GeoVideo Networks Appoints Former Lucent Internet Systems Executive Phil Thompson as Senior Vice President, Engineering.Business Editors NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2001 Former Vice President of Lucent's IP MultiService Router Business Unit Will Lead GeoVideo's Network Data Center Strategy GeoVideo Networks(TM), Inc., which is assembling a global, fiber-optic visual communications network, today announced the appointment of Phil Thompson to the position of senior vice president of engineering. Thompson will lead GeoVideo's network data center strategy, which will initially focus on the development of the industry's first dynamically controlled broadband video network. Thompson will oversee a product development center in Monmouth County, New Jersey Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2000 Census, the population is 615,301. Its county seat is Freehold Borough6. that will provide network interoperability testing, systems engineering, software development, hardware and software testing, and quality assurance for GeoVideo's fiber network. Until recently, Thompson was the vice president of engineering for the Lucent Technologies WAN System Group, where he led the design and manufacture of the company's IP multiservice routers and Integrated Access Devices (IADs). He was the director for Lucent's IP PBX service provider engineering and led the research and development of an IP/ATM traffic-shaping device that Lucent developed in 1998. Prior to Lucent, Thompson held various technical management positions at AT&T Bell Labs. He is held in high regard within the PBX (Private Branch eXchange) An inhouse telephone switching system that interconnects telephone extensions to each other as well as to the outside telephone network (PSTN). and messaging industries. GeoVideo is assembling the industry's first private dynamically provisioned broadband network, over ATM and IP, which will leverage intelligent data centers for storage, transmission, and billing of broadcast-quality video assets. GeoVideo Networks enables high-quality bi-directional digital video, up to HDTV (High Definition TV) A set of digital television (DTV) standards that offer the highest resolution and sharpest picture. Although some HDTV sets are available in standard (rather square) screen sizes, the overwhelming majority of sets are wide screen, which eliminates quality, straight to PC desktops with real-time connectivity. "We intend to dynamically provision the GeoVideo network through innovative manipulation of our data centers. This will be achieved with new video software architectures which, combined with best-of-breed technologies, will create a powerful, high-bandwidth applications environment. GeoVideo will enable scheduling, anywhere on the network, which can be performed on the fly. Our distributed visual communications environment will add tremendous value to the video bits moving across our network," said Thompson. "Our mission is to deliver a network that is built on the three pillars of security, reliability, and professional quality." Thompson will have direct responsibility for the integration of hardware and software into GeoVideo's data centers and will work closely with GeoVideo's chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. for product development, Brian Allain. "The addition of Phil Thompson to GeoVideo Networks delivers us an arsenal of technological know-how in vast areas of network design," said Clifford J. Schorer, president and co-CEO of GeoVideo Networks. "Phil is an acknowledged technical leader in the internetworking industry and his missionary zeal will enable us to deliver our services to customers on time and with the highest quality levels." Thompson holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering An interdisciplinary field in which the principles, laws, and techniques of engineering, physics, chemistry, and other physical sciences are applied to facilitate progress in medicine, biology, and other life sciences. from Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University, at Pittsburgh, Pa.; est. 1967 through the merger of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (founded 1900, opened 1905) and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research (founded 1913). and an M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. . Thompson is visibly active in several technical industry organizations and has appeared frequently as a speaker or presenter at such conferences as COMDEX The former, premier computer trade show in the U.S. Although it grew into an end user event, it was originally created for dealers and distributors (it was the COMputer Dealers EXposition). , VoN, CTI (Computer Telephone Integration) Combining data with voice systems in order to enhance telephone services. For example, automatic number identification (ANI) allows a caller's records to be retrieved from the database while the call is routed to the appropriate party. Expo, and Networld+Interop. GeoVideo Networks GeoVideo Networks will deliver real-time bi-directional Internet Protocol (IP) video as well as HDTV over an international fiber network, consisting of both core ATM and IP services, for a host of business-to-business video applications, in the financial, medical, government, news, and entertainment industries. Top public television stations, affiliated as the CSRG CSRG Computing Systems Resource Group (Berkeley) CSRG Combat Support Requirement Guidance (US DoD) CSRG Country Reconstruction and Stabilization Group CSRG Civil Support Readiness Group Digital, L.L.C., a group of 28 stations in major markets in the U.S., have formed an alliance with GeoVideo Networks to jointly market and sell GeoVideo Networks services and make their production studios available to GeoVideo Networks customers. The CSRG group includes Thirteen/WNET-TV in New York and KCET-TV in Los Angeles and covers 50% of the U.S. broadcast audience. Already, GeoVideo has linked stations Thirteen/WNET in New York and KCET-TV in Los Angeles over its high-speed fiber network. In 2001, GeoVideo plans to connect Chicago's WTTW-TV, Dallas' KERA-TV, Philadelphia's WHYY-TV, Washington, D.C.'s WETA-TV, Denver's KMRA-TV and Seattle's KCTS-TV to the GeoVideo showcase network. London will be the first international link in the GeoVideo network. In July, 2000, GeoVideo Networks completed the industry's first transcontinental fiber-optic video network links, transmitting real-time HDTV over fiber, between Thirteen/WNET in New York and KCET-TV in Los Angeles. GeoVideo Networks also markets its GeoVideo Browser(TM) software, which will enable network customers to handle up to sixteen simultaneous real-time video windows at 30 frames per second to the PC desktop over the GeoVideo network. Designed as a taskbar An on-screen toolbar that displays the active applications (tasks). Clicking on a taskbar button restores the application to its previous appearance. Windows 95 popularized this feature. See Win Taskbar. that sits directly on users' Windows desktops, the GeoVideo Browser enables users to manipulate real-time, bi-directional TV-quality video, and conduct multi-party conference sessions. Based on patented Bell Labs technology, the GeoVideo Browser will act as the general-purpose client device for the GeoVideo network, enabling users to view any type of video, regardless of encoding scheme. GeoVideo Networks will provide videoconferencing services and high-speed video transfer services. The GeoVideo network will support optical speeds of DS-3 to OC-192 and beyond and DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary configurations. Standard definition and high-definition (HDTV) video, both streamed and stored, will be supported. The GeoVideo Networks offer enables any standard business LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. to offer secure, private video communications directly to the desktop. GeoVideo Networks, headquartered in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. with offices in Los Angeles, is building a global fiber-optic network for the delivery of broadband Internet Protocol (IP) video and visual communications services for a wide range of business customers. GeoVideo Networks is owned by the Lucent Technologies (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : LU) New Ventures Group, Thomas Weisel Partners Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWPG), often shortened to just TWP or TWeisel, is a U.S. middle-market and growth focused investment banking firm based in San Francisco, California. , the Ocepek Group, Crest Communications Holdings, and East River Ventures. For more information, please visit www.geovideo.net. Editor's Note: Color photographs of Phil Thompson are available upon request. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion