Wavelengths 2023 Speaker

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.

Jan Flemming Henriksen

Head of Transport Networks

Global Connect

NOKIA

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.

Michele Mosca

Co-Founder, President and CEO

evolutionQ

NOKIA

Michele Mosca is CEO and co-founder of the quantum-safe cybersecurity company, evolutionQ. He also co-founded the quantum software company softwareQ and serves as Chair of the board of Quantum Industry Canada. He is co-founder of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo, a Mathematics Professor, and a founding member of Waterloo's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He started working in cryptography during his undergraduate studies and obtained his doctorate in Mathematics in 1999 from the University of Oxford on the topic of Quantum Computer Algorithms. He co-founded the not-for-profit Quantum-Safe Canada, and the ETSI-IQC workshop series in quantum-safe cryptography and is globally recognized for his drive to help academia, industry and government prepare our cyber systems to be safe in an era with quantum computers. Dr. Mosca’s awards and honours include 2010 Canada's Top 40 Under 40, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), SJU Fr. Norm Choate Lifetime Achievement Award (2017), and a Knighthood (Cavaliere) in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2018).

Horst Schmied

Head of Optical Network

A1 Telekom Austria AG

Horst Schmied has thirty years experience in the Telecommunications industry. Mr Schmied is currently in charge of leading the Optical Network Team at A1, with responsibility for Optical Network Architecture, planning and operating the national and international DWDM network of A1. In his career he has lead several projects like the optical network migration of A1 Telekom Austria’s Group network and he supported the network swap in Austria. Currently his team is working on the L-Band modernization of the international DWDM network of A1 Group. Horst has a master degree in Technical Management from the University of FH Campus Vienna.

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

Azfar is a passionate about driving customers’ success and has shaped the Technology and Business strategies for over 60 Communications Service Providers and Large Enterprises globally. Experience spans across new technology evaluations to new product introductions, from portfolio and investment optimisations to E2E evolution of communications networks and AI enabled automation – all of this based on deep insights in techno-economic trade-offs.

Azfar has also been deeply involved in corporate strategies from M&A to new market entry, to establishing new lines of business. Current focus includes helping customers chart their journey towards new value creation in industry 4.0, in the high-performance critical networks era.

Azfar holds a Doctorate in Telecommunication from University College London, MBA training from London Business School, and leadership accreditation from Harvard Business School.

Luca Baragiola

Software Product Line Manager, Optical Networks Division, Nokia

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 more than 20 years’ experience.

Since January 2022 he takes a new role inside the broader Nokia Optics community, as responsible for managing NFM-T Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) team, a Network Management System platform that is the core of the Optical Network.

Till 2021 he had a PLM role in ION Service BU covering the Optical segment, with a focus on Automation, System Integration, Operational Enablement Solutions and Network Transformation area. In this role Luca was 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 applications.

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.

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.

Martin Charbonneau

Head of Emerging Product Unit, Optical Networks Division

NOKIA

Martin Charbonneau is currently the Head of the Emerging Product Unit for the Optical Networking Business Unit of Nokia. In this role, he is responsible for driving Optical Networking business in new and emerging segments such as Mobile Transport convergence, Cloud/edge and access transport, including new software and practices to address Software Defined Networking, and Open Networking deployments. Prior to this assignment, Martin was leading portfolio product management activities for the 1830 Photonic Service Switch in Metro network applications (Packet and OTN solutions), and complementary Metro product lines of the portfolio, such as 1830 Versatile WDM Module (Nokia’s Mobile Front Haul solution). He has been with Nokia for 10 years where he has also worked as a Product Line Manager for the Fixed Access product. Prior to joining Nokia, Martin held various roles of increasing responsibility in Product Line Management, Business and Network Planning and Professional Services for Metro Ethernet & Optical Transport Business units. Martin received a Bachelor of Science in Space Sciences from the Canadian Royal Military College (RMC, St-Jean) and graduated as a commissioned officer in the Canadian Forces.

Sylvain Chenard

Product Line Manager, IP/Optical Networks Business Group

NOKIA

IEEE senior member Sylvain Chenard received his BScA from the Département du Génie Electrique at Université Laval, Québec, Canada in 1994. He also received a technical degree in microelectronics from Collège de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada in 1988. Sylvain is a member of the IEEE Communications and Computer Societies and the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. He is currently a senior product manager at Nokia with a focus on optical network analytics. He works closely with Nokia Bell Labs to define and productize state-of-the-art techniques and algorithms for estimating and monitoring transmission quality.

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.

Bruno De Troch

Head of PLM IP Routing and Automation EMEA

NOKIA

Bruno has over 20 years of experience in the telecom industry and joined the Alcatel-Lucent (now Nokia) Product Line Management team in EMEA in April 2014. His focus is on Service Provider core, edge and aggregation networks and solutions. Prior to his current role he was a Technical Lead at Juniper Networks for 14 years, providing guidance to carriers and large enterprises on how to deploy and optimize their IP/MPLS and Carrier Ethernet networks. He holds an MSc in Telecommunications from the Military Academy in Brussels and made it to Captain in charge of the Belgian Armed Forces country-wide data network before leaving and joining BT Belgium as a Design Engineer. He is based in Antwerp, Belgium.

Marc Degieux

Regional Product Line Manager, IP/Optical Networks, EU/MEA Regional Business Center

NOKIA

Marc Degieux is Regional Product Line Manager in the field of network designs, architecture & interworking. Marc started his career at MARBEN in the field of embedded software development. He stood for MARBEN in the SONET Interworking Forum. In 1999, he joined Alcatel where he held various positions as software leader, tendering manager and DWDM designer. Since 2013, he is in charge of network design tools within EU/MEA Regional Business Centers. Marc holds an Engineering Master Degree from the Institut Catholique D’Arts & Métiers in Lille (France).

James Doucette

Optical Product Line Manager

NOKIA

James Doucette is Product Line Manager for WaveSuite Service Enablement software applications at Nokia. Prior to joining Nokia in 2017, he lead the software Systems Engineering team and was the lead Agile Product Owner for BluePlanet software at Ciena. Over the course of his career, he has specialized in launching new software initiatives that simplify network operations and control of Optical and Packet networks. He has held a variety of roles spanning Product Management, Systems Architecture and Research & Development. His has extensive experience in working with lead customers and development teams to launch new software applications with specialization in the areas of SDN control, network and service management, and Layer 2 metro ethernet networks. James holds a degree in Systems and Computer Engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa Canada.

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.

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

High-Speed Electro-Optics Product Line Manager, Network Infrastructure - Optical Networks

NOKIA

Born in Zaragoza (Spain) in 1987, José completed the Telecommunications B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain), and the Electrical Engineering M.Sc. from the Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark). In October 2012, he accepted a Ph.D. position in the Photonics Department at the Technical University of Denmark in applied digital signal processing and high-speed communications systems, where he coordinated various research projects in cooperation with key industrial partners including Nokia Bell Labs. Starting 2015, upon Ph.D. completion, José joined Nokia Bell Labs’ optics laboratory in France where he took on research leadership and management responsibilities along three strategic areas: time-sensitive networking, machine learning for physical layer signal processing in high-speed systems, and free-space coherent optical communications. Today, José accumulates more than 7 years of experience at the cutting edge of telecom innovation and has contributed to engineer communication solutions of recognized scientific excellence – including over 40 international publications, 2 transmission records and 2 patents. Since August 2020, José works for Nokia’s Network Infrastructure business unit where he holds a position as product line manager for high-speed coherent solutions within the 1830 PSS product family.

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.

Vittori 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.

Karyn Lennon

Senior Director, IP/Optical Networks Learning Services

NOKIA

Karyn Lennon leads the Learning Services function for Nokia’s IP/Optical Networks Business Group.  In her role, Karyn is responsible for setting the strategic direction and development of Nokia’s Optical educational services which includes the Nokia Optical Networks Certification Program.  In addition to the Optical program, Karyn directs both Nokia’s flagship IP/MPLS certification program, the Service Routing Certification (SRC) Program which has over 14,000 individuals participating globally and the Nuage Networks Virtuoso Certification Program (NN-VCP). Prior to her role in Learning Services, Karyn held various PLM and Marketing positions at Newbridge Networks and Alcatel-Lucent. Karyn received her Bachelor of Commerce from  McGill University and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa.

Luca Luchesini

Leader Global SLTE, Network Infrastructure Optical Networks Global Subsea

NOKIA

Luca Luchesini is overseeing the subsea terminal business of Nokia Optics.

He manages a small but extremely resolute team of business developers and program managers to support Nokia regions and customers when choosing subsea platforms.

He joined Alcatel in 1996 to work on the integration of management systems for SDH networks and traveled through several technology eras and company functions to the current time of multi-100G speeds, seemingly without suffering or procuring any damage to customers and colleagues.

Luca holds a BS/MS in Telecommunication Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

Lucia Marta

Product Line Manager, Optical Networking

NOKIA

Lucia Marta is a Product Line Manager for Optical Networking at Nokia where she is responsible for delivering end to end Network Solutions taking advantage of the broad Nokia WDM portfolio. Exploiting a deep knowledge of our WDM products, she also supports pre-sales teams worldwide in identifying the most suitable solutions according to the different business needs. Prior to join Product Line Management in 2012, Lucia worked as hardware designer in Alcatel-Lucent R&D Lab focusing on Packet transport equipment development and gathering over 15 years’ experience in Telecommunications Industry and transport networks. Lucia has a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico of Milan, Italy.

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.

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.

Oemer Oskay

Senior Product Line Manager

NOKIA

Ömer Oskay received his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering from Middle East technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey where he specialized in telecommunications. Ömer is a Senior Product Line Manager, IP Transport at NOKIA, responsible for the development of GMPLS Control Plane for different technologies (SDH, OTN, WDM) for the 1830PSS, 1626LM, 1678MCC product lines, as well responsible for the Open Node / Open Line Systems with NETCONF/YANG. Ömer is currently based in Stuttgart in Germany and has more than 20 years of experience working on the development of Optical Cross Connects for SDH and OTN, as well the WDM Photonic systems. He has taken different roles and responsibilities in the past, such as 1678MCC Development Project Leader, Cross Connect Product Line Manager and Network Management System Product Line Manager.

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.

Luca Possidente

Product Line Manager Subsea

NOKIA

Luca Possidente is a Product Line Manager at Nokia working on Subsea and Unrepeatered solutions.

Prior to Nokia he has held various technical and commercial positions for Subsea network operators where he supported the procurement, delivery and the operation & management of Submarine terminal upgrades and new cable builds.

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

Optical Research Leader, 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.

Marco Terenziani

EU Optical Networks Strategic Growth Director

NOKIA

Marco Terenziani is the director of the Strategic Growth function within the Optics Europe Business Center to develop the business for quantum communication, neutral host and EU funding.

Before taking this position, he was proposal manager and domain architect for optics solutions and he started his carreer as FPGA / ASICS designer for the micro-wave division.

He graduated in Electronic engineering at the Politecnico of Milan.

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.