The e-Marketing & Search Engine Optimisation Conference at CeBIT Australia 2008 was a resounding success. Here is a sample of the world renowned speakers that gave our delegates cutting edge presentations about the key topics and latest trends:

Session 1

Shara Evans is the Founder and CEO of Market Clarity (www.marketclarity.com.au), a market research analyst organisation specialising in the Australian telecommunications market. Shara has a deep understanding of telecommunications technologies and services, and is an acknowledged expert in the area of convergence. She is also cited as one of the industry’s leading futurists, fusing her engineering background with an intuitive understanding of how society is likely to respond to new technologies.

Jeff has over 20 years experience in the IT and telecommunications arena, and during this time has worked for major Telco's, networking and communications vendors, consulting organisations and private enterprises. He has designed, deployed and managed several large IT and communications networks throughout the world, and has been involved in the convergence of voice and data technologies from the beginning.

In 2005, Jeff joined Siemens Enterprise Communications, where he now works for the Chief Technology Officer in the Enterprise Strategy group. In this role, Jeff's current focus is the new OpenScape Unified Communications Server, and it's continued evolution within the Siemens portfolio.

Topic: Why Unified Communications?

Synopsis: As the Unified Communications and Collaboration market matures, we will look at the requirements driving the adoption of this technology, and the benefits it can deliver to businesses. We will also cover Siemens’ views on the future of enterprise communications, which have shaped the strategy that has led to the development of the OpenScape Unified Communications Server.

Andrew is a pioneer and a visionary in the mainstream deployment of convergent IP telecommunications. During the past four years as Sales & Marketing Director of IP Systems Andrew has seen the rapid adoption of fully hosted voice and video services on private IP networks. This by global companies, health communities, small businesses and fibre to the home developments.

Prior to IP Systems Andrew provided strategies on convergence commercialisation to Telstra Wholesale, AAPT, Cisco Systems and others. During the formational period of convergent telco Comindico, (now a division of SOUL) Andrew set the regulatory and competitive strategy for the company and laid out the product and services architecture. This provided the foundation for an IP telco encompassing a converged core infrastructure that supported both voice and dial up internet access on a single platform and billing system.

Prior to Comindico, Andrew was general manager of the voice division at eisa Ltd. instigating and managing eisa’s project to interconnect via SS7 with Telstra, and founding the eisa’s convergent services business unit.

Topic: Mobility

Title: How to Make Your Mobile an Extension of the Office Phone System

Synopsis: The cost of calling mobiles is escalating. Meanwhile companies are running two phone networks, a PBX and a mobile fleet. If your mobile phone was a PBX extension you could boost productivity and reduce cost.

This presentation will focus on; Mobile spend in Australia, Mobile PBX Integration, Software Integration and mobility, Organic call routing.

ICT industry veteran Jock O’Keeffe is responsible for developing strategy and strategic initiatives for IntraPower Limited, an ASX listed provider of IP-based services to Australian businesses.

With many years experience in senior executive roles in Australia and the USA, Jock has been able to help many companies to better understand their strategic positioning, and to build better solutions with technology assets.

It was initially in this consulting role that Jock became associated with IntraPower and late in 2007 the company persuaded him to join on a fulltime basis.

Prior to his consulting career, Jock worked with some leading companies in the ICT space.

As General Manager for Optus in South Australia and the Northern Territory, Jock developed major new relationships with both the state and territory governments and oversaw a significant growth in the Optus footprint across the region.

Jock spent ten years with Mincom Limited, Australia’s most respected software developer. He spent many years based in Denver, Colorado managing Mincom’s growth in North and South America.

In the 80s Jock had management and marketing roles in both in Australia and internationally with US based Data General Corporation. Jock studied architecture at Melbourne University but has always worked in technology.

Topic: Quality and Affordability– Case Studies on the Impact of Converged Voice/Data Implementations

Synopsis: Small and medium sized businesses are beginning to adopt IP Voice (VOIP) technology now that suppliers are able to deliver services with toll quality and reliability. This presentation looks at the experience of two Australian businesses and discusses their quite different paths to successfully implementing lower cost voice technology while simultaneously revamping their data networks.

Session 2

Simon Burke has over 15 years expertise in contact centre strategy, operations and technology. He is currently the CEO of IPscape Pty Ltd, a Sydney company he co-founded in 2005 that specialises in Software as a Service (SaaS) and Consulting for Contact Centres.

Simon was previously responsible for British Telecom’s Hosted IP Contact Centre business and pioneered a variety of hosting models. He is a compelling speaker who uses extensive customer experiences to illustrate best practices for hosted IP contact centres. Simon is a graduate of the London Business School MBA programme and an Australian qualified Chartered Accountant.

Topic: Hosted IP Call Centres – Solving or Aggravating Business Challenges?

Synopsis: The value and risks of the hosted IP contact centre model is one of today's most widely debated topics. Advocates state the benefits of virtualisation and flexibility whilst detractors may quote security or voice quality concerns. With material drawn from recent case studies, this session outlines the simple, practical steps that corporates looking to drive value from hosting and/or IP in the contact centre can consider.

Marc Englaro is co-founder and CEO of Insightful Solutions Pty Ltd. Establishing Insightful in 2005 allowed Marc to combine his expertise in developing CRM solutions with his experience in commercial open-source software.

In November 2007, Insightful merged with Fonality Inc., a leading US provider of IP PABX systems. The merger added a new dimension to his vision of offering SMBs an affordable solution that unifies their communication systems and helps them grow their business in two complementary areas.

The combination of Insightful's CRM expertise and Fonality's award winning trixbox telephony suite enables Marc to raise the bar for SMBs' expectations in both telephony and CRM.

Topic: When is a Phone not a Phone? When it's a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system!

Synopsis: There has been nothing short of a revolution in business telephone systems. What was once available to the largest corporations with the deepest pockets, is now within reach for the SMB market.

New generation, software-based phone systems are smarter, know more about your business, and can be a valuable part of your growth strategy.

Mario co-founded Epygi in March 2000 with a mission to provide feature rich, affordable VoIP solutions to the SMB market. He was responsible for product development as VP of R&D, eventually as CTO and is currently CEO and President of Epygi. He has been involved in the development of the Quadro line of IP PBX appliances, voice conference server and VoIP gateways, all of which were developed internally, giving flexibility in feature implementation and product migration.

Mario holds a BSEE from Texas A&M University and an MBA from the University of Central Florida. He has over 23 years of design and managerial experience in diverse areas including controls, computers and telecommunications and is a licensed engineer in the US. He started his career in 1985 developing antenna control systems at Electrospace Systems, a defense contractor in Texas. He then moved to Siemens/Stromberg Carlson in Florida where he managed HW development for SS7 subsystems for central office phone switches. Before Epygi, Mario spent nine years with DPT/Adaptec in Florida responsible for the development of RAID subsystems.

Topic: Application Case: Benefits of IP PBX on Multisite Environment

Synopsis: The convergence of telephony and IP systems has opened new possibilities for the enterprise to gain from the functionalities this VoIP technology has to offer in productivity, scalability, accessibility and cost savings. This presentation uses elements from real world cases to illustrate an application of IP PBX in a multi-site environment and how it fulfils these benefits.

Session 3

Matt has 16 years experience in commercial software development and has undertaken numerous projects for a variety of clients including Fiat Corporation - Italy, New Zealand Police and British American Tobacco.

For the past seven years, he has focused on specialist telephony software and has developed IP for worldwide distribution. Matt is Editor of the Daily Asterisk News, which features news and information on Asterisk software; the site receives between 20-30,000 visits each day.

Matt's knowledge of telephony software and its application has been shared at a number of international telecommunications conferences where he has spoken.

Topic: Enterprise Level monitoring and dynamic routing for VoIP Systems

Synopsis: With VoIP becoming more widespread and evolving into the communications method of choice of many large businesses the need for a reliable platform has come into its own.

In the past, VoIP carriers could rely on a single server connected to multiple providers and using LCR (Least Cost Routing) to decide on which route to use.

Because the Internet is inherently unstable and customers want every call to work 100% of the time, there needs to be multiple layers of redundancy and constant checking to decide how to route calls.

This presentation will focus on the various methods of monitoring with an emphasis on Asterisk, MRTG and Smokeping.

We will also delve into the pros and cons of each option and discuss how these real time statistics can be used to decide on call routing from the CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) right through to the terminating point for each call.

John Papandriopoulos received his Ph.D. degree in 2006 from the University of Melbourne and B.E./B.Sc. degrees from RMIT University in 2001. He was a Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne in 2007 before relocating to California to join Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment (ASSIA) Inc., the world’s leader in Dynamic Spectrum Management of xDSL lines.

He was awarded The University of Melbourne Chancellor’s Prize for excellence in the Ph.D. in 2006, a Victoria Fellowship and AFAS FEAST-France Fellowship in 2005, and the RMIT University Medal (J.N. McNicol Prize) in 2002. He has won two best paper awards, the second at the 2006 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

John is a co-inventor behind two US/AUS patent applications and has enjoyed time with NEC Australia (3G Mobile R&D), Agilent Technologies (Advanced Networks Division) and Telstra Ltd. He has been an active IEEE member and served as chairperson of The University of Melbourne Student Branch for two years since 2003.

His technical interests include optimisation techniques and applications, particularly to DSL and wireless networks, while his broader interests surround startup venture development and the fine art of coffee making.

Title: DSL at the speed-of-light with Dynamic Spectrum Management

Synopsis: Copper ain’t dead yet. Speeds of 100+Mbps will soon be possible using standardized technologies over Digital Subscriber Lines (DSLs), enabling cost-effective delivery of all contemplated broadband services without the expense of a large-scale fiber-to-the-home rollout. This presentation will show how Dynamic Spectrum Management makes this possible—an industry initiative that hinges on making DSLs more polite, yet also more aggressive as a broadband-access competitor.

Session 4

Alastair Slattery holds a First Class Honours degree of Bachelor of Engineering (Telecommunications) from the University of Sydney and has years of extensive experience in the design, development, deployment and support of carrier grade VoIP network infrastructure for service providers in Australia and overseas. These VoIP networks, including Symbio’s own wholesale network platform, are now reliably carrying million minutes of VoIP traffic monthly.

Alastair’s leading edge expertise is a result of working continually at the forefront of IP & VoIP technologies. He was responsible for establishing the first working VoIP peering platform in Australia which has enabled multiple VoIP service providers to exchange VoIP traffic without it traversing the public switched telephone network, PSTN.

Topic: SoHo VoIP

Synopsis: VoIP provides a level of convenience, flexibility and cost savings to SOHO users that could not matched by the existing telephony service. The convergence of VoIP, broadband and mobile services will facilitate today’s busy lifestyle of having communications service at anywhere, with any device at any time. This presentation shows the benefits of VoIP & convergent service in a SOHO environment.

Andrew is a pioneer and a visionary in the mainstream deployment of convergent IP telecommunications. During the past four years as Sales & Marketing Director of IP Systems, Andrew has seen the rapid adoption of IP Systems fully hosted voice and video services and private IP network by global companies plus the deployment of converged services to health, small businesses and fibre to the home developments.

Prior to joining IP Systems, Andrew operated Tempered Consulting providing strategies on voice/data convergence commercialisation to Telstra Wholesale, AAPT, Cisco Systems and others. The Telstra engagement resulting in a data mapping methodology that Telstra wholesale used to optimise the take-up of broadband DSL in regions where adoption was slow.

At AAPT Andrew filled the role of Group Product Manager for the business division as member of a Terranovate consulting team assisting in accelerating product development.

During the formational period of convergent telco Comindico (now a division of SOUL), Andrew set the regulatory and competitive strategy for the company and laid out the entire product and services architecture. The services architecture provided the foundation for an IP telco encompassing a converged core infrastructure with SS7 interconnect that supported both voice and dial up internet access on a single platform and billing system.

Prior to Comindico, Andrew was general manager of the voice division at eisa Ltd. instigating and managing eisa’s project to interconnect via SS7 with Telstra, and founding the eisa’s convergent services business unit.

Topic: Video VoIP Now

Synopsis: The video phone has been part of technology imagination and science fiction mythology for over a generation.

It has taken so long to become real that many of us have stopped waiting.

However, video telephony is now penetrating at every level and we may soon find it the norm for consumer and business telephony.

This presentation surveys current video adoption across consumer and business technology platforms; from Skype to "Immersive Telepresence", from "Call Centre Video on Hold" to "Remote Intensive Care Management".