Wavelengths speakers

Kurosh Bozorgebrahimi

Senior Advisor

Optical Network

Sikt (fka Uninett)

In 2006 Kurosh joined Sikt (fka Uninett). He has the technical responsibility for Sikt’s optical networks rollouts. He had been working with the Telenor ‘Transport Network’ and ‘Innovation Group’ from 1996 to 2006 before he joined Sikt. He has been participated in and managed various research and development projects within optical access and transport networking since 1996.  Kurosh received his Master's degree in Physical Electronics (Optical Communication) from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1995.

Khalid Darwish

Senior Project Lead

Optical Network Transformation Program

Saudi Aramco

Khalid Darwish is the Senior Project Lead for the Optical Network Transformation Program in Saudi Aramco. Khalid holds bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and double master degrees in Computer Science & Engineering and in Information Security. Khalid has been working within Saudi Aramco for more than 20 years in several IT disciplines including optics, microwaves, IP, telephones and radio.

Julio Estévez

Telecom Engineer Expert

Red Eléctrica de España

Julio Estévez is part of the Engineering team within the Telecommunications Department at Red Eléctrica de España, wich is the sole transmission agent and operator (TSO) of the Spanish electricity system. Before joining REE, Julio worked in engineering and deployment of optical networks for several Spanish telecommunications operators, both in high capacity long distance and metropolitan customer networks.

Jan Flemming Henriksen

Head of Transport Networks

GlobalConnect

Jan Flemming owns the GlobalConnect Group’s Transport infrastructure responsibility in Norway, Denmark, Germany and internationally, covering all aspects excluding operation and maintenance. Jan Flemming has more than 25 years of experience from the mobile and broadband industry. He has held several network director positions at Telia Company. Jan Flemming holds a master degree in ICT and MBA, and is based in Oslo, Norway.

Véronique Guillot-Common

Terrestrial Transmission Strategy­, Orange Expert, Networks of future (NoF)

Orange International Networks Infrastructures and Services (OINIS)

Responsible of 3 years ahead road-mapping of long distance terrestrial networks . Innovation Field Trials steering­. Responsible of Euro Football Cup 2016, France 2023 and 2024 Olympic Games network design, reference for all technical Broadcast transport­. Veronique holds an Engineering Master degree in Telecom Sud Paris.

Andrew Schmitt

Directing Analyst

Cignal AI

As the founder and directing analyst at Cignal AI, Andrew Schmitt draws upon more than two decades of comprehensive experience in the optical network industry, first as a talented engineer and manager in the field and then as an industry analyst. He uses this first-hand knowledge to bring a unique perspective to market research.  At Cignal AI, Andrew directs all research activity on the networking market’s entire supply chain – from carriers and equipment manufacturers to chips and components. He is quoted and consulted by industry publications such as Lightwave and Lightreading and participates in the OFC planning committee. He is invited to speak annually at events such as OFC, ECOC, FOE, and IIR conferences as well as private events. He is also a consultant to startups, carriers, vendors, and the investment community, where he provides insight on developing business opportunities and market strategy.  Prior to Cignal AI, Andrew was business unit director for Vitesse Semiconductor and was a principal analyst at Infonetics Research and then IHS/Markit. He holds multiple engineering patents and received his BS in Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Andrew resides with his family in the New England area.

Nicolas Almendro

Vice-President EMEA Optics Business Development, Europe & MEA Regional Business Center

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

As a Vice President of Nokia Optical Networks Europe Business Center, Nicolas (based and born in Spain) is leading the regional team responsible of growing the Optical business of Nokia in the European Region. According to the analysts, Nokia is ranked No. 1 vendor in Europe Optical market.  Before returning to his home country at the end of 2011, Nicolas was heading the Optics Competence Center for Asia-Pacific, located in Shanghai, China where he arrived in May 2006, just immediately after re-joining Alcatel. Prior to that, Nicolas was the Key Account Manager for Telefonica of Spain both at Huawei and Nortel. Back in 1986 and until 1995 Nicolas held various R&D and Product Management positions within Alcatel in Spain and Germany. In 1996-97 he was responsible for Network Release and Network Migration Product Management at Alcatel Optical Network Division HQ in Italy. After his return to Spain, he took the responsibility of the Optical Pre-Sales Support Team at Alcatel Spain.   Nicolas graduated from Telecommunications Superior Engineering School in “Universidad Politécnica” of Madrid in 1985. He holds a Master in Business Administration from I.E.S.E Business School (Spain), as well as a Master in Marketing Telecommunications from Insead (France). Nicolas also completed a General Management Program at Insead Singapore.

Azfar Aslam

Chief Technology Officer

Customer Experience, Europe

NOKIA

Luca Baragiola

Product Line Manager, Optical Networks Professional Services

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Luca, after a Bachelor’s degree in Micro-Electronics engineering from the Politecnico University of Milano in 1997, moved into the telecommunications industry, where he has almost 20 years’ experience. Since 2013 he has a PLM role in ION Service BU covering the Optical segment, with a focus on System Integration, Operational Enablement Solutions and Network Transformation area. In this role Luca is responsible for identifying consumer needs, developing and promoting specific Professional Services to improve customer experience on Nokia Optics network performances and indorsing the ION Professional Service portfolio internally and externally. With this position he developed a deep knowledge on the Nokia Optics product catalogue and related Network Management. Previously he was covering for 5 years a Product Management Role inside the Alcatel-Lucent Network Release Strategy Organization, following the homologation of specific Optics Mobile backhauling solutions.

Marco Bertolini

Product Line Manager

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Marco Bertolini is the Product Manager for the 1830 Network Element. Previous Product Management roles were focused on high speed coherent interfaces, photonic architectures and pluggable optics.  Prior to joining product management, he was part of the R&D team that introduced the first generation of 100G coherent cards. Mr. Bertolini holds a Ph.D. degree in Information Engineering from University of Parma.

Oriol Bertran Pardo

Solutions Engineering Manager

NOKIA

Oriol Bertran Pardo obtained his PhD from Télécom Paris in electrical engineering. His research work dealt with optical-communication systems, focusing on the physical propagation, for building high-speed long-haul WDM optical transmissions based on coherent detection. After joining development as R&D system engineer and then as product line manager, he contributed to the advanced engineering rules for WDM transmission of the Alcatel-Lucent next generation photonic network architectures. He is currently product line manager of subsystems and DSP in Nokia Optics Business Group.

He has authored and co-authored more than 80 conference and journal contributions, totaling more than 1,500 citations, and holds 13 patents. Among the publications done during his PhD, one was awarded an IEEE student grant and obtained the Photonics21 award. He deserved the Bell Labs president award in 2010 for his contribution and insights on the development of the first 100G coherent solution. He is also a distinguished member of technical staff since 2019.

Alex Berwanger

NSP Regional Product Line Manager

EMEA

NOKIA

Alex is Product Line Manager for the NSP in the EMEA region. He has over 30 years of experience in the communications and networking industry with a strong background in optical networks and network management solutions. Alex has graduated as Dipl.-Ing. in the field of Communication Engineering from the Technical University of Ulm. He is based in Nürnberg, Germany.

Sébastien Bigo

Bell Labs fellow

Principal, optical networks and non-terrestrial networks

Nokia Bell Labs

Sébastien Bigo graduated from the Institut d’Optique Graduate School (1992) and completed a phD program on all-optical processing and soliton transmission with Bell Labs in France (1996). He then studied high-capacity WDM transmission systems, demonstrating 30 record experiments in a row, at 10Gbit/s, 40Gbit/s, 100Gbit/s and 400Git/s channel rates. His recent research interests have expanded to automated, dynamic, elastic optical networks and optical satellite communications. He is currently Principal, in charge of the Optical Networking and non-terrestrial networking activities. He has authored and co-authored more than 350 journal and conference papers, and 43 patents. Dr Bigo is Bell Labs Fellow (2012), IEEE Fellow (2017). He received the General Ferrié Award (2003) from the French ICT Society, the IEEE/SEE Brillouin Award (2008), two Chéreau-Lavet Inventor-Engineer Awards (2010 and 2017) and the IMT Grand Prize of the Academy of Science of France (2017).

Luc Daans

Regional Product Line Manager, IP/Optical Networks

EMEA Regional Business Center

NOKIA

Luc Daans is regional Product Line Manager for Software Defined Networking in the IP & Optical Networks Business Center for Europe, Middle East and Africa in Nokia.  Luc joined Alcatel (now Nokia) in 1994, and has held several product management & business development leadership positions in Belgium, Italy, France and South Africa in the field of fixed access & transmission networks, witnessing the evolution from PDH/SDH to IP/OTN.  Luc received a Master of Science degree in electromechanical engineering from the catholic university of Leuven, Belgium in 1992, a Master in Business Administration degree from the independent university L.U.I.S.S. of Rome, Italy in 1994, and a Master in Business Development degree for the new energy markets from the independent school of engineering Supélec, Paris region, France in 2010.

Rafael de Fermin

Senior Vice President IP/Optical Networks

EMEA Regional Business Cente

NOKIA

Rafael de Fermín joined Alcatel in 1993. Since then, he has been involved in several responsibilities in the company, while living in the UK, the US, Belgium and Spain. In August 2013, he was appointed to lead the IP Routing and Transport Division in EMEA, and as such is in charge of all Alcatel-Lucent’s IP and Optics business in the region. Prior to this position, Rafael led the Global Customer Delivery and Presales teams for the same regional scope. Before that, Rafael spent five years working for the Access Business Division in Alcatel, in charge of the Regional Support Centres for different geographies (including Europe, Middle East, Africa, India and Latin America). He held pre- and post-sales responsibilities for the Division in those geographies. His earlier jobs with Alcatel include General Management of the Fixed Networks Division for Iberia, and several positions in R&D and PLM, within the Access Products Division.

Marc Degieux

Regional Product Line Manager, IP/Optical Networks

EU/MEA Regional Business Center

NOKIA

Luc Daans is regional Product Line Manager for Software Defined Networking in the IP & Optical Networks Business Center for Europe, Middle East and Africa in Nokia.  Luc joined Alcatel (now Nokia) in 1994, and has held several product management & business development leadership positions in Belgium, Italy, France and South Africa in the field of fixed access & transmission networks, witnessing the evolution from PDH/SDH to IP/OTN.  Luc received a Master of Science degree in electromechanical engineering from the catholic university of Leuven, Belgium in 1992, a Master in Business Administration degree from the independent university L.U.I.S.S. of Rome, Italy in 1994, and a Master in Business Development degree for the new energy markets from the independent school of engineering Supélec, Paris region, France in 2010.

Enrico Di Lorenzo

Senior Product Line Manager, IP/Optical Networks

EMEA Regional Business Center

NOKIA

Enrico Di Lorenzo is Senior Product Line Manager for Metro in the IP & Optical Networks Europe, Middle East and Africa Regional Business Center of Nokia. In his role, Enrico focuses on promoting new Nokia technologies and discussing Metro Optical solutions in a pre-sales role, interacting with the customers of the Region, and facilitating the business development. Previously Enrico Di Lorenzo was Senior Product Line Manager for Packet Transport Networks within the Alcatel-Lucent IP Transport Product Unit, accumulating a long experience in network strategy and product lifecycle management. Formerly Enrico worked in the Alcatel-Lucent R&D Labs on advanced high-speed technologies and Packet transport equipment, building a strong R&D background. Prior to joining Alcatel-Lucent in 2000, Enrico worked by the aerospace company Tecnospazio and by STMicroelectronics. Enrico helds a summa cum laude Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Politecnico di Milano University.

Pedja Dragovic

Product Line Manager

IP/Optical Networks

NOKIA

Pedja has spent 17 years in the telecom industry with various roles ranging from network architect to systems engineering. His current role is Product Line Manager for Multi-service Transport platform, 1830PSS. He holds a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Belgrade in Serbia. His career interests include: advancing technical and operational knowledge in transport network evolution, how emerging technology in optical and electronics domains enables network transformation, network functions virtualization, software aspects of transport networks evolution and extending expertise into other communication technologies that complement optical transport.

Kevin Drury

Vice President, Strategic Business Development

Optical Networking Division

NOKIA

Kevin Drury received his undergraduate degree in Electronical Engineering from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada where he specialized in telecommunications. Further in his academic career, he completed a Master’s in Business Administration. Kevin is the Strategic Initiatives PLM Leader for the Optical Networks business division at Nokia. Previously he has held several leadership roles at Alcatel-Lucent, including the Deployment and Professional Services leader for the Optical Networks business unit and the Optical Products and Solutions Marketing leader in the IP Routing & Transport Division. He has over 25 years’ experience in the Telecommunications industry with particular expertise in the areas of fiber optic transmission, wavelength division multiplexing, OTN switching, narrowband and broadband access, carrier voice and applications, and LAN/WAN networking. He has presented or co-authored papers for numerous industry events including WDM & Next Generation Optical Networking, ITPX/NCUG, ITU Telecom, Supercomm, OFC, NFOEC, Terabit Optical & Transport SDN and the Big Telecom Event.

Ahmed Eltoukhy

Prime Architect, Services Optics

Network Infrastructure

NOKIA

Ahmed Eltoukhy is a Prime architect for services optics automation practice.

He Joined Alcatel-Lucent beginning of 2009 as an optics management system engineer for MEA customers right after his telecommunication engineering bachelor's degree in 2008.  In 2016, he joined Nokia Optics services team in Italy as a transformation architect supporting transformations activities worldwide.  He is following the Digital Process Automation program since end of 2020 with a team of high expertise developers to provide a scalable automation solution to customers.

Ed Englehart

Vice President of Engineering and Head of Subsystems Product Unit

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Ed Englehart leads two roles in the Nokia Optical Business unit. The first is leading the worldwide R&D for the 1830 portfolio of products. The second is leading the R&D and PLM for the Optic’s Subsystem team, this team is taking some of the key innovations from the Optics R&D teams to new application spaces and markets. In his 31 years of experience he has worked in key areas of Optics, Enterprise, and Access with a focus on service provider and enterprise customer solutions. He was part of the original development team that introduced the 1830 to the market and has held leadership positions in Product Line management and throughout R&D to evolve and expand this product to where it has become. Ed holds a Masters of Engineering from Columbia University.

Josè-Manuel Estaran-Tolosa

NOKIA

Yannick Gautier

Packet Optical and Synchronization Regional Product Line Manager

EU/MEA

NOKIA

Yannick Gautier is Product Line Manager for Nokia Packet Optical and Synchronization solutions. In his position he is engaging with customers, sales and R&D teams to deliver advanced transport solutions for Service Providers and Enterprises in Europe, Middle East and Africa.  Yannick has over 20 years of experience in the Telecommunications industry with several roles in R&D, Product Line Management, Technical Sales and Business Development. He has acquired particular expertise in the areas of Network Management, wireless networks, optical transport and packet networking.  Yannick holds a master’s degree in IT and Distributed Computing (U.P.M.C./E.N.S.T.) and a master's degree in Marketing Telecommunications (I.N.S.E.A.D.).

Bernd Heinmueller

Product Line Manager

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Bernd Heinmüller received his degree in Electrical Engineering from FAU University in Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany in 1993 where he specialized in telecommunications. Bernd is a Product Manager of Optics Products and Solutions in IP Transport at Nokia. He has over 20 years of experience in the Telecommunications industry with particular expertise in the areas of transport networks, fiber optic transmission, electrical switching, Carrier Ethernet and wavelength division multiplexing. He has presented at trade shows, conferences and co-authored papers for the Bell Labs Technical Journal. Bernd was in charge of portfolio planning and product management for the Alcatel-Lucent SDH product family. In his current assignment, he led the specification of the next generation OTN Core Switch.

Vittorio Iozzolino

Head of Optical Networks Business Development Global Enterprise and Public Sector Europe, Europe & MEA Regional Business Center

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Vittorio joined Alcatel in 1998 and he is a business professional with more than 20 years of management expertise in the Optics environment. Within the company he has held several positions, starting from the R&D technical area and moving after a few years to the commercial area. In 2005 he was appointed Sales Manager for Interhouse and Direct Sales of Optics Business. From 2007 to 2012 he has been responsible in Alcatel-Lucent for the Optics Domain Business Center for the cluster Central Europe and CIS, accountable for the Optics business development in the region. From 2012 to 2015 he has led the Optics Regional Competence Center, focusing on Deutsche Telekom. Since the beginning of 2016, he is responsible within Nokia for the business development for all Global Enterprise and Public Sector customers for the Optics business in Europe. He holds a degree in telecommunication engineering from Politecnico of Milan, Italy. Based in Stuttgart, Germany, his interests are focused on everything related to information technology.

Luca Luchesini

NOKIA

Giovanni Manto

Leader 1830 Product Line Management

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Giovanni has global product management responsibilities for Nokia’s Optical portfolio, covering all aspects of product management and future portfolio strategies. Giovanni has over 25+ years of industry experience and has held several senior management positions at LG, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nortel Networks. During his tenure at LG, Giovanni was the general manager of the Fiber access business unit with responsibility for the productization and commercialization of an innovative optical technology for the fiber access portfolio serving a diverse global customer base. Giovanni holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada and is based in Ottawa, Canada. Giovanni has global product management responsibilities for Nokia’s Optical portfolio, covering all aspects of product management and future portfolio strategies. Giovanni has over 25+ years of industry experience and has held several senior management positions at LG, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nortel Networks. During his tenure at LG, Giovanni was the general manager of the Fiber access business unit with responsibility for the productization and commercialization of an innovative optical technology for the fiber access portfolio serving a diverse global customer base. Giovanni holds a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University in Montréal, Canada and is based in Ottawa, Canada. 

Serge Melle

Director, Optical Product Marketing

Nokia IP-Optical Networks

NOKIA

Serge joined Nokia in 2019, and currently leads the Optical Product Marketing team for Nokia, and previously led North American sales enablement for IP-optical networks. Prior to joining Nokia, Serge worked at Infinera in product and solutions marketing and business development. Prior to Infinera, Serge worked at Nortel Networks, where was responsible for solutions marketing and business development, and at Pirelli Telecom Systems, where he was involved in the implementation of the industry’s first WDM network deployments. Serge is extensively published in the field of optical networking and holds a BSc in physics from Concordia University, Montréal, and an MASc in applied physics from the University of Toronto.Serge joined Nokia in 2019, and currently leads the Optical Product Marketing team for Nokia, and previously led North American sales enablement for IP-optical networks. Prior to joining Nokia, Serge worked at Infinera in product and solutions marketing and business development. Prior to Infinera, Serge worked at Nortel Networks, where was responsible for solutions marketing and business development, and at Pirelli Telecom Systems, where he was involved in the implementation of the industry’s first WDM network deployments. Serge is extensively published in the field of optical networking and holds a BSc in physics from Concordia University, Montréal, and an MASc in applied physics from the University of Toronto.

James Mondol

Regional Product Line Manager

NOKIA

James Mondol is Regional Product Line Manager for Optical  Network Management System products. He received Master in Engineering Telecommunication in 2004. Started his career in Siemens in 2004 as Technical support level 3 for Microwave Management System. Joined Alcatel Lucent in 2011 in Multivendor Project for Vodafone Italy and TIM. In 2015 joined TEC NMS and in 2018 acted as techno lead reference and coordinator for Platform topics in TEC. In 2021 he joined rPLM EMEA team for NFM-T, WsTS application and Interop Blueprint validation.

Jelena Pesic

Systems Integration Specialist

NOKIA

Jelena PESIC received a Ph.D. in Optical Networks from the University of South Brittany in collaboration with France Telecom–Orange Labs, France, in 2012. She received a best paper award at the IEEE ONDM conference in 2011. After her PhD Jelena joint Telecom Bretagne as Post-doctoral Research Engineer and later INRIA, where she worked on the European project SASER. After moving to Alcatel–Lucent (now Nokia) Bell Labs in 2014, she focused on dynamic elastic networks dimensioning and techno-economic studies. Her main areas of research interest include intelligent optical networks, including core and metro networks. Jelena was selected OSA Ambassador in 2018.

She is currently working at Nokia as Systems Integration Specialist, with ION IP Optical Networks WDM technical expertise on the basis of the Nokia Optical Networks product portfolio.

Alberto Pierini

Services Business Development Engineer

NOKIA

Alberto Pierini is now a member of Services & Automation Business Development team within the IP & Optics Regional Business Center (RBC) in EMEA. Before taking this position, he was responsible for Nokia Cloud and Network Services portfolio entry strategy, expansion strategy with existing clients and pipeline generation with key accounts in South Europe. After graduating in Electronics Engineering at Politecnico di Milano and a two years experience in an Italian telecom operator, Alberto joined Lucent Technologies in 2000 and has been involved in multiple tasks and roles: Technical Support, Professional Services responsible for services of complex projects, Technical Sales and Solution Consultant for a vast portfolio. Working closely to the customers and becoming a trusted advisor for them, lead to Consultancy activities in the customer’s departments.

Stephan Roullot

Director Product Line Management

NOKIA

Stéphan Roullot is Director of Product Line Management for Packet, TSN, Synchronization and MEF services in the ION Business Group. He holds a master degree in Electrical Engineering from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) of Lyon, France. After starting his career as R&D engineer (System Test, System Engineering & Architecture), he held several positions in technical sales, network architecture and business development on a broad range of technologies: SDH MSPP, WDM, Carrier Ethernet Switch/Router (Riverstone), xDSL Broadband Access, Mobile backhaul products, before moving into Product Strategy and Product Line Management for a number of Carrier Ethernet packet optical products, including the 1830 PSS since 2011. Stéphan is MEF CECP certified and is owning the various global packet-optical and synchronization programs on the 1830 PSS and TPS platforms. His functions encompass strategy, standards, feature definition, R&D management and customer pre-sales and post-sales support.

Tod Sizer

Executive Vice President of Optical Systems and Device Research in Nokia Bell Labs

NOKIA

Dr. Theodore(Tod) Sizer is Executive Vice President of Optical Systems and Device Research in Nokia Bell Labs, leading teams innovating in all aspects of optical systems and devices for core, submarine, and data center communications. Prior to his current role, Tod lead Wireless Research in Nokia Bell Labs for eight years driving the vision and research of 5G. Tod graduated from Amherst College, and received his Masters and Doctorate in Optics from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. In 2012 he received the Popular Science Breakthrough Innovation award for the lightRadio invention. Tod is a Fellow of Bell Labs, WWRF, and IEEE. He is the author of 55 US patents and a member of the IEEE and OSA.

Lubo Tancevski

Leader Software Strategy and Solutions

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Lubo Tancevski is currently is responsible for Product Strategy and end-to-end solution for Transport SDN and Cloud services.  Prior, he worked on various aspects of transport networks, including  Data Center Interconnect, and  Ethernet for LTE Mobile Backhaul. He  also worked on   early developments in Carrier-Grade Ethernet, including  IEEE 802.1  standardization activities.   Lubo has more than 20 years experience in the  telecommunication industry, has authored numerous papers and patent,   and invited presentations and talks at industry’s main events.  He joined Alcatel in 1998.   He holds BSc, MSc,  and PhD in  EE from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Bart Vrancken

Optics Business Development Manager

NOKIA

Bart Vrancken has been working in the telecom industry for over 25 years. Since 2002, he is focusing on mission-critical telecom infrastructures. He currently holds the position of Optics Business Development Manager, in this role he works closely with Global Enterprise and Public Sector customers, sales teams, R&D teams and partners to deliver innovative, repeatable solutions that address customer business challenges. Bart worked several years as expat in India (Chennai) and UAE (Abu Dhabi), where he enjoyed experiencing new cultures while working in a multi-team and multi-cultural environment. He holds a degree in telecommunication engineering from Groep-T/KUL of Leuven, Belgium.

James Watt

Vice-President and General Manager

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

James Watt is Vice President and General Manager for the Optical Networks Division at Nokia. Prior to this, James was the Vice President and General Manager for the Services Business Unit, IP/Optical Networks, at Nokia and its predecessor in Alcatel-Lucent, President of the Optics Business Line in Alcatel-Lucent and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Alcatel-Lucent Carrier Product Group. Until 2008, James held the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Alcatel-Lucent’s IP Business Division and had previously held the role of Vice President Network Strategy for Alcatel. James joined Alcatel in 2000 as Chief Technology Officer of the Carrier Internetworking Division through the acquisition of Newbridge Networks, where he was Assistant Vice President, Access and Network Management Strategy. During his 15 years with Newbridge, James held a variety of positions within the research & development, product management and marketing organizations. James holds multiple patents, primarily in the areas of traffic management and Internet Protocol. He received a B.SC. in Electrical Engineering from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario in 1986.

Szilard Zsigmond

Product Line Manager

Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Szilard Zsigmond is the Principal Product Line Manager of photonic line systems, amplifiers and node configurations at Nokia. He is also the Product Line Manager of Terrestrial-Subsea integration. Szilard has extensive knowledge of optical communication systems and expertise of fiber-optics communication. Before joining Nokia, Szilard was working as researcher and lecturer at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. He was also visiting researcher at NICT-National Institute of Information and Communications Technology Japan. From 2010, he joined Alcatel-Lucent where he was responsible for Central & North-East region of Europe serving as a solution architect. From 2012 become the solution architect of Asia-Pacific region later becomes the head of Asia-Pacific regional Product Line Management. From 2014 joined the core Product Line Management team being the principal Product Line Manager of photonic line systems.  Szilard holds a PH.D. from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, has numerous speaking in various conferences; he has published more than 40 scientific papers.