Vice President and General Manager, Optical Transport Business Unit, Cisco

Bill Gartner leads Cisco’s Optical Transport Business Unit (OTBU), which includes Cisco’s portfolio of DWDM and TDM Optical Networking products. Gartner has P&L responsibility for this business and is responsible for strategic direction, product development, product positioning, and new product introduction.

Prior to joining Cisco, Gartner was Chief Operating Officer of Meriton Networks (acquired by Xtera Networks). Prior to Meriton, he served as President and COO of Mahi Networks and COO of Photuris.

Before joining Photuris, Gartner was Vice President and General Manager of Lucent's Optical Networking Systems business, responsible for Metro, Access, and Long Haul DWDM Products. In this role, he was responsible for well over $1 billion of revenue, with 500 employees in 5 worldwide locations.

His earlier tenure in the industry included roles at AT&T Bell Labs and Paradyne.

Gartner has served on the boards of OptronX (acquired by JDSU) and CyOptics.

Gartner has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and an executive master’s in technology management from University of Pennsylvania/Wharton. He is a University of Pennsylvania Moore Fellow.

Senior Product Line Manager Optical Transport Business Unit, Cisco

As Product Line Manager, Maurizio owns the development of Next Generation Transport Product in Cisco. Maurizio has over 12 years experience in telecommunications product management, mainly focused on DWDM. Working with Cisco since 2000, he has been involved with Long Haul and Extended Long Haul products, and for the last seven years, has focused on Flexible and Integrated transport networks. He supports product management for DWDM solutions and has been part of this activity since the beginning. He helps to develop L2 transport functionalities and ROADM solutions for the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP).

Based in Monza, Italy, Maurizio obtained his bachelor’s degree in Telecommunication Engineering from “Politecnico di Milano” university and joined Pirelli Optical System as Product Line Manager in 1998. He holds multiple patents in the optical transport field.

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Senior Product Line Manager, Optical Technology Group, Cisco

Donyel is Senior Product Line Manager in the Optical Technology Group at Cisco. He is responsible for system design planning, network build out and defining Cisco’s product direction for the Optical Networking System (ONS) Product Line to address the needs of Service Providers and Data Centers. Donyel has worked with leading optical technology customers during his tenure at Cisco in a variety of roles including Software Engineering and Technical Marketing.

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Executive Director, AT&T Business Solutions

Joe Weinman leads global portfolio strategy and business development for AT&T Business Solutions. A 29-year veteran of the company, a prolific inventor and author, and a frequent global keynote speaker, he has held a variety of executive positions of increasing responsibility spanning research and development at AT&T Bell Laboratories, marketing, sales, product management, engineering and operations, and corporate strategy and business development. His current focus is on the overall product portfolio, business strategy, partner ecosystem, and emerging technologies to support AT&T's business customers. Weinman helps assess, create, and solution strategic emerging technologies and next-generation business models, including cloud computing, into AT&T's offer portfolio.

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Chief Technology Officer, XO Communications

As Chief Technology Officer for XO Communications, Randy Nicklas is responsible for the overall network technology vision for the company’s voice, data, and transport networks. He also advises on the overall design of XO’s commercial and wholesale voice, data, and IP-based services.

Previously, Nicklas was vice president of Engineering, responsible for the design, implementation, and sustaining engineering of XO’s transport, voice, and data networks. Before joining XO, he held engineering and technical management positions at Intelsat, Cisco, and MCI. Nicklas has also worked in the areas of software development and systems engineering on a variety of aerospace programs for NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

Nicklas obtained BS and MS degrees in applied mathematics and an MS degree in physics, all from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Infonetics Research, Cofounder and Principal Analyst

Carrier and Data Center Networks

michael@infonetics.com +1 408.583.3351

Michael Howard cofounded market research firm Infonetics Research in 1990 and today is recognized worldwide as one of telecom’s leading experts in emerging markets, service provider trends, and user buying patterns.

Nicknamed the "Ethernet pope," Howard uses 40 years of communications and market research experience to author numerous works year-round, including market share and forecast reports on carrier Ethernet, routers and switches, IP MPLS VPN, and mobile backhaul. In 2008 he coauthored the book Carrier Ethernet: Extending Ethernet Beyond the LAN.

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Senior Vice President, General Manager, Service Provider Routing Technology Group, Cisco

Kelly Ahuja is Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Service Provider Routing Technology Group at Cisco. In this role, he leads the engineering and marketing organization for all of Cisco’s service provider routing portfolio as well as media gateways, mobile Internet gateways, and more. Before his current role, Ahuja was Vice President and General Manager of the Core Routing Business Unit, where he managed the insertion and deployment of the largest Cisco CRS-1-based core networks for the foundation of IP next-generation networks around the world. Prior to that he was Vice President of Marketing for the Carrier Core Multi Service Business Unit, where he led the product management and technical marketing organization for Cisco’s high-end routing portfolio as well as multiservice switches and media gateways.

Ahuja previously served as Vice President of Marketing at BlueLeaf Networks, a startup developing optical switching and transmission systems. There he led BlueLeaf’s global marketing and business development activities. Before BlueLeaf, Ahuja was a director of marketing at Cisco, where he led global marketing for the company’s premier high-end routers. Previously at Cisco and StrataCom, he led the product marketing team for the Cisco IGX 8400.

Series of network switches: At StrataCom Ahuja played a major technical marketing role supporting AT&T. Before StrataCom, Ahuja led the design and deployment of data and voice networks for several organizations in AT&T Canada. He has also held engineering and analyst positions with Bank of Canada and Telesat Canada, designing, implementing, and supporting data and voice networks.

Ahuja holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada.

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Senior Director, Worldwide Service Provider Marketing, Cisco

Simon Aspinall leads teams at Cisco that markets Cisco’s mobility and data center solutions to telecom, cable, media and broadcast companies worldwide.

Aspinall has held a number of senior management roles at Cisco across sales, marketing, business development and consulting. He has led the Internet Business Solutions Group (SP) in Europe and the IBSG SP worldwide mobile practice: driving, identifying, and developing new business opportunities with telecoms, broadcast and media operators for business and consumers. Other roles in Cisco include leading the European field operations team with responsibility for new business solutions, marketing, service consulting, business consulting, and ecosystem partners for the European telecoms business.

Aspinall is a frequent speaker at industry events and a commentator on the IT, telecoms, and networking sectors. He holds an MBA (Insead) and a master’s degree in Engineering & Computer Science (Oxford University).

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Vice President and General Manager, Optical Transport Business Unit, Cisco

Bill Gartner leads Cisco’s Optical Transport Business Unit (OTBU), which includes Cisco’s portfolio of DWDM and TDM Optical Networking products. Gartner has P&L responsibility for this business and is responsible for strategic direction, product development, product positioning, and new product introduction.

Prior to joining Cisco, Gartner was Chief Operating Officer of Meriton Networks (acquired by Xtera Networks). Prior to Meriton, he served as President and COO of Mahi Networks and COO of Photuris.

Before joining Photuris, Gartner was Vice President and General Manager of Lucent's Optical Networking Systems business, responsible for Metro, Access, and Long Haul DWDM Products. In this role, he was responsible for well over $1 billion of revenue, with 500 employees in 5 worldwide locations.

His earlier tenure in the industry included roles at AT&T Bell Labs and Paradyne.

Gartner has served on the boards of OptronX (acquired by JDSU) and CyOptics.

Gartner has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and an executive master’s in technology management from University of Pennsylvania/Wharton. He is a University of Pennsylvania Moore Fellow.

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Director, Marketing, Service Provider Routing and Switching, Cisco

Mike Capuano is Director of Marketing for Cisco’s Service Provider Routing and Switching Business. His responsibilities include product and solution marketing for the entire routing, switching, and optical portfolio.

Prior to Cisco Capuano has held a number of marketing and product management roles at Juniper Networks, Pacific Broadband Communications, Wink Communications, and Motorola Connected Home Division.

Capuano has over 15 years of experience in the telecommunications and video technology industries and holds a degree in physics from Colgate University, NY.

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