Wednesday, March 31 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM Session C: IP Video, Datacasting and other Technologies Enabling the Transformation of Entertainment Broadband video to the home is the next major phase of development in the evolution of the digital entertainment industries. Creating the infrastructure and identifying the technologies for the next broadband video pipe is a challenge that could reinvent the content industry and enable thousands of content providers with direct access to the consumer. How the technology industries manage this step forward is still an open question. There are a number of completing options. While this is not a zero-sum game, in this session we will hear from a number of the providers of solutions, from the IP Video to Datacasting enablers. Ryan Petty, Vice President, Engineering and Operations, Myrio Dr. Ji Zhang, co-founder, chairman and CTO, Exavio, Inc. John O’Donnell, co-founder and CTO, Equator Technologies David Price, Vice President, Business Development, Harmonic Inc, Keith Wehmeyer, General Manager, IP Video Business, Thomson Mark J. Kapczynski, President, MESoft Partners, LLC, Moderator Keith R. Wehmeyer is the General Manager of Thomson's Worldwide IP Decoders business, managing the strategy, product planning, and development efforts for Thomson's set-top boxes that deliver home entertainment via IP Networks such as DSL. Keith has expertise in the fields of broadband, consumer electronics and audio/video distribution and compression technologies. For the past six years he has been involved in the development of broadband-enabled entertainment products with major corporate partners including Microsoft, Intel and Gemstar. Previously he was involved in planning and development for various home entertainment products such as DIRECTV satellite receivers, HDTV's, and electronic program guides. Keith holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from the University of Cincinnati and has been awarded thirteen U.S. patents. He is a licensed Professional Engineer, and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Dr. Ji Zhang, co-founder, chairman and CTO of Exavio, Inc. Ji previously was a founder and CTO of V-Bits, a digital cable video bandwidth management company that was acquired by Cisco Systems. With over 18 years of research and industry experience in digital networking and video compression technologies, he was granted 6 patents with an additional 15 patents pending. Prior to V-Bits, Ji held key engineering positions at Divicom, a leader in digital video networking, and was a key contributor to its adaptive pre-filtering and dual-pass encoding algorithm development. Ji also held faculty positions at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of Hawaii. Ji Zhang obtained his BS from Tsinghua University and PhD from Purdue University. David Price is currently Vice President, Business Development at Harmonic Inc., based in Sunnyvale, California where he is responsible for pioneering Harmonic’s leading position in digital video broadcast, distribution and IP based delivery technologies. David was previously Vice-President with TV/COM International, in San Diego (formerly Oak Communications), where he was responsible for the Sales Account and Operations management functions. TV/COM produced the world’s first MPEG-2 DVB video encoding systems. Originally from the UK, David came to the US as Vice President of M/A-COM Linkabit, now Hughes Network Systems. David has over 19 years experience in the telecommunication industry during which he has successfully carried out executive management responsibilities in sales, engineering and operations and general management functions for satellite and terrestrial based communications technology providers. David has written many articles for trade publications and journals around the world and has also appeared on a number of business television and radio programs in the US, Europe and the Middle East. David has lectured at UCSD and is a frequent guest speaker at many of the worlds leading symposiums on advance communications technology. He is a currently a member of the Board of Directors of the MPEG Industry Forum and was selected in 2003 as one of the "Euro 50" by Cable & Satellite Europe. John Setel O'Donnell, Chief Technology Officer, Equator: John Setel O'Donnell co-founded Equator in 1996 with the intention of applying his in-depth engineering knowledge and expertise in complex processing to a wide range of end products for optimum video processing. As Equator’s CTO, he drives the product engineering innovation and roadmap development for the company’s expanding line of high-performance video processing systems. Prior to founding Equator, O'Donnell was a co-founder and vice president of engineering at Multiflow Computer, Inc., where he and his team pioneered VLIW architecture and trace scheduling compiler technologies. In this role, he was the chief architect for Multiflow's VLIW processors and led all engineering development for the company. O'Donnell holds a BS in computer science from Yale University. Ryan Petty, Vice President, Engineering and Operations, Myrio: One of the founding architects of Myrio’s TV over IP solution, Ryan has been involved in all aspects of system design and engineering since the Myrio solution was first developed. As the primary interface between Myrio and external standards bodies driving solutions in the broadband IP video space, Ryan promotes network technologies and standards applicable to broadband IP video delivery. He sits on the Architecture Experts Group within the FS-VDSL Focus Group of ITU-T Study Group 16. Mark Kapczynski, CEO MeSoft Partners, LLC Mr. Kapczynski has over eleven years of computer technology experience and thirteen years of Media & Entertainment experience, most recently as Principal for the Worldwide Media and Entertainment Solutions Group for Microsoft Corporation. While at Microsoft, Mr. Kapczynski developed the Microsoft Digital Content Solution Strategy/Framework and managed the development of key applications/solutions for the media industry including Video on Demand, Digital Dailies, D-Cinema, and Digital Distribution. He was instrumental in securing key wins from EMI Digital Warehouse, Disney Digital Dailies, Sony Movielink VOD, and CBS newspath. Mr. Kapczynski is a prominent speaker in the media industry and has given numerous presentations at such top venues as NAB, IBC, Comdex, Digital Hollywood, FilmIT, and the Cannes Film Festival. He is on the Board of Advisors of Galvanon Inc. and Digimine Inc., and is an SMPTE member, active on the W25 Metadata/Wrapper Technology and N26 File Management and Networking Technology committees. He has a B.A. in Film from UCLA.