This session will provide overviews of the successes and challenges for selected IPTV deployments in North America and delve into the key strategic directions being pursued as the deployments move from niche deployment to a mainstream service thrust. The carrier presenters will provide insights into the key findings obtained as each has evolved from a proof of concept through to commercially available stage with this disruptive service offering. Ultimately, though, moving beyond digital television into a suite of future-friendly applications will define the nature and substance of the user experience going forward and the business model for the carrier.

Jim Slevinsky Director, Technology Strategy TELUS

Mr. Slevinsky leads a team of senior technical consultants tasked with determining the five-year technology end states for TELUS's optical, IP, voice, fixed wireless and wired access network infrastructures. In his 16 years at TELUS, Mr. Slevinsky has had active roles in the voice network special services, R&D, network standards, and network architecture groups. In addition, while at TRLabs as an industrial researcher, Mr. Slevinsky was a key contributor to a team developing RingBuilder network design software, and he holds a patent for this work.

Jim Baldwin Product Unit Manager, IPTV Program, Microsoft TV Microsoft Corporation

Mr. Baldwin is responsible for developing the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition product and has grown the team from the incubation of the project to its current state. Since joining Microsoft in 1997 as a part of the WebTV acquisition, he has been a key architect of digital video technology for various products, including the WebTV Plus, Echostar Dishplayer, UltimateTV, and Microsoft TV. Prior to Microsoft and WebTV, Mr. Baldwin worked at The 3DO Company, where he managed and developed silicon and software solutions for MPEG decoding and encoding and video processing.

Jean-Georges Fritsch Chief Operating Officer Minerva Networks

Dr. Fritsch joined Minerva Networks shortly after its foundation. In his previous position at C-Cube Microsystems, he headed the company's MPEG decoder product development, and he contributed to the development of its core MPEG encoding algorithms. From 1987 to 1989, Dr. Fritsch was a staff scientist at Alcatel Business Systems, focusing on speech recognition, speech compression, and digital acoustic echo canceling. Dr. Fritsch holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Signal Processing from the University of Nancy in France.

Tomas Gutierrez Director, Technology and Network Planning Telefónica de España

Mr. Gutierrez is a veteran at Telefónica, with 27 years of service in different departments and responsibilities. Before joining Telefónica, he worked for a Spanish telecom manufacturing company and was responsible for different engineering projects inside and outside Spain. Now he is responsible for the technology and network planning of the wireline business of Telefónica in Spain.

Larry W. Wagman Director of Technology, Service Development Digital Interactive Video SaskTel

Mr. Wagman is accountable for overall technical and operational leadership of Max™ Entertainment Services, SaskTel's IPTV service offering. He leads a cross-divisional team that is responsible for service architecture, service development, and operational management. Throughout his 25 years with SaskTel, he has held increasingly responsible technical roles in the areas of digital switching, network design, and strategic information technology application and infrastructure planning for the SaskTel enterprise.