IPTV has become a driving force in the transformation of the telecom industry. IPTV not only transforms carriers' network infrastructure, but also changes carriers' business models in terms of building new relationships with content providers and creators. With commercial IPTV services being rolled out on a mass scale worldwide, solving the management and operational needs of IPTV services is a top concern for carriers. Proposed IPTV deployment models force too much responsibility for activities such as systems integration to the customer—and customers are not up to the challenge, particularly for low-involvement activities such as passive television viewing.

In this session, industry leaders and experts will discuss a broad spectrum of challenges carriers face in managing IPTV services, including network infrastructure management, video service management, content management, and digital rights management. Panelists will share their firsthand insight from working with a number of major carriers and IPTV deployments worldwide to give attendees an understanding of the challenges that lie in managing IPTV services and the best approaches for overcoming them.

Geng Lin Senior Director, Engineering, Connected Home Solutions Motorola

Dr. Lin leads Motorola's service assurance and remote management platforms in connected home environment, which support next-generation subscriber services such as IPTV, VoIP, and mobile broadband services. He came to Motorola via its acquisition of Netopia, Inc., where he was vice president of software engineering. Prior to Netopia, Dr. Lin was a director of engineering at Cisco Systems.

Jiao Gang Director, Technology Department China Netcom

Mr. Gang has worked in the telecom field for more than 20 years. He has rich management experience and deep research and understanding in the telecom field.

Sheau Ng Vice President NBC Universal

Mr. Ng has been with the digital revolution from the start, contributing to MPEG, ATSC, DVD, and various technical standards activities. His career spans from compression research to product development in consumer electronics, semiconductors, and content/media industries. Mr. Ng was a contributing member of the Grand Alliance team, working at Sarnoff in the late 1980s. In the early '90s, he was part of Toshiba's DVD team, where he architected and built the world's first DVD encoder. While at Toshiba, he also chaired the DAVIC 1.0 technical committee.

Marty Stein Senior Director, Marketing, Connected Home Solutions Group Motorola

Mr. Stein directs marketing and business development activities related to MPEG-based standard-definition and high-definition video processing products. These include satellite, cable, telco, and terrestrial transmission systems; access control and encryption systems; and commercial integrated receivers/decoders. Mr. Stein has also been instrumental in establishing third-party partnership agreements to provide more comprehensive solutions for Motorola customers.