Giles Heron is Principal Network Architect for British Telecom and is responsible for BT's end-to-end network architecture. Since joining BT two years ago Mr Heron has been instrumental in setting BT's strategy for Ethernet services and infrastructure, and in defining BT's architecture for Next-Generation Access.
Prior to joining BT Mr Heron was a Network Architect for Level(3) communications, and a key member of the team which deployed the first 10gbps Internet backbone in Europe. He was then a founder of Packet Exchange - a startup carrier which was the first to offer wide area Ethernet services using MPLS pseudowires. His most recent role was as Director of Network Consulting at Tellabs, where he was instrumental in establishing the Tellabs 8600 as the first, and now dominant platform, for backhauling 2G and 3G mobile data over MPLS pseudowires.
Mr Heron is an active participant in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and has contributed to various RFCs and Internet drafts in the PWE3 and L2VPN working groups – including the "draft-martini" specifications for pseudowires over MPLS and the “LDP VPLS” specification.
Ian is a Principal Analyst in Ovum’s Network Infrastructure practice. He is responsible for the market forecasts in Ovum’s optical networks and optical components advisory services. He is also responsible for the Enterprise Ethernet service forecast. He is a contributor at IIR, MEF, Supercomm and OFC/NFOEC industry events. He also conducts custom research and consulting for clients. His clients include service providers, system vendors, components vendors and the financial/legal communities.
Ian has over twenty years experience in the telecom industry. Prior to Ovum and RHK, he worked at system vendors Nortel and Corvis. He has held a progression of system engineering, networking planning and marketing positions. His experience includes optical, access and voice switching networks. Ian received his MBA from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada and his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manitoba.
