VoIP and Beyond: Ultimate Convergence Play Opportunities

Net-Heads to Novices - VoIP Technology: What's the Net-Net For You?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /?>

The New Era of advanced VoIP technology has arrived. The first quarter of 2005 has been bustling with VoIP related product launches and splashy PR campaigns by the big players. The gloves are off with the mobile carriers as many of these big players took the stage at this year's annual Consumer Electronics Show to demonstrate Wi-Fi handsets that are enabled with internal adaptors for VoIP.

One of the biggest venture capital deals of the year 2004 in the U.S. took place in the VoIP space. Web bloggers are the new analysts featured in newspapers and conferences: experts who live on the cutting edge of technology using unconventional ways of managing their worldwide existence - via VoIP. And, it is only the beginning.  

This paradigm shift impacts a lot more than technology and significant cost savings. A whole new field of business opportunities has been created for entrepreneurs to capitalize on new business models which leverage VoIP against its convergence with business applications and telecom services.

Companies focused on perfecting the customer and consumer experience by providing a new approach to accessing or obtaining services are pioneering the way. It is all only one web call away!

Join us for a night of war stories, visiting experts, eager investors and VoIP companies big and small. You'll get a glimpse of what is to come.

Moderator:
George Henny, President, Fiber Cloud

Panel:
Dr. Vaho Rebassoo, CTO, IT Services, The Boeing Company
David Silverman, Partner, 3i

John Cofano, CEO, Goodwell Technologies

BIOs

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George Henny is President of FiberCloud, Inc., a regional internet data center company with three locations in Seattle, Everett and Bellingham, Washington, USA.  These dynamic colocation centers are a result of Mr. Henny's avant-garde business solutions and his 23-year experience with Whidbey Telecom, for which he continues to serve as Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Henny also founded the Internet division of Whidbey Telecom in 1994. George is involved in teaching and informing businesses throughout the United States and Canada on the advantages of protecting their intellectual and revenue producing data at colocation centers.  He is frequently invited to speak at association gatherings on topics concerning technology, strategic guidance, business continuity and disaster recovery.   Mr. Henny holds a BA and MBA from the University of Washington.

Dr. Vaho Rebassoo is responsible for strategic planning and direction for infrastructure technology across The Boeing Company. At Boeing since 1984, he led the program to convert all Boeing phones from Centrex to PABX Systems, and then managed Network Operations and Network Technical Services before being promoted to CTO of Network and Computing Operations in 1997, responsible for planning, design and implementation of IT infrastructure enterprise-wide. Prior to that he was a systems engineer and manager with the Pentagon Telecommunications Center Automation Project and then with Bell Laboratories on the 5ESS Switch Program.

Dr. Rebassoo received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and his Master's and PhD degrees from the University of Washington.

 

He is a member of numerous executive advisory boards, including the Washington Technology Alliance,  The Department of State Advisory Committee on Communication and Information Policy, the UCLA Wireless Research Program, and the University of Washington Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) Program.

David Silverman joined the 3i US team in 2000. He is part of 3i's late stage investing team, where he focuses on all aspects of the software and semiconductor industries, and has a particular interest in fabless semiconductor companies. David sits on the Board of Directors of Forte Design Systems, SCP Global and Speakeasy. In addition, David is a member of the Venture Capital Advisory Board for the Fabless Semiconductor Association.

Before joining the 3i team, David spent three years as vice president in technology investment banking at Robertson Stephens. He has strategic transactional experience in leveraged buyouts and recapitalizations, structured finance and strategic defense advisory work. David also worked as a corporate lawyer at the law firms of Ropes & Gray and Sidley & Austin. He served during the Bush Administration as an aide to the Counsel to the President, acting as a liaison to several Washington research institutes and to the Executive Office during the President's Deregulation Initiative.

David earned his JD from Stanford Law School and graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College.

John Cofano is the co-founder, President & CEO of Goodwell Technologies, Inc. In 1999,

John was part of the Overlake Venture Center team that developed and launched Goodwell out of Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, Washington. Goodwell's original vision was to launch online patient-to-physician 'visits' using early VoIP and collaboration technologies. In 2001, John led the advancement of Goodwell's efforts to include other vertical markets, including financial services, travel and real estate.

Today, John leads Goodwell's strategy, customer- and partner development as the Goodwell team builds the TrueVisitTM platform to allow the creation of VoIP-enabled applications faster, less expensively and with less risk. Prior to Goodwell, John spent 17 years perfecting the Cofano Management System - a next-generation approach to designing and implementing business plans in growing companies.

John is a 1980 graduate of the University of Washington, and lives in nearby Sammamish with his wife and two children.