High-speed services are revolutionizing bandwidth needs and placing unprecedented pressure on metro networks. The broadband revolution will overwhelm existing network capacity and challenge current network management systems. To successfully deliver high-speed services such as IPTV and video on demand, as well as storage-area networking and business continuity services, network operators worldwide must rethink and redesign their infrastructures.

However, optical infrastructure decisions are long-term commitments, and in the face of uncertainties in future service mixes, traffic patterns, bandwidth needs, and the regulatory environment, network operators are hesitant to make decisions that will result in stranded capital. Unfortunately, with today's ultra-competitive marketplace, a wait-and-see approach simply will not work.

This session will explore the emerging agile optical network, an architectural design that gives carriers a flexible, scalable, future-proof infrastructure capable of growing and changing with their business. Attendees will receive vital new information that will help them make the best infrastructure decisions for their situations in light of the broadband revolution.

Michael Pascoe President and Chief Executive Officer Meriton Networks

Mr. Pascoe is president and chief executive officer for Meriton Networks, an innovative wavelength networking company. Mr. Pascoe is well known for his outstanding track record of building shareholder value in the telecommunications industry. As the former chief executive officer of PairGain Technologies, Mr. Pascoe was instrumental in driving the business and technical improvements that resulted in PairGain being acquired by ADC Telecommunications in 2000 for $3 billion. Before working at PairGain, Mr. Pascoe was a key member of the executive management team at Newbridge Networks (acquired by Alcatel in 2000 for $7.1 billion) as the president of the U.S. division and the executive vice president/general manager of the North and South American business regions.

Per O. Andersson Business Unit Broadband Networks Ericsson

Dr. Andersson works with network strategies in Ericsson's Business Unit Broadband Networks. He has spent 23 years in optical communications research and development, the past 15 in Ericsson, where his area of work has ranged from signal quality and transmission problems in optical networks, to fiber-to-the home, optical access, and optical components. Recent work also includes effects of sustainability issues on telecoms. He has also been responsible for standardization activities and editor in ITU and ETSI. Dr. Andersson is a well-known speaker on conferences in the field, and regularly lectures on optical communication subjects from basic introductions to future scenarios. In recent years, he has also held several senior management positions in R&D, supply, and product management. Dr. Andersson was also the General Chair of the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) in Stockholm, Sweden, in September 2004.

Chris Bilton Director, Networks, ICT, and Standards BT Group CTO

Mr. Bilton is responsible for creating and leading the development of BT's 21C Architecture across BT Group and the BT lines of business. His current role spans all aspects of networks, from Layer 1 to application services for ICT, and his particular area of interest is rapid application service development utilizing distributed intelligence. He has had more than 20 years of experience in creating global data and IP networks and services.

Michael Howard Principal Analyst and Co-Founder Infonetics Research

With more than 35 years of network industry experience, Mr. Howard is recognized worldwide as one of the industry's leading experts in emerging markets, service provider network market trends, and user buying patterns. He started out working on operating systems and programming language compilers for ARPANET, which later became the Internet, and then created network accounting at Tymshare/Tymnet in the 1970s. He then led the First Interstate Bank project that developed the world's first pre-Internet in-home banking system. He founded Infonetics Research in 1990, and today he focuses on optical technologies from the service provider edge to the core, metro Ethernet, and access networks.