wide recognition as the expert on AT&T’s core IP/MPLS network and all layers of the AT&T Global Network. 

Today, Christine provides technical expertise for sales and marketing, industry analysts, the media, and dozens of customers worldwide. She is personally responsible for authoring the tactical and strategic network-related technical information furnished by AT&T salespeople through white papers, presentations, and other key customer documentation. In addition, Christine is a key member of the team that brings the message of AT&T Architecture and Labs strategic innovations to the market. 

A sought after presenter and trainer on strategic and technical networking topics, Christine is a staunch networking evangelist, promoting the potential of networking technologies to significantly transform the dynamics of business.