10:45 AM - Noon
Track B:
Peer to Peer as an Entertainment Business Strategy - Developing Business Models - Technology & Entertainment Companies Define a New Sector, Part I
The arrival of MP3, Napster and its P2P look-alikes have changed the entertainment industry forever. The genie is out of the bottle and it is the task of this session, to creatively explore and to understand how the technology behind the Napster experience can help point the way toward Entertainment industry innovation. This is not about giving music away for free or throwing out copyright laws, it is about opening up the business experience, breaking down business models and trotting out new ideas in baby steps. The perfect “Jukebox in the Sky” is not about to fall into our laps, so it behooves the experts in the technology and entertainment industries to open up their crystal balls and invent a host of innovative P2P business models. The future is waiting!
Paul Distefano, PhD, President and CEO, ChainCast Networks
Geoffrey W. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Interbind
Marc Steatham, Chief Marketing Officer, AllCast
Steve Frison, President and Chief Operating Officer, CenterSpan Communications Corporation
Ty Roberts, Chief Technology Officer, Gracenote (formerly CDDB)
Sun Microsystems, speaker to be announced
Jack Kay, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hotline Communications, Moderator
Marc Steatham, Chief Marketing Officer, AllCast: Mr. Steatham is responsible for Marketing, Strategy and Business Development. He has over 16 years experience leading marketing and business development efforts in the telecommunications and Internet infrastructure sectors. Mr. Steatham was the Senior Director for Marketing and Business Development for the Americas for Madge.web, a major European content delivery network. Previously, he held senior management positions with British Telecommunications North America from 1994 to 1999. Mr. Steatham began his career with British Telecommunications in 1988, and worked in Germany and Japan before coming to work in the company’s United States operations. Mr. Steatham is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the United Kingdom. He is a Graduate of Leeds University.
Paul Distefano, President and CEO of ChainCast Networks, Inc. is responsible for
managing the worldwide executive activities of the company including sales, marketing, engineering and operations. Distefano has served in his present position since joining the company in 1999. Mr. Distefano's 20 years experience in senior management positions within high-tech industries provides him with the experience and leadership skills that are essential in forming the company's solid organizational structure. His expertise includes managing operating units and directing domestic and international sales/marketing divisions at large multi-national corporations and emerging growth companies. Prior to his tenure at ChainCast Networks, Mr. Distefano was a key executive in two successful start-up companies. He founded Republic Telecom Systems (now Netrix) well-known for manufacturing and marketing high quality voice/data switching systems. Mr. Distefano was directly responsible for developing global strategic marketing relationships with AT&T, British Telecom in Europe and NTT in Japan as well as 30 other distributors around the world. In addition to Republic, Mr. Distefano has been engaged in a management consultancy throughout the Silicon Valley where he focused on directing sales and marketing strategies for well-known Internet software and service companies. Before that, Mr. Distefano directed domestic and international operations for a major business unit of United Telecom in Kansas City (now Sprint) where he was responsible for building one of the first packet-switched public data networks in the world. He was one of several key executives involved in the development and marketing of what is now SprintNet.Steve Frison, President and Chief Operating Officer, CenterSpan Communications Corpo
ration: Steve Frison joined CenterSpan in February 2000, serving as the company's Senior Vice President of Product Development and Chief Technical Officer. Mr. Frison came to CenterSpan from nCUBE Corporation, the world4s leading developer of interactive streaming media servers. As Vice President of Product Development for nCUBE, he was instrumental in developing nCUBE4s next generation MediaCube 4 Video Server. Prior to joining nCUBE, Mr. Frison was Chief Technology Officer of Complete Business Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBSI), where he led the development of a Java framework for web-enabled business applications. Mr. Frison also held key engineering management positions at Intel Corporation where he helped lead the development of ProShare in the Personal Conferencing Division and served as Engineering Manager of the Supercomputer Systems Division. Mr. Frison received his B.S. Mathematics/Computer Science from Portland State University.Geoffrey Smith co-founded Interbind in April 2000. He has led corporate development
and raised over $200 million in equity from the public and private markets for technology and Internet companies. These companies include EarthWeb (Nasdaq: EWBX), a provider of Internet-based online services to the IT community; Tavolo, a consumer oriented e-commerce company; and AHT Corporation (Nasdaq: AHTC), a provider of Internet-based clinical e-commerce software. In addition, he has helped these companies complete key acquisitions (EarthWeb's acquisition of Dice.com; AHT's acquisition of Bukstel & Halfpenny) and increase revenues (EarthWeb from less than $1 million to over $30 million; AHT from less than $1 million to over $60 million). Earlier in his career, Geoff was a corporate attorney in New York City with White & Case and O'Sullivan, Graev & Karabell. Prior to receiving his law degree, he served as a Research Associate at Harvard Business School completing case studies on technology companies including Applied Materials, IBM Japan and Canon. Geoff received a B.A. from Williams College and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.Dale (Ty) Roberts, Chief Technology Officer, Gracenote (formerly CDDB): Roberts joined Gracenote (formerly CDDB) in November of 1998 when Gracenote acquired ION, a multimedia and music technology company that he founded in 1993. Roberts serves as Gracenote’s chief strategist, providing technology direction and overseeing the creation of products and services that leverage the power of the Gracenote database to deliver multimedia content to consumers. He is Gracenote’s representative to the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), organization that is chartered with establishing standards for digital music and music playing devices. While at ION, Roberts was the company’s lead technologist and was widely recognized in the music industry as one of the inventors of enhanced CD technology. ION was an innovator in adding multimedia content to traditional audio CDs and produced some of the recording industry’s first enhanced audio CD titles, including David Bowie’s "Jump" and "Headcandy" from Brian Eno. ION was also widely recognized as a leading provider of enhanced CD production tools utilized by recording and multimedia development companies. In September 1993, Bertlesmann Music Group acquired a 50 percent interest in ION and together created the first interactive record label. Prior to founding ION, Roberts was a founder and senior manager of LightSource, a software development company that produced multimedia and graphics editing software. He was also a senior engineer at Pixar and a creator of a number of award winning Apple-based music applications including "Studio Session" and "Jam Session."
Jack Kay, 54, is president and chief executive officer of Hotline Communications (ww
w.bigredh.com), the pioneer of peer-to-peer communications and community-building software. His responsibilities include defining Hotline’s business strategy, positioning the company apart from other Peer-to-Peer (P2P) companies/technologies in the industry, and identifying market and alliance opportunities. Jack brings more than 25 years of experience in the computer and software industries to Hotline. His combination of management skills, public company experience, and internet and high tech knowledge are critical as Hotline evolves from a freenet P2P file-sharing technology into a solid business application for use among portals, auction sites and Business-to-Business Netmarkets. Prior to joining Hotline, Jack served as president and chief executive officer of Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: PTEC), a world leader in systems enabling software. Jack’s many accomplishments at Phoenix include creating the single largest virtual-brand PC for its internet partners and increasing the company’s market capitalization by more than a factor of 8. Jack holds a Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry from Wayne State University, an MBA in Marketing from New York University and a BA from Hunter College, City University of New York.Aron Campisano, CEO and Co-Founder, FILMSPEED: Aron Campisano is the CE
O of FILMSPEED, a provider of complete, one-stop services around secure motion picture distribution to every online environment, including peer-to-peer trading clients and portable devices. Aron's career in digital video entertainment includes producing credits from companies including Disney Interactive and CNET, where he developed his expertise in digital video development, optimization, compression, and delivery. He is a graduate of New York University's department of Film & Television.|