Monday, October 1 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM Session A: ITV/ETV Portals - Entry Point to Content, E-Commerce and the Television Interface Now that the reality of ITV and ETV is upon us, the TV experience is about to enter a new world of portals and the elbowing for onscreen viewing space, not unlike portal competition on the PC. The relationship between the TV viewer, the remote handheld device and the TV interface will be going through significant changes in the next few years. He who controls the gateway will have massive influence over the entire viewing experience, effecting advertising, commerce as well as the ability of the viewer to receive programming. The ITV/ETV portal will not be a simple product, but will more likely emerge from the relationships between the TV programmers, advertisers and technology manufacturers. Tim Bucher, Vice President of Consumer Products, UltimateTV, Microsoft Corp. AOL-TV, speaker to be announced Bo Wu, CEO, EnReach John Esrey, Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development, MetaTV Rick Portin, EVP Production, Steeplechase Terrence Coles, SVP, Programming, Intertainer Ed Knudson, SVP, Business Development, Intellocity Todd Lash, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy and Alliances, co-founder, RespondTV, Moderator Bo Wu, President & CEO of EnReach Technology, Inc.: Mr. Bo Wu is a co-founder of EnReach Technology Inc. Under his visionary direction, millions of households throughout Asia have selected the popular DVD/VCD player that runs on the EnReach TV enhanced software. The software become a PRC national standard. Currently, EnReach is working with top broadband service providers around the world using its leading video over IP embedded software. Before establishing EnReach Technology, Inc., Mr. Wu founded Talent Communications, Inc., which developed embedded Internet software technology. Mr. Wu also serves as the chairman of Lalasho, Inc., an eBusiness Infrastructure software provider in China, and also on the board of three other high-tech companies. Mr. Wu' s other professional experience includes his tenure as a senior software engineer at AMD. Mr. Wu has published seven research papers, and also been the author of numerous patents and patent pending applications. Mr. Wu received his MSCS from Western Michigan University and BSCS from the top ranked university in China, Tsinghua University. He was also retained as a faculty researcher after-graduating from Tsinghua University. Rick Portin, Executive Vice President, Steeplechase Media Inc., creating, developing and implementing enhanced interactive television, broadband television, wireless, data programming and virtual set top box channels. Mr. Portin produced over 200 hours of interactive television last year. Currently Steeplechase has several virtual channels in production for set top boxes. Mr. Portin was Executive Producer for Microsoft Interactive Television where he was instrumental in creating interactive television infrastructure and programming. At Microsoft he developed some of the first interactive television programs. He also developed concepts for integrating technology into homes of the future. Before that, he was Vice President Production at Movietime/E! Entertainment Television Network in Hollywood, where he managed the creative and technical operations for the 24-hour national cable network. Mr. Portin also was Director of Production for Viacom, where he managed various production operations and developed cable network and production strategy. Todd Lash, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy and Alliances, co-founder, RespondTV: As SVP of Product Strategy at RespondTV, Mr. Lash was instrumental in launching the first interactive standards based TV commerce application on broadcast TV, and is currently responsible for forging alliances with Interactive TV technology firms. Prior to RespondTV, Mr. Lash was Director Product Marketing of AOL’s Internet Services Division. At AOL, Mr. Lash was responsible for software product design and rollout of the fourth largest national ISP (GNN) and Ecommerce platform. Prior to AOL, as Director of New Technology, at Global Network Navigator (GNN) the first commercial Internet portal service, Mr. Lash launched numerous Internet marketing services including Directories, Banner advertising and Ecommerce applications. Mr. Lash's technology background includes 15 years experience developing and marketing interactive consumer and enterprise management software products and services, including GroupWare, Workflow, Business Process Management, Electronic Messaging, and Consumer Online Services. Mr. Lash also held positions as Software Development and Product Manager for Lotus Notes’ integrator Quality Decision Management, Inc., and Action Technologies, Inc. Mr. Lash received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. John Esrey, Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development, MetaTV: John Esrey is the vice president of strategy and corporate development for MetaTV. As such, he is responsible for strategic initiatives including alliance negotiations as well as investor relations. Esrey's career spans 11 years with leading companies in the banking, entertainment, and Internet industries. Prior to joining MetaTV in March 1999, Esrey was with the San Francisco Consulting Group (SFCG). As a consultant, Mr. Esrey worked with a number of companies in the entertainment and Internet space including Disney, Universal Studios, MGM, and DirecPC. Prior to joining SFCG, Esrey spent a number of years in the investment banking and private equity industries where he worked for companies including Dillon Read & Co. and The Chart Group. Mr. Esrey's expertise brings a broad spectrum of talents including: business plan creation, financial reporting/forecasting, and capitalization plans as well as strategic initiatives for the television production/distribution and retail, including home entertainment, security, and housewares. Esrey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Duke University and an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles. Tim Bucher, Vice President of Consumer Products, UltimateTV, Microsoft Corp.: An expert at developing revolutionary products for a variety of low-cost consumer platforms, Tim Bucher is responsible for the client technology that underpins UltimateTV’s interactive products. He oversees all product development activities with UltimateTV licensees and has been responsible for the shipment more than 27 designs during the last 5 years in the U.S. and Asia. An original employee of the company, Bucher came to UltimateTV from interactive gaming systems pioneer, 3DO. Holding a variety of engineering management slots, he was instrumental in the development of the 3DO gaming console, as well as in the company’s innovative merging of full-motion video and computer graphics. Prior to 3DO, Bucher was an engineering manager at NeXT Computer where he led the design and manufacturing of NeXT’s award-winning NeXTstation products along with other cutting edge computer systems. Before NeXT, Bucher was lead engineer on several early-generation workstations at Sun Microsystems including the first desktop SPARC workstation. Bucher, who holds several patents in computer design, interactive TV, and multimedia technologies, graduated from University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, and from Stanford with a Master’s degree in computer architecture. Terrence Coles, SVP, Programming, Intertainer: As Intertainer's Senior Vice President, Programming, Terrence Coles is responsible for content acquisition, e-commerce, advertising and enhanced television programming for the broadband entertainment on demand service. Prior to joining Intertainer, he served as the Southwest account manager for Lycos and as an advertising and sales executive for AOL's Digital City, Los Angeles. Mr. Coles holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in marketing and advertising from California State University, Fullerton. Ed Knudson, SVP, Business Development, Intellocity: Ed Knudson has more than 17 years of product management, business development and user interface design experience in the computer and cable television industries. Knudson joined Intellocity from AT&T where he was Vice President of Content Development for the Broadband and Internet Services group. Prior to joining AT&T, Knudson was instrumental in the design, development and launch of TV Guide Interactive, the first interactive program guide for digital cable television. Knudson hold four U.S. and six international patents with several pending from his work at TV Guide. Prior to joining TV Guide, Knudson was a co-founder and Vice President for MindWorks Corporation. He spent the fist 10 years of his career with Hewlett-Packard in various product management and marketing positions at HP’s desktop scanner division.