Broadband Developments

January 27, 2009

Infrastructure 2.0: The Modernization of the Datacenter - Doug Gourlay of Cisco

I cornered Doug Gourlay Senior Director of Product Marketing of Cisco’s Datacenter Business Unit, at the Infrastructure 2.0 event to answer my question about what he means when he says “The Modernization of the Datacenter”.

Question (John Furrier): What do you say to all the skeptics who say that you’re promoting the modernization of the datacenter because you’re in that business and that it really isn’t a problem? Is this just virtualization or is there another issue?

Answer (Doug Gourlay): It’s absolutely a systems approach. There are multiple factors. Lets take Moore’s law for instance which has proven true over the past 30 years. In datacenters you want it to last at least 10 -15 yrs. With 750x processor improvements under Moore’s law in the last 12 years yet cooling efficiencies has only grown 64x for IT assets - that is an 11 or 12x disparity. That’s why you see datacenters with racks designed to cool 4000 to 6000 watts. If I took a set of blades today I would need to cool it with only 30,000 watts. The reality is that we can draw more power then we can efficiently cool today. You either run out of space so — we made denser equipment; you ran out of cooling capacity — you bought more crack units; you ran out of power and the power company will NOT give you more. So when we talk about a modernization were talking about the underlying physical facilities that we built are being obsoleted almost every 5 yrs.

Question (John Furrier): It’s not just a Cisco issue it’s more of an environmental issue around the datacenter themselves ..the raw infrastructure the physical plant or whatever to equipment.

Answer (Doug Gourlay): That’s the biggest compelling event. how do i enable the IT infrastructure to make that facility infrastructure last longer.

To View the Entire Infrastructure 2.0 video feed click here (sorry registration required).

January 26, 2009

Definition of Infrastructure 2.0 with Cisco’s Doug Gourlay

Filed under: BroadDev — Tags: , , , , , — John Furrier @ 1:45 pm

I had a chance to meet with Doug Gourlay, Senior Director of Cisco’s Datacenter Business Unit, to ask him about what he thinks of Infrastructure 2.0.

Very interesting response.  I have a few more segments:  Modernization of the Data Center and What Cisco thinks of the phrase “Moving up the stack”.

To view the entire Cisco event in video you can go here - Click here for the Cisco Infrastructure 2.0 event.

Enjoy the video (less than 2 mins).

January 16, 2009

Infrastructure 2.0 - Infoblox Introduces Resilient Core Network Services to Cisco Branch Office Solutions

Filed under: BroadDev, Infrastructure 2.0, Networking — Tags: , , , , — John Furrier @ 11:31 am

Here is the press release from the Infoblox and Cisco event that I went to yesterday. I got some good video from Cisco on their ‘moving up the stack’ views and what ‘modernize your datacenter means’.. Doug Gourley was on the panel and I had a chance to talk to him after. I was impressed with Cisco guys Doug Gourley and Omar Sultan both are active bloggers at Cisco. I was impressed with their social outreach on doing some collaborative blogging together. I’ll have that video up tomorrow.

Meanwhile here’s the text from the Edge DNS solutions from Cisco that now includes Infoblox. In essence reduces the amount of hardware at the branch.. very ‘green’ solution since reduction of equipment and power are big focuses right now in enterprise infrastructure.

SANTA CLARA, CA–(MARKET WIRE)–Jan 15, 2009 — Infoblox Inc., a global leader in appliance-based platforms for highly secure, manageable and robust core network services — including domain name resolution (DNS), IP address assignment (DHCP), and IP address management (IPAM) — announced today in a live video web cast “Unleashing the Power of Dynamic Infrastructure” event that its virtual software module is now available on the Cisco Application Extension Platform (AXP) for the Cisco Integrated Services Router (ISR).

Now, enterprises can take advantage of Infoblox’s core network services, offering powerful, cost-effective and highly reliable and manageable DNS, DHCP and IPAM services on the Cisco ISR. The solution is ideal for highly distributed organizations, such as retail, healthcare and manufacturing verticals with multiple branch offices and a critical requirement for local survivability and automation of core network services at those sites.

“For robust delivery and management of core network services at the branch office, companies that have already standardized on Cisco’s ISR for branch routing can easily add Infoblox’s virtual software to the system,” said Jon Oltsik, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “This can be especially prudent for organizations that consider local survivability and automation at the branch a high priority, but are strapped with requirements to reduce footprint, and operational and administrative costs.”

Further, highly reliable and automated core network services provide the essential foundation for the transition from a static network — configured largely by hand and tracked with spreadsheets — to an intelligent and dynamic infrastructure, which can automatically, fluidly and seamlessly adjust to movement of users and servers. This is critical to support advance applications like virtualization and cloud computing at the data center and branch offices.

“Driven by new system and endpoint demands as well as new IT initiatives like cloud computing and virtualization, network infrastructure will need to meet new automation and intelligence requirements,” said Infoblox Vice President of Marketing Richard Kagan. “Infoblox’s robust core network services platform in conjunction with the Cisco ISR, which provides an excellent combination of resiliency, management automation and flexibility, can provide organizations the dynamic infrastructure necessary to support their new system, end point and IT initiatives.”

“Integrating Infoblox’s technology into Cisco Integrated Services Routers can provide local survivability of essential services like DNS, DHCP and IPAM at the branch office, reduce footprint and operational costs, while optimizing the network for greater visibility and control,” said Rahul Tripathi, Director, Cisco Access Routing Technology Group. “In teaming with Infoblox, customers with millions of Cisco ISRs are provided with intelligent core network services that will help drive their transition to an even more automated and dynamic branch office offering.”
Availability

Infoblox virtual software for the Cisco ISRs is currently available from Infoblox’s global network of channel partners.

Cisco and Infoblox will showcase the joint solution at several upcoming industry events:

– “Unleashing the Power of Dynamic Infrastructure in the Data Center
and Beyond” - a live virtual meeting Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009,
featuring Cisco Senior Director Doug Gourlay, Cisco Director,
Rahul Tripathi and Infoblox CTO Stuart Bailey; to register, visit:
http://www.infoblox.com/news/event-detail.cfm?eventID=84.
– Cisco Networkers - Infoblox and Cisco are demonstrating the solution
in booth #E16 at the Cisco Networkers, January 26-29, Barcelona,
Spain; for more information, or to arrange an appointment, visit:
http://www.infoblox.com/news/events.cfm.

About Infoblox Appliances and Grid Technology

Infoblox pioneered core network services appliances and delivered a number of industry firsts, including the first appliances to integrate DNS, DHCP, and IPAM, TFTP/FTP/HTTP file delivery, NTP, and other services in hardened, easy-to-manage network appliances.

Infoblox grids link a group of member appliances into a unified, centrally managed system with unique resilience and automation functions. For example, the software for all appliances in a grid can be updated in a single operation. Parameters for DNS, DHCP, and all network services can be set at a grid-wide level. Data from all members and services can be viewed and managed from a single location. Additionally, advanced functionality, such as automated failover to and from disaster recovery sites, is built in.

For more information about Infoblox products, visit: http://www.infoblox.com/products/.

About Infoblox

Infoblox delivers highly reliable and manageable platforms for core network services like domain name resolution (DNS), IP address assignment (DHCP), IP address management (IPAM) and more. Infoblox solutions — essential for the move from static networks to dynamic infrastructure and applications — are used by over 2,700 organizations worldwide, including over 100 of the Fortune 500. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and operates in more than 30 countries.
Contact:

Media Contacts:
Jennifer Jasper
Infoblox
408.625.4309
Email Contact

January 15, 2009

John Chambers Opinion On Broadband - The Broadband Economy

Filed under: BroadDev, Infrastructure 2.0 — Tags: , , , — John Furrier @ 1:46 pm

Here is an opinion piece written by John Chambers CEO of Cisco.  Talk about a vision for Broadband no better to post on Broadband Developments.

President-elect Barack Obama’s ambitious economic recovery plan has a goal to create 3 million American jobs in the next two years. Broadband is a part of the answer.

Broadband has the potential to transform our country. It will create jobs in the growth sectors of our economy — jobs that are driving the collaboration and interaction economy. Obama deserves our full support as he looks to revitalize our economy. An economic stimulus package that focuses on infrastructure must put America’s broadband infrastructure at the head of the list. We have the opportunity to bring broadband to those who do not have access to it today and to dramatically improve the quality and speed of existing broadband to 21st century standards. Broadband is the highway to our future.

Obama understands the correlation between broadband and job growth and will be the first U.S. leader to execute a nationwide broadband plan that will spur innovation, productivity, growth and collaboration for generations to come.

He has discussed using the proposed stimulus package to rebuild our aging physical infrastructure of roads, bridges, water and energy systems. This is important and needed. If we want a new 21st century economy and society, he also recognizes that broadband connectivity is the additional infrastructure that is essential to our future.

Broadband’s economic power derives from two sources. The first is reach — how many people are using broadband at work, at home and in the community. The second is speed — the speeds of the connection determine the impact it has on user behavior. We are all aware of how little things have changed over the years when it comes to broadband rankings for the United States. We continue to fall behind.In 2002, TechNet, a group of technology executives that I co-founded with John Doerr and Jim Barksdale, called for 100 Mbs broadband adoption in 100 million American homes and small businesses by 2010. We are clearly not going to reach that goal, but the leadership from government that we asked for seven years ago still applies. We need to upgrade existing infrastructure to 20/50/100 Mbs and there should be tax credits provided to do this. And to prevent the disparity between the technical haves and have-nots from widening, we need funding to promote and provide broadband in unserved and underserved areas.

Including broadband in a stimulus package is not just about the longer-term vision — it will immediately create jobs, with the Communications Workers of America estimating that 97,500 jobs result from every $5 billion spent on broadband infrastructure. Longer term, an increase in broadband usage in the United States of 10 percent would add more than 2 million jobs, according to the group Connected Nation. And in California alone, increasing broadband usage could add 1.8 million jobs over the next 10 years, according to the Sacramento Regional Research Institute.

But it is more than a mere connection. Behavior is dictated by Internet speeds.

Imagine what the United States could accomplish if our broadband speeds were not just competitive, but leading-edge. Imagine what broadband could do for health care: A medical specialist in Cleveland, Ohio, could do a virtual house call via high-definition video to a homebound retiree in Henderson, Nev. We have the technology now, but we need the connectivity. Imagine applying that same technology to education and changing the very nature of the way students learn — or the way we train workers.

Our economic challenges are too dire to merely rely on Band-Aids. It’s time to broadband our economy. The innovation, the productivity and the growth that is possible with a proper broadband infrastructure is nearly limitless. The time to act is now. Doing so will not only help stabilize and stimulate a recovery but create the foundation for long-term prosperity and competitiveness.

Let the Speculation begin - Nortel Bankruptcy Effect

Filed under: BroadDev, UC — Tags: , , , , , — John Casaretto @ 7:42 am

News of Nortel’s bankruptcy filing hit the news yesterday.  No one is really surprised.
First thoughts, you can bet that giants like Cisco and Avaya will be courting some Nortel customers.  The truth of it is, Nortel while they have some great products – was not run well.   Hopefully this status allows them to have time to regroup.

But honestly, after their peak in 99-2000 it has all been downhill.  This is hardly a surprise to many.  From the dotcom downturn, to the bogus earning scandal in 2003, and an inability to turn it around for the last several years, this appears to be a swan song.

The Unified Communications properties may be amongst the strongest chips the company may have as it can be anticipated that it will sell pieces of itself off.  The question is in these economic times, what company would possibly have the cash to pick this up?  Natural speculation, but this much is clear, Nortel’s UC technologies and clientele present an opportunity that someone out there will not be able to resist.  We know Microsoft is aligned with Nortel.  John Fontana explores this relationship in his NetworkWorld post.

“Microsoft said it is waiting for more information before it can evaluate the fallout. “All ICA offerings are currently available to customers and no changes are planned at this time,” said a company spokesperson via e-mail. “We are not in the position to assess the impact of the ICA until we understand Nortel’s plans.”

Juniper may be out there, Cisco, and on and on, but again it all comes down to who can pony up the cash in a tight, but loosening credit market.  This story will surely evolve..

January 6, 2009

Cisco Gets Hip With Infrastructure 2.0 - Hey’s It’s The Dynamic Enterprise

Filed under: BroadDev, Infrastructure 2.0 — Tags: , , — John Furrier @ 4:15 pm

Cisco has a great blog post about their 2009 predictions and it’s very upbeat. Although Cisco is aiming to be a household brand, they are the 800 pound gorilla position in the enterprise.

Ethernet and IP are remarkably resilient technologies and they can both take a lot of abuse, but there enough concurrent pressures in the data center right now (i.e. operational complexity, scaling, virtualization, power/cooling) that attention is shifting back to infrastructure.  As Jon Oltsik recently pointed out “…these core services have been a virtually ignored kludge leading to unplanned downtime, security vulnerabilities, and manual operations…”

Gregory Ness lays out why virtualized, dynamic infrastructure, such as Data Center 3.0 will continue to to see targeted investment in a recent post:

Network vendors who continue to focus on static infrastructure “speeds and feeds” and CIOs who embrace a dying status quo of networking manual labor empires will be replaced by more innovative and strategic approaches that embrace automation as much internally (within the network) as they deliver externally (systems and operations). Networking pros will be thusly rewarded for embracing policy tools versus reactionary configuration as ad hoc policy in response to higher rates of change within increasing complex networks.

The folks that are running out of something (budget, space, people, power, cooling) will move towards dynamic infrastructure out of necessity–its the only sustainable way they can support the needs of their business.  The second scenario are the folks that adopt dynamic infrastructure out of choice–they see the fluidity of the infrastructure as an advantage–furthermore the TCO reduction either allows them to invest in other places or return money back to the company–both of which will give companies competitive advantage and turn their CIOs into rock stars.

January 4, 2009

Dynamic Infrastructure: Infrastructure 2.0 Developing In The Enterprise

Filed under: BroadDev, Infrastructure 2.0 — Tags: , , , , — John Furrier @ 11:11 am

Greg Ness wrote a post over at Seeking Alpha on Infrastructure 2.0 or Dynamic Enterprise.

Over the last three decades the network has grown to a point of exhaustion for many enterprises, with critical projects being slowed by the demands of manual IT labor, from core network services like DNS/DHCP and IPAM (IP address management) to the new dynamic processing power potentials unleashed by virtualization and cloud computing. A report last fall by Computerworld showed large enterprises already experiencing diseconomies of scale (rising per unit IP address management costs as IP addresses are added), before even more endpoint and system movement and change is enabled by new initiatives designed to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

When you combine rising (manual labor) costs on a per IP address basis with the ongoing expansion of the network (more IP addresses) within the context of a global recession you have the makings of a wake up call for vendors and CIOs: a wake up call driven by rising operations expenses, increasing outages and fixed or even declining budgets as networks become more operationally significant.

Those who embrace the power of automation will crowd out those who fail to see the implications of new demands.

As the Infrastructure 2.0 meme spreads, there are four companies that are destined to lead: Cisco, F5 Networks, Microsoft (MSFT) and Infoblox (my employer). Within a couple weeks Cisco and Infoblox will share a stage at the San Jose Fairmont to talk about the biggest revolution in networking since TCP/IP. In a few months Cisco, F5 and Infoblox will address FIRE attendees on the dynamic infrastructure revolution. I mention Microsoft because it is the leader in endpoint operating systems and has been very vocal about its virtualization and cloud solutions.

Dynamic infrastructure will unleash new potentials in the network, from connectivity intelligence (dynamic links and reporting between networks, endpoints and applications) to the rise of IT automation on a scale that few have anticipated. It will unleash new consolidation potentials for virtualized data centers and various forms of cloud computing. It will enable networks to ultimately keep up with increasing change velocities and complexity without a concomitant rise in network management expenses and manual labor risks.

Further down the road there will be even more capabilities emerging from Infrastructure 2.0 as virtualization and cloud payoffs put more pressure on brittle Infrastructure 1.0 networks.

As networking vendors fight against stable or even declining enterprise IT budgets the automation of otherwise mundane, manual tasks that are driving up the expense of the network will stand out as the critical chasm between extinction and ongoing growth. The larger the payoff promised by dynamic systems and endpoints the greater the pressure on static networks managed by kludge and CIO shell games.

For static network hardware vendors, enterprises will simply stop upgrading their networks at their former pace because they won’t have the operations budgets to properly administer the new gear. And those CIO buyers will be squeezed by increasingly eroding business cases for their strategic network projects as peer companies continue to evolve and exploit the power of new initiatives. They will experience new initiative diseconomies as they throw more bodies at more changes and outages.

This “dynamic or dead” scenario will start with core network service automation, as Oltsik predicted and will enable breakthroughs in other areas, including IF-MAP and Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA ala Cisco) and Data Center 3.0. This is just the beginning.

December 19, 2008

Is Your Network Ready for Infrastructure 2.0?

Filed under: BroadDev, Infrastructure 2.0 — Tags: , , , — John Furrier @ 11:58 am

I find it interesting that its interesting that Cisco, Infoblox, and F5 have come together very quickly around this Infrastructure 2.0 meme.

Interested in Infrastructure 2.0 from Cisco then click here to register.

Network infrastructure will be transformed in coming months by new levels of automation and intelligence driven by new system and endpoint demands and new IT initiatives. Find out how you can boost network availability and flexibility while reducing TCO by transforming your static network infrastructure into a dynamic network infrastructure capable of responding quickly to the needs of more dynamic systems and endpoints. Attendees will learn about:

  • Cisco’s perspective on the biggest revolution in data center networking technology since TCP/IP
  • Why new initiatives, from RFID/supply chain to voip/wireless and virtualization will require dynamic infrastructure
  • Why core network services automation and “connectivity intelligence” are a critical part of the evolution to Infrastructure 2.0

Speakers:
Stuart Bailey, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Infoblox
Doug Gourlay, Senior Director, Cisco

Moderator:
Richard Kagan, VP Marketing, Infoblox

Sign up now for this announcement HERE.

November 26, 2008

A UC Case Study: What’s in the Market Today?

Filed under: BroadDev, UC — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Alex Lewis @ 8:52 am

A lot has played out in the UC world over the last couple months and I think it’s time to revisit the question of “What is UC?” and dive a little deeper. In this series of posts I’ll analyze what functional components make up a UC solution and examine offerings from IBM, Cisco, Microsoft and others.

Since the paragraph above is really just a tease on its own, I’ll dive right into an overview of Unified Communications. First, a disclaimer that UC seems to mean something different to each company. This is my opinion based on talking with a LOT of customers and doing a few dozen rollouts. It’s certainly not the only opinion however.

The 2007 Gartner report on UC states:

In a way, identifying who’s doing what in the UC industry is a little premature, because, until the new technologies are really finished or legacy technology is really ready to be replaced, UC has to be viewed as “a migratory work in progress.” However, it is important to track technology developments, products, and services so that IT will be ready to selectively deliver new UC capabilities whenever required.

I’ll start by saying there are two sides to unified communications; well at least two. First is functional, ie. what functions are included under the UC umbrella. The second is a business culture shift, ie. changing the way you to do business to take advantage of UC through communications enabled business processes (CEBP). In this post I’m going to speak more to the first. I’ve done a lot of research on the second only to conclude that the business case, and ROI plan, is vastly different for different companies and users. Thus, it needs to be addressed individually. Beyond recouping conferencing costs from bringing the function in house, the ROI model gets very complex.

Although I’m happy to discuss individual cases on a one-off basis I want to keep the topic of this post more generic. I’ll be focusing on the functional aspects of UC that apply to most, if not all, companies.

So, if we believe in the assumption that, from a functional perspective, UC is a platform not a product we must ask what are the parts of that platform? Here’s my take on what every UC platform needs:

Presence engine - A service or function that shows a person’s availability and willingness to communicate over multiple modes of communication. Features include:

· Contextual presence – willingness to communicate over multiple modes of communication (text, voice, video) depending on access and availability

· Integrated presence – Pulls information from other sources (calendar, phone) to automatically update states of presence

· Multi-tiered presence – user-defined levels of access for presence visibility

· Deep presence – More levels than online, offline, away

Instant Messaging - The ability to send text messages and files in one-to-one and many-to-many communication. The features include:

· IM in real-time with others

· Transfer files during a chat

· Escalate IM conversations to richer communication (voice, video, ad hoc web conference)

· IM in a group, more than one-to-one

Federation – The ability to search and communicate across security boundaries, like between partners, in a secure manner.

Public IM – The ability to communicate with popular public IM providers. I never thought this was an absolute requirement but it’s been in every requirements document I’ve seen lately. People are used to IMing and don’t want multiple clients regardless of who they’re communicating with, business or personal.

Audio and Video Conferencing from a desktop client – Normally 2 distinct requirements I never see one without the other so I’m bunching them together. I’m speaking purely PC-to-PC or PC-ConferenceRoom here, not yet into IP Telephony.

Web Conferencing - the ability to host scheduled and ad-hoc meetings including voice, video, data and shared desktop collaboration

· Ad hoc and scheduled web conferences including internal and external participants

· Shared documents and “handout” functionality

· Shared desktop for collaboration

· Support data, voice and video conferencing during meeting

· One-to-many live video streaming (ie. virtual company meeting)

Messaging Platform – A robust enterprise email and calendaring platform. Email has surpassed voice as communication mediums go so it needs to be scalable and reliable.

Mobility – The platform needs to have a mobile client for syncing mail and calendaring as well as IM/presence and other UC modalities.

Collaboration – Some would argue that a collaboration platform should be its own topic. And well it could be, but I feel any UC solution needs to have a strong collaboration story. After all, UC is all about collaboration. Once you find a person and IM them, where are you going to work together?

Extensible API – As I mentioned above, UC means something different to everyone. An extensible API is an often overlooked requirement for extending UC functionality into other applications.

IP Telephony – Often just called VoIP, a UC solution needs basic IPT functions like single number reach, unified messaging (voicemail in email), and click to call. These functions need to be in the same UC client as other functions (IM, etc). No one wants 4-5 clients running to accomplish one communication task.

November 10, 2008

VoiceCon San Francisco 2008 Executive Wine Tasting Event - Business Is Getting Done

Jim Burton of UCStrategies.com, the leading consulting firm for Unified Communications, is having an impressive gathering of industry execs the here on the first night of VoiceCon San Francisco 2008. Fellow bloggers Alex Lewis, Blair Pleasant, and I are covering the wine tasting event as part of our normal dedicated commitment to blogging :-)

What’s amazing is the quality of executives attending Jim’s event. We are talking shop with senior execs from IBM, Microsoft, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel, Cisco, and others. What’s striking is that deals are getting done. I’m writing this now and overhearing conversations of bus dev deals being discussed. ROI models are at the center of the conversation. Alex Lewis was telling me that he and other firms are over 110% capacity (in this down market).

I’ve been down on UC lately but from what I’m hearing there is real awareness to web 2.0. In fact the Cisco VP Laurent Philonenko and I just had a detailed chat about UC and Cisco’s strategy. I’m going to do a followup with Laurent because I’m interested in how they are looking at the presence paradigm and how they tie it together on their platform.

Ok back to more wine being poured.. look for updates later tonight and coverage from VoiceCon San Francisco 2008 tomorrow morning.

Update:

Here is the detailed agenda for VoiceCon SF 2008

Monday, November 10
7:00 am–9:00 am
Continental Breakfast
Continental Breakfast sponsored by Polycom (Location: Hall E Lobby)
9:00 am–12:00 pm
Tutorials
Preparing Your Next IP Telephony System RFP (Location: Room 130)

Procuring a new enterprise communications system through a RFP process can be a harrowing experience, because IP telephony system design, capabilities, and attributes have undergone a series of dynamic changes the past few years. The RFP you issue will reflect how well your understanding of current generation solutions can satisfy your evolving communications requirements. This workshop will review and analyze how to prepare the core RFP requirements for your next IP telephony system by focusing on the following:
* System design and topology, including hardware, network, and power requirements
* Redundancy and resiliency attributes
* Port interface and traffic handling
* E911 and security issues
* Standards support, including SIP and SOA
* Voice terminals: analog, digital, and IP; desktop telephone instruments; mobile communications devices; soft client options
* Generic software features
* Systems management and administration
* Pricing guidelines, including potential hidden fees The workshop will also address network consolidation considerations, i.e. single system solution replacing an existing network of multiple systems, and installed system upgrade options. Allan Sulkin, is President of TEQConsult Group, and is a leading industry analyst and consultant focusing on enterprise communications. He created and hosts the annual VoiceCon Orlando RFP tutorial session.
Instructor - Allan Sulkin, President, TEQConsult Group

SIP Fundamentals and Prospects (Location: Room 131)

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) has become the dominant protocol for IP communications. This tutorial explains what SIP is, how it works, what the major issues for SIP deployments are, and how SIP will evolve in the future. The session focuses on the technical aspects of SIP and how it is used. It analyzes in detail the major components of SIP architecture, SIP addressing and registration, session establishment, SIP message routing and connecting SIP across the PSTN. You will learn about SIP extensions and how SIMPLE works for IM/presence. The tutorial also examines some of the challenges SIP faces, including NAT traversal (and the tools developed to cope with it: STUN, TURN and ICE) and security. The tutorial concludes with an assessment of how SIP may evolve and its role in peer-to-peer environments. You will receive an inventory of SIP resources?books, papers and organizations. David Bryan is a leading expert in SIP and P2PSIP. In addition to his role as CEO at SIPeerior Technologies, he is active in the IETF, where serves as co-chair of the P2PSIP working group. David has published numerous IETF drafts, academic papers and industry trade articles. David heads p2psip.org, the leading community site for P2PSIP. Prior to SIPeerior, David co-founded Jasomi Networks (sold to Ditech), and worked for Cisco and Vovida.
Instructor - David Bryan, Founder and CEO, SIPeerior Technologies

Building Business Cases for IP Telephony and Unified Communications (Location: Room 123)

Whether an enterprise is early in its migration to IP Telephony or further along and now evaluating the concept of Unified Communications, it’s not easy to build a credible business case. IP Telephony and, in particular, UC, are complex , and involve numerous technologies, decision-makers and equipment, software and service providers. This tutorial will be divided into two segments: The first is devoted to IP Telephony businesses cases, the second will cover the UC business case. It will be based on IP Telephony cost data that has been gathered over the past five years from more than 800 companies that have implemented the technology, as well as real-world data from hundreds of IT decision makers on the newer UC products and technologies. This tutorial will cover the following questions:
* How do companies build a business case around IP Telephony and Unified Communications? What are the key metrics?
* What does it really cost to implement IP Telephony? What are the cost components of a UC business case?
* What resources (internal and external) companies must devote to their VOIP and UC rollouts, per end-unit, per year segmented by rollout size and vendor.
* What are some of the key pitfalls? Where did companies go wrong?
* What are some compelling business case models for both IP Telephony and UC? Robin Gareiss is Executive Vice President and Senior Founding Partner for Nemertes Research, where she oversees research projects and direction, conducts strategic seminars, develops cost models, and advises leading enterprises, vendors, and carriers. She currently serves as chief financial officer, as well. For the past 17 years, Robin Gareiss has worked closely with hundreds of senior IT executives, analyzing their use of technology and capturing best practices. Ms. Gareiss is a widely recognized expert in voice over IP, convergence, collaboration, carrier services, IP networking, and branch-office technologies. Before joining Nemertes, Ms. Gareiss served as Senior News Editor of InformationWeek, and prior to that, she worked at Data Communications magazine. Ms. Gareiss has a BS in journalism and a minor in education, with honors, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Irwin Lazar is the Principal Analyst and Program Director for Unified Communications 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 No Jitter and Collaboration Loop and the late Business Communications Review magazine. 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.
Instructor - Robin Gareiss, Executive Vice President & Sr. Founding Partner, Nemertes Research

Instructor - Irwin Lazar, Principal Research Analyst and Program Director, Unified Communications and Collaboration, Nemertes Research

Choices in Unified Communications Solutions: Comparing Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 to IBM Lotus Sametime 8 (Location: Room 132)

This tutorial is designed to help company CXOs/decision makers, IT and communications managers and technicians gain a good understanding of the architecture and functionality of both Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) and IBM Lotus Sametime, two Unified Communications solutions expected to see widespread deployment. Attendees will gain key insights into the significant differences in how IBM and Microsoft approach the UC market, where their solutions are similar and where they diverge. The tutorial covers telephony call-control capabilities within Sametime and Office Communications Server, describing the unique mechanisms each uses for integrating with enterprise telephony systems. You will leave this tutorial with a thorough overview of Microsoft Office Communications Server, IBM Lotus Sametime, and a foundation to know whether to pursue either or both of these products as part of your enterprise unified communications solution. Brent Kelly has written numerous articles and reports on unified communications and collaboration, focusing on Microsoft, IBM, and telephony vendors layering UC solutions on top of their PBXs. He has spoken and taught seminars on unified communications and on implementing IP Rich Media Communications in North America, Europe, Australia and South America. He leads the Unified Communications practice group at Wainhouse Research.
Instructor - Brent Kelly, Senior Analyst & Partner, Wainhouse Research

Cutting the Corporate Energy Bill: Part 1 - Reducing the IT Power Bill; Desktop to Data Center (Location: Room 124)

The cost of power and cooling the data center and communications closets is escalating, and Gartner predicts that by 2009, power and cooling costs will be second to salaries in the IT budget. This tutorial looks at the practical ways the enterprise can reduce electrical power and cooling costs. It won’t try to solve global climate change, but focuses instead on the energy conservation solutions now available and their impact on the enterprise bottom line. Methods for reducing the energy bill by controlling IT devices will be explored, and incentives from the government and power utilities will be presented. Quantitative information will be provided with additional resource websites for the attendee to learn how to calculate the energy cost reduction and cooling requirements. The session provides recommendations on how the lower the costs to support VoIP/IPT servers, PoE for the LAN, AC vs. DC powered devices, UPS and class 2 vs. class 3 phones. 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, and VoIP and IP converged networks all around the world, and he advises venture capital and investment bankers in communications technologies.
Instructor - Gary Audin, President, Delphi, Inc.

10:15 am–10:45 am
Refreshment Break sponsored by Microsoft (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.microsoft.com
12:00 pm–1:30 pm
Luncheon
Luncheon sponsored by IBM (Location: Hall D Lunch Room)

www.ibm.com
1:30 pm–4:30 pm
Tutorials
VoIP and IPT: Basics to Best Practices (Location: Room 131)

Legacy PBX systems are being retired and new functionality is essentially only available with IP-based systems. Migrating to Voice over IP (VoIP) and IP Telephony (IPT) has moved from “if” to “when.” But despite the growth of these new technologies, many enterprises have limited experience with IP Telephony and VoIP, and once the decision to migrate is made, there are a host of tough challenges to face - from inventorying the readiness of LANs and wiring closets, to WAN performance, IT organizational and staffing issues, security, utility costs and software support, patching and version control. This tutorial analyzes these issues with recommended actions and best practices that will lead to successful VoIP/IPT deployments. It cuts through the hype to the real advantages and presents how VoIP/IPT works and operates. This session will also guide the attendee through the rest of the Voicecon conference with suggested sessions, exhibits and other resources that will make the conference attendance experience as valuable as possible. 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, and VoIP and IP converged networks all around the world, and he advises venture capital and investment bankers in communications technologies.
Instructor - Gary Audin, President, Delphi, Inc.

SIP Security (Location: Room 123)

As SIP moves from the Intranet to the Internet, security has gone from being a nice-to-have feature to a fundamental requirement. This session focuses on communications security aspects of SIP: How do you know you’re actually talking to the person you meant to call? How do you know who’s called you? How do you make sure that other people aren’t listening into your conversation? The IETF has developed (and is still developing) a variety of SIP and RTP-based protocol tools for providing these security services. Topics covered include:
* Introduction to communications security
* Security for signaling traffic
* User authentication
* TLS
* S/MIME
* SIP Identity
* Security for media
* SRTP
* SRTP key management (MIKEY, SDESCRIPTIONS, DTLS-SRTP, ZRTP)
* Privacy and anonymity The current state of the work at the IETF and other standards bodies is covered, as is the state of SIP Security implementations across the industry. Solutions for simultaneously providing identity and knowing who is calling, dealing with spam, allowing anonymous calls and providing appropriate wiretap access are described. The instructors will not only describe the various protocol components but explain how these work together as an integrated system that provides security for both signaling and media traffic. This session assumes some familiarity with SIP but no familiarity with cryptography or communications security. Dr. Cullen Jennings currently serves as IETF Real Time Applications Area Director. In that capacity, he has responsibility for the IETF’s activities in voice, video and instant messaging. At Cisco, Cullen focuses on conferencing, security and firewall and NAT traversal. He is responsible for helping set the direction for the technology that will make up the next generation of Cisco’s voice products, especially in conferencing, presence and rich media systems. Cullen is also a key contributor to all the SIP security work at IETF. He was the original designer of SIP certificate management system and the SIP Identity RFC. In addition, he has served as a chair and core member of the IETF IP Telephony (IPTEL), NAT Traversal (BEHAVE), and Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WEBDAV) working groups.
Instructor - Cullen Jennings, Distinguished Engineer, Cisco

Unified Communications: Who’s Offering What? (Location: Room 132)

This tutorial is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the options available for Unified Communications (UC). It is intended for enterprise CXOs, decision makers, IT and Communications technical managers, and business managers, who are planning to install UC solutions — either via a new UC system or by adding UC to existing PBX and email systems and business applications. The session information will be based on a template that includes the major types of UC solutions — desktop/mobile productivity tools, audio/web/video conferencing, mobility support;, and communication-enabled business processes. The template, which will be easily adaptable to your enterprise procurements, bids and RFPs, includes:
* Diagrams of the required UC software and hardware.
* Estimates of the professional services required.
* Estimates of the total price for each solution. Marty Parker is principal of UniComm Consulting, offering Unified Communications (UC) consulting services to enterprises. Marty is an active leader in the Unified Communications community. He contributes to the VoiceCon Unified Communications eWeekly and blogs on No Jitter in addition to helping develop UC sessions at VoiceCon. Marty is a co-founder of UCStrategies.com, a UC industry resource site, and is the author and instructor of the BCR Training course, “Planning and Implementing VoIP Unified Communications.”
Instructor - Marty Parker, Principal, UniComm Consulting

Speaker - Supplemental Presentation Material
Panelist - Gary Gordon, Product Line Manager, NEC Unified Solutions, Inc.

Panelist - Jeff Ridley, Director Product Management, ShoreTel

Panelist - Allan Mendelsohn, Sr. Marketing Manager, UC, Avaya

Panelist - Asif Rehman, Director, Solutions Marketing, Mitel

Panelist - Moz Hussain, Director, Microsoft
Panelist - David Leach, Senior Marketing Manager, Siemens Enterprise Communications

Panelist - Sean McManus, Manager, Voice Solutions, Software Product Management Group, Research In Motion

Panelist - David Marshak, Senior Product Manager, Unified Communications & Collaboration , IBM

Panelist - Siva Subramanian, Director, UC Solutions, Nortel
Organizing for IP Telephony, UC and Converged Networks (Location: Room 130)

The migration to IP Telephony and converged networks has already had major impacts on how IT organizations are structured, as staff with backgrounds in voice and data have been brought together into integrated work groups. Now, with Unified Communications, just having voice and data people work together isn’t enough - applications, messaging and security professionals need to become actively involved. This creates challenges in terms of overcoming long-held stereotypes, and opportunities to create a much more dynamic and responsive IT organization. This tutorial will present case studies of different approaches that enterprises are taking to deal with this issue. In addition, the instructors will present a methodology for project management and recommend processes for procurement, integration, security and reliability. Attendees will gain a better understanding of their options for organizational restructuring, and concrete advice on how to achieve more effective implementation of IP Telephony, Unified Communications and Converged Network projects. Mark Berg is a senior consultant with PlanNet Consulting. He has 15 years of communication technology experience, primarily in higher education. He has set IT strategy, designed voice and data physical infrastructure, managed cost-recovery initiatives, and overseen IP telephony projects. Previous posts include senior management positions, including CIO, at two Southern California universities in telecommunications and networking. Mr. Berg received his degree in journalism from Biola University in La Mirada, California. David Stein is a principal with PlanNet Consulting and Director of Operations. He has more than 25 years of consulting, information systems and telecommunications experience, with a primary emphasis on voice, data and video communications and technology infrastructure projects. He has been a featured speaker at numerous conferences, and has authored several articles on IP Telephony that have been published in Business Communications Review and HIMSS. Mr. Stein graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Computer Science.
Instructor - Mark Berg, Senior Consultant, PlanNet Consulting

Instructor - David Stein, Principal, PlanNet Consulting

Cutting the Corporate Energy Bill: Part 2 - Video, Teleworking and Collaboration (Location: Room 124)

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) can reduce energy, travel and related expenses for the entire enterprise through the judicious use of conferencing - audio, video, telepresence and web — and the emerging tools and technologies for collaboration. This tutorial the new products and services for video, telepresence and collaboration, and explores your options for enabling remote and mobile workers. It will be organized around four frames of reference:
* Global Enterprise: Wants to reduce travel and increase efficiency (Telepresence, video, web conferencing).
* Enterprise: Wants to tightly connect to customers/partners (Telepresence, video, VPN, presence federation)
* Small/remote offices and teleworkers (Video, desktop video, web conferencing, VPN, VoIP, presence)
* Road Warriors (desktop video, web conferencing, VPN, VoIP, presence) It will also address the networking requirements for these applications, with an emphasis on managing bandwidth and maintaining quality of service. 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. He has contributed to microprocessor, computer and network equipment design for over 40 products. He has been consulting since 1996. John is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering.
Instructor - John Bartlett, Principal, NetForecast

2:45 pm–3:15 pm
Refreshment Break sponsored by Microsoft (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.microsoft.com
Tuesday, November 11
7:00 am–8:00 am
Continental Breakfast
Continental Breakfast sponsored by Motorola (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.motorola.com
8:00 am–8:45 am
Early Bird Session
Infrastructure and Security Planning for WLANs (Location: Room 123)

Wireless LANs are becoming an essential element in the enterprise infrastructure, and as the market matures, buyers face a growing number of choices. In terms of AP architectures, there are centralized versus distributed versus virtual options to consider, and a raft of security options — the pre-standard Draft 2.0 802.11n radio link, WPA2 and 802.1x, Now that voice is moving onto the WLAN, security takes on new importance. This session will bring you up-to-date on the important WLAN developments and provide guidance for selecting your WLAN infrastructure.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What are the trade-offs between centralized versus distributed WLAN switching architectures, and why should I care?
* Has Cisco’s new Motion Architecture really altered the WLAN landscape?
* Is it wise to deploy the set of 802.11n Draft 2.0 products when the final standard will not be released until 2009?
* Under what conditions do stand-alone access points make sense?
* What are the new security threats and what steps can we take to mitigate them?
Speaker - Michael Finneran, Principal, dBrn Associates, Inc

QOS and QOE: Voice Quality Across Distributed Networks (Location: Room 131)

Even as enterprises continue to grapple with implementing Quality of Service (QOS), especially for applications over the wide area, we’re now hearing about a new metric: Quality of Experience, or QOE. What’s the difference between QOS and QOE metrics, and can you have one without the other? In this session, you’ll learn what you’ll have to do to ensure that wide-area voice traffic meets network-level QOS requirements, and also provides the user-level Quality of Experience required to make communications effective.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* 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 use to determine 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, Principal, NetForecast

Panelist - Mike Hollier, CTO, Psytechnics

Panelist - Jim McQuaid, Director of Product Management, NetQoS, Inc.

Panelist - Bill Tiso, Director and Principal Engineer for Market Development, Embedded and Communications Group, Intel

UC Market Update & Forecast (Location: Room 132)

Some vendors and industry experts talk about Unified Communications as if it’s “the next new thing,” while others say it’s already a “done deal.” But how big is the market today, and which vendors are emerging as the major players? In this session, a leading UC analyst will present the findings of a recent study that takes a comprehensive look at the market’s size, players and prospects.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* Who are the principal players, and how are they positioning themselves?
* What are the current and likely future patterns of adoption?e.g., by job type, mobile work, business process?
* How much of the vendors’ reported “UC” sales represent traditional IP-PBX and related gear versus “true” UC products that are actually being implemented as part of an enterprise UC vision?
* What variables affect adoption of UC products and technologies?
Speaker - Blair Pleasant, Principal Analyst, COMMfusion LLC

Contact Center Market Update (Location: Room 130)

As contact centers migrate to IP-based platforms and as Unified Communications evolves from a concept into a set of real-world products and capabilities, the contact center market is being shaken up. This session will help you understand the dynamics of the vendors, their product offerings and market positioning. A top market analyst discusses the key factors you can use to evaluate your options.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* Which vendors are winning and which are losing in the contact center market battles?
* Will new players like Microsoft and IBM be successful using Unified Communications as their entry point into the contact center market?
* What are the vendors’ relative strengths and weaknesses? How to they compare on price? What new features and functions are becoming available?
* What role should SIP play in planning for next-generation contact centers?
* What new developments can we expect from the vendors in the coming 12 months, and how should this affect your current procurement plans?
Speaker - Sheila McGee-Smith, President/Principal Analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics

UC - Which User Interface Will You Choose? (Location: Room 124)

Unified Communications (UC) cuts across a wide range of media (voice, text, messaging and video), endpoints (desktop telephone instruments, PCs, mobile communications devices) and applications. As a result, the User Interface will play a critical role - it is the user’s entry point into this complex environment. Today, no single vendor dominates UC, and while you might prefer to have a single user interface, that’s not a viable option, at least not yet. This session will examine your options for creating smooth access and operations among the interfaces currently available. It will give you an understanding of the role intelligent signaling links play between disparate UC components.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What are the realistic options available for presenting the elements of a UC solution to end users in an efficient and useful way?
* What are the trade-offs associated each of the various options?
* What should you look for in the signaling capabilities presented by the various vendors?
* What are reasonable objectives to set for having a unified user interface?
Speaker - Allan Sulkin, President, TEQConsult Group

Panelist - Brian Meek, Director of the Office Communications & Collaboration Client Group, Microsoft

Panelist - Allan Mendelsohn, Sr. Marketing Manager, UC, Avaya

9:00 am–10:00 am
Keynotes
Keynote Presentation: Avaya (Location: Room 134)
Speaker - Charles Giancarlo, Chief Executive Officer, Avaya

Moderator - Fred Knight, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon, Publisher, No Jitter

10:00 am–10:30 am
Refreshment Break sponsored by No Jitter (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.nojitter.com
10:30 am–11:30 am
Keynotes
Keynote Presentation: Microsoft (Location: Room 134)
Speaker - Betsy Frost Webb, General Manager, Unified Communications Marketing, Microsoft

Moderator - Fred Knight, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon, Publisher, No Jitter

11:30 am–6:00 pm
Exhibition and Reception
Exhibition with Reception sponsored by Avaya (Location: Exhibit Hall D)

www.avaya.com
11:30 am–1:00 pm
Luncheon
Luncheon sponsored by ShoreTel (Location: Hall D Lunch Room)

www.shoretel.com
1:00 pm–2:15 pm
Concurrent Session
Fixed Mobile Convergence: The Hows and Whys (Location: Room 131)

Fixed mobile convergence is coming, but there are still a wide array of options that range from a simple simultaneous ring feature to solutions that extend presence-enabled directories and visual voicemail to mobile devices worldwide. The cellular carriers are also hinting at plans to introduce their own FMC services based on either Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) or the more comprehensive IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Meanwhile, IP-PBX vendors, technology partners and now WLAN switch vendors are all proposing their own solutions. This session will provide an overview of FMC and mobile unified communications and a description of the various strategies now being proposed.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* To what extent is FMC really ready for prime time?
* Will FMC allow you to reduce your cellular costs?
* What are the advantages of rooting an FMC solution in an IP PBX, a WLAN Switch, or an adjunct appliance?
* Which of the solutions require dual mode cellular handsets, and will those handsets require special software to operate?
* How will the picture change when and if the cellular carriers finally embrace FMC?
Speaker - Michael Finneran, Principal, dBrn Associates, Inc

Panelist - Imran Akbar, Vice President and GM of Converged Enterprise Communications, Motorola, Inc.

Panelist - Dan Jacobson, Senior Portfolio Manager, Converged Voice Services, Sprint Nextel

Panelist - Pejman Roshan, VP of Marketing and Co-Founder , Agito Networks

Panelist - Rich Watson, Director of Product Marketing, Divitas Networks
Enterprise Communications: The New Market Order (Location: Room 132)

New shipments of IP end stations outnumber new TDM end stations, and Cisco now outpaces the legacy TDM vendors in annual station shipments. At the same time, consolidation and private-equity buyouts are beginning to change the vendor landscape, while new players with strong balance sheets have recently entered the market. In this session, Allan Sulkin will present system market forecasts and assessments of IP-based applications, handicap the market competitors, 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 vendors are moving up in market share, and at whose expense?
* Is anyone buying IP applications? Which applications?
* How Microsoft and IBM change the dynamics of the enterprise communications market? How might consolidation among vendors further change it?
* How are the traditional vendors evolving amid the transition to IP Telephony and Unified Communications?
Speaker - Allan Sulkin, President, TEQConsult Group

Building the New IT Organization: Taking on Converged Networks (Location: Room 124)

In the first generation of IP Telephony, the “voice” and “data” folks within IT had to figure out new ways of working together to build the new structures that would send voice over the “data” network. With Unified Communications, many more stakeholders are brought into the equation: Applications developers, datacenter managers, staff in charge of directories and email, just to name a few. In this session, you’ll hear from enterprise executives that have confronted the organizational challenges of both IPT and UC.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What processes are needed to open up and maintain the lines of communications among voice, data network, applications developers and messaging/email IT specialists?
* What are the most common obstacles and gaps among the various organizations and their requirements/perspectives? How are these obstacles being overcome?
* As enterprise communications changes, what parts of IT are taking the lead over which parts of the process?
* What role are business unit leaders playing in these scenarios? What role is likely in the future?
Speaker - Mark McMath, VP/CIO, Bloomington Hospital

Speaker - Steven Schafer, Director Global IS, Global Crossing

Speaker - Jamie Libow, Engineering Director, Travelers

Moderator - Marty Parker, Principal, UniComm Consulting

UC: How Far Have we Come? What’s Next? (Location: Room 123)

In this session, executives from the leading vendors offer their assessment of Unified Communications’ evolution to date: What’s available now and what’s coming over the next 12 months. This session also will analyze the barriers and issues that must be overcome for UC to fulfill its potential - with a special focus on interoperability.
KEY QUESTIONS:
*
* What are the key indications of UC adoption and market success?
* What are the top UC applications in terms of actual implementation?
* How much progress has been made on UC interoperability?
* What changes are likely to the UC cost architecture over the next 12 months?
Panelist - David Marshak, Senior Product Manager, Unified Communications & Collaboration , IBM

Panelist - Peter Greco, Director, Solution Management, Siemens Enterprise Communications

Panelist - Christian Szpilfogel, Office of the CTO, Mitel

Panelist - Eric Swift, Senior Director, Microsoft

Panelist - Ross Daniels, Director of Solutions Marketing for Unified Communications, Cisco

Panelist - Dilshad Simons, VP, UC, Avaya
Moderator - Jim Burton, CXO, CT Link/UCStrategies.com

Open Source: What’s its Role in Enterprise Voice? (Location: Room 130)

Open source PBX software packages, most notably Asterisk, continue to grow, but mostly in smaller installations. And even though some large-system vendors now are OEMing Asterisk, is open source voice ready for prime time? In this session, you’ll learn whether open source PBX software’s growing appeal will spread and, eventually, become mainstream within the enterprise.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What level of market share and acceptance has open source PBX software attained? What is expected?
* Which products use open source PBX software?
* What are the most compelling reasons for choosing open source PBX software? What are the greatest areas of concern in making this choice?
* Is open source voice feature-comparable with proprietary systems?
* What are the technical challenges of an open source PBX deployment, and how are these overcome?
Speaker - Irwin Lazar, Principal Research Analyst and Program Director, Unified Communications and Collaboration, Nemertes Research

Panelist - Martin Steinmann, Leader, Next Generation SMB , Nortel

Panelist - Bill Miller, VP, Product Management, Digium

Panelist - Kerry Garrison, trixbox Community Director, Fonality

2:15 pm–2:45 pm
Refreshment Break sponsored by No Jitter (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.nojitter.com
2:45 pm–3:45 pm
Concurrent Session
Integrating Mobility with UC (Location: Room 123)

In the mobile UC environment, users will be provided with presence-enabled directories, visual voicemail, and the full range of desktop UC capabilities on their mobile device. But getting from where we are today to that mobile UC future is going to require investment by all parts of the industry - carriers, enterprises, equipment and software vendors. In this session, a panel of wireless carriers, VOIP and desktop application vendors, and consultants will describe their best solutions for mobile employees, and how to integrate those with our wired communication systems.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What UC capabilities are available on mobile devices/services today? Can these integrate with the IP Telephony and UC infrastructures, and do they need to?
* What are the key impediments (such as bandwidth or battery life) to end users’ enjoying the same functionality on a wireless UC application as its wired counterpart?
* Can wireless UC solutions be implemented in conjunction with the enterprise infrastructure, or will service providers only offer these as their own standalone services? Do we have to wait for FMC to become widely available?
* Are video and collaboration solutions viable UC applications for mobile users today?
* What does the picture look like for operations and service workers versus office workers?
Speaker - David Leach, Senior Marketing Manager, Siemens Enterprise Communications

Speaker - Isabelle Guis, Senior Manager - Mobility Solutions, Cisco

Speaker - Eran Shtiegman, Principal Group Manager, Office Communications Group, Microsoft

Speaker - Sean McManus, Manager, Voice Solutions, Software Product Management Group, Research In Motion

Moderator - Jim Burton, CXO, CT Link/UCStrategies.com

Finding the Payoff from Communications-Enabling Applications (Location: Room 130)

Everyone agrees that the largest payoff from migrating to IP Telephony, UC and converged networks will be new applications. But, what applications are actually being developed and deployed? This session will present enterprise technologists who have “walked the walk” of communications-enabled applications; they’ll discuss what has worked, what hasn’t and why.
KEY QUESTIONS
* What types of communications-enabled apps can yield significant business benefits when integrated with communications capabilities?
* What are the technical challenges to implementing and running these new applications?
* How does an enterprise IT organization support function change as these apps come online?
* What strategy works best: Relying on internal development teams or external ISVs and other providers?
Speaker - Rick Tillotson, Assistant IT Director, TASB

Speaker - Marty Parker, Principal, UniComm Consulting

Speaker - Steve White, Chief Architect, KITS

Speaker - Tony Kaperick, Communications Analyst, INX

Hard Phones, Softphones and Next-Gen Systems (Location: Room 124)

Product developers continue to create new features and functions, but as the Unified Communications trend continues and as user expectations change, what specs will tomorrow’s hard- and softphones have to meet? In this session, a leading consultant will present an analysis and then discuss his conclusions with a panel of vendors. You will gain an understanding of the issues and tradeoffs 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? Is SIP compliance possible?
* What hardware capabilities (Gigabit Ethernet cards, firmware upgradeability) do you require for future-proofing?
* What is the price/performance of the latest phone sets? How does this compare to softphones? What are the life cycle expectations for hard phones?
* 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?
Speaker - Stephen Leaden, President, Leaden Associates

Panelist - Gary Mading, Senior Product Manager, Aastra

Panelist - Chalan Aras, Vice President, Marketing, Polycom

Panelist - Dieter Rencken, Senior Product Manager, Phones, ShoreTel

Upgrading Your Data Nets for Voice and Video (Location: Room 131)

As you implement voice and/or video on your legacy data network, and as you scale that implementation, the challenge of delivering acceptable quality and sufficient security becomes more complex. And these challenges intensify as you attempt to serve all your users in all your locations and in all of the users locations. This session will give you a detailed understanding of the technical problems you can encounter, the steps to take to overcome them, and the specific technologies and practices that are required to make voice and video run over a data network.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What is required to deliver adequate quality of service (QOS) for voice and video on an IP network that previously handled only data? Can you run VOIP or video over the Internet with acceptable QOS/quality of experience (QOE)?
* How do you implement security on this upgraded data network?
* How do you extend your upgrade across the WAN?
* How do you extend your upgrade to serve mobile workers?
Speaker - John Bartlett, Principal, NetForecast

Panelist - Manfred Arndt, Convergence Solutions Architect, HP ProCurve

Panelist - Paul Liesenberg, Enterprise Architecture Technology Manager, Cisco

Panelist - Ravi Kumar, Portfolio Leader, Mobility Solutions, Nortel

Panelist - Gregory Heath, Director of Convergence Solutions, Extreme Networks

Pricing and Budgeting for UC: Bang for the Buck and Investment Protection (Location: Room 132)

The migration to IP Telephony requires a vision that will likely include Unified Communications. This broader view is needed to ensure that business and capex decisions that are being made now for IP Telephony will serve your organization when you add UC capabilities. This session will help you make sense of how UC “fits” into current communication budgeting and procurement activities.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What are the important UC-related questions you should ask when you go into procurement for a new system?
* How is the overall cost architecture — hardware, software, professional fees, and maintenance — changing? How will these changes affect your total cost of ownership?
* What buying methodologies for IPT and UC will help you negotiate the best technology, price and service support?
* What are the new Unified Communications software license fees and models; how will they affect your total cost of ownership and buying decisions?
Speaker - Doug Carolus, Director, N’compass

Speaker - Jason Wright, Director of Technology & Development, N’compass

4:00 pm–5:00 pm
Concurrent Session
Managing Your Cellular Spend (Location: Room 123)

Cellular service has become the fastest growing element in the enterprise communications budget, but remains poorly managed. As organizations move from a strategy based on reimbursing employees to centrally managed cellular service contracts, how should they manage this purchase to ensure they get the best value? This session is designed to give you practical guidance regarding cellular service management and some basic strategies to get your cellular spend under control
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What type of cellular pricing options are available for voice and data?
* Should I be looking at negotiating for indoor antenna system as part of the contract? What about cellular gateways?
* Will the open handset initiatives and FMC have a major impact on cellular costs?
* What is the status of the IRS position on withholding taxes for personal use of company cell phones?
Speaker - Robert Harris, Consultant, Communications Advantage, Inc.

Speaker - Stephen Leaden, President, Leaden Associates

Unified Communications: Results from the Test Lab (Location: Room 132)

How do the Unified Communications applications and capabilities of major vendor systems hold up under stress testing in the lab? Can these new systems deliver the promised benefits reliably? In this session, an expert from a leading test lab details the results of testing done on UC applications.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* How do the leading vendor’s UC Solutions stack up?
* Who offers the most reliable distributed enterprise solution?
* Who offers the best UC mobility client?
* Which offer complete end to end secure solutions?
* Which solutions integrate best with MS OCS and IBM/Lotus SameTime?
Speaker - Rob Smithers, CEO, Miercom

SIP Trunks: Where, WHEN and How Much? (Location: Room 131)

Many large enterprises would like to begin migrating from PRIs to IP/SIP trunks, because the potential savings could be very significant. But these services are not ubiquitously available, and interoperability issues still exist. So when will you be able to adopt SIP trunks across your enterprise, and how will the affect your services costs and operational expenses? This session will help you get answers.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What is the true status of SIP trunk availability? Who are the leading providers?
* How do the costs of SIP trunk services compare with PRIs?
* What interoperability issues remain and what is being done to overcome them?
* How will SIP trunk implementation affect other issues in your IP Telephony deployment such as security and quality of service?
Speaker - Eric Burger, Chairman of the Board, SIP Forum

Speaker - Rupesh Chokshi, Director of Product Marketing Management, AT&T

Speaker - Alla Reznik, Director of VOIP Services, Verizon Business

Moderator - David Rohde, Senior Consultant, TechCaliber Consulting

Enterprise Video: Finding the Right Investment Mix (Location: Room 124)

Videoconferencing is enjoying strong market growth, and technology improvements such as telepresence are getting wide attention. So what is the business case for doing videoconferencing?travel avoidance, worker productivity, time to market? And how do you choose among the various configurations in the market?
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What’s the technology difference between telepresence, high-definition videoconferencing, and traditional room-based systems? What’s the cost difference?
* How do you determine the right mix of video technologies - from high-end telepresence to desktop video?
* What demands do the various videoconferencing options place on the enterprise network? On the IT staff?
* How do you make the business case for a new videoconferencing deployment?
* How can desktop video be incorporated into videoconferencing implementations?
Speaker - Joan Vandermate, Vice President of Marketing, Video Solutions, Polycom

Speaker - David Hsieh, VP Marketing, Cisco

Speaker - Warren Barkley, Director, Office Communications Group, Microsoft

Moderator - John Bartlett, Principal, NetForecast

IP Contact Centers: Executive Forum (Location: Room 130)

In this session, a leading contact center market analyst will lead a roundtable discussion among representatives of vendors concerning the trends and technologies shaping the IP contact center market. The audience will learn what IP contact centers require from the underlying network (and the staff that supports it); the risks and rewards of moving to an IP contact center, and how to plan for the future in this critical area of the enterprise.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What are the main benefits to migrating to an IP contact center implementation? What are the biggest challenges?
* Is it preferable to migrate your contact center to IP before the enterprise embarks on its IP-PBX migration, or wait until afterward? Or does it matter?
* What role will Unified Communications tools, systems and architectures play in the contact center?
* What about emerging models?in particular, hosted options?for next-gen contact centers?
* How does the cost of purchasing and supporting an IP contact center compare with the cost of a traditional center?
Panelist - Jim Hickey, Director of Product Management, Contact Center Solutions, Avaya
Panelist - Al Baker, Global Vice President, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc.

Panelist - Nicolas De Kouchkovsky, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Genesys
Panelist - Ross Daniels, Director of Solutions Marketing for Unified Communications, Cisco

Panelist - Larry Ciccarelli, Multimedia Applications Business Development Leader, Nortel
Moderator - Sheila McGee-Smith, President/Principal Analyst, McGee-Smith Analytics

Wednesday, November 12
7:00 am–8:00 am
Continental Breakfast
Continental Breakfast sponsored by VoiceCon Europe 2009 (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.voicecon.eu
8:00 am–8:45 am
General Session
Morning Call: Building the New Collaborative Enterprise (Location: Room 134)

Call it Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 or call it ways in which we get to know one another, there are a whole new set of online tools and services like blogs, wikis and Facebook that are now part of the popular culture. This session will explore their role in a much different environment - within the enterprise. We start from the proposition that these new tools for accessing, collecting and storing information are already being used within the enterprise, but the question is how to maximize their value without compromising essential network security and corporate governance processes. This discussion will focus on what’s real today and what’s likely to happen in the future.
Panelist - Dan York, Director of Emerging Technologies, Voxeo

Panelist - Irwin Lazar, Principal Research Analyst and Program Director, Unified Communications and Collaboration, Nemertes Research

Moderator - Eric Krapf, Co-chair, VoiceCon, Editor/Lead Blogger, No Jitter

9:00 am–10:00 am
Keynotes
Keynote Presentation: IBM (Location: Room 134)
Speaker - Bruce Morse, Vice President, Unified Communications & Collaboration Software, IBM

Moderator - Fred Knight, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon, Publisher, No Jitter

10:00 am–10:30 am
Refreshment Break sponsored by Hewlett Packard (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.hp.com
10:30 am–11:30 am
Keynotes
Keynote Presentation: Kaiser Permanente (Location: Room 134)

Kaiser Permanente is the nation’s largest private integrated health care delivery system, providing comprehensive health care services to more than 8.7 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. The company has developed a vision to deliver real-time, personalized health care that is supported by technology-enabled practices and tools. Kaiser Permanente’s health IT agenda is widely recognized by policy makers and industry experts as industry leading. At the core of this agenda is the belief that technology can help make care safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. In his keynote, Phil Fasano, senior vice president and chief information officer of Kaiser Permanente, will outline the company’s health IT vision and illustrate how unified communications is a key enabler of that vision. Mr. Fasano will also provide several examples of technology-enabled tools at Kaiser Permanente that demonstrate the value of health IT and describe how unified communications contributed to their success. Finally, attendees will hear how Kaiser Permanente plans to leverage unified communications capabilities with new technologies and innovations in ways that will form stronger linkages among clinicians and support systematic, patient-focused care.
Speaker - Phil Fasano, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Kaiser Permanente Information Technology

Moderator - Fred Knight, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon, Publisher, No Jitter

11:30 am–6:00 pm
Exhibition and Reception
Exhibition with Reception sponsored by Siemens (Location: Exhibit Hall D)

www.siemens.com
11:30 am–1:00 pm
Luncheon
Luncheon sponsored by Mitel (Location: Hall D Lunch Room)

www.mitel.com
1:00 pm–2:15 pm
General Session
User Forum (Location: Room 134)

The VoiceCon User Forum will present case studies about decision-making for migrating to new communications infrastructures, architectures and services?what went right and what didn’t. The speakers will discuss benefits and problems, and offer perspective and advice that reflect their real-world experience. In addition to discussing the technical issues, the speakers will address the impact the new technologies and architectures are having on end users and the IT/telecom organization.
Panelist - Robert Fort, CIO, Virgin Entertainment Group

Panelist - Tony Hildesheim, Vice President of Information Technology, Washington State Employees Credit Union

Panelist - Stephen Campbell, Director Network Services, Beckman Coulter, Inc.

Panelist - Suzanna Grueser, Director IT Operations , Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
Moderator - Eric Krapf, Co-chair, VoiceCon, Editor/Lead Blogger, No Jitter

2:15 pm–2:45 pm
Refreshment Break sponsored by Hewlett Packard (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.hp.com
2:45 pm–3:45 pm
Concurrent Session
Choosing the Right Mobile Device Ecosystem: RIM, Windows, Symbian, iPhone, or “Other” (Location: Room 130)

More and more critical business applications are migrating from laptops to PDAs and smartphones, but, these small form-factor devices introduce a number of new considerations into the design process. There are issues with display sizes, input mechanisms and ruggedness; and desirable features like bright displays and high-speed network interfaces are power hungry, which impacts battery life. For applications support we can now choose among Windows Mobile, RIM, Symbian, LiMO, iPhone, and the developing Google Android platform, but more importantly, the developer communities that are growing up around each of those. Finally, we have to determine whether to design apps to run directly on the mobile device itself or whether wireless networks can provide reliable access. In this session we’ll get to ask the major vendors what they have, how Apple’s iPhone has impact their plans and how they see the market developing.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What’s keeping organizations from advancing their mobility plans beyond push email?
* How are the other manufactures adjusting their product plans based on the iPhone? Can we QWERTY on a touch screen or are buttons really better?
* What are prospect for fixed mobile convergence, or should we simply stick with the cellular carriers?
* How big a concern is mobile malware and what are the overall security concerns with mobile devices?
* Does the iPhone solution provide the type of management and security features enterprise users need?
Panelist - Russ Knister, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Motorola, Inc.

Panelist - Mario DiPrizio, VP of Architecture and Engineering, Motorola, Inc.
Panelist - Aaron Williams, Senior Technical Product Marketing - Software & Services, Nokia

Panelist - David Heit, Director Enterprise Product Management , Research In Motion

Moderator - Michael Finneran, Principal, dBrn Associates, Inc

Troubleshooting Converged Enterprise Networks (Location: Room 131)

It has never been easy to trace the cause of voice service degradation or failure, and when voice becomes embedded in other applications, it’s going to be even more challenging to determine what’s going on. This session will provide an update on the latest tools and technologies for troubleshooting converged networks?how and when to perform root-cause analysis, how to measure, monitor and manage voice quality on an ongoing basis, and how to use the data generated by monitoring and management systems to get an overall picture of the network’s health, and the voice application’s behavior.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What tools are available for performing root-cause analysis on problems that occur with voice traffic running on an IP network?
* What are the right metrics for tracking voice quality?MOS scores or more automated measurements? How do you derive?and act on?this information in real-time?
* What tools are available for remote management of voice infrastructure at sites where there are no full-time IT staff?
* How do the various IT management teams share information and reports so as to expedite troubleshooting?
Speaker - Terry Slattery, Principal Consultant, Chesapeake Netcraftsmen

Speaker - Steven Guthrie, Product Marketing, CA

Speaker - Mike Hollier, CTO, Psytechnics

Moderator - David Yedwab, Partner, MS&A Partners

Leveraging VOIP Investments for Unified Communications (Location: Room 132)

OK, you’ve got an IP Telephony infrastructure in place and now you’re hearing all about Unified Communications. You’ve got to figure out what enhancements are needed to enable your VOIP infrastructure to support Unified Communications, integrate UC with other applications. In this session, a panel of equipment suppliers will outline the steps for evolving PBXs and IP-PBXs to deliver Unified Communications integrated with business processes and applications.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What elements of an IP Telephony infrastructure will also be used in a UC deployment? What “traditional” telephony elements might become obsolete in a UC future?
* What’s the future of the PBX/IP-PBX in a UC migration?
* What new sorts of infrastructure elements might have to be added to an IP Telephony implementation to support UC? What servers, applications or other elements that already exist in the enterprise must be integrated with the IP Telephony elements?
* How should your plans for Unified Communications affect your plans for rolling out IP Telephony?
Panelist - Craig Cotton, Director, Product Marketing, Cisco

Panelist - Marisa Viveros, Vice President, IBM

Panelist - Sean Olson, Group Program Manager, Office Communications Group, Microsoft

Panelist - Lawrence Byrd, Director - UC Architecture, Avaya
Panelist - Jeff Ridley, Director Product Management, ShoreTel

Moderator - Don Van Doren, Principal, UniComm Consulting, LLC

IP Telephony Pricing & Licensing: Getting Your Money’s Worth (Location: Room 124)

The migration to IP Telephony puts higher emphasis on software than hardware, and that is changing the entire cost architecture for enterprise communications. This session will help you make sense of the new pricing structures and help you avoid confusion over budgeting and pricing.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* To what extent have IP Telephony vendors shifted costs from hardware to software fees? How will this affect the final system price and TCO?
* How does the new cost architecture impact your negotiating strategies?
* What license fees are typically charged on top of the cost of IP phones, messaging systems and other elements? How much do these fees run?
* What are the hidden costs in the new licensing structures, and how do you find them?
* What pricing and licensing concepts are likely to be new to voice network managers who haven’t dealt extensively with data network gear?
Speaker - David Stein, Principal, PlanNet Consulting

Speaker - Trent Wright, Principal Consultant, PlanNet Consulting

Developing Voice Applications Using Mashups and SOA (Location: Room 123)

One of the key opportunities as we move to software-based communications is the potential for application developers to readily and relatively simply build new voice applications and to combine functionalities of existing applications. This may take place in different ways?either via vendor-specific application programming interfaces (APIs), or via standard interfaces such as Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). This session will examine the different ways of creating new types of voice applications and “mashups,” and will help you understand which technical approach may be right for a given situation.
* What are SOA’s technical elements? How mature are they and the standards?
* How widely deployed is SOA today? How extensively is it being used in conjunction with voice systems?
* How does SOA differ from an API-based approach? How is each approach likely to be best employed in creating new voice applications?
* What are the most important APIs for developers and IT professionals who are interested in voice mashups and communications-enabled applications?
* What are some real-world examples of voice mashups and/or communications-enabled apps that leverage APIs and SOA?
Panelist - Crick Waters, Co-Founder, Ribbit

Panelist - Shantanu Sarkar, Senior Manager, Unified C, Cisco

Moderator - Dan York, Director of Emerging Technologies, Voxeo

4:00 pm–5:00 pm
Concurrent Session
Case Studies: Mobility in the Enterprise (Location: Room 131)

We’ve heard a lot about the concept of the “mobile enterprise,” but what’s the reality? In this session, IT/telecom executives from enterprises that have made a major commitment to mobility and wireless communication describe what they’ve done, why they made the decisions they made and what have been the lessons learned.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What caused these organizations to become early adopters?
* What have they learned about the benefits and limitations of mobility?
* What are the challenges to managing and maintaining a network of mobile devices - and people?
* Are they satisfied with their mobility solutions and what difficulties do they wrestle with?
* Will they stay with their existing mobility solution or migrate to WiMAX, LTE, or some other mobile service in the future?
Speaker - Greg Ireland, Executive Officer, Thirteenth District Court, New Mexico

Speaker - Renee Behr, IT, Holland & Knight

Moderator - Michael Finneran, Principal, dBrn Associates, Inc

Network Management: Finding the Right Tools (Location: Room 132)

As IP Telephony deployments scale from pilots to enterprise-wide implementations, the need for effective, real-time management scales as well. But what tools do you need to manage voice traffic and make sure it’s performing as it should? In this session, you’ll get taxonomy of the network management technology marketplace, which will help you understand the metrics and methods that drive successful IP Telephony management.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What are the key metrics you must measure and manage? What tools are available to capture these metrics?
* How can you get visibility on the level of voice quality actually being delivered?
* How does the management of voice systems fit into the overall enterprise IP network management structure?
* What will it cost to implement an effective network management system?
Speaker - Kevin Porter, Senior Network Management Strategist , HP ProCurve

Speaker - Eric Bear, VoIP Solution Program Director, Fluke Networks

Speaker - Teresa Dixon, Director of Product Management, Unimax

Moderator - David Stein, Principal, PlanNet Consulting

Voice Messaging: Are PBXs Still Needed? (Location: Room 124)

Voice messaging systems became part of the communications landscape because phones need to be answered whether the called party was available or not. But with presence, IM and related UC applications and capabilities emerging, there are new ways to calculate the value voice messaging does?or doesn’t?deliver. This session will analyze the new options becoming available for call answering, and the different ways to calculate ROI for new investment.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What is the best way to get voice messaging, call answering, and auto-attendant services?
* Is it better to have voice mail built into the PBX software, or on separate servers?
* What is the impact of speech auto-attendants on voice mail?
* Is speech a separate solution with multiple applications, or is it a feature of voice messaging, or both?
* Is there any reason not to just store voice mail in the email servers?
Speaker - Blair Pleasant, Principal Analyst, COMMfusion LLC

Panelist - Brad Herrington, Solutions Marketing Manager, Interactive Intelligence

Panelist - Tom Minifie, VP of Product Management, AVST

Panelist - Kevin Johnson, Director, Marketing, Mitel

Panelist - Tony Everson, Director, Americas Unified Communications Practice, Dialogic

Panelist - Diane Shariff, Director, UC Solutions, Avaya

SaaS: Role in Enterprise Communications? (Location: Room 130)

Enterprise customers have heard a lot about carrier managed and hosted services, but a related trend is the emergence of Software as a Service (SaaS). How is SaaS related to more traditional concepts of network-hosted voice services, and how can SaaS be leveraged within a Unified Communications system? This session will examine the technology aspects of SaaS as they relate to voice, and will look at cost factors.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* How is the concept of SaaS similar to hosted VOIP services? How is it different?
* What are the carriers’ offerings in SaaS, and what is the possibility for integrating this with premises or network-hosted voice systems?
* Can enterprises save money with a SaaS strategy incorporated into their UC strategy?
* What UC applications and capabilities are candidates for a SaaS offering? How can you best integrate such offerings into your premises-based UC system?
Panelist - David Knight, Senior Director of Product Management, WebEx Technology Group - Cisco

Panelist - Crick Waters, Co-Founder, Ribbit

Moderator - Dan York, Director of Emerging Technologies, Voxeo

Architectural Options for UC (Location: Room 123)

The good old days of “one-size-fits-all” architectures for enterprise communications are over. You have the opportunity - and the challenge - of selecting among multiple options for deploying Unified Communications: PBX-based, desktop-based, even managed/hosted-based. This session will examine the trade-offs associated with each option and give you insight into the best way to operationalize the old adage: Form follows function.
KEY QUESTIONS
* What are the key criteria that determine which option best fits your enterprise requirements?
* Which architectural options fit with a “user-productivity” focus for UC? Which for a “business process” focus?
* What are the variables affecting TOC for each of the options?
* Which vendors provide which architectural options?
* How are IT organizations changing based on the emerging architectures?
Speaker - Marty Parker, Principal, UniComm Consulting

Panelist - David Leach, Senior Marketing Manager, Siemens Enterprise Communications

Panelist - Sonu Aggarwal, CEO, UnifySquare, Inc.

Panelist - Ross Daniels, Director of Solutions Marketing for Unified Communications, Cisco

Thursday, November 13
7:00 am–8:00 am
Continental Breakfast
Continental Breakfast sponsored by BCR Training (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.bcrtraining.com
8:00 am–8:45 am
Early Bird Session
Improving Cellular Coverage with Indoor Antenna Systems (Location: Room 130)

Traditional cellular service remains the dominant mobility option, but cell phones don’t always work indoors, particularly in a building core or basement. To boost cellular reception, a growing number of enterprises are building indoor or distributed antenna systems that distribute the cellular signal within a facility. This session will examine the options for improving indoor cellular coverage and compare their capabilities and limitations. It will also cover the business aspects of this decision, in particular, who will pay for the antenna system — you or your cellular carrier.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* Why is indoor cellular coverage so problematic?
* What are the options for improving the situation?
* Is there more than one kind of distributed antenna system, and what are the differences?
* What are microcells, picocells, and femtocells?
* Will one of these solutions improve my wireless data as well as my wireless voice coverage?
Speaker - Michael Finneran, Principal, dBrn Associates, Inc

IP Telephony in Crisis Situations (Location: Room 131)

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 and E911. This session will help you understand the latest approaches to providing E911 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 location-specific E911?
* What product features are available 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, SVP, RedSky Technologies

Speaker - Dale Tonogai, Vice President of Engineering, ShoreTel
Protecting Your Investment: Top VOIP Security Threats (Location: Room 124)

The migration to IP Telephony and VOIP certainly creates the opportunity for more potential infrastructure attacks, but what’s the reality: Have hackers actually exploited these potential vulnerabilities yet? In this session, you’ll learn about what’s likeliest to bring down your voice traffic today, what you can do about it, and what steps you need to take to prepare for the future.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What are the most serious voice-oriented attacks that are being carried out? What potential attacks are likely to occur before long?
* How much of your security budget should focus on purely VOIP network elements as opposed to other infrastructure components - e.g., switches and routers?
* What types of equipment and technologies must you implement to stop voice-oriented attacks?
* How much security is “enough”?
Panelist - Jason Ostrom, Director, Sipera VIPER Lab

Panelist - Bogdan Materna, Founder & CTO, VoIPshield

Moderator - Mark Collier, CTO, SecureLogix

Contact Center Integration: Ask the Experts (Location: Room 123)

Integrating contact center software with communications hardware and software is never easy, and with new tools for “customer intelligence” becoming available, the job is more difficult than ever. So, bring your questions to this session. A panel of experts will be ready to discuss the best tools, technologies and techniques to tie together the various technologies to create advanced communications and customer intelligence metrics in the contact center.
KEY QUESTIONS:
* What elements comprise the growing field of “customer intelligence”?
* Where are the key leverage points for deployment of customer intelligence systems?
* What does it take to integrate the subsystems with the rest of contact center communications infrastructure and services?
* What are the organizational and training implications of the new integrated systems?
Panelist - Brad Herrington, Solutions Marketing Manager, Interactive Intelligence

Panelist - Brian Davidow, Manager, Sales Support, CosmoCom
Panelist - Mike Regan, Vice President of Unified IP™ Development, Aspect Software

Panelist - Daniel Burgin, Director Product Management Reporting and Analytics, Avaya

Moderator - Don Van Doren, Principal, UniComm Consulting, LLC

Cost Control of Wired and Wireless Networks: Best Practices (Location: Room 132)

Wireless and mobile communications account for 30% or more of the total annual expenses for enterprise communications. Meanwhile, many carriers/service providers have more than a 30% error rate on the monthly bills sent to customers. So, even under the best of economic circumstances, there’s a tremendous squeeze on enterprise communications budgets, and the situation is likely to get worse as you migrate to IP Telephony and Unified Communications, and as the carriers expand into hosted and managed services, security, and other areas. If you can use some help getting a handle on your budget, this session is for you.
KEY QUESTIONS
* Where are the most productive areas to examine when reviewing bills from carriers and service providers?
* What are the best practices for controlling and reducing costs?
* What techniques are available to better manage wireless communications? How do those techniques differ from what works with traditional wireline communications?
* What telecom trends are most likely to have a significant impact on your enterprise communications budget over the next 3-4 years?
* Which of the cost/benefit metrics/analytical tools used with conventional communications networks will migrate into the era of IP Telephony and Unified Communications? Which need to change?
Speaker - Stephen Leaden, President, Leaden Associates

9:00 am–10:00 am
General Session
VoiceCon Summit: UC and Software-Based Architectures (Location: Room 134)

The VoiceCon Summit examines the fundamental transition that shaking up the enterprise communications marketplace. As the industry evolves from traditional hardware to software-based architectures and unified communications, both buyers and sellers face significant challenges - and opportunities. This session will examine how far this transition has come, identify the issues facing both buyers and sellers as they adapt to this new regime and identify the obstacles facing enterprises as they try to mesh the new framework with their existing network design and procurement procedures, network operations and organizations.
Panelist - Paul McMillan, Director, Unified Communications Strategy, Siemens Communications, Inc.

Panelist - Pat Galvin, Senior UC Architect, Unified Communications & Collaboration Software, IBM

Panelist - Mark Spencer, CTO, Digium

Panelist - Christian Szpilfogel, Office of the CTO, Mitel

Panelist - Eric Swift, Senior Director, Microsoft

Panelist - Jonathan Rosenberg PhD, Cisco Fellow, Voice Technology, Cisco

Panelist - Lawrence Byrd, Director - UC Architecture, Avaya
Moderator - Fred Knight, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon, Publisher, No Jitter

Moderator - Jim Burton, CXO, CT Link/UCStrategies.com

10:00 am–10:30 am
Refreshment Break sponsored by VoiceCon Webinars (Location: Hall E Lobby)

www.voicecon.com/webinar
10:30 am–11:30 am
General Session
VoiceCon Summit: The UC-Enabled Mobile Enterprise (Location: Room 134)

The promise of the “mobile enterprise” has been a long time in coming, and for many if not most enterprises, remains more of a vision than a reality. Now, along comes Unified Communications (UC), which promises to take the mobile enterprise concept even further - more capabilities, more applications and more ways to work from anywhere, at any time. But how quickly will see UC-enabled mobile applications that are more advanced, and when will mobile workers have access to the same set of features and capabilities as when they’re working from their desks? This panel will examine the opportunities that are presented by UC-enabled mobility, and also analyze the challenges.
Panelist - Don Hausman, Jr., Senior Manager Product Marketing, Motorola, Inc.

Panelist - Brandon Weilbacher, Senior Director of Product Line Management, Aastra

Panelist - Eric Ritter, Director, Voice Solutions Software Product Management Group, Research In Motion

Panelist - Aaron Williams, Senior Technical Product Marketing - Software & Services, Nokia

Panelist - Sundeep Gupta, Product Line Manager, Mobile UC, Cisco

Panelist - Luc Roy, Vice President, Enterprise Mobility, Siemens Enterprise Communications, Inc.

Moderator - Eric Krapf, Co-chair, VoiceCon, Editor/Lead Blogger, No Jitter

Moderator - Michael Finneran, Principal, dBrn Associates, Inc

11:30 am–12:00 pm
General Session
Locknote (Location: Room 134)

At the conclusion of each VoiceCon conference, we ask leading analysts to join VoiceCon co-chairs Fred Knight and Eric Krapf to summarize what they learned during the Conference. The Locknote will analyze progress in the migration to IP Telephony and Unified Communications, vendor positioning and market strategies, and examine whether the payoffs from new technologies are being realized. The panelists draw on their experience and what they’ve seen and heard during the conference.
Panelist - Don Van Doren, Principal, UniComm Consulting, LLC

Panelist - Gary Audin, President, Delphi, Inc.

Panelist - Michael Finneran, Principal, dBrn Associates, Inc

Panelist - John Bartlett, Principal, NetForecast

Panelist - Eric Krapf, Co-chair, VoiceCon, Editor/Lead Blogger, No Jitter

Moderator - Fred Knight, GM/Co-Chair, VoiceCon, Publisher, No Jitter
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