April 30, 2008

8:00 - 9:00

Registration and Breakfast

9:00 - 9:45

Keynote Presentation
Content Still is King – How Movies Will Shape Mobile Content Consumption
Bob Greene, Executive Vice President, Advanced Services
Starz Entertainment

One of pay TV’s leading premium programmers, Starz Entertainment has been uniquely positioned online with the only movie download service offering unlimited subscription feature films to PCs and portable media players in the United States. First viewed by some as an “over the top” play by a “traditional” cable/satellite programmer, Starz proved to be one of the visionary leaders and key trailblazers in the category.  Since launching its Vongo service in January 2006, the industry has witnessed a “thundering herd” of other video providers – both traditional and non-traditional – proliferate and join the growing category.  Join Starz’ lead executive in the Advanced Services group, Bob Greene, share key learnings to-date and offer up his thoughts on where the broader video download marketplace is headed for consumers, device manufacturers, and distributors.

9:45 - 10:30

Keynote Presentation
Moving From a Device Centric to a User Centric Model:  The 3-Screen Solution
Kay Johansson, Chief Technology Officer - MobiTV

What are the challenges that have to be overcome to create a seamless experience spanning from multiple devices and over multiple networks. The most known use cases are that you start watching a TV show on your TV at home, you move out of the home and pick up from where you left on your mobile phone, to then later pick the TV show back up on your computer. Consumers want to easily move their content (digital photos, music, video and data) and have it be device-agnostic.  Kay Johansson, MobiTV's CTO, will take you through the use cases and challenges with creating what is know as a "3-screen solution".

10:30 - 10:45

Break (Exhibits Open)

10:45 - 11:15

Donner Pass Ballroom

Mobile Rich Media Applications and Content Delivery
John Doyle, VP of Business Development, CommuniGate

The advances in mobile devices bring new rich media capabilities, and the availability of 3G has led to an explosion in mobile application development. The market, having been nascent in the United States, will model many concepts after Europe. Off Deck sources of content, nearly 70% of the market in Europe, and just 20% in the USA, will become an explosive opportunity to attract new sources of content. IP network traffic usage will become less interesting to the operator as a revenue model, when the services on top of that network become more financially attractive and require a more open usage model.

In this session, Jon Doyle will set out to explain the realities of the market as it exists today, and the burgeoning need to integrate media and content on the mobile device. As mobile handsets are now appearing with WiFi and SIP clients, the revenue models will change from traffic to content. Flash Lite, powerful video applications, and location based advertising, will attract, form  and drive new subscriber ARPU models.

Siskiyou Ballroom

Solving the Digital Media Dilemma: Unifying the Digital Entertainment Experience
Jonathan Symonds, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing, Media, at 2Wire

Having embraced digital media, consumers are ultimately disappointed to discover that file types are mismatched, platforms are proprietary, and media access is limited to specific devices and location. That's all about to dramatically change. Jonathan Symonds, 2Wire Vice President of Product Management and Marketing, Media at 2Wire will discuss what's in store for providing a fully integrated, end-to-end hardware and software platform of all things digital including television, other video, music, voice and data communications. For the customer, this will mean a seamless, unified digital entertainment experience from fixed to mobile devices with the ability to have their media in one place and access it via a single web portal from anywhere, through consistent, recognizable user interfaces. And because a unified digital entertainment experience is what customers yearn for -- streaming media means new revenue streams for service providers. Symonds will provide a case study and offer a demonstration of this game-changing converged communications platform that automatically aggregates all of the consumer's media in one place and enables time-shifting, place-shifting and device-shifting.

Cascade Ballroom

The True Converged Digital Home
Imran Hajimusa, Vice President, ACCESS Products, Infineon Technologies North America

With new multimedia services such as IPTV and other high-bandwidth applications, it becomes necessary to create services that will enhance the user experience up to from the home to portable applications. Home networking and a user-friendly gateway will be critical factors for bringing uninterrupted services to the home, while fixed-mobile convergence will help bring it to your portable devices. This presentation will cover the critical success factors to make this happen, including end-user factors, technology options for converged networks and business models.

11:15 - 11:30

Break (Exhibits Open)

11:30 - 12:00

Donner Pass Ballroom

Device-Shifting Made Easy - For the User
Steve Francis, CEO - Avtrex

Transferring video content from the PC to a portable device often requires complicated logistics and may require several steps to ensure that the result is encoded and packaged properly.  If the content isn't on a PC, it's even harder.  This presentation will describe a recent project to allow a PVR to sync content directly with a variety of portable devices, including industry-leading iPod's and the Play Station Portable.  The discussion will delve into some of the design tradeoffs, hardware and software requirements, and DRM limitations of the process.  The presentation will conclude with future extensions of this model, and the end-user advantages of a device-centric model, rather than a PC-centric model.

Siskiyou Ballroom

Fixed to Mobile Convergence: Mobility Shouldn’t Create a Disconnect
Jim Turner, VP of Product Management, Synacor

Service providers are looking for new ways to extend their brands and services to consumers beyond just the television and PC, but consumers don’t necessarily want to pay for more services that could be delivered via mobile devices.  And consumers haven’t yet discovered the value of existing mobile services because the convergence of fixed and mobile experiences isn’t as seamless as it should be and doesn’t always offer commonality in quality, ease of use and personalization. Jim Turner, vice president of product management, Synacor can provide his perspective on how fixed to mobile convergence should take place in the coming months to ensure that the mobile technology doesn’t become too cumbersome for consumers, therefore, discouraging them from adopting new services.  Jim can talk about how cable, telco and wireless service providers should collaborate on the design of a single online portal/user interface that consumers can access on any device using WAP protocols and other backend technology that will enable consumers to reap the benefits of anytime, anywhere access to data and entertainment that may outweigh the perceived downside of the smaller screen size.

Cascade Ballroom

User Configurable CE Devices
Code Cubitt, Motorola Ventures

This session will examine an emerging trend toward application specific internet devices such as MID (Mobile Internet Devices) or Snowflake platforms that take on context and meaning depending on the situation.  These emerging platforms are user configurable devices which do not fit into the normal three screens that people think about, but provide compelling converged voice, video and data services.  This session will examine the applications and usage models and technologies which are converging to enable a whole new class of consumer electronics platforms.

12:00 - 12:15

Break (Exhibits Open)

12:15 - 12:45

Donner Pass Ballroom

3D Content Security to Enable Three Screen Entertainment
Steve Oetegenn, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer - Verimatrix

Pay-TV operators increasingly realize that it is not enough to target the TV as the only outlet for their content services. Hence the PC has followed as a second screen, with mobile devices as a natural progression as the third. A “three screen world” poses content security challenges that go far beyond what pay-TV operators have been used to. It would be very cumbersome and expensive to operate three different content security systems, with all the overlap in functionality, but lack of interoperability, that is typically the case with conditional access (CA) or digital rights management (DRM) systems. This session will present the three dimensional approach to content security that includes CA, DRM, encryption and digital watermarking. It will also include an overview of existing and potentially future delivery business models that content security can ultimately help enable, rather than inhibit.

Siskiyou Ballroom

Creating a Single Platform for Video on CE Devices
John Gildred, SyncTV President and Pioneer Electronics SVP Development & Technology

Consumers who download video content do not want to be restricted to playback on PCs alone: They want a seamlessly converged system with plenty of options. The CE industry now has a golden opportunity to act in concert to develop a single platform for watching video on CE devices. This discussion will delve into the need for a single, open-standards platform to sync PCs, televisions and other CE devices to create a unified ecosystem for the consumer. John Gildred will examine how quickly this market is moving, and outline what CE manufacturers must do next to avoid getting left behind.

Cascade Ballroom

Developing Seamless User Experiences from Fixed to Mobile Devices
Brian Caskey, VP of Worldwide Marketing, UTStarcom, Inc.

IPTV is rapidly gaining exposure as the most important application for breathing new life and revenues into fixed-line broadband networks because, in reality, it is more than just a new video delivery method. It is about interactivity, personalization, hosting and convergence of Internet-based applications and services (such as distance learning, digital signage, user-generated content, etc.), advertising and video.

At the same time that this video landscape shift is occurring throughout the world, mobile users across the globe in the very same markets are rapidly expanding their interests beyond the basic services enabled by cell phones — voice, text messaging and voice mail — to digital media of all sorts, including video. Thus it seems only natural that as IPTV technology matures, IPTV services will be deployed over wireless broadband networks for viewing on mobile devices. But how will the evolution of IPTV from fixed to mobile networks occur?  This combination of FMC, wireless, and IPTV bundled together with the NGN at the network core will enable the evolution of a new concept called Fixed Mobile Entertainment (FME) — communications and multimedia access anywhere. Brian Caskey can explain exactly what FME is and what it will take for the industry to get there.

12:45 - 2:00

Lunch (Exhibits Open)

2:00 - 2:30

Donner Pass Ballroom

Keystone vs. Stepping Stone: Which Mobile Content Technologies are Here to Stay and What will be Gone Tomorrow
Richard Bullwinkle, Chief Evangelist - Macrovision Corporation

Media centers and home entertainment storage units are huge stepping stones for building the connected home media environment and speeding consumer adoption; in a few years time, these technologies may become obsolete as they give way to the “locker in the sky,” digital content as a service, models to achieve ubiquitous content access. But is ubiquity enough? Richard Bullwinkle will explore the keystone technologies that extend beyond access and reach towards a truly connected and mobile experience through content search, navigation and personalization and what content protection issues are involved. Discover nearly omnificent content – content that consumers can proactively or passively receive on the go that is customized to their location, their network of friends, their type of device and even their mood. Imagine receiving an alert on your iPhone about vacation photos from friends as soon as they are posted, or the newest episode of your favorite TV show, or the latest movie with your favorite actor, or playing songs that bring you sunshine on a cloudy day – all automatically. The keystone is intelligent data that adapts to a consumer’s lifestyle and keeps them connected to content from friends, family and providers in real-time.

Siskiyou Ballroom

Making Wi-Fi Content Discovery Easy for End Users
John Gordon, Chief Architect - Devicescape Software

Mobile device users are constantly in search of new innovations. Whether it is a new handset, software, service or technology, people want to be able to have the most cutting-edge and user-friendly options possible. While cellular technology is widely known as an efficient and practical method of communication and transmission, Wi-Fi is quickly becoming the standard for content access on-the-go.Cellular and Wi-Fi networks have distinct advantages. Cellular networks are ideal for always-on applications when continuous coverage is necessary. Wi-Fi networks function best when high bandwidth is required, allowing large amounts of data to transmit quickly and efficiently. While mobile users tend to default to cellular networks for content searches and delivery, Wi-Fi networks are poised to become an integral part of the mobile data system. However, on most Wi-Fi networks, in order to access the content, it is necessary for users to integrate credential authentication and restriction practices to ensure privacy, while still allowing data transmission. With the addition of Wi-Fi enabled devices like gaming systems, cameras, internet tablets and VoIP phones, methods of content access need to be addressed. This discussion will address how, through instant and simple access to networks, more services and content will be able to be quickly and widely distributed. Not only will end-users have better experiences, but developers and network service providers will have a greater opportunity to expand their offerings and create new applications to enhance the converged mobile discovery experience.

Cascade Ballroom

Overcoming The Challenges Of Mobile Content
Jeff Finkesletin, Senior Product Manager, Multimedia - Palm, Inc.

In this presentation, Jeff Finkelstein, Palm Inc.’s multimedia technology and mobile experience expert, will focus on mobile content consumption behaviors in the United States and abroad, and how consumption patterns vary. He will outline what kind of content is best suited for adoption in the mobile space, and examine the importance of delivering battery life and performance for media while still addressing core productivity needs. He will conclude with what customers are willing to pay for, what they are not, and make other key recommendations on how to address the nascent market.

2:30 - 2:45

Break (Exhibits Open)

2:45 - 3:00

Donner Pass Ballroom

Developing Seamless User Experiences from Fixed to Mobile Devices
Tariq Shahab, Director of Business Development, Mobile & Personal Division, NXP Semiconductors

The world is moving rapidly toward convergence. The triple play service bundle (voice, video and Internet) is old news; quadplay (voice, video, Internet and wireless) is now in place and new dimensions are quickly being added. New technologies and standards like Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and Near Field Communications (NFC) are enabling products from smartphone wireless devices to Wi-Fi-enabled phones like those enabled with Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) to easily leverage UPnP for enhanced convergence applications such as:* Displaying a picture taken by or stored on a mobile phone onto a UPnP-capable home display (Streamium TV, Digital Media Adapters or a Digital Media Streamer connected to the home TV)* Play back music stored in the mobile phone on a UPnP-capable home hi-fi system * Synchronize mobile phone content with a UPnP-capable home server * Social networking with UPnP mobile phones* Seamless, high quality and low cost calling experience between fixed line and mobile phonesIn this presentation, NXP will share its vision and recommendations for addressing opportunities, challenges and enabling technologies and solutions that will further evolution of the connected lifestyle - exploring benefits around UMA and other Fixed-Mobile Convergence implementations on handsets, and convergence between home devices and mobile phones.

Siskiyou Ballroom

Rich Media and Social Networking on Mobile Platforms
Nick Desai , Founder and CEO of Juice Wireless

Consumers crave simple ways to stay up-to-date and connected with their friends, family and information sources while on-the-go. As a panel member, Nick Desai will discuss his vision for the mobile social-networking market, including the benefits and opportunities for users, carriers and potentially advertisers. Mobile social networking frees today’s savvy networker from the constraints of their desktops, allowing them to stay in touch with their contacts in real-time, whenever and wherever. Based on Nick’s experience in the space, he can share industry statistics on the growth of mobile social networks, insight on user demographics and stress the importance of new features and technologies that meet consumer desire for increased personalization and functionality on their cell phones. Nick is also capable of sharing ideas and creative strategies for increasing user adoption of new mobile features, such as sharing user-generated content between mobile devices and across Web platforms right from a cell phone.

Cascade Ballroom

Fixed to Mobile Convergence – Creating a Seamless Digital Experience Across Multiple Platforms
Bill Holmes, Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Marketing -DivX, Inc.

As media continues to make significant strides into digital mediums and consumers begin building personal digital libraries of their favorite content, there is an increasing demand to be able to experience this content across a variety of different platforms. While the living room has become the iconic environment for a personal entertainment experience, portable devices are beginning to capitalize on the ability to provide consumers with ways to extend this traditional experience. However, industry leaders have yet to fully capitalize on a system of interoperable devices that are capable of delivering a seamless digital experience across the myriad of device platforms consumers use everyday.  Enabling devices to playback as many digital formats as possible will allow a common media language to emerge. This common media language will revolutionize the way in which content is experienced and will pave the way for new distribution models that fully capitalize on the benefits of integrated and mobile digital systems.

3:00 - 3:15

Break (Exhibits Open)

3:15 - 3:45

Donner Pass Ballroom

Managing Content Across IPTV, Mobile & Broadband
Craig Knudsen, Director of Business Development  IPTV, TANDBERG Television, Part of the Ericsson Group

Content management is becoming increasingly critical as service providers strive to break out of their traditional molds and offer content across new platforms and services. Content that was purpose built for a particular distribution method is more and more finding its way to multiple outlets; including VOD, Mobile, and Internet TV. The logistical and management challenges for service providers will continue to increase exponentially as their libraries grow and new types of content become available. The key to controlling this management challenge and the operational expenses associated with it will be the focus of this discussion.

Siskiyou Ballroom

Unified Content Delivery Architecture Considerations for the Seamless Multi-Screen Experience
David Lively, Senior Manager, Video Marketing - Cisco Systems, Inc.

In the past, networks were designed using purpose-built, parallel networks -- each designed for a different service.  Over the last few years, however, the world has transitioned to converged networks that carry all flavors of voice, video and data services to set-tops, mobile devices, PC and game consoles and media adapters.  Additionally, this network is expected to be fast, flexible and seamless to the end user. Subscribers expect to get access to whatever content they want without regard to what device they are using.  Instituting a seamless unified content delivery architecture can provide a platform to increase service velocity and enable the seamless rollout of new and innovative services. This session will look at the steps, considerations and challenges in implementing a successful multi-screen platform delivery from the network perspective. The discussion will cover topics such as advanced advertising options/monetization, options for storage/streaming and the role of P2P in efficient content delivery, DRM, bandwidth/service management and hardware integration considerations.

Cascade Ballroom

Search and Discovery Across Multiple Fixed and Mobile Platforms
Steve Shannon, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Product Development - Gemstar-TV Guide

Consumers are growing accustomed to accessing and viewing content whenever and wherever -- on a myriad of devices beyond the TV to PCs, cell phones and other mobile devices. While a recent study issued by Gemstar-TV Guide and Comcast finds 80 percent of interactive programming guide (IPG) users call IPGs a necessity for their viewing experience, the challenge for consumers on multiple devices is having the same access to guidance tools and the same control and functionality that they enjoy while sitting in front of their TV. Through his extensive work with new technologies – from the DVR to mobile TV to bridging the gap between the TV and the PC – Steve Shannon can discuss how guidance technology and service providers must adapt to help consumers navigate content by leveraging mobile, Internet and PC to bring search navigation beyond the TV.

3:45 - 4:00

Break (Exhibits Open)

4:00 - 4:15

Donner Pass Ballroom

Strategies for Delivering a Quality Mobile End-User Experience
Manny Gonzalez, Senior Director of Mobile Technology - Keynote Systems, Inc.

Abstract: The key to a quality mobile experience is only achieved when aggregators, content producers, and telecom companies know how to work together to deliver a solution to the end-user. Poor performance and poor availability can have severe business implications, ranging from loss of revenue and impact on brand image to threats of litigation – especially where commerce is involved. Given the complex nature of the value chain, it can be hard to locate the root cause of the problem. As end-users demand more responsive mobile web applications, content and services, a testing and measurement system becomes more and more crucial for the mobile web to succeed and mass adoption to take place. In this session, Keynote’s senior director of mobile technology, Manny Gonzales will discuss the opportunities and growth of the mobile Web and strategies for all players in the mobile ecosystem to improve the end-user mobile experience.

Siskiyou Ballroom

Delivering Better Mobile Video Experiences Through Advance Mobile Video Encoding
Alan Stein, Domain Director of the Global Electronic Content Distribution - Thomson 

Mobile video consumption represents a huge market opportunity, as consumers turn from traditional television viewing to the Internet and to their increasingly connected and capable mobile devices. The mobile video opportunity presents the industry with a challenge to "repurpose" traditional content for compelling mobile device access. Often, simply resizing and transcoding a video stream or clip leads to a disappointing experience on mobile devices. Thomson has created two novel techniques for improving the quality of experience of mobile video. Automatic region-of-interest (RoI) detection techniques can accurately detect portions of a scene which are most interesting, and dynamically zoom and pan prior to encoding, producing video far more "up close and personal" while avoiding dramatic shifts which can be unpleasant to watch. Automatic object highlighting can identify objects of interest in a video scene automatically, such as a soccer ball, and either drive a preprocessing enhancement or feed the area of interest as metadata to a real-time video encoder, to better preserve these critical scene elements.

Cascade Ballroom

Content and Resources Virtualization in a Fixed to Mobile world
Beyond remote access, anytime-anywhere and place-shifting
Hervé Utheza - VP & GM, Orb Networks 

As "place shifting" and "anytime anywhere" are slowly making it from the corridors of industry conferences and tradeshows to the mainstream of the consumer market, what are the lessons which can be gained from users' feedback, actual usage and feature requests to map the course of the Fixed to Mobile industry? How do those lessons inform the current implementations and strategies followed by both "over the top" players and incumbent "service providers"? What do they teach us about product designs, and how do they help evaluate the various strategies which can be employed to go to market? What can content providers expect? Orb Networks will discuss Content and Resources Virtualization as the key system differentiator and technology platform which can help device manufacturers, service operators and content providers chart a successful path in an age of colliding and collapsing business models, installed bases of non connected legacy devices, "over the top", "closed networks", "Quadruple Play" and… consumers' search for simplicity.

4:15 - 6:00

Evening Mixer and Exhibits