Tuesday, October 2 10:45 AM - Noon Track A: Set-Top Box as Entertainment Super Appliance: PVR, ISP, PPV, MP3 Receiver and More, Part II In part two of the Set-Top Box Super-Appliance session, we continue the exploration of the future of the set-top. As home entertainment continues its growth, expands to new services and enhances the quality of the product, the set-top box will be the final determinant in the equation. Just as the VCR and the remote revolutionized TV in the 80s, the set-top box, will be the gateway to DTV and the future of entertainment in the home. As the next generation of set-tops reaches the consumer, the content industry will undoubtedly begin its next boom. Steve Shannon, Vice President Marketing, ReplayTV Anup Murarka, VP Strategic and Product Marketing, OpenTV Erik Ekkel, Director, Solutions & Business Development, Philips Components Ken Soohoo, CEO, Planetweb Thomas Sulzer, founder and Chief Executive Officer, MoodLogic Robert Ferrari, Evangelist of Emerging Technologies, Moderator Ken Soohoo, Co-Founder, President and CEO, has led the technical evolution of Planetweb since its founding in 1996. Under Soohoo's leadership, Planetweb has grown from a small team of software developers delivering their first product in the fall of 1996 to over 4 million units shipped today. From cornerstone partnerships in the gaming market with Sega and the Japanese version of the PlayStation® 2, Ken is bringing his software and engineering expertise to the forefront by delivering Planetweb technology to the market. Planetweb has secured strategic partnerships with DVD chipmakers including C-Cube, National Semiconductor, LuxSonor, VM Labs and Zoran. Planetweb is also creating unions with various device manufacturers, ISPs, and content and service providers to deliver a complete enhanced entertainment experience for consumers. With a background in software engineering and programming, Ken has held key executive positions with Planetweb, Inc., Digital Pictures, Inc., and engineering positions with Momenta Corporation and Atari. Before co-founding Planetweb in March of 1996, Mr. Soohoo was vice president of engineering at Digital Pictures, Inc. where he led the company's program to develop games for 32-bit video game consoles. Prior to Digital Pictures, Mr. Soohoo held engineering positions with Momenta Corporation and Atari. Mr. Soohoo is personally credited with developing nine video game titles and currently holds several patents in the area of Digital Video Editing. Mr. Soohoo's career is built upon his vision of bringing Internet access to the masses through consumer electronic devices such as gaming consoles, iDVD players and set-top boxes. Mr. Soohoo holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Charlie G. Tritschler, Vice President of Marketing, Liberate Technologies: Mr. Tritschler is vice president of marketing, with responsibility for all product strategy, marketing communications, developer services, and creative services. His role includes guidance of the strategic direction of Liberate and its core products, the company’s highly successful PopTV Partner program, and the communication of these efforts to all external audiences. Previously, Tritschler was the director of product marketing at Liberate. In this position he oversaw the development and shipment of Liberate's first information appliance software products, which have evolved into the leading standards-based software platform for the delivery of enhanced television services. Before joining Liberate, Tritschler held support, sales, and marketing positions for nine years at Apple Computer, Inc. In his role as the product line manager for the PowerBook division, he was responsible for the PowerBook 500 series in 1994, and oversaw the PowerBook 1400 in 1995, and the 3400 family of notebooks in 1997. He began his career as a marketing consultant in Boston, working for companies such as Kodak, Reebok, and ConAgra to develop growth strategies for new business. Tritschler is a founding member of the Northern California Chapter of the Cable Television Association of Marketers, serving as the group’s vice president. He is a frequent speaker at industry events, including Kagan Conferences, the Western Cable Show, and the TV Internet Conference held by the National Association of Television Arts & Sciences. Mr. Tritschler received his B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College in 1987. Anup Murarka, VP Strategic and Product Marketing, OpenTV: Anup Murarka is Vice President, Strategy and Product Marketing. He is responsible for a worldwide team that assists in helping OpenTV's customers and the market at large understand more about OpenTV's offerings and technologies. From product definition and requirements to product release and positioning, Murarka is involved in all aspects of OpenTV's solution offering. He is an active spokesperson for the company with customers, technology and financial analysts and industry events. Murarka comes to OpenTV from Spyglass, Inc. an Internet technology company that merged with OpenTV in July 2000. At Spyglass, Mr. Murarka held a variety of management roles in engineering, professional services and sales. Most recently, he was Vice President, Interactive TV and was responsible for defining and directing Spyglass efforts within ITV. He has also held a variety of management positions at leading technology companies such as Apple Computer, Inc., The 3DO Company and SurfWatch. Bob Ferrari is a highly visible and respected 12 year industry veteran of emerging technology sectors, such as electronics, communications, and internet appliances ( IAs). As a pioneer and evangelist of emerging technologies and internet based devices, Bob offers a wealth of experience, insight, contacts and relationships within emerging sectors. His extensive executive background includes management, strategic planning, corporate development, sales, marketing, and communications. He has been fortunate to serve and steer the strategic direction of global public companies like Philips Electronics and a range of start-up companies. Bob’s core management and business foundation was developed when he held a broad range of executive positions, such as Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Philips Electronics - a global leader in electronics and information appliance solutions. His tenure in the start-up sector includes executive roles at technology start-ups such as Merinta Inc, where he serves as Chief Strategy Officer, overseeing corporate development, Sales and Marketing. He also held executive positions at the Internet Appliance Network, and ZipLink Inc, as well as founding and managing Global Resources & Associates Inc - a management consulting group. Beyond his management obligations, Bob contributes his personal time and effort to evangelizing the internet appliance sector by participating in industry associations and events. His involvement includes Director of Corporate Development for i-Appliance Association( www.i-appliance.org) ; Advisory Committee for Penton Media’s Electronics Group/Internet Device Builders Conference( www.idevicebuilder.com) ; and Advisory Board of NetAppliance Conference (www.netapplianceconference.com). He routinely appears at industry events as keynote speaker, presenter, panelist and chairperson. Thomas Sulzer, founder and Chief Executive Officer, MoodLogic: Tom Sulzer is a visionary and passionate entrepreneur with more than 15 years in general management, strategic marketing, and technology management in both startups and Fortune 500 companies. Just prior to founding MoodLogic, Tom led a successful repositioning and restructuring of the $150 million Concord and Movado Watch companies, effectively quadrupling the company's stock value. Previously, he co-founded TBN, a provider of online financial data and charting software for Swiss financial institutions. Tom also controls a private equity firm in Switzerland, and serves on the board of several European companies. Tom started his career as a systems control engineer in robotics. He quickly moved up to lead an industrial automation business unit of a European Fortune 500 conglomerate, Tom has a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering, and has completed several executive programs at IMI and Wharton Business School. Erik Ekkel, Director, Solutions & Business Development, Emerging Electronic Solutions, Philips Components: Erik Ekkel is a leading figure within Philips in the creation and management of partnerships and alliances. Just recently he was general manager of the Set-Top Box Applications team within the Digital Networks division. Erik has been responsible for internal and external partnerships created to develop value-added set-top box consumer applications with both major companies like Kodak and Agilent and with Philips investment ventures such as ClickRadio. These partnerships are designed to apply Philips set-top boxes as the platform for revenue generation for Philips and the partner. Erik holds an MBA in Business Administration from Arnhem Business School, and a BA in Software Engineering from Enschede Technical University, both in the Netherlands. Erik joined Philips in 1986, after completing his military service in the Royal Dutch Air Force. For the first seven years of his Philips career, Erik worked in the development of the first multimedia PCs, within the Philips Information Systems group based in The Netherlands. In 1993 Erik joined Philips Media Systems, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, playing a key role in the business development of one of the first truly convergent digital content platforms, Compact Disc Interactive (CD-i), the pioneering disc-based multimedia platform for entertainment and information. During this time Erik developed his enthusiasm for the development of industry partnerships, working with companies like Intel, Compaq and Microsoft to integrated interactive CD technology into the PC environment. At the launch of DVD in 1996, Erik joined Philips Disc Systems to develop DVD applications within the entertainment and consumer electronics industries. During this time Erik applied his skills in partnership management to work with the major players in these domains, such as MGM, Columbia Pictures, PolyGram and Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony and Matsushita. In 1998 Erik moved with his family to California to apply his industry alliance skills in Silicon Valley and, in particular, in Philips’ strategic relationship with Microsoft in the launch of WebTV. This role soon broadened out to encompass Philips’ overall develop of television-based Internet products, as well as the TiVo Personal TV project, with the objective of creating a product roadmap for broadband digital content gateway devices for the home.