Managing Consultant, Real Wireless
At Real Wireless, Julie specialises in the techno-economic assessment of wireless networks and is a thought leader in this area for 5G architectures. She has a passion for delivering thorough, evidence based answers to client questions rather than purely relying on opinions from others.
Most recently, Julie has been part of the Real Wireless team providing the commercial and socio-economic assessment of 5G network architectures within the European Commission 5G NORMA and 5G-MoNArch projects.
Notably, Julie also led Real Wireless’ Wi-Fi and LTE co-existence modelling project which provided results for Cisco in their 3GPP contributions on the LTE-LAA (License Assisted Access) study item. Julie was also heavily involved in the Real Wireless technical analysis that was published alongside and supported Ofcom’s consultations on the combined award of the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands. Previously, she was a Communications Engineer at QinetiQ UK, a Consultant at PA Consulting UK, and a Senior Systems Engineer for Airvana UK.
Chief Architect
Dr. Li Fung Chang is the Chief Architect (2015-present) of the 5G Program Office in Taiwan. In this role, she is responsible for setting up strategy direction for the MoEA funded 5G project as well as providing technical consultation and guidance to the engineering teams working under this project. Prior to this position, she was a Senior Director of Engineering at Broadcom Corp, - Mobile and Wireless Group and led Broadcom system team to support multi-mode 2G/3G/4G cellular SOC modem design/implementation across multi-sites. She is a veteran from AT&T research Labs and Telcordia. Dr. Chang holds over 85 US patents and many international patents in the area of wireless communications. She is a Chair Professor with NCTU (National Chiao Tung University, HsinChu, Taiwan), fellow of the IEEE (2001), senior advisor at III, Taiwan. She received her Ph.D. degree from University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign in 1985 and was a visiting research graduate student at Caltech from Dec. 1982-1985.
President, Picocom
Peter Claydon is president of Picocom. He has a career spanning 35 years in the fields of semiconductors and wireless, ranging from avionic systems through video encoding and digital TV through to 3G, 4G and 5G cellular systems. He was a founder of UK, Bath-based company Picochip, where he oversaw the creation of the first chips used in small cell cellular base stations that are in-use in their millions throughout the world. Peter also worked on the development of 4G base stations at Airspan Networks and as an applications consultant at UltraSoC. Immediately prior to joining Picocom, he was the project director of the AutoAir 5G testbed.
Director of Engineering
Andrew Conway is an industry expert in wireless cellular networks. His design leadership makes the complex simple. With a reputation for creating deep relationships between the client, operators and suppliers, he develops executable strategies that deliver an enhanced customer experience.
He describes his current role as bringing the possibility of innovative next generation technology to life, every day, for everyone. He oversees all technology activities - focusing on design and development aspects in the transport sector, including high level design, partner management, and industry liaison.
Andrew has three decades of experience around the globe in designing next generation networks. Prior to BAI, Andrew was at Telefonica, working on the Olympics solution, radio network sharing and launch of 4G. Andrew has also held senior management roles at Nokia and Cable & Wireless.
Andrew’s core interests include the societal impact of mobile communications, 5G and neutral host models.
Marketing & Communication, Corning Optical Communications
Editor, The Mobile Network
Keith Dyer is editor of The Mobile Network, a title that tracks the development of mobile network technology and mobile operators network investment strategies. Keith has tracked the development of small cells since the foundation of the SCF, both in terms of vendor R&D and operators deployment strategies. He has enjoyed being a judge of the Awards on several previous occasions.
Senior Architect - Mobile Connectivity Solutions
Michael has 25+ years’ experience in the mobile industry, and has worked for both mobile operators and their suppliers. He has led design teams in both the core and transport areas, performed pre-sales and product management roles and has been a specialist in mobile backhaul and RAN connectivity since 2006. He now provides the technical leadership for Colt’s Market Incubation team, which he joined in 2019. He’s also a co-chair on the Small Cell Forum’s Neutral Host workstream.
Chief Technology Officer, 5G Automotive Association (5GAA)
Dr. Flament represents 5GAA, the global cross-industry association for the development of connected and automated cars, where he works as Chief Technology Officer since April 2018. Maxime was working previously as Head of Department for Connected & Automated Driving (CAD) at ERTICO – ITS Europe, the European association promoting research and deployment on Intelligent Transportation Systems. For 15 years, he has been a leading contributor to many European activities on road safety, connected vehicles, automated driving, large-scale pilots, and digital mapping. Maxime holds a Ph.D. E.E. (2002) and M.Sc. E.E. (1997) from Chalmers Technical University, Sweden. He also holds an “Ingénieur Civil” degree from the Free university of Brussels (1997). In 2001, he was visiting researcher at Stanford University, CA, USA.
Chief Technology Officer, Real Wireless
Simon is Chief Technology Officer for Real Wireless, the world’s leading independent wireless advisory firm.
With over 20 years working in the design and development of technical telecoms infrastructure, Simon’s recent focus has been on future cities, the application of 5G and IoT in industry verticals with an event horizon towards 2030. His long participation in Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) defining early C-RAN concepts brings great foresight on an important architectural element of emerging 5G architectures.
Simon is also currently acting as chairman of the Cambridge Wireless, Future of Wireless Conference Organising Committee and Small Cell SIG Champion.
Research Director, Rethink Technology Research
Caroline co-founded Rethink Technology Research in 2002 to focus on emerging mobile technologies and their impact on operator business models. She has been analyzing and reporting in the hi-tech industries since 1986 and has a huge wealth of experience of technology trends and how they impact on business models. She started her career as a technology journalist and then took senior roles in online publishing and research before focusing full time on wireless industry research and consultancy.
At Rethink her role has been to head up the wireless side of the business, leading the creation of research, newsletters and consulting services focused on mobile platforms and operator models. In this role, she has become a highly recognized authority on 4G systems such as LTE, and carrier network strategies such as HetNet, and a prolific speaker at industry events. Rethink focuses on RAN and core network deployments and produces forecasts and analysis based on an opt-in research base of senior executives at over 100 mobile, converged and IoT operators.
Senior Director, Interdigital
Chief Technology Officer
Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm
Head of Global Content and Research, TowerXchange
Heading up the EMEA division of TowerExchange, Laura has extensive experience working with the tower industry across the EMEA region, having launched events into Europe and MENA and running the African Meetup for a number of years. Laura’s research continues to cover EMEA, with a current emphasis on the European market, working closely with industry stakeholders to track deals, trends and the evolution of the towerco business model.
Laura has over a decade of experience in market analysis, community building and the production of live events, covering sectors from pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, infrastructure and telecommunications. Laura has a Masters degree in Neuroscience from the University of Nottingham.
Executive Director, Utah Inland Port Authority
Jack Hedge is the Executive Director of Utah Inland Port Authority. He assumed these responsibilities in June of 2019 to develop and build the nation’s leading sustainable intermodal logistics hub that will help prepare for, support, and manage Utah’s continuing economic growth. His experience expanding economic opportunity and international trade while mitigating the impacts to air quality, traffic congestion, and recreational habitats will benefit the State of Utah for future generations.
Hedge was previously the director of cargo and industrial real estate for the Port of Los Angeles. In this role, Hedge lead the development, leasing and asset management functions of the largest container port complex in North America, managing a $4 billion portfolio and more than $270 billion in cargo annually. He also negotiated agreements with CMA CGM, Yusen Terminals LLC, Evergreen, Pasha and other cargo consumers at the Port of Los Angeles to increase revenue growth $64.5M – $410 M in FY 2012 to $474.5M in FY 2017.
Hedge’s previous roles include director of real estate and asset management for the Port of Tacoma, managing director for North American Energy Services Capital, and Development Manager at Enserch International LTD.
He has served on several boards in his community including: real estate best practices committee chair for the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), foundation board member of St. Mary’s Medical Center, foundation committee member of Pathways to Independence, member of the Economic Development Board of Pierce County, chair of the board of trustees for the Good Samaritan Foundation (WA), and a member of the board of directors for MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital.
Hedge received his Bachelor of Administration from Texas A&M and has certification in Leadership, Financial Analysis and Real Estate Finance Institution from Real Estate Management, and is a Certified Port Executive from the Engineering Institute of Canada.
VP of Technology Partners and Business Development, Geoverse
Director Group Strategy, edotco
Principal Researcher, BT
Richard is a Research Manager in Wireless and Mobile at BT Labs. His work on 5G has a particular focus on creating an ecosystem for RAN virtualization, network automation, and the use of small cells. He is a technical representative for BT at many industry fora, including Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN), where he is Chair of the RAN Functional Split and X-Haul Group; Telecom Infra Project (TIP), where he is Co-Chair of the OpenRAN 5G NR – RAN Intelligence & Automation (RIA) project, and was co-chair of the now graduated vRAN Fronthaul project; O-RAN and Small Cell Forum (SCF).
He has an M.Eng. degree in electronic engineering from the University of York and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from the University of Leeds. Since joining BT in 2009 he has worked in spectrum management, cognitive radio, small cells and next-generation technologies. He has been involved in EU projects, in particular QoSMOS, where he was a work package leader for the network architecture design. He was a Spectrum Manager for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and was part of BT’s bidding team for the U.K. 4G spectrum auction.
SVP Technology & Marketing
Abel has been at the spearhead of cellular technology and innovation for over 20 years. His initial career started working for major traditional vendors as a technical lead for 3G and 4G around the world.
Six years ago, he took a quantum leap in his career, working at executive level for vRAN vendors and pushing for this new technology.
He is currently SVP of Technology & Marketing at Airspan, working closely with the sales team to capture the innovation required from customers and to implement it within Airspan’s 5G product portfolio. He leads also the Marketing team, conveying Airspan’s disruptive technology and pushing Open RAN architecture.
Abel holds a MsC in Communication Systems Engineering from University of Kent, UK and a Telecommunication University Degree from Polytechnical University of Barcelona-Spain and Friedrich-Alexander University at Erlangen-Germany.
Director, Product Management, Picocom
Vicky Messer is Director Product Management at Picocom. She has 25 years of experience primarily in the wireless industry, is an IET Chartered Engineer and mentor. Vicky began her career as an RF engineer developing 2G base stations at Motorola. She moved into RF optimisation at Alcatel Lucent and then to product marketing of 3G small cells at Picochip. After defining 4G products at NVIDIA, Vicky joined Picocom in 2019 to drive product specifications and collateral for Picocom’s 5G small cell SoCs. Vicky is a key participating member to the Small Cell Forum (SCF). She has delivered two work items, and in recognition of these and her other contributions, she won 2020’s ‘Outstanding Individual Contribution to SCF award’. Vicky is currently co-leading Option 6 (nFAPI) test support and is a principal contributor to the sub6 small cell reference design work items.
Director, RAN Product Introduction
David Orloff is currently the Director of AT&T’s RAN Introduction team with responsibility for validation of all RAN infrastructure products including 5G-Sub6, 5G-mmWave, Stand-Alone, C-Band, O-RAN, DSS, Small Cells, LTE. He drives the strategic direction for new technology and novel network implementations managing the vendor relationships for product requirements, roadmaps, and RAN introduction into the AT&T network. David is currently a co-chair in the O-RAN Alliance Test and Integration Focus Group (TIFG). Previously, David was Chairman of the Small Cell Forum driving global penetration and implementation of small cell solutions.
David has over 25 years if experience in the communications industry with leadership roles including RAN strategy, product management, delivery, and optimization. David joined AT&T in 1996.
President
VP Sales, Telematics & Infrastructure, Harman
Chief Architect, Infrastructure Solutions, Keysight Technologies
Balaji Raghothaman has more than 2 decades of accomplishments in the wireless communications field. In his most recent role as Chief Architect for Infrastructure Workflow Solutions at Keysight, Balaji in engaged in improving and harmonizing Keysight’s product portfolio to meet customer needs, as well as helping to position the company on a strong footing for the future. After completing his PhD in Signal Processing at the University of Texas at Dallas in 1999, he worked for 7 years at Nokia Research Center, performing R&D and managerial roles in the CDMA technologies, as well as CDMA2000 standardization. His next decade and half were spent at Airvana, which then became part of CommScope. He also had a brief but rewarding stint at Interdigital Solutions. Balaji was a prime innovator behind Airvana’s successful femtocell solutions, as well as CommScope’s OneCell 4G cloud-RAN small cell solution, and led the system design for a fully virtualized 5G solution in sub-6 and mmWave. He is currently an active contributor in the Small Cell Forum and ORAN, and has also been engaged in Winnforum/CBRS Alliance and 3GPP. He has more than 65 patents (granted and pending) to his name. Balaji lives in the Philadelphia metro area.
Director Service Provider Analysis, Networks and Service Platforms, Strategy Analytics Inc
Sue has over 30 years’ experience with Communications Service Providers (CSPs) developing business cases for Mobile Broadband, Voice and Value Added IP services.
At Strategy Analytics, Sue focuses on matching new technology to business opportunities for SON, HetNets, vRAN/Cloud RAN, Small Cells, Wi-Fi, Edge Services and Video Delivery Optimization as well as SDN/NFV and Telco Cloud Service Opportunities that demand virtualization, Network Slicing for QoS, Traffic Optimization, Global Roaming, Secure Signaling etc. Her reports cover competitive analyses of service platforms, OSS and database requirements and business cases to maximize CSP Revenue per GB.
Director of Emerging and Online Technology for Ofcom
Prof. Simon Saunders is Director of Emerging and Online Technology for Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulator for communications services. He is also a Visiting Professor at King’s College London and Trustee of the charity Music for All. In 2019 he organised the world’s first 5G music lesson on behalf of Music for All, working with King’s College London.
Simon is a specialist in the technology of communications, with a technical and commercial background derived from senior appointments in both industry (including Google, Motorola and Philips) and academia (University of Surrey, Trinity College Dublin).
As Head of Connectivity Partnerships for EMEA at Google (2015-20), he worked with operators globally on enhancing wireless connectivity via a range of advanced technology initiatives, combining wireless networks, artificial intelligence and network virtualisation. As co-founder and Director of Technology for independent wireless strategy advisory firm Real Wireless (2006-15), he was responsible for overall technical capability and direction, providing independent wireless expertise and advice to operators, regulators, technology and law firms and wireless users. He founded the Small Cell Forum (formerly Femto Forum), and chaired this industry association from 2007-12, growing membership to 150 companies and working with 3GPP to create the first standards for small cells.
He is an author of over 150 articles, books and book chapters, including a popular textbook on antennas and propagation. He has acted as a consultant to companies including BAA, BBC, Cisco, O2, Ofcom, BT, ntl, Mitsubishi,Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Inmarsat and British Land. He was CTO of Red-M and CEO of Cellular Design Services Ltd and has acted as an expert witness in legal proceedings in England and the US. Simon speaks and chairs a wide range of international conferences and training courses and has invented over 15 patented wireless technologies. He has served on technical advisory boards of several companies, was Visiting Professor to the University of Surrey, member of the industrial advisory board at University College London, Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin, and a member of the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board from 2007-14.
Chief Executive Officer
Paul is an industry veteran, with over 30 year’s experience in the radio telecommunication industry, spanning the era’s of 2G, 3G and 4G deployment and the rise of mobile broadband. Paul has held positions at Airspan, GEC Telecoms, Plessey Research, Nortel, Alcatel and DSC Communications. At Airspan Paul served as the CTO for seven years. Paul participated in the creation the WiMAX Forum in 2002, and is a Small Cell Evangelist and active in many industry bodies focused on Small Cells Access and Backhaul and network evolution to 5G.
Paul Senior is a founding member of Dense Air
Head of Integrated Products and Ecosystems, Radisys
Ganesh heads Radisys' integrated solutions across wireless, wireline and media processing domains. Named in 2020 as the recipient of the Small Cell Forum Chair's Award, he leads 4G and 5G wireless product development, drives collaboration with industry partners and performs key leadership roles in 5G standardization and Open RAN ecosystem partnerships at Radisys. He also represents Radisys in industry forums such as the O-RAN Alliance, Small Cell Forum and TIP. Prior to joining Radisys, Ganesh held management and engineering roles at Continuous Computing and Infosys. Ganesh holds an M.E, Control Systems, from the PSG College of Technology and a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli.
Communications Director, International Association of Ports and Harbors
Victor has fifteen years of experience in commercialising logistics, radio data transmission and speech technology logistics systems in Europe. He was more than a decade with Maersk as Global PR and Communications Executive with Safmarine and then spent nine years of advising shipowners, terminal operators, logistics companies and ports on communications before being appointed by IAPH as their Communications Director.
Chief Engineer, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, Millbrook
Peter Stoker started his career in the auto industry in 1983 in what was then the Austin Rover Group, after graduating from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in Polymer Physics. His first positions were in Interior Trim and Hardware development, moving to Project Engineer for Roof, Floor and Trunk trim systems engineering. He then left the Rover group to spend 5 years in the supply base, working at Tudor Webasto sunroof systems, as Project Manager for the Rover group range of roof systems, before moving to IBC Vehicles (part of GM Europe) in Luton in 1992.
Initially responsible for door system engineering, he was assigned to Japan for 3 years as part of the GM Europe / Isuzu liaison team in Fujisawa, assisting on the development and launch of the Opel / Vauxhall Frontera SUV. After his return to the UK in 2000, he went on to project manage the development of the last generation Astra Van derivative, launched in 2006, which was for GME the first virtually developed vehicle derivative without prototypes. Periods of management in various departments followed: Chassis and Mechanical, Advanced Vehicle Development, Special Vehicles and Validation, before becoming head of the Vehicle Engineering group in November 2012.
Following the sale of Millbrook to Rutland Partners in 2013 and then Spectris in 2016, he then became responsible for new technical business for the newly formed Vehicle group at Millbrook as Chief Engineer, encompassing Engineering, Durability, Measurement and Component test and development groups. He has a special interest in connected and automatically-guided vehicles, as well as development of the technical business in Asia, and also sits on various industry groups and special interest forums.
Peter led the successful bid for the UK Government’s Controlled urban CAV testbed, opened in September 2019, and is the host for the Autoair DCMS 5G Transport testbed. He now works as Chief Engineer, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, deploying the connected and automated services into the commercial phase.
Head of Property Services also Deputy Chair, Telecom Working Group
Chris joined the telecom industry in 2001, coming from an estate management background. MLL Telecom Limited has benefited from his services for over 18 years and provided him with experience in management, operations and sales capacities. Being specialists in transmission, Chris has been part of many bids for Projects of national importance, including ESMCP; SRN; MIP and has worked on small cell Projects for 3 Operators.
President of the OnGo Alliance and Head of Spectrum Policy & Standards at CommScope
Dave played an instrumental role in the formation of the OnGo Alliance (originally known as the CBRS Alliance), collaborating with other founding members to create a robust multi-stakeholder organization focused on the optimization of LTE and 5G services in the CBRS band. He served as the Alliance’s first Secretary from its launch in August 2016 and was elected as the President of the Alliance in February 2018.
For his “day job”, Dave leads CommScope’s policy and standards initiatives, ensuring the intersection of CommScope’s technology and product innovations with suitable regulatory environments and technical specifications. Dave is a spectrum champion, advocating for unlicensed, licensed, and dynamic sharing frameworks - recognizing the vital role that all spectrum management regimes play in our increasingly wireless world.
Dave began his odyssey in networking/telecom/mobile/ wireless in the early ‘90s while serving in the US Marine Corps. He then transitioned to the commercial sector as a systems engineer. In the intervening years he has spent much of his time in Technical Marketing, Standards Development, and Policy Advocacy. Dave is a Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) Emeritus (#2062), a Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA), and a CBRS Certified Professional Installer (CPI).
Partner and Head of Network Estate Manager
Darren is a Partner at Real Estate firm Cluttons and heads up their Network Estate Management team.
He has been with the business for 13 years, mostly working exclusively on estate management for mobile operators. He has extensive knowledge of lease advisory and provides advice on all aspects of estate management, including (but not limited to) lease renewals, rent reviews and management issues. Darren has also co-founded PropFit a dedicated free network created to provide a community for those interested in embracing Wellness within the Property industry, which in its first year has grown to over 1,000 members.
Manager Digital Innovation, Groningen Seaports
Henk Zwetsloot is manager digital innovation at Groningen Seaports. His focus is to make the port ready for the digital future in cooperation with universities, innovative companies and governments. He runs innovation projects in the field of smart shipping, Internet of Things for a port, energy management platforms and physical internet. It’s about investigating ideas, running pilots and making business cases. For most of these projects connectivity is essential. Currently connectivity in the port is of low quality, mainly due to bad coverage.
Henk Zwetsloot formerly worked for many companies, like the Hanze University of applied sciences (CIO and dean of school of computer science) and Gasunie (IT manager). He graduated at the University of Wageningen in 1981.