Tuesday, March 6 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM Session E: Interactive TV/DTV Software & Programming Solutions There are two sides to the set-top box, Internet, Interactive TV and DTV introduction, one is to have the hardware in place, the other is to have ready the programming solutions that make it useful and dynamic for the TV viewer. Whether it is going to be called ETV Enhanced Television, TVs with Interactive Programming, multi-plexed TV viewing, or Customized or Personalized TV, there are a group of companies who have set the stage for this next TV generation, and we are pleased to have them represented at this session. Skip Pizzi, Technical Manager, Worldwide Television Standards & Strategy, Microsoft Corp. Rob Glidden, Market Development Manager, Broadband and iTV, Sun Microsystems Manu Mehta, President & CEO, Metabyte Networks Haig Krakirian, Senior Vice President Software Engineering, Pioneer Sharon Brown, CMO, OpenTV Fran Helms, Director of Infrastructure Partners, Liberate Technologies John Zierk, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Teralogic, Moderator Manu Mehta, Founder, President and CEO, Metabyte Networks: Mr. Mehta founded Metabyte, Inc. in 1993 as an entertainment and information technology firm. He grew the company's licensing and consulting business into a profitable enterprise, employing over one hundred people. He invested company profits to incubate the development of technologies, such as Wicked3D and MbTV. Wicked3D,the stereoscopic viewing technology, holds a dominant share of the worldwide market of PC gaming. MbTV was spun out as a separate company called Metabyte Networks, Inc. in 1999. Before founding Metabyte, Inc., Mr. Mehta was with Texas Instruments from 1984 to 1993 in various marketing, business development and management positions. Prior to Texas Instruments, he was a design engineer with Micro-Link Corporation, an industrial control company. Mr. Mehta holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and an MS degree in Computer Engineering from Ohio State University. John Zierk, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Teralogic: With over 14 years experience in sales, marketing, and design engineering, Jon has succeeded in attracting leading consumer electronics companies to TeraLogic as both customers and partners. Before joining the company, Jon was Director of Asia-Pacific and Worldwide Automotive Sales at One Touch Systems, a leading provider of interactive satellite video, voice, and data communications solutions. He also served as Director of Marketing, and subsequently Vice President of Sales, at Information Storage Devices, a semiconductor supplier to the consumer and communications markets. He received his BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, where he earned the Skilling Award in recognition of his teaching contribution as a graduate student. Haig Krakirian, Senior Vice President Software Engineering, Pioneer: As vice president of software engineering at Pioneer, Krakirian is responsible for developing and producing interactive applications for digital set-top boxes. Pioneer’s Passport, is a comprehensive digital navigation suite of applications incorporating an interactive program guide, impulse pay-per-view, and video on demand features. Prior to joining Pioneer, he was director of engineering at Time Warner Cable Broadband Applications, where he led the software development group in creating CDROM and ITV applications, including shopping and sports applications for the company’s Full Service Network trial in Orlando, FL. He is a frequent presenter including Digital Hollywood and SCTE Cable Tec Expo. Haig holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California. Skip Pizzi, Technical Manager, Worldwide Television Standards & Strategy, Microsoft: Skip Pizzi is Technical Manager for Worldwide Television Standards & Strategy at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington. Among his primary duties is representing Microsoft at various digital television standards bodies, including the ATSC, DVB, OpenCable and TV Anytime organizations. Skip currently serves as Secretary to the T3/S17 (DASE) Subcommittee of the ATSC, which is developing a standard for interactive television in North American DTV. He is also Technology Committee chair for the International Webcasting Association. Skip previously served as Audio Technical Manager for the Microsoft’s Media Services Department, where he oversaw the technical operation and maintenance of Microsoft’s in-house digital audio production facilities. Prior to joining Microsoft, Skip spent seven years with Primedia/Intertec Publishing as Technical Editor of Broadcast Engineering magazine and Editor-in-chief of BE Radio magazine. He continues to write regularly for broadcast, media-production and computer industry trade publications, and currently serves as Executive Editor for BE Radio. He also provides new-technology consulting services for public broadcasters and performance venues around the world. Earlier in his career, Skip spent 13 years as a technical director, engineering supervisor and technical training coordinator at National Public Radio in Washington, DC, where he was involved in the production of numerous award-winning programs, and the creation of many technical training projects. He currently serves as a member of the Distribution and Interconnection Committee of NPR’s Board of Directors. Skip’s book, Digital Radio Basics, was published in 1992, and he is a contributing author to the NAB Engineering Handbook, the McGraw-Hill Digital Consumer Electronics Handbook, the CRC Press/IEEE Electronics Handbook and several other technical references and texts. He is a member of the editorial board for the Focal Encyclopedia of Electronic Media (a CD-ROM reference) and the upcoming 24-volume Wiley/IEEE Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is currently at work on contributions for McGraw-Hill’s upcoming Interactive TV Survival Guide. Skip studied Physics, International Economics and Fine Arts at Georgetown University, graduating in 1975. He is a member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE). He is the recipient of the AES Board of Governors Award and the Public Radio PRRO Award.