AT&T, Verizon Global Wholesale to Keynote at Light Reading's Backhaul & Core Convergence Conference for Mobile Operators, Plus Featured Speakers From Tower Cloud, WCAI, Level 3 & More

NEW YORK, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM TechWeb's Light Reading (www.lightreading.com), the largest research-led media company serving the global communications marketplace, in collaboration with Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), its prestigious market research division, will be hosting their tenth annual Backhaul Strategies for Mobile Operators Conference on June 23, 2010 in New York City. Backhaul Strategies & Core Convergence for Mobile Operators, co-chaired by Heavy Reading Senior Analysts Gabriel Brown and Patrick Donegan along with Senior Consultant Berge Ayvazian, is being expanded to embrace the theme of core convergence, but will again focus primarily on the progress that wireless operators are making in migrating their backhaul networks for dramatically increasing volumes and types of data traffic. Backhaul Strategies for Mobile Operators 2009 in New York was one of the industry's most successful backhaul events in 2009, with nearly 225 registrants and 115 attendees, of whom over 60 percent were from service providers or cable operators. Expected attendance for 2010 is between 200 and 300 attendees.

Backhaul Strategies & Core Convergence for Mobile Operators will feature keynote speaker Yiannis Argyropoulos, Ph.D., Architecture & Planning, AT&T, who will discuss AT&T's strategy for equipping its backhaul network to support GSM, EDGE, HSPA, and LTE traffic using fiber and next-generation microwave equipment. Also keynoting is Larry O'Neill, Manager of Ethernet Services, Verizon Global Wholesale, who will give a brief overview of the wireless market, detailing the requirements of the wireless carriers while citing the various ways that Verizon is addressing those needs with its Ethernet suite of products, also addressing where the wireless backhaul market is going in the future.

"Most wireless operators have largely figured out how they want to evolve their network to support the new data traffic volumes. But they are still only at the tip of the iceberg in terms of making all their final partner selections and executing on their roadmaps at the operational level," said Patrick Donegan. "Operators also need to consider adjusting their strategies in the light of new opportunities and challenges presented by LTE and WiMax such as the prospective convergence of core and backhaul elements."

Featured speakers include Fred B. Campbell Jr., President & CEO, Wireless Communications Association International; Ron Mudry, CEO, Tower Cloud; Howard Susskind, Senior Director Customer Network Planning, Level 3 Communications; and Association Sponsor speaker Rami Yaron, Mobile Backhaul Sub-Committee Member & MBH Ambassador for the Americas, MEF. Speakers from sponsoring companies will also be presenting. Sponsors include Super Platinum Sponsors Cisco and Tellabs; Platinum Sponsors Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson; Gold Sponsors: Accedian Networks, Aviat Networks, Ciena, DragonWave, Fujitsu, LSI Corp., Nokia Siemens Networks, Overture Networks, RAD Data Communications, Taqua, Telco Systems, and Transmode; and Silver Sponsors JDSU, NEC, and Transition Networks.

Registration for press and analysts is free. To register for Backhaul Strategies & Core Convergence for Mobile Operators in New York, please visit: www.lightreading.com/backhaulcore.

About Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com)

Founded in 2000, Light Reading is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the $3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technological and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, and TelcoTV Asia, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Europe, and The Tower Summit @ CTIA, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives in the US, Europe, India, and China. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About UBM TechWeb (http://ubmtechweb.com)

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its core businesses – media solutions, marketing services, and professional information – UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications, and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT Support managers, Web and digital professionals, software and game developers, government decision makers, and telecom providers) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands include: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks such as InformationWeek, Light Reading, and Gamasutra; research, training, and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research, and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology. UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.

About United Business Media Limited (http://ubm.com)

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting, and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities – from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists – with integrated events, online, print, and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

SOURCE Light Reading, Inc.