Though IPTV subscribers worldwide now number in the millions, IPTV is still in its relative infancy from an application, feature, and service perspective. The "promises" of IPTV are to enable more interactivity in the television viewing experience, enable targeting of content and advertising to individual users, and enable integration of broadcast and on-demand video services with data and voice services. The burning question for today's service providers is, what will it take to fulfill those promises?

What are the technical challenges associated with delivering addressable IPTV advertising, what changes will be required to current network design, and what are the implications for service provider revenue models? What does the current landscape of interactive IPTV applications look like? What is the expected timeline for implementation of new services? Will high-definition programming delivery pose any unique challenges in IPTV environments? This workshop hopes to address the keys to unlocking IPTV's considerable potential.

John Reister Chief IPTV Architect BigBand Networks

Mr. Reister is responsible for the strategic and technical direction of BigBand's IPTV offerings. Before BigBand Networks, he was chief technology officer with leading DSL access platform vendor Copper Mountain Networks, where he was responsible for the company's technical vision and strategic direction. Prior to Copper Mountain, Mr. Reister held positions at Sun Microsystems and Bain and Company.

Ching-Min Cheng Acting Director, Multimedia Department, Northern Taiwan Business Group Chunghwa Telecommunication

Dr. Cheng has many years of experience in the field of developing interactive video services. Starting at the telecommunication laboratory of CHT as a research engineer, he spent his first years operating and deploying video-on-demand service over ATM core and ADSL access network. For the past five years, with IP emerging as a ubiquitous protocol for broadband multimedia applications, Dr. Cheng has been involved in the rollout of IPTV service, named MOD, in Taiwan, including LiveTV, VoD, TV commerce, HDTV, distance learning, and more.

Avinash Himatsinghani Senior Vice President, Ad Sales and New Media Partnerships NGC Network Asia, LLC.

Mr. Himatsinghani heads up the pan-regional and international advertising sales efforts for National Geographic Channel and FOX International Channels in Asia. In addition he also takes care of additional revenue functions in southeast Asia and Hong Kong, including new media sales. Prior to working with NGC, he was part of the STAR ad sales team in Hong Kong, responsible for international network sales in the Hong Kong market. Before moving to Hong Kong in 2000, Mr. Himatsinghani worked with several other leading TV networks in India during their launch phases, including Sony Entertainment Television, Discovery Communications India, and vIndia.com, Channel V's on-line destination. He holds a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering and an M.B.A. with a major in marketing from the University of Mumbai.

Peter Jackson Chief Executive Officer Asia Satellite Telecoms Co. Ltd.

In 1993, Mr. Jackson was seconded to Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) by Cable & Wireless, one of AsiaSat's founding shareholders, as chief executive officer. AsiaSat was Asia's first private regional satellite operator that pioneered satellite television broadcasting for the region by launching its first regional satellite, AsiaSat 1, in April 1990. Under Mr. Jackson's leadership, AsiaSat has grown to a fleet of three powerful pan-Asian satellites, with one additional satellite procured and scheduled for launch in 2008, and has successfully built the world's most watched broadcast platform, which provides access to more than 53 countries and regions and 66 percent of the world's population.

Jay Kishigami Executive Director, Cyber Solutions Laboratory NTT

Mr. Kishigami was previously vice president of service strategy for the Corporate Management Strategy division and executive chief producer of convergence for the NTT holding company. From 1994 to 1999 he worked with NTT America as a vice president and general manager at IP HQs in the area of creating and promoting the Internet business both in the United States and in Japan. Mr. Kishigami coordinated ISP and backbone between the United States and Japan. He is now leading the IPTV service and technology development. At the same time, he is also directing the RFID, human interface, and Web technologies.

Bob Lamb Chief Technology Officer Pilate Media Ltd.

Mr. Lamb joined Pilate in 1992. He has been involved in most of Pilat's major projects and managed the team that produced IBMS, Pilat's flagship solution for managing broadcast video services. Before Pilate Mr. Lamb worked for BSkyB in 1988 and was responsible for the development and design of their original SMS system. Prior to this he worked in consultancy and education.

James Ross Regional Director ITV Worldwide

Mr. Ross established the company's operations in Asia, with a new office in Hong Kong, and he is responsible for the distribution of ITV programming and formats from India to Korea, and from China to the Philippines. The office also oversees the acquisition of programming from the region for distribution around the world. He first moved to Asia in 1996, joining Bloomberg Television's launch team in Tokyo as a reporter, anchor, and then program manager. Subsequently he became Bloomberg's media marketing and distribution director and was responsible for the launch of the channel in many Asian territories, including overseeing the China license process. Prior to his move to Asia, Mr. Ross was a radio reporter and producer for the BBC.

Vu Duong Thang Senior Network Architect France Telecom R&D/Orange Labs

Mr. Thang works on NGN, IP-based network and is in charge of IPTV network design since 2000. Beforehand, he received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in computer science and telecommunications. He also contributes to the definition of NGN and IPTV architectures for standardization (ITU-T, ETSI's TISPAN, Open IPTV Forum, etc.). Mr. Thang's main research interests are NGN architecture, QoS-based routing, IPTV, and fixed-mobile convergence for multi-play services in telecommunications networks.

Simon Twiston Davies Chief Executive Officer Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA)

Mr. Twiston Davies' role is to lead CASBAA in representing the interests of the pay-TV industry and related telecom and new media companies in 15 markets across the region. Before taking his current post, he was the chief executive officer of Kagan Asia Media, the Asian regional division of Kagan Associates. Prior to joining Kagan, Mr. Twiston Davies was a Hong Kong-based analyst specializing in the regional broadcast and telecom industries. Mr. Twiston Davies moved to Asia in 1987 from Canada, where he was based as a journalist.

Kenneth Wong Chief Technology Officer, Advertising and Interactive Services Unit PCCW Limited

Mr. Wong is currently responsible for the development of advertising solutions across the quad-play platform — broadband Internet, fixed line, mobile, and IPTV as well as traditional print media. He is in charge of the business and operation systems and also overseas business development for the business unit. Throughout his 24 years of experience in the IT and telecommunications industry, Mr. Wong held various management positions and consultation roles in different fields, including system architecture, Internet security, directory services, advertising, and interactive services.