|
|
|
|
DR HĊKAN ERIKSSON | CEO, Ericsson Australia and New Zealand
Dr Hċkan Eriksson was recently appointed CEO of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand. The company - which has been in Australia for more than 100 years - employs more than 1500 people here with headquarters in Melbourne from where it supports all of Australia's major networks and most public broadcasters.
For the past 9 years, Dr Eriksson was the Group Chief Technical Officer and during the last 2 years also President of Ericsson Silicon Valley, based in San Jose, California. As CTO he was responsible for Ericsson's global technology leadership with particular reference to the convergence of wireless and fixed line- including optical and broadband development. Globally, Ericsson supports more than 1 billion subscribers.
His responsibilities extended to IPR development, IPR policy and licensing noting that globally Ericsson holds over 27, 000 patents.
In former Ericsson positions during his 26 years with the company, he has led most of the company's 17,000 engineers in the A$5 billion annual R&D program and was personally involved in the early development of GSM, WCDMA/HSPA and LTE. He personally holds 15 patents.
He is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences and a member of the Board of Vestas.
|
^ back to top
|
GARY MCLAREN | CTO, NBN Co
Gary McLaren is responsible for defining the technology requirements of the National Broadband Network.
Mr McLaren has 25 years experience in the telecommunications industry with senior engineering roles at Telstra and Siemens. He was a member of the Senior Management Team at Request DSL which successfully rolled out one of Australian's first competitive DSL broadband networks between 2000 and 2004, before the company was merged with PowerTel.
From 2004, Mr McLaren provided consulting services to various companies in the telecommunications and IT sectors with an emphasis on commercialisation of new technologies. These companies included Optus, Telecom Fiji and Telecom NZ-owned AAPT.
He joined NBN Co in 2009 from his role as lead consultant working on Australia's National Broadband Network project for the Communications Alliance, the self-regulatory body responsible for developing guidelines and policy for the Australian telecommunications industry.
He has degrees in Engineering and Law from the University of Melbourne.
|
^ back to top
|
SCOTT NELSON | Vice President, Global Network Engineering and Global Customer Delivery, Alcatel Lucent
Scott Nelson obtained a BSc. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Sydney in 1977 and a B.E in Electrical Engineering from the University of Sydney in 1979. He undertook postgraduate research in Air Navigation Systems and associated microwave technologies at Sydney University before moving to GEC Telecommunications in 1983 where he developed a range of data networking equipment.
Scott joined Alcatel Australia in 1992 as PLM for SDH Products, and then took several lead PLM and technical roles in Switching and Access. From 1995 he moved into a broader technology and network strategy role that focused on service provider networks of the future, and in 1999 he was appointed as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Alcatel Australia. From 2000, he was Director of Customer Solutions in Australia and New Zealand. In 2002 he moved to the USA as Chief Technology Officer for Alcatel USA and the North American region.
Scott then took on the role of CTO for Alcatel's Fixed Communications activities in 2004, and in 2007 was appointed CTO of Alcatel-Lucent's Wireline Group. In 2008 he was named CTO of the Carrier Business Group, with additional responsibilities for the Business Process activities of the Carrier Business Group.
From 2009 until mid 2011, Scott was in charge of Solution Portfolio Management and Solution Processes in the Solution Organization. In July 2011 he was appointed to lead Network Engineering competence in the Global Customer Delivery organization.
|
^ back to top
|
GÜNTHER OTTENDORFER | Managing Director, Optus Networks
Günther Ottendorfer is the Managing Director of Optus Networks. Günther joined Optus in 2011 after working in senior management positions for a number of European telecommunications companies, including Deutsche Telekom and max.mobil.
A native of Austria, Günther has over twenty years international experience in the telecommunications industry - beginning his telecommunication career at Siemens, working in the early GSM Software development and later being appointed as the bid manager for the team acquiring Austria's first private GSM licence.
Prior to Optus, Günther was European Mobile Technical Director at T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) overseeing the company's mobile networks across continental Europe -managing multiple territories and expansion of the operations for over 100 million customers.
As head of Optus Networks Günther brings a wealth of knowledge and experience implementing convergent future technologies, across IP, mobile and fixed networks. He strives to improve customer experience as well as overseeing the day-to-day running of the Optus network and his team.
|
^ back to top
|
PROFESSOR AROGYASWAMI PAULRAJ | Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and Sr. Advisor at Broadcom Corp
Professor Arogyaswami Paulraj is the pioneer of MIMO wireless communications, a technology break through that enables improved wireless performance. MIMO is now incorporated into all new wireless systems.
Paulraj has received several awards in the US, notably the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal. He is a fellow of several scientific academies including the US National Academy of Engineering and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is a fellow of IEEE and AAAS.
In 1999, Paulraj founded Iospan Wireless Inc - which developed the first MIMO-OFDMA wireless system. Iospan was acquired in by Intel Corporation in 2003.
He was in 2004, Paulraj co-founded Beceem Communications Inc and the company was acquired by Broadcom Corp. in 2010.
During his 30 years in the India, he founded three national level laboratories and headed one of India's most successful defense R&D projects - APSOH sonar.
His many awards in India include the Padma Bhushan, the second highest national award.
|
^ back to top
|
PROFESSOR VAHID TAROKH | Professor and Senior Fellow of Electrical Engineering, Harvard University
Professor Vahid Tarokh received his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1995. He worked at AT&T Labs-Research where he was promoted to the Head of Department of Wireless Communications and Signal Processing. In 2000 he joined the Electrical Engineering Department at MIT as an Associate Professor. He moved to Harvard in 2002 and is a Perkins Professor and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow. Prof Tarokh's research results of last 18 years are summarised in about 60 research journal papers that have been cited around 24 000 times by other scholars. He holds a number of awards (most recently a Guggenheim fellowship) and two honorary degrees.
The concepts that Prof Tarokh has invented are part of numerous wireless communication standards (LTE, WiMax, HSPA, UMTS, IEEE 802.16e, ANSI IS136, etc.) and signal processing systems. By some estimates his innovations are used in more than one billion wireless devices worldwide. Additionally he was a member of the five man team that co-designed the first commercialised third generation (1xEVDO) air-to-ground/ground-to-air communications system for WiFi in cabin (now deployed on various US and Canadian airlines).
|
^ back to top
|
