Rebecca Prudhomme, Vice President, Portfolio Marketing, Ciena
As network providers deal with unprecedented complexity — millions of subscribers, applications, and services inundating their networks with requests every second of every day—the question on everybody’s mind is: Is automation alone enough?
Automation has become mission-critical, but running the next-generation network requires a major shift in our view of complexity—not as a fearsome foe, but as a treasure trove of business opportunity. Join Ciena’s VP of Portfolio Marketing, Rebecca Prudhomme, and Light Reading's CEO and Founder, Steve Saunders, for an insightful discussion that will look beyond automation to a more holistic view of what’s needed to succeed in our market reality. We’ll look closely at the next step in network evolution through a strategic vision from Ciena called the Adaptive Network.
Steve Saunders, Founder, Light Reading
Steve Saunders is the Founder and CEO of Light Reading, the world’s largest, most authoritative, and best qualified community of telecommunications professionals, reaching 350,000 global communications decision-makers every month.
Steve founded Light Reading in 2000, after a 12-year career as a technology journalist, working for McGraw-Hill’s Data Communications Magazine. Following the explosive success of Light Reading, he launched Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com) and Dark Reading (www.darkreading.com). This triptych of online startups covering telecom news, telecom research, and security news, respectively, was acquired by UBM llc in 2005 for $33 million. Steve then took a break from leading Light Reading in 2007, before buying Light Reading and Heavy Reading back from UBM in January 2014.
In the intervening years (2008-2013), Steve founded Internet Evolution, a groundbreaking, award-winning, global, online community dedicated to investigating the future of the Internet, and DeusM (www.deusm.com), an integrated marketing services company targeting the fastest-growing segment of the online publishing industry: business social media. In the space of three years DeusM launched nearly 50 custom communities for companies including Dell, IBM, Intel, DuPont, and Bristol Meyers, all based on Steve’s vision for a structured system of community publishing, one that creates unprecedented engagement among highly qualified business users.
In March 2008, Steve was inducted into Min’s Digital Media Hall of Fame. In April 2009, he was named to the No. 2 spot on Folio magazine’s Folio 40 ranking of magazine industry influencers and innovators. He was named Min’s Marketer of the Year in September 2010. In 2014, Steve was named to the Folio 100, the magazine and media industry’s best-known and most prestigious list of innovators, entrepreneurs and market shaker-uppers, in the Dynamic Disrupter category.
Rebecca Prudhomme, Vice President, Portfolio Marketing, Ciena
Rebecca Prudhomme is Vice President of Portfolio Marketing, where she drives Ciena’s solution and vertical marketing strategies, as well as oversees Ciena’s market and competitive intelligence team. Rebecca works closely with Ciena’s sales organization and customers to drive Ciena’s business growth.
With over 18 years of software experience, she brings a wealth of service provider industry expertise to Ciena. Most notably, she has held senior roles within Amdocs, including Vice President of Sales for Amdocs' North American Division. Prior to that role, Rebecca was Vice President of Product and Solutions Marketing, where she cultivated the go-to-market strategies across Amdocs’s portfolio.
Rebecca holds an MBA and BA in Economics from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Glenn Calafati, Global Marketing Director, Ciena
Glenn Calafati has responsibility for business development within the content industries segment. In this role, he consults with cable operators and media companies on next-generation technologies and service development. Prior to joining Ciena, he was Vice President of Product Development and Technology at Sidera Networks and held similar technology roles at the data center operator Telx and Cablevison's Lightpath division. As Chief Engineer at Cablevision, Glenn led the network planning and architecture defining Ethernet Service delivery architectures for voice, video and enterprise data services across core, distribution and access layers. He started his career with Verizon where he held several technology roles in operations.
