VON Europe 2005 Conference and Expo - produced by pulver.com

VON Europe 2005 Expo Hours:
Tuesday May 24th: 6:30pm-8:30pm (with Welcome Reception)
Wednesday May 25th: 10am-4pm
Thursday May 26th: 10am-4pm
General Session: Broadband in Europe
Tuesday, May 24, 2005, 4:30pm - 5:30pm
Broadband penetration in many major European markets is growing rapidly .. but is it still held back by incumbent carrier charges for local loop access? Should the regulators be tougher in order to facilitate more naked broadband coverage? Is VoBB simply replicating the PSTN or is it innovating like the Internet?
· Penetration rates
· Price sensitivities
· Value added services
· TV over broadband

Tore Aarønæs, Managing Director, Norsk Telecom
Tore Aarønæs is the Managing Director of Norsk Telecom AS - an independent market analyst company specialising on the Norwegian Telecom sector. The company publishes a comprehensive market study (TeleInfo) twice a year, covering development and outlook in terms of market values, traffic and volumes, subscribers, technology and regulation. Norsk Telecom has also produced a comprehensive Broadband report for the Nordic Council. The company recently launched a Copper report – presenting critical issues on the regulation of the copper access market in Norway. Aarønæs holds an MBA degree from Arizona State University in the USA, and has worked for a number of Norwegian telcos during the last 13 years.

Espen Fjogstad, CEO, Telio
Since 1997, Espen Fjogstad has worked as investor investor/entrepeneur, working with a range of technology companies, some of which he co-founded. In 1999 he co-founded Global IP Sound, a company best known for delivering the voice technology behind Skype. In 2003 he co-founded Telio. Since founding Telio, he has been serving as Telio’s CEO. In less than one year, Telio became Europes largest and fastest growing access independent VoIP provider, moving in periods nearly 1 % of the Norwegian broadband population to its service every month.

Carl Ford, VP Community & Content, pulver.com
At pulver.com, Carl Ford is a Community Developer, looking to enable business development and customer contact between companies. He also develops the content for pulver.com conferences and is a highly interactive program moderator. As a pulverite he serves as an advisor to several companies in various degrees. Mr. Ford's professional career includes 20 years at telecommunications companies such as Telcordia Technologies and Verizon. He has worked in positions including Costs, Operations, Marketing, Regulatory, and Product Management. His accomplishments include architecting and product-managing a carrier-grade billing mediation device for softswitches that was compatible for ILEC billing systems; and moderating the development of the pulver.com CDR for Internet Telephony, enabling VOIP gateways to be used with carrier billing systems.

Martin Luest, SVP, Solutions Management, Siemens
Martin Lüst is currently heading as Senior Vice President the Solution Management for VoIP solutions within the Fixed Network division of Siemens Com.
Martin Lüst is 46 years old and has more tha 12 years experience in the telecommunication industry with focus on NGN technologies working in various countries like US, Australia and Singapore. In Singapore Martin was heading the regional Carrier Solution Center APAC for Siemens from year 2000-2002 before he returned to Siemens Headquarter by 2003 and is working since than on the VoIP solution and products for the carrier segment.

Peter Linder, Technical Director Wireline Networks, Ericsson
Peter Linder is Technical Director for Wireline Networks at Ericsson. In this role he is responsible for the overall startegic technology direction for Ericsson's Wireline portfolio which cover networks for Broadband access networks, Telephony & Multimedia Softswitching and the AXE portfolio. He has worked 13 years with Ericsson and the last 11 years in the Broadband network field. He is a frequent speaker at International conferences and did during 2001-2004 serve as the VP of Marketing for the Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance.

Maria Morner-Jonsson, Global Product Manager VoIP Consumer, TeliaSonera
Long experience from a former carrier in the field of Information system and Documentation Management Area. The carrier in the telecom area started off with Business Development with a special interest for the impact of “broken value chains and broadband” for a traditional carrier delivering services on others network. Now responsible for the Product Management for VoIP Consumer in the TeliaSonera group. Education background; originally an academic education in the humanistic and social anthropology field and also in the information system area. Several courses regarding many subjects connected to the professional roles and tasks.

Claudio Pavanelli, VP, Sales Development & Marketing, Italtel
Claudio Pavanelli joined Italtel in 1992; before then he had been in Alcatel and Telettra, the Fiat Group telecommunications manufacturer company, in which he started his career in 1980. Over twenty plus years experience in the telecommunication sector, he has broadened his expertise in voice, data and Next Generation Networks covering responsibilities in the area of R&D, Business & Product Management and Marketing. He is currently responsible of Sales Development and Marketing at Italtel. Born in Milan in 1954, Pavanelli obtained his degree in Electronic Engineering in 1980 at Politecnico University of Milan.

Kerry Ritz, Managing Director, Vonage
Prior to joining Vonage UK as Managing Director, Mr. Ritz was Director of Customer Strategy for Hutchison 3G Ltd., executing business and marketing strategy, device development and international development. He helped define the “3G proposition,” instrumental in developing the first 3G business plan that was used to raise over $5 billion in financing. Previously, Mr. Ritz was Head of Practice at InterMatrix, a prominent UK strategy and consulting firm, where he created numerous go-to-market strategies for European, Asian and Latin American telecom operators, and advised leading consumer and retail organizations on marketing, sales and international expansion strategies. Mr. Ritz’s preceding experience included brand marketing, strategy and business development roles with General Foods and Loblaws Supermarkets.