ATIS Announces 2006 Annual Award Winners

March 21, 2006, Washington –ATIS has announced the recipients of its 2006 Annual Awards, recognizing industry subject matter experts and standards professionals for their contributions to telecommunications standards development and support of ATIS committees and forums.

The award winners were recognized March 21 during the 2006 ATIS Annual Meeting of Committees general session. The Annual Meeting took place March 20-24 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center.

“It is the hard work and leadership of the professionals and standards experts that make up ATIS’ 23 different standards committees that has supported our industry in a significant way, enabling the deployment of new network products and services in the time frame required by the industry,” said Susan M. Miller, president and CEO of ATIS.

Awards were given in four categories: the ATIS Award for Distinguished Service in Communications Standards; the ATIS Award for Leadership in Standards Development; the Award for Outstanding Contributions to an ATIS Forum or Committee; and the ATIS President’s Award, which was presented for the first time this year.

The 2006 Distinguished Service Award was presented to Robert (Bob) J. Hall of AT&T for his dedicated service to standards development for more than 20 years. Recipients of the Distinguished Service Award are ATIS committee or forum participants who have provided unique and outstanding contributions to the work of ATIS committees over a period of time. Persons receiving this award are those who have participated in ATIS Committees for five or more years. 

Bob is the chair of the Packet Technologies and Systems Committee (PTSC), where he represents ATIS both nationally and internationally and leads priority standards development activities related to VOIP and Security, as defined by the ATIS Technology and Operations Council.

Dave Thurman from Sprint Nextel received the 2006 ATIS Award for Leadership in Standards Development is. The award is given to an ATIS forum or committee leader whose vision and leadership have resulted in support for ATIS standards and recognition of ATIS’ committee work within the industry.  Dave was recognized for his strong, insightful leadership of the Ordering and Billing Forum (OBF). He is a former Co-chair of OBF’s Subscription Committee, and a recognized subject matter expert related to the OBF’s Customer Account Record Exchange (CARE) Document, as well as the mandatory exchange of customer account information between Local Exchange Carriers and Interexchange Carriers. His expertise in this arena resulted in recognition for the OBF’s work on CARE before the Federal Communications Commission.

The Award for Outstanding Contributions to an ATIS Forum or Committee is presented to individuals who have provided valuable contributions to the completion of ATIS standards that meet industry needs.  Recipients have demonstrated significant efforts to support acceptance and use of ATIS standards throughout the industry. The following ATIS participants received this year’s award: Tom Breen, BellSouth; Chris Gallagher, AT&T; Amit Kleinman, AMDOCS; Kam Lam, Lucent Technologies; Archie McCain, BellSouth; Adam Newman, Telcordia Technologies; Jim Ragsdale, Ericsson; Karl Rauscher, Lucent Technologies; Viqar Shaikh, Telcordia Technologies; and Tobey Trygar, Telcordia Technologies.

The ATIS President’s Award is presented to an individual who is unsurpassed in the level of, quality of, and strategic nature of contributions made to ATIS. The 2006 ATIS President’s Award was awarded to Art Reilly of Cisco Systems for his ability to strategically maneuver within the larger global standards community and, through these endeavors, advance collaborative relationships with other standards organizations to enhance the interests and work of ATIS in the international standards arena.

Art has been active in ATIS Committees for the past 20 years and has represented ATIS while successfully forging harmonization relationships with other standards development organizations from Europe, the Far East, Canada, and South America. His continued attention to new and arising issues in the global standards community of importance to ATIS has benefited the organization as an “ambassador-at-large.”

About ATIS

ATIS is a technical planning and standards development organization that is committed to rapidly developing and promoting technical and operations standards for the communications and related information technologies industry worldwide using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 350 communications companies are active in ATIS’ 23 industry committees and Incubator Solutions Program. www.atis.org

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