BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The Fibre-to-the-Home Council Europe (FTTH) announces its newly elected board of directors. Professor Hartwig Tauber of the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems (Austria) serves as the new President of the council. Jan de Groot (OFS) was elected as treasurer and Francisco Fuentes (Cisco) as secretary general. Additional members of the board are Steven King (Emtelle), Jean-Pierre Lartigue (Alcatel), Martin McCourt (Corning) and Torbjvrn Sundqvist (Ericsson). The aim of the FTTH council Europe is to accelerate fibre to the home deployment in Europe by education and promotion and thereby enhancing the quality of life of EU citizens. In this context, the FTTH Council Europe will host its annual conference "Europe at the Speed of Light. It's Fibre...Let's Make it Happen!" on Feb 2 and 3, 2005 in Amsterdam.

Hartwig Tauber has extensive experience in new services and content projects for broadband networks. He studied at the Technical University Vienna/University Vienna and worked as a consultant for WBS Ltd, a consulting company with a focus on internet, telecommunication and new media. In 2003 he was appointed Professor for e-Business management at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Austria.

Jan de Groot works as Marketing & Sales Director for OFS in Europe, Middle East and Africa and as Managing Director of the Netherlands-based subsidiary of OFS. He is also member of the management board of the OFS-SVS1 joint venture company in Russia. Before his current position Jan worked in various assignments for Lucent Technologies and AT&T Network Systems in the Netherlands.

Francisco Fuentes has worked for Cisco since 1996. Before his current function as Senior Manager Technology Strategy he worked in different roles, including Consultant for the SP market, Manager of the consultant team and Senior Manager of the IP Carrier Group. Prior to Cisco he worked for AT&T Bell Labs, Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and Olivetti Network and Systems.

Steven King works as Managing Director UK for Emtelle. He has an extensive range of installation and infrastructure deployment experience and expertise. He worked as a technical expert and national delegate (UK) for the development of CENELEC EN 50086/2/4 and as industry specialist for Code of Practice for Laying of Underground Conduits for Telecommunications.

Jean-Pierre Lartigue is Vice President Marketing & Communications of Alcatel's Access Networking activities. He has previously been in charge of Business Strategy for the Fixed Network activities of Alcatel. Prior to joining Alcatel, Jean-Pierre Lartigue worked as Manager in the management consulting firm the Boston Consulting Group.

Martin McCourt is Vice President and General Manager of Corning Cable Systems Project Management and Installation Services business unit. Martin has a twenty year history in fibre optics with Corning, having worked in photonics, fibre, cable and services. He has occupied roles in R&D, Production, Sales & Marketing, M&A and General Management.

Torbjvrn Sundqvist is Director Business Development at Ericsson Network Technologies, focusing on passive infrastructure in Fibre Access. Torbjvrn has been President of a Cable distribution company and President of a company in Automated Fusion splicing. Before taking up his present position he was Director Global Marketing and sales of Fiber optic cables and telecom-related products. He joined Ericsson in 1986.

Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council