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Pub Talk
"Sustaining
Telecom Innovation With New Partnership Engines"
THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2002
By Mr. Gabriel
Sidhom
Vice President, Business Development & Alliances
France Telecom Research & Development, LLC
Open to the Public. 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. No fee.
The Pub Talk begins at 6:00 p.m.
Technological
options facing a company today are multiplying faster than available
resources to evaluate them. Convergence is creating technological
combinatorial forms difficult to discern and even more difficult
to measure in terms of potential risks and opportunities. Added
to this is the current season of inclement financial weather, which
is radically shrinking companies’, planning horizons to quarters
if not months. At this Pub, Gabriel Sidhom will discuss how France
Telecom R&D is facing these challenges while maintaining the
cadence of innovation necessary for a telecommunications firm to
succeed in keeping relevant and fresh the value proposition it brings
to its clients. Specifically, he will focus on the changing role
of partnership management as one of the engines necessary for generating
sustained innovation.
ABOUT
GABRIEL SIDHOM
Gabriel Sidhom was named Vice President, Business Development
& Alliances for France Telecom Research & Development, LLC
in April 2001. In this capacity, he is responsible for defining
the company's business strategy; developing new markets and contracts;
directing the company's technology, business scouting, and research
engagements; managing research and development partnerships with
companies, universities, associations, and institutions; and managing
the company's product management group. In addition, Mr. Sidhom
is responsible for developing and managing the company's broadband
competency group. Previously, he held the position of Vice President
for France Telecom's business wholesale services. In this role,
he defined the strategy for the wholesale activity, developed and
marketed the wholesale offer, and established and managed commercial
relations with fixed, wireless and internet resellers and operators
in France and internationally. Mr. Sidhom also represented France
Telecom on several international alliance steering committees. Prior
to joining France Telecom, he held various positions with GTE Corporation.
Mr. Sidhom holds a BA in monetary economics & political science
from Occidental College and a MA in industrial organization &
financial markets from the University of California, Los Angeles.
He is a former board member of the American Marketing Association
in New York.
ABOUT
FRANCE TELECOM R&D, LLC
France
Telecom (http://www.francetelecom.com)
is one of the world's leading telecommunications carriers with over
107 million customers on five continents (220 countries) and consolidated
operating revenues of 22.5 billion Euros for the first half of 2002.
Through its major international brands -- including Orange, Wanadoo,
Equant, and GlobeCast -- France Telecom provides businesses, consumers,
and other carriers with a complete portfolio of solutions that spans
local, long-distance and international telephony, wireless, Internet,
multimedia, data, broadcast, and cable TV services.
Innovation is
a fundamental priority for France Telecom. France Telecom R&D
is the source of design and development for about 80 percent of
the products and services marketed by France Telecom. The organization
pursues three concurrent objectives: 1) continually improve existing
services and networks through the initiatives of project teams over
three to twelve months; 2) create foundations for the impossible
through the efforts of work groups with 12-to-36-month horizons
to develop new technologies and platforms; and 3) imagine the unthinkable
in radically new domains through brainstorming workshops and by
anticipating future uses. Since 1997, France Telecom R&D's laboratory
in South San Francisco provides the France Telecom group with innovative
technologies in Internet, enterprise services, multimedia, and Wireless
through its access to US markets and execution of its six primary
roles of technology & business model analysis and evaluation,
software and hardware testing and evaluation, participation in industry
forums and standard bodies, integration of innovative technologies
into France Telecom's offers, and prototype development &. commercial
"visioning" of new technologies. Key to these efforts
has been a commitment to ongoing development of a wide range of
partnerships with both large and start-up companies as well as alliances
such as Liberty (of which France Telecom was a founding member),
extensive work with universities (Stanford, MIT, UC Santa Barbara
& Santa Clara University), and ongoing contacts with venture
capitalists, including due diligence support.
FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Mr. Gabriel Sidhom
Vice President, Business Development & Alliances
France Telecom Research & Development, LLC
801 Gateway Blvd, Suite 500
South San Francisco, CA 94080
T: 650.875.1504
F: 650.875.1505
E: mailto:Gabriel.sidhom@rd.francetelecom.com
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