Building and Managing “Non-Stop Networks” to Address Today’s 24x7 Business Reality

With LightRiver since 2004, as Chief Technology Officer, Dean is responsible for the development of LightRiver’s product and technology solutions portfolio. He leads the Pre-sales Engineering and the Project Management teams and maintains technical relationships with LightRiver’s vendor partners. Dean has 20+ years of experience in IT management, software applications development and large-scale data networking. He has held leadership roles across the technology value chain and pioneered the development of E-commerce infrastructures, working with established and start-up organizations. Dean holds a BA in Computer Sciences from Rutgers University, as well as multiple technology certifications including Carrier Ethernet Professional and PMP Project Management.

Sterling has more than 15 years' experience in telecommunications as an industry analyst and journalist. His coverage area at Heavy Reading is optical networking, including packet-optical transport.

Sterling also authors Heavy Reading's Packet-Enabled Optical Networking Market Tracker andNext-Gen Core Packet-Optical Market Tracker.

Sterling is a frequent speaker at telecom industry events and a highly sought-after source among the business and trade press. His opinions have appeared in The Financial Times, The New York Times, Investor's Business Daily, Lightwave, Telephony, CNET News, Information Week and CIO Magazine, among many others.

Sterling joined Heavy Reading after five years at IDC, where he served as lead optical networks analyst, responsible for the firm's optical networking subscription research and custom consulting activities. Prior to IDC, Sterling worked for Standard & Poor's, where he delivered global industry analysis on a range of IT segments. He is a former journalist and editor at Telecommunications Magazine, and has also done consulting work for the research firm Current Analysis.

Sterling graduated cum laude with a B.A. in English from Dartmouth College. He can be reached at perrin@heavyreading.com.

Denis Fluet is Director, Fiber Monitoring Business Unit for EXFO’s SASS division. He is responsible for leading business investment activities and attaining financial performance objectives. With more than 30 years of telecommunications experience, Denis has held a number of management roles at Ciena and Nortel including global business development functions, as well as other positions in manufacturing, engineering, product line management and global enterprise sales.

Denis holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, holds two patents in network virtualization and data center networking, and has participated in speaking engagements at many industry events.