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CENIC Beyond The Network: Keynote Speakers

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 March 2012 Written by Janis Cortese Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Two education network luminaries will bring a wealth of experience to the keynote addresses at the CENIC annual conference this year. Registration for the conference is now open.

The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) will hold its 16th annual conference, Beyond the Network, March 12-14, 2012, at the Sheraton hotel in Palo Alto, California.

The Keynote Speaker for Monday, March 12 is UC San Diego's Amin Vahdat, Director of the Center for Networked Systems. His Keynote Address is titled "Scale Out Networking in the Data Center."

Vahdat is currently a Principal Engineer at Google working on data center architecture. He is on leave from a faculty position in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California San Diego, where he holds the Science Applications International Corporation Chair. Vahdat's research focuses broadly on computer systems, including distributed systems, networks, virtualization, and operating systems. He received his PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley and is a past recipient of the the NSF CAREER award, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and the Duke University David and Janet Vaughn Teaching Award.

The Keynote Speaker for Tuesday, March 13 is Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin, formerly Executive Director of the National Broadband Planning effort.

Levin became Communications & Society Fellow with the Aspen Institute after heading the National Broadband Planning effort. He is currently Executive Director of Gig.U, a project within the Institute that seeks to accelerate the deployment of next generation networks and services by using university communities as test-beds.

Previously, he had spent eight years as an equity analyst at Legg Mason and Stifel Nicolaus. As Barron's Magazine noted, Levin "has always been on top of developing trends and policy shifts in media and telecommunications—and has proved visionary in getting out in front of many of today's headline making events."

Mr. Levin also served as Chief of Staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt from 1993 through 1997. Prior to that Levin practiced law in North Carolina. He is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School.

Conference registration is now open, with the same flexibility of payment as in previous years. Attendees will have the option to pay for their registration with check or credit cards, before or at the conference.

CENIC also invites you to take a look at the conference website for information on how to reserve your hotel room, sponsorship info, and more.

For attendees who are unable to be there in person, the conference will once again be webcast live and archived by Gold Sponsor NCast. CENIC would also like to thank Titanium Sponsor Cisco Systems, Platinum Sponsors Level3 Communications, AT&T, and Comcast Business Class, and second Gold Sponsor WTC Consulting, Inc. for once again being such valued supporters of our annual conference and for their support of the California research and education community.<>

Janis Cortese is Manager of Communications and Publicity for CENIC.