Industry Leaders to Headline ATIS TechThink Conference

Co-located with NXTcomm08, ATIS TechThink offers executive insight about future direction of the communications industry

May 14, 2008, Washington, DC- ATIS, the leading technical planning and standards development organization, today announced its lineup of industry leaders participating in the ATIS TechThink Conference. Co-located with NXTcomm08 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on June 17 -18, 2008, ATIS TechThink will feature senior-level executives and decision-makers shaping the direction of the communication industry.

“ATIS TechThink conference panelists include some of the most innovative minds in the industry,” stated Susan Miller, president and CEO of ATIS. “TechThink attendees can expect to gain awareness about key trends and the industry outlook for pivotal issues like increasing the functionality of new technologies, managing digital rights, creating deployment timelines and personalizing content to increase market share.”

TechThink will feature eighteen 90 minute conference sessions on IPTV, Home Networking and Convergence. An ATIS Keynote Session will kick off the TechThink conference on Tuesday, June 17. Entitled “Transforming the Network . . . Transforming the Experience,” the Keynote will feature Chris Rice, Executive Vice President, AT&T; Mark A. Wegleitner, Senior Vice President, Technology and Network Planning, Verizon; and Pieter Poll, CTO, Qwest. Susan Miller, president and CEO of ATIS will serve as moderator.

Members of the ATIS Board of Directors who will speak or moderate TechThink sessions include:

Tuesday, June 17
David Foote,CTO, Hitachi, “The Reality of IPTV Deployments – The Successes, The Challenges, and Taking it to the Next Level”; Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO, TELUS, “The Service Delivery Platform:  Innovation in Offering Next-Gen Services with IMS, SOA and Web 2.0”; Jake MacLeod, CTO, Bechtel, “Capitalizing on Existing Networks to Deliver the Converged Services of Today”; Paul Mankiewich, CTO, North America, Alcatel-Lucent, “Full-Scale Convergence:  What Does It Look Like and How Do We Get There?”

Wednesday, June 18
Bill DeMuth, CTO, SureWest, “Capitalizing on the Home Network:  Is There a Viable Business Case?” and Nandhu Nandhakumar, Senior VP, Advanced Technology, LG Electronics, “Enhancing the Consumer’s Lifestyle:  The Home Network Will Change How We Live”

ATIS wishes to acknowledge the corporate sponsors of TechThink including: Cisco, Ericsson, Genband, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks and Redback. Media sponsors include: ScreenPlays, Telecommunications and xchange.

About TechThink
ATIS TechThink brings you the future of telecommunications technology – straight from the minds that shape it.  Enjoy thought-provoking discussion and debate during eighteen 90 minute conference sessions on IPTV, Home Networking and Convergence. Register today for the ATIS TechThink Conference at www.techthink.org.

About ATIS
ATIS is committed to providing leadership for, and the rapid development and promotion of, worldwide technical and operations standards for information, entertainment and communications technologies using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 300 communications companies are active in ATIS’ 22 industry committees and Incubator Solutions Programs. For more information, please visit www.atis.org