Convergence and true network intelligence are delivering on the promise of seamless access across previously siloed networks and devices. These presence-powered networks allow companies and individuals to find available workers and friends at a moment's notice when they seek immediate collaboration with them. This new world offers new opportunities to deliver content of all kinds—entertainment, reference and business—that are blended seamlessly into consumer lifestyles or enterprise business operations.

To make this happen in its fullest sense requires an evolution in networking. We already are seeing results of the industry move to the standards-based IMS service architecture, and now is there a need for additional changes?

Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson have different viewpoints on how to move forward with meeting the needs of the next generation of IP networks that will service multimedia applications. Join this session for an Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson debate on how to move forward and hear key facts about their views on network architecture.

Camille Mendler Vice President, Telecommunication Strategies The Yankee Group

Ms. Mendler spearheads global business development and research initiatives in enterprise communications. Ms. Mendler has led a number of international assignments for private- and public-sector clients in areas such as market entry, competitive analysis, and partnering strategies. She is also the author of various studies on the use of converged communications in the business world. Ms. Mendler is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has acted as a commentator on technology matters for the BBC, CNBC, CNN, Telecom TV, and others. Before joining Yankee Group, Ms. Mendler held business development and marketing roles at European telecom companies.

Christoph Aktas Senior Director and Head of Strategy and Innovation, IMS Business Line Nokia Siemens Networks

In 2000 Mr. Aktas joined Siemens Mobile Networks, where he has been with the IMS business line since then. His responsibilities include go-to-market strategy and analyst relations. He joined Siemens Corporate Research—where he worked on human machine interface, particularly speech recognition and speech—based dialog systems-after graduating in 1983. He has a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Erlangen/Nürnberg.

Fredrik Alatalo Vice President, Product Area Core and IMS Ericsson

Mr. Alatalo's other recent positions at Ericsson have been business director for portfolio management for GSM, GPRS, and EDGE and head of IMS activities. He joined Ericsson in 1987 and has held research and development and product management positions in Sweden, Ireland, Germany, and Australia. Mr. Alatalo has very wide telecom experience and is a frequent speaker at international conferences and seminars. He graduated with a Master's of Science in electrical engineering from Linköping Institute of Technology in Sweden in 1987.

Daniel Kolski Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Europe and South Alcatel-Lucent

Mr. Kolski has been in the telecom industry for more than 30 years. He joined the Alcatel group in 1985 coming from the IS world. He worked for 10 years in R&D, product management, and product marketing, several years of which were spent in the United States and Canada. Originally an information systems engineer, Mr. Kolski spent about 15 years in data networking before expanding his expertise to voice and multimedia, mobile networking, and network applications.