Agenda

The 2007 European Press Summit commences with a welcome reception at 7.30pm on Wednesday 26th September and ends on Friday 28th September.

Wednesday 26th September

3:00 – 8:00 pm Hospitality desk open. Those who arrive early may take advantage of the leisure facilities …. or simply relax and enjoy the beautiful island of Malta
7:30 pm Welcome reception

Thursday 27th September

7:30 – 8:30am Breakfast, & informal meetings and debate briefings
8:30 – 8:40 am Conference introduction 
8:40 – 9:00 am Keynote Presentation - David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN

Networking the Secrets of the Universe
To get a handle on David Foster’s working environment, it helps to think small. Think about the protons inside the nucleus of atoms that make up the molecules of which proteins, cells and human beings are made. And think about micron-sized beams of those protons colliding with each other 40 million times a second, at nearly the speed of light.
It also helps to think big. Like a 27km underground circular accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), running from Geneva airport to under the Jura mountains and back, and underground particle detectors the size cathedrals filled with millions of devices to sense the fleeting passage of subatomic particles. And the whole thing with a roughly $5bn price tag.
David works in the “coolest place in the universe”, literally:  part of the underground accelerator was recently cooled to about -271 celsius, less than two degrees from the absolute zero of temperature – colder than outer space - making it the largest cryogenic installation in the world CERN is cool in other ways, too. A meeting place for some of the brightest minds on the planet, it is also where the World Wide Web was born in the early 90s.
David is in charge of the network infrastructure at CERN which is going to help physicists store data from the LHC at phenomenal rates: some 15 million gigabytes of data a year, corresponding to nearly 1% of all the information produced on the planet annually. This data will spew out of CERN at gigabytes per second to the four corners of the planet, on dedicated 10Gbit/second optical links to partner laboratories from Academia Sinica in Taipei to Fermilab in Chicago. This network is the backbone of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, the largest scientific grid of its kind. And CERN is the hub.
The mission of the Communications Systems group that David manages at CERN is not just about high-speed data transfer around the globe, though. He’s also responsible for a campus network that supports a staff of 2500 at CERN and thousands of visiting scientists, as well as mobile and wifi infrastructures for the lab, and hundreds of kilometers of cables in the underground installations at CERN.
CERN is not your ordinary business, and its IT infrastructure is extraordinary in every respect. We invite David to tell us about the Large Hadron Collider, what scientists hope to achieve with it and how advanced IT solutions will help make this possible.  What are the challenges of a project so big and so critical – security, bandwidth, reliability, performance and OAM? How is CERN transferring the benefits of the advanced grid technology CERN and its partners have developed to industry? And when will such technology affect your business?
At NetEvents we bring you something different. Every time.

Keynote Presentation - David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN
Keynote Presentation *& On-Stage Interview Transcript : David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN

David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN	David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN	David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN interviewed on stage by Manek Dubash, Editor, TechWorld & Editorial Director, NetEvents

9:00 – 9:20 am Keynote Interview & Audience Q&A 
Editorial Dairector, NetEvents TV

9:20 – 10:00 am Debate Session I - IPTV
Feeding the hunger for video – can the network deliver?
Introduced & Chaired by: Ian Keene, Vice President & Chief Analyst, Gartner

While much of the media hype around IPTV has been centered in Europe and North America, real progress in commercially viable IPTV service has been made in Japan, India and China.

We can clearly deliver moving pictures, but can we build a sustainable business model around it? Will a technology geared to domestic triple play services meet the needs of the enterprise? Will it adapt to the growing demand for mobile video to the handset?

Ian Keene, Vice President & Chief Analyst, Gartnerhas spoken to Disney, Time Warner…. and many other companies keen to feed our hunger for video – to the home, to business and to the mobile user. He has found out what they really need, and what they can sell their customers now and in the immediate future. He presents his findings and then asks the panel ”can the technology deliver?”

Our panel includes providers and vendors already driving the IPTV wave in Asia, as well as network performance testers who know all to well the technology’s strengths and limitations.
Panellists: Larry Desjardin, Director of R&D - Network and Digital Solutions, Electronic Measurements Group, Agilent Technologies; Pierre Lynch, Director VoIP/IMS Testing, Ixia; Stephen Garrison, Vice President of Marketing, Force10 Networks; Steve Broadhead, Founder & Director, Broadband Testing; Dr. Alan Lippman, Chief Video Architect at Redback

Debate Session I – IPTV Presentation
Debate Session I – IPTV Transcript

Ian Keene, Vice President & Chief Analyst, Gartner	Debate Session I - IPTV Panellists: Larry Desjardin, Director of R&D - Network and Digital Solutions, Electronic Measurements Group, Agilent Technologies; Victor Alston, SVP of Product Development, Ixia; Stephen Garrison, Vice President of Marketing, Force10 Networks; Steve Broadhead, Founder & Director, Broadband Testing; Dr. Alan Lippman, Chief Video Architect at Redback Neworks

10:00 –10:40 am Debate Session II – IT Security
The PCI DSS prescription – too much effort for not enough protection?
Introduced & Chaired by: Bob Walder, Chief Scientist, NSS Labs Inc.

More credit cards means more identity theft -- but now the credit card companies are striking back.

The global growth in the numbers of credit cards is as tempting to criminals as a sardine shoal to a shark. It's a big problem, with millions of identities stolen every year, and losses amounting to well over $50 billion in the USA alone.

The industry's bid to solve the problem is a methodology known as PCI DSS, which aims to improve the security of cardholder data among banks, service providers and merchant community.

Seen as a great first step, PCI DSS still leaves a lot of room for interpretation. There are major holes in the process of becoming compliant, and even greater challenges in staying compliant as networks are evolving, products changing, and one size does not fit all. Meanwhile, there’s increasing government scrutiny of the industry as companies struggle to prepare for audits. And who's going to pay? Virgin Entertainment's IT director Robert Fort points out: “There’s no direct return on investment – PCI DSS will not help us sell CDs”.

Bob Walder, Chief Scientist, NSS Group, puts the problem to our panel and asks:

Is the DSS specific enough? With millions of networks but only hundreds of qualified assessors, and less than 30% of the industry compliant, just how effective is the DSS initiative at improving security? And what’s the next step?
Panellists: Carlos Solari, Vice President Security, Alcatel-Lucent; Alex Raistrick, ConSentry Networks; Michael Bacon, Head of Information Security, Xchanging; Neal Hartsell, VP Product Marketing, TippingPoint/3Com; Matt Harrigan, President, NSSLabs, Inc

Debate Session II – IT Security
Debate Session II – IT Security Transcript

Bob Walder, Chief Scientist, NSS Labs Inc.

10:40 – 10.55 am Coffee & refreshments

10:55 – 11:35 am  Debate Session III – Mobile VoIP and multi-media content
Is GSM/3G more than just a stop-gap solution?
Introduced & Chaired by: Emir Halilovic, Program Manager, Networking and Infrastructure CEE, IDC CEMA

The infrastructure is already in place, millions of handsets are already out there, all we need is to connect existing GSM/3G Radio Access Networks to VoIP systems and so bring the cost and feature benefits of VoIP to all those handsets. It’s an attractive proposition, it’s available now, and it’s a sure-fire sell to all those millions of already hooked on their mobile phones.

But could you sell that concept in San Jose, California, or any of the increasing number of cities with total WiFi coverage?

Those promoting the GSM/3G solution point out that WLAN/WiFi based solutions require new multimode handsets, client software and significant investments into upgrading existing WLAN/WiFi networks. But aren’t they already making that investment? That still leaves issues with coverage, quality of service, security and the required changes in user behaviour, and the ideology of making a complete operator bypass with WLAN/WiFi is extremely unfriendly to operators.

Good arguments, but can they stand up to the juggernaut of global wireless roll-out? Our panel, introduced by Emir Halilovic, Program Manager, Networking and Infrastructure CEE - IDC CEMA,has supporters from both sides of the argument. May the best prevail!
Panellists: Markku Rautiola, CTO and Founder of Concilio Networks; Michael Coci, Product Marketing Director, Trapeze Networks; Dean Bubley, Analyst & Founder, Disruptive Analysis

Debate Session III – Mobile VoIP and multi-media content Presentation
Debate Session III – Mobile VoIP and multi-media content Transcript

Debate Session III – Mobile VoIP and multi-media content Is GSM/3G more than just a stop-gap solution? Panellists: Markku Rautiola, CTO and Founder of Concilio Networks; Michael Coci, Product Marketing Director, Trapeze Networks; Dean Bubley, Analyst & Founder, Disruptive Analysis; Mr. A.R. Vishwanath, Chairman, CEO and Founder, IMI Mobile	Emir Halilovic, Program Manager, Networking and Infrastructure CEE, IDC CEMA

11:35 – 12:15 am Debate Session IV – Business Session
The Networking Landscape – Executive-Level perspectives
Introduced & Chaired by: George Hamilton, Director - Enterprise Infrastructure, Yankee Group

The networking landscape is always evolving, but at times there is a seismic shift.

Is that about to happen again?

We’re in the third decade of distributed processing, and where better to have the intelligence than on your own desk? Meanwhile high speed networking links those distributed resources so closely together that our distributed intelligence becomes one entity again – ”hive processing” in a virtualized mainframe?

On the other hand, if we face a future where the majority of workers are mobile – accessing the network from home and on the move – what is the point of distributed processing? Why not capitalise on the advantages of a secure, environmentally controlled data centre? And what of the proposed benefits being touted with the adaptive enterprise strategies associated with virtualisation? Why have a PC on the office desk when it becomes just one more port of call for the mobile worker? Are we back to the ”thin client”, but as a mobile, wireless, handheld device? Our panel of CxOs look to the future. Would they welcome a return to the centre? Do they see it as inevitable? What are the pros and cons, and how might this turn-about change the face of the IT landscape, yet again?
Panellists: Dave Asprey, VP Technology Strategy, Zeus Technologies; Michael Coci, Product Marketing Director, Trapeze Networks; Mark Hilton, Product and Solutions Marketing Manager for the EMEA, ProCurve Networking by HP

Debate Session IV – Business Session Presentation
Debate Session IV – Business Session Transcript

George Hamilton, Director - Enterprise Infrastructure, Yankee Group

12:15 – 1:15 pm Lunch
1:20 – 3:20 pm Scheduled press & analyst meetings 
3:20 – 3:35 pm Coffee, desserts & refreshments
3:35 – 6:15 pm Scheduled press & analyst meetings
6:15 – 6:40 pm Press room open
7:30 – 8.00 pm Cocktail Reception 
8.00 pm NetEvents Maltese Dinner

NetEvents Maltese Dinner at the Mdina, Malta

Friday 28th September

7:30 – 8:30 am Breakfast, informal meetings and debate briefings
8:00 – 10:00 am Scheduled press & analyst meetings
10:00 – 10:15 am Coffee
10:15 – 10:55 am Scheduled press & analyst meetings
10:55 – 11:50 am Brunch and debate briefings for debate sessions
11:50 – 12:05 noon Conference Introduction
12:05 – 12:15 Special Guest Speaker Presentation – Tom Burns, President Enterprise Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent

The cats are out of the bag – fixed mobile convergence and the dissipation of the enterprise
Howard Aiken of IBM is famously quoted as predicting that only a few computers would be sufficient to serve the needs of the world. The story does reflect one truth: that technology developed to meet a specific business challenge can prove so useful that it grows into a new essential that transforms the nature of business itself.

Mobility solutions are an example. Most businesses employ a number of mobile workers, and that generated a demand for mobile communications to serve that need. But the availability of mobile communications releases a whole tide of workers who were previously only immobile because the computer tied them to their desks.

What will be the impact on the enterprise of the new wave of converged and mobile solutions? Why go to work on Monday morning when you can access your work desk from home? What are the security implications for so much business intelligence walking out of the door – in terms of laptop computers, employees as well as data on USB memory sticks?

Tom Burns is uniquely placed to address such questions, as President of Alcatel-Lucent’s Enterprise Solutions Division (ESD). Recent events reveal a determination to address the security implications of mobile business communications – so what are those implications?

Expect a privileged insight into the future of the enterprise, by a business leader responsible for shaping that future.

Special Guest Speaker Presentation – Tom Burns, President Enterprise Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent
Special Guest Speaker Presentation & Q&A- Tom Burns, President Enterprise Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent - transcript

Tom Burns, President Enterprise Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent

12:15 – 12:30 Special Guest Speaker Interview & Audience Q&A
Tom Burns interviewed on stage by Manek Dubash, Editor, TechWorld & Editorial Director, NetEvents

12:30 – 1:10 pm Debate Session V – Switching LANs – how much should you put in the box?
Introduced & Chaired by: Steve Broadhead, Founder & Director, Broadband Testing

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is the cliché, but which is really simpler? A single appliance that does everything, and is quite complicated inside? Or a set of boxes to do the same job, though each box is relatively simple? In the fast-evolving world of IT, how long before that single complex solution becomes a dinosaur?
 
As an IT manager, looking to deploy the next generation LAN technology, it's easy to see why confusion could reign. Just where exactly on the network should essentials like security be deployed - in the core, at the edge, on the LAN switch itself or on one or more dedicated devices?
 
And do you need to know your NACs from your IPSs and your UTMs from your WAFs? Do you need any or all of them, or just one single, secure switch device? And as 10Gigabit quickly becomes the norm in the LAN core, can all these devices keep up to pace with 100 times the amount of traffic that was travelling across these networks less than 10 years ago?
 
Our panel will endeavour to answer all of these questions and provide a blueprint solution for the beleaguered IT manager.
Panellists: Stephen Garrison, Vice President of Marketing, Force10 Networks; David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN; Andy Bryant, EMEA Product Manager, ProCurve Networking by HP; Alex Raistrick, ConSentry Networks; Dave Asprey, VP Technology Strategy, Zeus Technologies (TBC)

Debate Session V – Switching LANs - psresentation
Debate Session V - Switching LANs - transcript

Panellists: Stephen Garrison, Vice President of Marketing, Force10 Networks; David Foster, Head of Communications Systems, CERN; Andy Bryant, EMEA Product Manager, ProCurve Networking by HP; Alex Raistrick, ConSentry Networks; Dave Asprey, VP Technology Strategy, Zeus Technologies	Steve Broadhead, Founder & Director, Broadband Testing

1:10 – 1:20 pm Coffee, desserts & refreshments

1:20 – 2:00 pm Debate Session VI – Mobile Backhaul
Cost, Reliability, Scalability – 3 big challenges for mobile backhaul
Introduced & Chaired by: Michael Howard, Principal Analyst and Co-Founder, Infonetics Research


Mobile operators are being squeezed between the demand for high bandwidth multimedia services and the competition to keep costs down. Backhaul represents up to 30% of the operational expense, and the average bandwidth per site is expected to rise from 5 to 9 Mbps in the next few years.

According to a recent Infonetics report, the telcos’ migration to IP-based backhaul support is reducing backhaul equipment costs from $3.4bn in 2005 to an estimated $2.4bn in 2009 – good news, except that backhaul service costs are expected to double from $16bn in 2005.

In Evian we took a close look at the alternative technologies for backhaul, now it’s time to address the commercial realities.

Michael Howard knows the challenge – he lives with it every day in his role as Principal Analyst and Co-Founder for Infonetics Research. So he introduces this debate by laying down his requirements and putting these and other questions to our vendor panel:

What are their viable backhaul options for moving forward? With business and consumers alike demanding additional services with guaranteed reliability at lower costs, how can network operators build their backhaul networks and maintain profitability?

With individual cell bandwidth projected to double or even treble within the next couple of years, what options do they have to ensure they can scale on a cell-by cell basis as and when required? And how will the operators be able to guarantee service levels in the event of a backhaul network failure?

Michael Howard is asking for solutions, not visions. Let’s see how our panel responds.
Panellists: Aviv Ronai, Chief Marketing Officer, Ceragon; Victor Alston, SVP of Product Development, Ixia; Duan Guanghui, General Engineer of Datacomm Dept, Huawei; Craig Easley, Associate Vice President Marketing, Actelis; Bart Salaets, Redback; Gary Bolton, VP of Marketing & Product Management, Hatteras Networks

Debate Session VI – Mobile Backhaul - presentation
Debate Session VI - Mobile Backhaul - transcript

Michael Howard, Principal Analyst and Co-Founder, Infonetics Research

2:00 – 2:10 pm ‘Carrier Ethernet World Congress Interoperability Results’
Presentation: Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director Research & Manufacturer Testing, EANTC AG

Carrier Ethernet World Congress Interoperability Results - Presentation
Carrier Ethernet World Congress Interoperability Results - transcript

Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director Research & Manufacturer Testing, EANTC AG

2:10 – 2:50 pm Debate Session VII - Hottest News Telecoms Technologies
Introduced & Chaired by: Sharifah Amirah, Manager, ICT Growth Partnership Services, Frost & Sullivan

Next Generation Networks are the key to global communications, and far too important to become the pawns of politics. So what’s this war between PBB/PBT and MPLS all about? Some vendors dismiss PBT as a Euro-centric solution, but what about the North American mobile operators – they seem keen on PBT backhaul?

The MEF believes that world be better placed with a common language – and no one wants the sort of technology fragmentation that held back the TV industry for so long. One language, yes, but is that language really Carrier Ethernet? And – talking of triumphant solutions – wasn’t WiMAX supposed to be blowing all competing technologies out of the water by now?

The MSF is doing sterling service in keeping the focus on interoperability – with current work on a permanent NGN test bed, and a pilot NGN certification program – but can they hold back the forces of national, or commercial, rivalry and pride of ownership?

There remain strong differences of opinion about which of these, or other solutions, will prove optimal. It will take years before real-world deployments provide a clear answer, meanwhile it’s the final session at NetEvents Malta, and Sharifah wants us to go home with a somewhat clearer picture of these and other NGN issues and how they are currently being resolved.

We’ve assembled a panel of experts, so let’s see if Sharifah can set the industry a good example by getting the panel members to agree on some vital issues!
Panellists: Phil Tilley, Vice President of Marketing for EMAI for IPD, Alcatel-Lucent; Nan Chen, President, MEF; Roger Ward, President, MSF; Office of the CTO, BT; Mervyn Kelly, Carrier Ethernet Leader EMEA, Nortel; Gary Bolton, VP of Marketing & Product Management, Hatteras Networks; Richard Dagnell, VP Sales & Marketing, Iometrix

Debate Session VII - Hottest New Telecoms Technologies – NGN’s, Carrier Ethernet, WiMAX and Triple Play
Debate Session VII - Hottest New Telecoms Technologies - transcript

Sharifah Amirah, Manager, ICT Growth Partnership Services, Frost & Sullivan

2:50 – 3.00 pm Close of conference sessions
3:00 pm Close of event & departures