Abel Tong is Sr. Director of Solutions Marketing for Ciena’s Blue Planet Division. He is responsible for helping Ciena customers to transform networks through the application of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), to deliver value and create new services, and to simplify network operations.   Abel has over 15 years of networking and telecommunications systems experience. Abel is also a long-time contributor to the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Abel has been a part of MEF’s Project UNITE, an industry wide collaborative initiative bringing standards development organizations together to create the building blocks for Lifecycle Service Orchestration and Third Network.   Abel is also a member of Open Daylight and the Open Networking Foundation (ONF).

Emerson is a Distinguished Systems Engineer for Cisco in Latin America and is responsible for working with service providers on end-to-end, converged, multi-service network architectures.   He has over 15 years of experience in the Telecommunications industry working with Optical Transport, IP/MPLS, Carrier Ethernet, IP+Optical convergence and more recently on SDN/NFV.   Emerson is also an active member of MEF where he's currently the Co-Chair for the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) region.   He is a frequent speaker at industry events and has co-authored scientific papers have been presented at major industry conferences including MPLS & Ethernet World Congress and OFC/NFOEC.   He's graduated in Electrical Engineering by the FEI College of Industrial Engineering in Sao Paulo-Brazil and is certified as a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) and MEF Carrier Ethernet Professional CECP 2.0.

Claudio Scola is the Director of Product Management for European WAN and Cloud Enablement Services at Tata Communications and based in London.   Claudio has over 25 years’ experience in the international telecommunications industry, spending the last 16 years bringing new data network services to market and growing them into key revenue streams for the business.   One of Claudio’s key priorities, is to address enterprises' evolving network needs for agility, efficiency, growth and transformation. Claudio believes that Tata Communications’ next-generation hybrid services, that leverage the MPLS, Internet, SD-WAN and NFV, are essential for enabling this transformation.   Claudio is also an active and certified member of MEF and a great advocate of Lifecycle Service Orchestration which brings dynamic flexibility and agility to network services.   Prior to joining Tata Communications, Claudio served in various product related roles for Level 3, Easynet, Interoute and Cable & Wireless, bringing Internet and WAN services to the international Enterprise and Wholesale market.

Zeev leads technical marketing at MRV. He's responsible for marketing strategy and technology innovation research with focus on multi-layer convergence and transformation to virtualized and programmable networks.   Zeev brings over 25 years of experience in senior roles in the ICT industry, with expertise in business development, product and project management, and multilayer network solutions.   Prior to his role as VP of strategic marketing, Zeev served as VP and product line manager at MRV. In this position, he was responsible for leading and promoting MRV’s flagship networking product lines in the service provider market.   He is a long time contributor to MEF and broadly active in making technology outlook presentations at industry seminars, conferences and tradeshows.

Emerson is a Distinguished Systems Engineer for Cisco in Latin America and is responsible for working with service providers on end-to-end, converged, multi-service network architectures.   He has over 15 years of experience in the Telecommunications industry working with Optical Transport, IP/MPLS, Carrier Ethernet, IP+Optical convergence and more recently on SDN/NFV.   Emerson is also an active member of MEF where he's currently the Co-Chair for the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) region.   He is a frequent speaker at industry events and has co-authored scientific papers have been presented at major industry conferences including MPLS & Ethernet World Congress and OFC/NFOEC.   He's graduated in Electrical Engineering by the FEI College of Industrial Engineering in Sao Paulo-Brazil and is certified as a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) and MEF Carrier Ethernet Professional CECP 2.0.

Mark has worked in the OSS and networking industry for 20 years holding a range of jobs from LED manufacture at Nortel to his current role Director Product Management in Amdocs Network Product Business Unit.   He was involved in the IETF during the development of MPLS and in the early ETSI NFV meetings. In addition to a day job in Amdocs product management, he is also Director of MEF’s OpenLSO Assurance project and an active contributor to other programs.

Claudio Scola is the Director of Product Management for European WAN and Cloud Enablement Services at Tata Communications and based in London.   Claudio has over 25 years’ experience in the international telecommunications industry, spending the last 16 years bringing new data network services to market and growing them into key revenue streams for the business.   One of Claudio’s key priorities, is to address enterprises' evolving network needs for agility, efficiency, growth and transformation. Claudio believes that Tata Communications’ next-generation hybrid services, that leverage the MPLS, Internet, SD-WAN and NFV, are essential for enabling this transformation.   Claudio is also an active and certified member of MEF and a great advocate of Lifecycle Service Orchestration which brings dynamic flexibility and agility to network services.   Prior to joining Tata Communications, Claudio served in various product related roles for Level 3, Easynet, Interoute and Cable & Wireless, bringing Internet and WAN services to the international Enterprise and Wholesale market.

Youcef Ayad is an Ethernet services professional with over 20 years' experience in the telecom industry in the Nordics whereof 5 years with TeliaSonera International Carrier, managing a cross border Ethernet product covering Europe, North America and Asia. In 2009, Youcef initiated the Mobile Backhaul service development project that resulted in TeliaSonera launch of the world’s first commercial 4G/LTE Network and now deployed in all the Nordics and Baltics.   In 2011, he changed his position within TeliaSonera and was Senior Product Manager for VPN and Ethernet services in the Product Management team part of the Broadband Services Business Area and launched in 2012, Ethernet Nordic product, which is the first Nordic Carrier Ethernet that are CE 2.0 certified. Since January 2016 he is now part of the Commercial Enterprise, Business Networking Team part of Telia Global Services & Operations, he is now business owner and managing product development of new Carrier Ethernet services in the Nordics, Baltics and Globally.   Youcef is co-chairing the MEF Nordics regional marketing committee since its creation in 2011. He received the MEF Member Recognition Award 2013 & 2014 in the category: “Outstanding Contributor Award” for the leadership of Nordics Regional Marketing. Since April 2015 he is a MEF Certified Carrier Ethernet Professional as he obtained the MEF-CECP 2.0 certification.   Mr. Ayad graduated at the Royal Institute of Technology “KTH” in Stockholm in Scientific Computing and Engineering and studied Computer Engineering program at the University of Technology in Lulea, Sweden.

John Hawkins is Senior Advisor for Product and Technical Marketing at Ciena where he supports the company’s Packet Networking product line. Before joining Ciena in 2009, John has held positions in business development and product management functions.  He also led the business development and promotion of Ciena’s E-Suite family of packet switch modules. John is active in networking industry conferences and standards development, and currently serves as co-chair of the MEF’s Certification Committee.   Prior to joining Ciena, John was with Nortel where he was responsible for Carrier Ethernet product management. His projects included a number of innovative technology building blocks within Nortel’s Optical Ethernet portfolio. John began his career at GE as an IC designer, and later product manager in the Aerospace Division.   With over 30 years of technical experience, John is a frequent contributor to the Metro Ethernet Forum and sought-after industry speaker. John holds a BSEE from North Carolina State, an MS in Telecommunications from Southern Methodist University, as well as an MBA from Duke University.

Divesh Gupta is the Vice President - Technology and Sales Operations within the presales department at PCCW Global. In his current role, he is leading a strategic initiative to introduce cloud, mobility and eBonding solutions targeted for sales & presales teams and also for the wholesale carrier partners worldwide. The solutions are aimed at bringing increased automation & self-orchestration of services offered by PCCW Global. Divesh is also actively engaged with the SDN & NFV initiatives within the company.   In his past assignment, Divesh was leading a team of solution consultants and telecom design specialists. This team was responsible for supporting sales to secure revenue by combining off-the-shelf and third party products & services to offer best-of-breed solutions developed through consultative interaction with the customers. He has extensive experience in designing and implementing telecom solutions for both the enterprise and wholesale carrier customers for PCCW Global – these include Enterprise Voice & Video, MPLS VPNs, IP Transit, IPLC and dedicated Ethernet solutions among others. His responsibilities also included skilled negotiation and procurement activities with strategic partner, access and vendor management.   Divesh attained his MBA from University of Iowa, Tippie School of Management in May of 2006 and majored in Marketing & Entrepreneurship. Divesh is an active member of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) and has recently attained the MEF-CECP 2.0 certification.   Previously, he completed a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communications from the Manipal Institute of Technology, India.

Ulrich is Director of technical marketing at ADVA Optical Networking with responsibility for the companie`s One Network Edge program.  With over 25 years of experience in fixed and mobile networks, Ulrich is familiar with the challenges and pain points of today’s networks and is able to show how the latest technology provides answers and an economic, future-proof path forward.   Before joining ADVA Optical Networking in April 2013, he worked for Ericsson and Marconi Communications in management positions with Business Development, Network Strategy, Product Marketing and Technical Sales.

Youcef Ayad is an Ethernet services professional with over 20 years' experience in the telecom industry in the Nordics whereof 5 years with TeliaSonera International Carrier, managing a cross border Ethernet product covering Europe, North America and Asia. In 2009, Youcef initiated the Mobile Backhaul service development project that resulted in TeliaSonera launch of the world’s first commercial 4G/LTE Network and now deployed in all the Nordics and Baltics.   In 2011, he changed his position within TeliaSonera and was Senior Product Manager for VPN and Ethernet services in the Product Management team part of the Broadband Services Business Area and launched in 2012, Ethernet Nordic product, which is the first Nordic Carrier Ethernet that are CE 2.0 certified. Since January 2016 he is now part of the Commercial Enterprise, Business Networking Team part of Telia Global Services & Operations, he is now business owner and managing product development of new Carrier Ethernet services in the Nordics, Baltics and Globally.   Youcef is co-chairing the MEF Nordics regional marketing committee since its creation in 2011. He received the MEF Member Recognition Award 2013 & 2014 in the category: “Outstanding Contributor Award” for the leadership of Nordics Regional Marketing. Since April 2015 he is a MEF Certified Carrier Ethernet Professional as he obtained the MEF-CECP 2.0 certification.   Mr. Ayad graduated at the Royal Institute of Technology “KTH” in Stockholm in Scientific Computing and Engineering and studied Computer Engineering program at the University of Technology in Lulea, Sweden.