9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Track III:
The Networked Entertainment Home - the PVR/DVR – the Set-Top & PC Entertainment Server
The home entertainment server is about one basic idea - to deliver more and varied media-rich content to the consumer - giving consumers what they want, when they want it. But the battle for this consumer sector is about to assert itself as a competition of technologies, more complicated than the older battle of the home PC vs. the TV. This is a world containing the set-top box, the PVR, the PC and a host of other devices. The next generation of DTV/Set-Top/PC home entertainment server will come into the battle delivering Internet, music, games, movies, plus innovative two-way communications and telephony services that the old set-top provider was only beginning to deliver. This battle for the home will be a tremendous winner for both the consumer as well as for the content industry. It presents the simple proposition that offering the consumer more and richer services in a competitive environment is the perfect formula for success.
David B. Davies, Vice President of Strategic Marketing for Subscriber Networks, Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.
James Behrens, Chief Executive Officer, Orb Networks
Charlie Gonsalves, Business Development Manager, Streaming Media Group, Texas Instruments
Ken Nelson, President & CEO, CACMedia
Gordon Paulus, Senior Marketing Manager, Digital Entertainment, Maxtor
Jan-Luc Blakborn, North America Digital Entertainment Category Manager, Digital Entertainment Products, Hewlett-Packard Company
Ben Mendelson, founder & President, Interactive Television Alliance, Moderator
Jan-Luc Blakborn, North America Digital Entertainment Category Mana
ger, Digital Entertainment Products, Hewlett-Packard Company: Jan-Luc Blakborn is the Digital Entertainment Category Manager for HP’s Consumer Products and is responsible for digital entertainment products, category management and strategy for North America. Drawing upon 15 years of consumer electronics and personal computer expertise in international sales and marketing, Jan-Luc has helped HP to successfully enter into the consumer digital entertainment space. Jan-Luc’s responsibilities cover a number of categories including flat-panel and rear-projection digital television sets, home theater projectors and Digital Entertainment Centers. Prior to this assignment, Jan-Luc was the Director of Channel Development for handheld products. In this role, Jan-Luc managed the relationship and marketing efforts with key sales channels and sales teams. Notable accomplishments during his tenure include successfully developing the handheld business at U.S. retail by growing unit sales and revenue to over 60% of all HP handheld sales and increasing retail unit share from 6% to a record high of 23%. Jan-Luc played an integral part of the merger team between Compaq and HP for the interpersonal services group. As one of the leads for Compaq Latin America, he and his HP counterpart together developed recommendations for the future Personal Systems Group (PSG) management in the new HP Latin American market. Prior to HP, Jan-Luc held various global leadership positions at Philips Consumer Electronics, including the Director of Global Marketing and Sales for the digital entertainment group. Jan-Luc’s achievements there include directing the simultaneous launch of Philips’ first convergence product (PC-TV) in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Jan-Luc holds a Master of Science degree in Business Economics, with a specialty in Marketing Management, from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands. He is fluent in Dutch, English, Portuguese, Spanish and German. While attending Erasmus University, Jan-Luc participated in the MBA exchange program with Michigan State University (1988) and received the Kuhlmeijer Marketing Award for best marketing assignment of the year (1989).David B. Davies, Vice President of Strategic Marketing for Subscribe
r Networks, Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.: Dave Davies currently serves as Vice President of Strategic Marketing for Subscriber Networks, Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. In his role, Davies is responsible for Scientific-Atlanta’s product marketing and business development for all subscriber-facing products including the Explorer“ line of interactive set-tops and cable modems. In addition, he is responsible for strategy and marketing for the most popular cable services including digital video recording (DVR), high-definition television (HDTV) and video-on-demand (VOD.) Most recently, Davies directed the launch of Explorer® 8000HD™ with DVR. This revolutionary product merges the pristine picture quality of HDTV with Digital Video Recording capabilities to enable consumers to watch whatever they want whenever they want to.Prior to assuming his current position at Scientific Atlanta, Davies was a Senior Associate with Booz, Allen & Hamilton Inc, a leading global strategy and management consulting firm, where he focused on both corporate and operations strategy. He also has prior experience in the areas of system engineering and product development and manufacturing at various technology companies. Davies is a member of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and has recently spoken at several industry conferences including Digital Hollywood, Kagan, CTAM, and CES. Davies has an M.B.A. from Harvard University Graduate School of Business, an M.S./M.E. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.S./M.E. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.James Behrens, Chief Executive Officer, Orb Networks: Behrens is a serial
entrepreneur working with his sixth start-up company – three of which are now public companies and the other two were acquired by other technology companies. Prior to Orb Networks, Behrens held the following positions: chief executive office at Snaketech, president of SIS Microelectronics and executive vice president of engineering at Applied Medical. He also held senior management roles at Cadence Design Systems for nine years and executive positions with technology companies for the last 15 years in management, sales management, engineering, and marketing. Behrens holds two U.S. patents and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Science from Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, Col.Ken Nelson, President & CEO, CACMedia: As President and CEO of CACMedia, Ken is responsible for executing the operations of the company with special attention to charting out and executing product strategy, vision, and key business development initiatives. In addition, Ken oversees the various relationships with OEM manufacturers and technology partners that enhance CAC’s products and services. Nelson has over 8 years experience as a technology entrepreneur with businesses extending data and media to consumer electronics and mobile devices via IP network infrastructure. Prior to CAC Media, Nelson founded Brokenremote.tv (which he sold to Video Without Boundaries {OTCBB: VDWB} in 2003), an online news portal supporting the industry convergence of the Computing, Interactive TV, Video On Demand, and Consumer Electronics. In 1977, Nelson founded Astata Corporation. As CEO, Nelson led financing ($4 million), sales and new product development. Astata was an early leader in providing software and solutions, extending enterprise applications to all major wireless data networks and devices, to customers such as Sony, CitiGroup, Wit Capital, and Lehman Brothers. Prior to Astata, Nelson was with Smith Barney where he supervised purchasing, technology controls as well as planning and analysis. Ken was responsible for the successful integration of the firm's trading technology systems and vendor management during the merger/relocation with Shearson Lehman in the mid-1990s. Nelson also directed a team in developing and implementing an agreement with IBM to link Smith Barney and its customers on the Internet in the mid-1990s.
Gordon Paulus, Senior Marketing Manager, Digital Entertainment, Maxtor
: As senior marketing manager within Maxtor’s Digital Entertainment group, Gordon Paulus is responsible for strategic segment planning and product positioning for Maxtor’s QuickView consumer electronics hard drives. His responsibilities also include business planning and execution, market segment requirements and partner alliances. Prior to joining Maxtor in 2001, Mr. Paulus served as the product marketing and channel development manager for BroadLogic Network Technologies. At BroadLogic, Gordon managed product strategy, drove channel programs and strategic partner alliances for the company with customers like Scientific-Atlanta, Convergent Media Systems and SkyStream Networks. Prior to BroadLogic, Mr. Paulus worked with Adaptec in their Satellite Networking Group as the lead product line manager responsible for product development, marketing and technical roadmaps for OEM satellite service customers. Mr. Paulus has more than 12 years of marketing experience in the high tech and consumer electronics industry. He has held various video and data storagemarketing positions at StreamLogic as well as Micropolis. Mr. Paulus earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.Charlie Gonsalves serves as the Business Development Manager for Texas Instruments’ Streaming Media group responsible for generating new business as well as driving the strategic direction and managing relationships with customers and partners. In his previous roles at TI, Gonsalves worked in strategic marketing for ADSL CPE chipsets in the Broadband group and the Modem Business Manager within the DSP organization. Prior joining TI ten years ago, Gonsalves served as a program manager at Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. Gonsalves holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA from Georgia State University.
Ben Mendelson is the founder and president of the Interactive Television
Alliance, an independent trade association representing the broad interests of the entire iTV industry. He is also the co-founder and sr. partner in 2degree Partners, a management consultancy involved in iTV, Direct Response TV, and integrated online services. Ben has been an innovator in developing interactive "t-commerce" applications and has been involved in New Media marketing from its earliest days. He was a founding member of Digital Bayside and the Addressable Media Coalition and has held leadership positions in various organizations, including the Electronic Retailing Assoc. (ERA) and the Assoc. of Interactive Media (AIM). In January 1994, he started one of the first commercial Internet companies, where his clients included Sony Pictures, HBO, House of Blues, Philips Media, and Graham Nash. In 1996, Ben created the Internet Services Division for Curtco Freedom Publishing, where he designed online versions of various magazines including HomeTheater, Entertainment@Home, and Mobile Computing. In 1999, he developed the Internet division for Williams Direct, a full service Direct Response TV (DRTV) advertising agency. Later that year, Ben was hired to head the Internet program for the Electronic Retailing Association, the primary trade organization for the DRTV industry. In April 2000, Ben became VP of Business Development for the Winterberry Group, a research based consultancy that specializes in Direct Marketing; his focus was integrating iTV / DRTV and developing new business models. Prior to his Internet experience (from 1982 - 1991), Ben was the owner and director of LAPA (L.A. Art Photographers Association), an art gallery and resource center for commercial and fine art photography. In 1992, he founded PhotoSource, a showcase, service bureau, and training center for digital imaging. Ben has long established relationships with EarthLink, Netscape/AOL, and WebTV/MicrosoftTV along with Liberate, OpenTV, Wink, QVC, HSN, and Guthy-Renker. He has taught at the American Film Institute(AFI), UCLA Extension, So. CA Institute of Architecture(SCIArch), L.A. Internet Group, and the Learning Annex. Ben writes a regular column for Response Magazine and has been published in MediaTrends, Digitrends, Retailing.org, and Entertainment@Home. He is on the advisory board of the American Film Institute (AFI) Enhanced TV Program and is a familiar speaker at many iTV, Internet, and Direct Marketing conferences.