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NTGTS/CTC NEWS FLASH
MARCH 2009 *****************************
The NTGTS/CTC News Flash is an electronic bulletin designed to help keep you informed of North Texas Global Telecommunications Society (NTGTS)-Texas and Communications and Technology Connections (CTC)-Washington, D.C. Chapter programs and activities. To view past issues, see
http://www.ntgts.org/content/category/1/1/2/ IN THIS NEWS FLASH
- President’s Message - 2008 Organizational Accomplishments - Leader Spotlight, Q&A with Steve Finegan, Board of Directors, NTGTS/CTC - New Advisory Board Member, Randall Reade, President, Zipzone Ltd - New Intern Joins NTGTS/CTC - Membership Drive - Audio Conferencing/Webinar Services Needed - NTGTS on LINKEDIN - Jobs, Resources, and More - Events Calendar PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Members, Happy belated New Year! We hope 2009 has been off to a wonderful start for you. Since January, the organization has been occupied with planning and implementing its 2009 events calendar. In addition, the core leadership team has been focused on the 2009 Strategic Plan. This current edition of News Flash contains many new and important developments with the organization and the industry as a whole. Happy Reading! We look forward to an excellent year ahead. Thank you again for your contribution and support to the organization. It is noted, and very much appreciated. Sincerely, Jeremy L. Azif 2008 ORGANIZATIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2008 was a rewarding year for the organization, which celebrated its 10th anniversary. Among the year’s highlights are the renewals of two corporate members, ATSMA and JETRO, and the addition of a new corporate member, Fusion Solutions, bringing the year-end total to 242 members worldwide. Other areas of significant achievement for NTGTS/CTC in 2008 include the successful execution of seven monthly programs held in Texas surrounding such topics as fixed-to-mobile convergence, Wi-Fi convergence, IPTV services and applications, broadband development, and key consumer technology trends. NTGTS/CTC also held three partner events that included the IGI BRIC Emerging Markets Telecoms Forum in Washington D.C., the Second Annual JETRO Japan Business Seminar in Dallas, and the Annual North Dallas Chamber of Commerce Telecom Conference in Dallas. Despite a challenging economic climate, we are optimistic that 2009 will be another notable year for NTGTS/CTC to advance our mission in growing our membership and services to the telecom/IT industries. LEADER SPOTLIGHT, Q&A WITH STEVE FINEGAN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, NTGTS/CTC Q: How did you get started in the telecoms and high tech industry? A: I started as an accountant, but, after working in accounting and finance for several years, I realized that I was more excited by the growth potential and rapid pace of change of technology. I was able to get my foot in the door of the telecom company, Nortel, and then pursued an MBA in Telecommunications, which then allowed me to switch to Marketing. I have remained in the technology marketing area, but now work in Product Management for an IT Security company. Q: What advice do you have for others who are new to these fields? A: Do something that interests you and that you are passionate about. I was not passionate about accounting and that is why I switched to technology. Another important thing is to know what your strengths are and then leverage them. I was able to use my accounting and finance background to get a job working in telecom and then leveraged that experience, plus the MBA in Telecommunications, to get into Marketing and thus do something that interested me more. I learned how to take advantage of my ability to critically evaluate problems and to ask the right questions. Even though, at first glance, accounting and tax may seem like they have nothing to do with tech, they are very technical. I realized early on that I could apply the rigorous analytical skills I developed from accounting and tax to market and conceptualize technical products. Q: What is your biggest challenge? A: Staying on top of everything that I need to keep up with. I have four products that I am responsible for and need to stay abreast of the market, key customers, the competition, and my products. Q: How do you balance work and life? A: While I work hard, I have other interests such as spending time cycling and taking advantage of some of the many things that San Francisco has to offer. The primary way I am able to do this is by minimizing wasting time on things that aren’t important to me. For instance, I rarely watch TV, except when it is on as background noise when I’m doing email. Q: Please describe an average day in your life. A: I typically get to the office between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM and usually work until 7:00 PM. I spend the first part of my day responding to emails and voice mails, and then focus on my priorities for the day, which depend on where the products I am responsible for are in the development cycle and how the products are selling. Q: Value of NTGTS Membership. A: I have been involved with NTGTS for over nine years and have found it to be an excellent means to keep abreast of current events that affect telecom specifically, and technology in general. Q: What I do. A: I am a Senior Product Manager for GuardianEdge Technologies. Our company has a suite of endpoint data protection products and I am personally responsible for products that perform the following functions: - Provide access controls on the endpoint that regulate what users can save what types of data to what types of devices and media;
- Encrypt the data that can be saved to storage devices/media; and
- Encrypt data on smartphones/PDAs and perform application and resource (e.g., camera, SD card, etc.) control on these devices.
Q: Technology I cannot live without. A: Computers and the Internet. Q: Technology I can live without. A: Voice response technology that I encounter whenever I call the airlines, credit card companies, or other businesses. Q: Favorite Restaurant anywhere in the world. A: Hide Sushi in Los Angeles. This restaurant started out as a small, approximately 12-table restaurant and had some of the best sushi that I have ever eaten. The fish was fresh, the portions of fish were generous, and the rice was good. It has since expanded to a considerably larger building, but the food was every bit as good the last time I was there. Since I no longer live in LA, it has been a while since I’ve been there, but I am looking for an excuse to go back. We will continue to profile other Leaders of the organization as well as members. If you are interested in being profiled in future editions, please contact membership@ntgts.org. NEW ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER, RANDALL READE, PRESIDENT OF ZIPZONE LTD NTGTS/CTC is pleased to announce that Randall Reade has recently joined its Advisory Board. Randall Reade is the President of Zipzone Ltd, a company which helps IT companies develop global solutions. Additionally, he is a partner with Global Tech Exchange, LLC, which consults with innovation companies to help them find private equity funds and global markets. Mr. Reade is the immediate past chair of the International Committee of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the largest tech council in North America. As a result, Mr. Reade has worked closely with various embassies in the Washington, D.C. area to help them develop their tech sectors. Mr. Reade has been a featured speaker at various IT outsourcing conventions in China and the Philippines, and has helped mentor innovative companies through the Moscow State University in Russia. Mr. Reade has been a featured speaker at the World’s Best Technology Showcase held annually in Arlington, Texas. Mr. Reade is an attorney and held a position at the U.S. Department of Labor before starting Zipzone. New Intern Joins NTGTS/CTC Heather Zauner is our newest intern to NTGTS/CTC. Heather is here in Washington, D.C. on a program with the Washington Center focusing on US-China Bilateral Trade issues. She is currently pursuing two degrees; Mandarin Chinese from the College of Arts and Sciences and International Business from the Olin Business School, and intends to graduate this May from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Heather has also studied abroad with Duke University's programs in China and is originally from Hawaii. MEMBERSHIP DRIVE Message from the Membership Task Force Have we recently heard from you? If you have let your NTGTS/CTC membership lapse, we want to retain you as a member. If you meant to renew, you can renew your membership at http://www.ntgts.org/zenCart/index.php and sign up for the membership tier that best suits your needs at this time. Prompt payment of your dues will allow you to continue to enjoy all the benefits of your NTGTS/CTC membership without disruption. Note that, the organization has not increased membership dues for several years and comparing our dues to other organizations locally, regionally and internationally, our organization’s dues are reasonable. Our dues allow the organization to keep pace with costs and improve our abilities to better serve the membership. For more details on membership categories, corporate membership, etc., see http://www.ntgts.org/content/blogsection/6/69/. If you have any questions, please contact Roberto Fanini, Membership Director, at membership@ntgts.org. AUDIO CONFERENCING/WEBINAR SERVICES NEEDED
Audio Conferencing - The Leadership of NTGTS has discussed the possibility of providing an option for members to participate in meetings and programs remotely via a conference call bridge. At this time we are offering an opportunity for interested individuals or corporations to sponsor a new call bridge or donate a Conference Call Bridge number that may already exist within the respective company for the use of NTGTS Monthly meetings. Any interested party that would like to sponsor the Conference Bridge should contact Jeremy Azif at president@ntgts.org. Webinar Hosting - The Leadership of NTGTS has also considered hosting a Webinar twice a year on topics of community interest. The Webinar can be via WebEx or other tools currently available. Any interested party that would like to sponsor either a single or series of Webinars, including donating a currently owned license to WebEx, Live Meeting, or other such tools should contact Jeremy Azif at president@ntgts.org. NTGTS ON LINKEDIN If you would like to join or visit, follow this link to our Group Page: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=887307. We look forward to your participation in this group and receiving any feedback you may have.
JOBS, RESOURCES AND MORE COGNOS SPECIALIST POSITION Top Dog Recruiting specializes in placing mid, senior, and executive level professionals in technical, sales, marketing, management, professional services, finance, and legal roles all focused around the technology sector. The company is seeking a Cognos specialist for a full- time position based in the Washington D.C. area. Applicants should be US citizens with two or more years of Cognos implementation and integration experience, Cognos 8.x experience, one or more years of systems design, implementation and integration, basic knowledge of Oracle and/or SAP Financials, Performance and Business Intelligence applications, and the ability to travel to customer sites up to 25% of the time. Compensation, depending on proven level of experience, ranges from $75,000 to $130,000 base salary plus bonuses. Please contact Chris Shoulet at chris@topdog-inc.com for more information. TPRC TPRC is seeking abstracts of papers, panel proposals, student papers and posters for presentation at the 2009 Research Conference on Communication, Information, and Internet Policy hosted by the Center for Technology and the George Mason University Law School in Arlington, Virginia, September 25-27, 2009. Submissions are due by March 31, 2009. For more information see www.tprc.org. TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY The international journal on knowledge infrastructure, development, management and regulation, “Telecommunications Policy,” is seeking papers related to functional separation: experiences from telecommunications and other infrastructure based industries. Articles are sought that explore whether functional separation changes the investment incentives of incumbent and other operators alike and which draw on the experience of other infrastructure based industries such as rail and electricity, where functional and other forms of separation have been adopted, to draw lessons for the telecommunications industry. Articles should be submitted by April 24, 2009. For more information see http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/description#description. TELEMATICS AND INFORMATICS Telematics and Informatics, an interdisciplinary journal examining the social, economic, political and cultural impacts and challenges of information and communication technologies, is seeking papers related to Mobile Service Architectures and Middleware. The papers can be concerned with content issues, service architectures, standards, usability issues, etc. and should preferably combine technology developments and economic, market, regulation and policy approaches in their analysis. The deadline for papers is June 15, 2009. For further information see http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/703/description#description. COMMUNICATIONS & STRATEGY The international journal, “COMMUNICATIONS & STRATEGY”, is seeking papers for its June Dossier dedicated to Open Innovation. C&S aims to publish peer-reviewed papers focusing on the industry’s key issues and offering a forum for the finest socio-economic analysis of the telecoms, IT and audiovisual sectors. The C&S dossier that will be devoted to the Open Innovation model should combine, as much as possible, case studies (particularly firms or platforms) and articles that examine the various dimensions of economic and regulatory analysis relating to such a model. Papers are due March 31, 2009 to s.nigon@idate.org EXPERTS WORKSHOP Kindly consider a call for papers proposals for an Experts Workshop, “Beyond Broadband Access: Data-based Information Policy for a New Administration” to be held at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., September 22-24, 2009. The workshop is co-organized by Penn State University, Michigan State University, Rutgers University, the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, and the New America Foundation. The call can be accessed at http://comm.psu.edu/about/center/institute-for-information-policy/worshopdraft.pdf/. PURC/OOCUR ADVANCED COURCE IN UTILITY REGULATION This course will help participants develop the skills they need to address today’s complex energy, telecommunications, and water issue. Using case studies and presentations by PURC faculty and experts from the Caribbean, the course will emphasize practical lessons and new techniques for addressing pricing, market, and process issues. The advanced training will be held at The Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach, Florida from May 11-15, 2009. For more details see https://www.purc.ufl.edu or http://oocur.org. PhD SUMMER SCHOOL ON THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES The PhD summer school is organized in cooperation with CTIF (Centre for TeleInFrastructure), CAMMP project (Converged Advanced Mobile Media Platform), and is part of the activities of the Mobile and Wireless Cluster located at CMI. The topic of the 2009 PhD summer school is Next Generation Mobile Media – the development of new converged text, audio, and video media on mobile and wireless platforms. The summer school is concerned with the new and upcoming mobile and wireless technology platforms and service architectures as well as the content and communications delivered and facilitated. Technology developments, user requirements, business models, market developments and the regulatory framework for network development and content delivery will also be discussed. For further information contact Anders Henten at henten@cmi.aau.dk. IDATE Founded in 1977, IDATE is one of Europe’s foremost market analysis and consulting firms, whose mission is to provide assistance in strategic decision-making for its clients in the Telecom, Internet and Media industries. For IDATE news and reports see www.idate.fr
PYRAMID RESEARCH A new Pyramid Research report entitled Global Telecom Services Revenue Forecast 2008-2013: Emerging Market Opportunities delivers a complete five-year forecast for global telecoms revenue by service. According to the report, the telecom services market will generate approximately $1.4 trillion in 2009, posting only 1% year-on-year growth compared with the 10-11% annual growth rates that have characterized previous years. For more information, please contact Amalia Vega at avega@pyr.com. ACTIVE OPTICAL CABLES MARKET REPORT 2009 IGI’s first report on the AOC market, Active Optical Cables Market Report 2009, examines several market segments that are expected to generate significant business growth over the next five years. The report includes fifteen separate market segment forecasts, covering four platform types, four bus standards, and five platform categories and contains over 245 figures and tables. For more information on this report, please visit igigroup.com or contact Dr. Hui Pan at hpan@igigroup.com. CHINA BY NUMBERS China by Numbers is a comprehensive guide to the figures that shape the fastest-growing significant economy and provide up-to-date data available on China’s social and economic indicators. China by Numbers 2008 PPT is the PowerPoint version of the best seller China by Numbers 2008 that consists of 270 pages of information on China. For more information see http://www.researchandmarkets.com/product/549d2f/powerpoint_version_of_china_by_numbers_2008. EVENTS CALENDAR
MARCH 2009 What: European Communications Policy Conference 2009 When: March 29-31, 2009 Where: Seville, Spain Time: See website Speakers: Various URL: www.eurocpr.org What: F2C: Freedom to Connect 2009 When: March 30-31, 2009 Where: AFI Silver Theatre, Silver Spring, Maryland Time: See website Speakers: Various URL: http://freedom-to-connect.net APRIL 2009 What: 5th Annual East Africa Com conference & Exhibition When: April 1-2, 2009 Where: Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya Time: See website Speakers: Various URL: www.comworldseries.com/eafrica What: Capacity USA 2009 When: April 21-22, 2009 Where: New York Time: See website Speakers: Various Contact: Claire Russell, claire.russell@capacitymedia.com URL: www.capacitymedia.com MAY 2009 What: TM Forum’s Management World 2009 When: May 4-6, 2009 Where: Nice, France Time: See website Speakers: Various URL: www.tmforum.org/ManagementWorld2009/6012/home.html What: 9th Annual State of Technology When: May 7, 2009 Where: Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas Time: See website Speaker: Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corporation Contact: Kathryn McNeill, (214) 712-1951 URL: www.DallasTBC.org What: In-Building Wireless Solutions and Secure Buildings Solutions Summit 2009 When: May 12-15, 2009 Where: The Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada Time: See website Speakers: Various Contact: Douglas Crets, Director, In-Building Wireless Solutions, dcrets@iirusa.com URL: www.confabb.com What: IP Satellite Summit When: May 13, 2009 Where: Grand Hyatt Washington, Washington D.C. Time: See website Speakers: Various URL: www.IPSatelliteSummit.com QUESTIONS AND SUPPORT If you have questions about NTGTS/CTC, send them to membership@ntgts.org. SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING You are receiving this publication because you are a paid member of the organization or expressed interest in subscribing to this publication and/or are interested in receiving information and notices about NTGTS or CTC related events and activities. To subscribe, send a message to membership@ntgts.org with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. To unsubscribe, send a message to membership@ntgts.org with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. When sending us your information, please provide us your full contact details.
Note that unsubscription requests must be sent from exactly the same address as the one you used to subscribe. If you do not remember which address was used to subscribe, please send NTGTS all current e-mail aliases. EDITOR’S COMMENTS Co-Editors: · Jeremy Azif, President & Co-Founder · Jennifer Ullman, Vice President & Co-Founder
We hope that you enjoyed reading this News Flash! We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please send them to membership@ntgts.org.
Mission: NTGTS and CTC seek to stimulate friendships, professional cooperation, and respect in order to effectively promote cross-cultural developments and commerce. A further goal is to provide members with the information, resources, and tools that better enable them to take advantage of the developments occurring in the international communications and information technology areas. The organization fosters personal/professional development and the networking needs of its members by providing access to a global network of industry contacts and leaders. In addition, one of the organization's key goals is to continue expanding and developing into other markets.
News Flash is published by the North Texas Global Telecommunications Society (NTGTS) and Communications and Technology Connections (CTC). It is a member service and is distributed to the membership-at-large. Copyright 2009 NTGTS and CTC. Copying or distribution in whole or in part is welcome, so long as this notice is included in the distribution. |
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