IEEE ANTS 2011

Conference

Power Breakfast 1

Theme: MVAS in India outside of the Metros - The Present and the Foreseeable future

Organizer & Moderator
	Prof. Dr. Srinivasan Ramani IIIT Bangalore
Prof. Dr. Srinivasan Ramani has served as the founding director of the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST). While at NCST, he played a key role in creating India’s academic network, ERNET, which brought the Internet to India. He moved to Bangalore in 2001 to serve as the first director of Hewlett Packard Labs India. He has served as a member of the Expert Panel of Advisors of the United Nation’s Task Force on ICT for Development, as President of the Computer Society of India and as President of the International Council for Computer Communication. He is currently a professor at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, and works on technology for education.

Panelists:


	Dr. Viswanath Poosala Head of Bell Labs India Alcatel-Lucent
Dr. Viswanath Poosala (Vishy) is the Head of Bell Labs India, Alcatel-Lucent. He leads a world-class R&D team in delivering research breakthroughs and internal ventures, for emerging markets and beyond. Vishy was the Founder and CTO of Geopepper, an Alcatel-Lucent venture delivering novel location-based services. He is also a mentor partner on Headstart Ventures, an angel investor firm. He has published over 30 patents and 20 research papers. Vishy received his B.Tech from IIT Madras and Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was an Adjunct Professor at New York University.




	Mr. Ravikiran Annaswamy Senior Industry Practitioner
Ravikiran Annaswamy is a senior industry practitioner with rich experience in managing global technology business, leading value based solution sales and strategic management of innovations and new business models. He has over 16 years of experience at Nokia Siemens Networks and Siemens AG with general management skills and demonstrated business results. He is currently an Entrepreneur focused on creating a tech venture creating solutions for Telecom industry. He is also an freelance consultant offering services in the area of Product management, Technology Marketing and New Product development. Till recently, he was the Business Head for Applications, Media and Security Solutions for India. He was instrumental in defining the vision for 3G applications and innovative solutions in Indian market. He has a proven track record of achieving sales growth, profitable turn around of businesses, setting up successful product management, large product development & agile service delivery organizations and creating a culture of innovation with in his teams. He has worked very closely with CXOs in the telecom operators, top leaders in technology and system integration companies across India and Asia pacific. He is a thought leader and speaker at various prestigious international business conferences. He has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and has graduated from UVCE Bangalore. He is an engaged Professional volunteer, currently the Membership development head for IEEE Bangalore section. He was the past Chair for IEEE Communication Society for Karnataka and was on Global core team for IEEE Wireless certification. He has been recognized for his work by several awards: Siemens Director's award for Innovation, Customer management and Project Execution, IEEE Bangalore -‐ Best volunteer award, Runner up at AIMA's National Contest for Young Managers and Asia finalist at Global Social Venture Competition conducted by Berkley Haas school of business.



	Mr. Nicolas Zhu Haifeng Huawei Device India R&D Centre & Product Center
Nicolas Zhu Haifeng is the Head of Huawei Device India Product Center as well as Huawei Device India R&D Center. As one of the key centers of Huawei Device global R&D, Huawei Device India Product Center and India R&D Center focus on Devices’ core software R&D, innovation as well as focus on India Local Market - Customer Centric products and solutions planning, innovation and development. As the head, Nicolas has complete management responsibility for this business area. Nicolas joined Huawei in January 2000. In his more than11 years career with Huawei, Nicolas held several senior positions across different divisions in Huawei and has been instrumental in the successful deployment of Huawei's cutting edge solutions globally. He served as the Head of General Software department of Huawei Device. And prior to that, Nicolas was engaged in a wide range of functions such as project management, system design, development and test, enriching his experience on quality management, development management, people management and a deeper understanding of customers.




	Ms. Sangeeta Asrani Deputy General Manager, BSNL
Ms. Sangeeta Asrani is an Indian Telecom Service Officer of 98 batch. Experience of 12+ years in telecom in various capacities in DoT and BSNL. Worked on multiple new technology Wireline Switches and worked on IP and Data Networks and has been involved in planning of various Services on BSNL's network. Currently handling IP backbone network of BSNL.




	Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan Programme Manager, Centre for Internet and Society, India
Ms. Nirmita Narasimhan is a Programme Manager with the Centre for Internet and Society and works on policy research and advocacy related to IP reform and technology access for persons with disabilities. She was awarded the National Award for Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities by the President of India in recognition of her work in December 2010 and the NIVH Excellence Award from the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (Dehradoon) in December 2011. Her work ranges from research and policy drafting and review to advocacy through campaigns, workshops etc. Nirmita's current work focuses on copyright reform, accessibility, engaging in international discussions on IP related instruments at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, working with disability organisations, governments and UN bodies in advocating for digital accessibility, promoting open access with the Government of India and other issues which are part of the policy space in ICT accessibility in India. Certain specific areas on which she has worked are formulation of the draft National Electronic Accessibility Policy (with the Department of Information Technology), reviewing the Indian Copyright Act and working towards amendments to the Act to include exceptions and limitations for the print challenged, working at a national level towards support of the World Blind Union treaty at the WIPO, organising workshops on web accessibility for web developers in different cities around the country, working towards making accessible materials available for the visually challenged, creating advocacy resources for disability organisations and policymakers on implementing different aspects of the UNCRPD related to ICT accessibility etc. Nirmita's work can be viewed at www.cis-india.org. Nirmita has presented papers in international fora like the IGF and the Asia Pacific conference on mainstreaming ICT technologies which was held in Bangkok in August 2009. Her focus was primarily policy formulation for ICT and electronic accessibility. She has also contributed to the G3ICT -ITU e-accessibility toolkit for policymakers which was published on line in February 2010and was editor of its print handbook version which was released in Delhi in October 2010. Since then, Nirmita is also part of the G3ict editorial team. Nirmita participated in the Right to Read event held in the European parliament in May 2010 and participated in the UN expert committee on implementation of the UNCRPD with respect to ICT and electronic accessibility for persons with disabilities in developing countries in June 2010. Nirmita has prepared reports in the capacity of expert for ITU and UNESCO on accessible mobile telephony and accessible ICT for education in the Asia Pacific region. Nirmita is also a proficient vocal singer of karnatic classical music and has been giving performances for many years now.