Customer experience has become a buzzword in iTV services and development. But how is real user-experience excellence reached? The panel addresses user experience from the perspective of service providers and research departments. The main goal is to discuss how to achieve user-experience excellence in today's living room with reliable, flexible, and easy-to-use interfaces and integration of services and provider content. The focus lies on user interfaces that address new perspectives of iTV such as (social) communication, privacy, security, and ease of use.

Ferdinand Maier Managing Director Ruwido

Mr. Maier is also the owner of Ruwido, which was founded in Austria in 1969. In 1975 Ruwido presented the world's first infrared remote control. Ruwido products, technologies, and services are available in all European countries. Within the last five years Ruwido intensified research on new forms of living for the future concepts of interactive TV. The company now focuses on easy-to-use remote controls ideally suited for specially developed user interfaces and navigational structures.

Valerie Faudon Vice President, Marketing Programs Alcatel-Lucent

Ms. Faudon also leads the "Broadband for ALL" Program at the global level. She joined Alcatel in 2003 in the Corporate Marketing Office in Paris. Previously Ms. Faudon worked for 13 years in Hewlett-Packard in various marketing and sales management positions in the United States, France, and Europe. She holds a B.S. in mathematics and physics from Ecole Polytechnique in France, a B.A. in political science from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris, and a Master of Science in engineering and economics from Stanford University.

Patrick Huber Manager, User Experience Premiere Fernsehen

Mr. Huber is responsible for the user experience of the end devices that Premiere customers use to watch the Premiere programming and multimedia. This includes the different distribution networks satellite, cable, IPTV and internet. He also has a specialized knowledge in design of remote controls and how to improve the end-to-end user experience by creating holistic user interfaces that integrate design, technology and interaction. Premiere Fernsehen is the biggest Pay-TV provider in Germany.

Helmut Leopold Director of Platform and Technology Management Telekom Austria AG

Mr. Leopold has been with Telekom Austria since 1999. He is responsible for R&D, the network, and IT development as well as product management wholesale. Previously, from 1994, he filled various management positions at Alcatel. From 1989 to 1994 he served as a research engineer at Alcatel ELIN Research Center, where he covered the fields of high-performance networking and multimedia communications. Since 1997 he has lectured on broadband communications at the University of Technology in Vienna and has been evaluator in the R&D programs of the European Commission. He is vice president of the Austrian Research Center FTW, president of the IPV6 Task Force in Austria, and chairman of the Broadband Services Forum.

Hemang Mehta Product Management Director, Microsoft TV Microsoft

Mr. Mehta is focused on software solutions designed to enable telecommunications and cable companies to deliver audio and video services to consumers using their IP networks. He is responsible for driving overall strategy and vision for MSTV's IPTV products and defining product positioning, packaging, pricing, research, and product rollout plans. He previously was global head of Nokia Broadband Media solutions for fixed-line operators delivering audio and video services over DSL. Mr. Mehta has a degree in electronic engineering and digital communications, as well as a master's in computer engineering.