Catherine Varmazis
As befits the first BICSI conference in the year 2000, "New roads, new horizons" is the theme of this year`s winter conference, to be held Jan. 17 to 20 in Orlando, FL, at Disney`s Coronado Springs Resort. In addition to the technical sessions, there will be approximately 180 vendors exhibiting their products.
The conference aims to bring the latest technical information to telecommunications professionals to help them make informed decisions about issues they deal with daily in the workplace.
The technical sessions will be launched on Tuesday, Jan. 18, with a keynote address by Reed Hundt, former head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Hundt headed the FCC during implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and was pivotal in forging a national commitment to bring Internet access to public classrooms throughout the United States.
Additional presentations on Tuesday morning include "Networking trends--2000 and beyond," by Bill Smith, vice president of network strategic planning at BellSouth, which is co-sponsoring the conference; and "Ten steps to building world-class e-commerce," by Sean Maguire of DataStar USA.
Tuesday afternoon sessions are "The challenge of 5E/6 channel measurements," by Mark Johnston of Microtest; "New parameters for testing fiber-to-the-desk," by Bob Jensen of 3M Telecom Systems Div.; "Latest developments on MMF performance in gigabit laser-based systems," by Windsor Thomas of Corning Inc.; and "Climbing the bit-rate ladder," by Steven Bartolutti and Jane Clayton of Lucent Technologies.
Wednesday morning kicks off with "wake-up speaker" C.W. Metcalf, who will speak on the relationship between physical and psychological health. Technical sessions follow and include "Understanding and specifying optical fiber cables," by Andrew Straw of Siecor; "Everything you wanted to ask about cabling warranties but were afraid to know," by John Schmidt and Al Feaster of ADC Telecommunications; and "Multigigabit applications over fiber for the new millennium," by John George of Lucent Technologies` Bell Labs.
The afternoon presentations are "Faithfully adhering to standards--really?" by Jack Salisbury of Naval Reserve Information Systems; "Navigating the CMS minefield," by Peter Tucker and Bruce Wagner of Lucent Technologies; "Use of multiuser telecommunications outlet assemblies," by Michael Slupski and Dennis Hulsman of Cinergy Corp.; and "The convergence of IT and audio/visual systems," by Steven Goldfarb and Eric Rochelson of Electronic Systems Associates.
Thursday`s presentations include "Blind dates, marriages, and one-night stands--a different approach to small-business growth," by David Braun of Virtual Strategies Inc.; and "Designing network security," by John White of GBS Computer and Communication Systems. Don Shula, former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, will conclude the program with a speech on how his managerial philosophy can contribute to business and personal success.
In addition to the conference and exhibit, BICSI offers the registered communications distribution designer (RCDD) exam at the same venue, as well as numerous design and installation courses before and after the conference. For more information on the conference, or other BICSI courses (see "Residential cabling course added to BICSI offerings," page 58), call BICSI at (800) 242-7405 or (813) 979-1991, or visit its Website at www.bicsi .org.
