Presenters

Ahmad Abdo received his B.Eng., M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. He has been part of Ciena Corp. for more than 17 years where he moved into various R&D roles. He is currently a senior consultant, leading the Sales Engineering...

François-Xavier Abrial, head of Marine business development at Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has been involved in the manufacturing, planning, engineering, implementation and commissioning of undersea cable system projects worldwide since late 1990s. Mr Abrial holds a MS from Georgia Tech...

Henry Ajder is a world-leading expert on AI, deepfakes, and the synthetic revolution. Recognised as a “Generative AI Power Player” by the Financial Times’ Sifted publication and named one of the world’s top 15 AI speakers, Henry is renowned for anticipating the seismic impact of AI and deepfakes in ...

Hayley Adlam, Technical Interface Manager at ASN, is a seasoned offshore professional with over a decade of experience as a Surveyor and Superintendent. While seconding from submarine telecoms, Hayley certified as an ICCAT Bluefin tuna fisheries observer, later, operating as a CCAMLR Scientific...

Mr. Hasnain Ali is an internationally recognized expert in the submarine cable industry, boasting over 17 years of extensive experience managing complex permitting processes. He has successfully led permitting for numerous high-profile submarine cable projects, including the 2Africa Cable...

Principal Submarine Cable Engineer at Vodafone focussed on the marine aspects of new global subsea cable systems. Rhys’ primary marine experience comes from background in Hydrographic Surveying, Cable Route Engineering and Subsea cable installation. Rhys is also the Maritime Sub Group chair of ESCA ...

Gwenn Amice is a Subject Matter Expert at EXFO, focusing on optical networks and transmission. With 30 years of experience ranging from R&D to field operations, he works closely with system manufacturers, network operators, and hyperscalers, offering trusted advice in his field. Since...

Currently in charge of Research & Technology projects and line modelling within Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN).He joined Alcatel Corporate Research Center in 2000 to study nonlinear effects in optical networks, then headed the Dynamic Optical Networks research group within Alcatel-Lucent Bell ...

Chris Atherton is a Senior Research Engagement Manager at GÉANT, the pan-European research and education network based in the Netherlands, bringing over two decades of experience in the IT and Space sectors. His career has centred on enabling cutting-edge research by collaborating closely with...

Shaun is a Project Engineering Manager at Global Marine Group. After completing his Marine Engineering degree and gaining experience in the maritime world, he joined the Group's Graduate Programme, moving around the business, gaining hands-on experience across the full breadth of the...

Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah is an anthropologist and associate professor at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. There she directs the MPhil in Inclusive Innovation and teaches ethnography, qualitative research methods and thinking with Africa. She has recently set up the Light Lab ...

Rafiah Ayandipo is a Shore End Project Engineer at Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), specialising in the design and execution of shore-end installation solutions. Her experience in the submarine cable industry has involved delivering projects across multiple continents, including Africa, Europe and ...

Fernando Borges Azevedo - Head of Connectivity at Start Campus Joining in June 2024, Fernando brought expertise from AWS in Dublin, where he served as Network Development Manager for AWS’s global backbone, leading projects that enhanced network resilience and capacity across regions. His...

Jean-Francois Baget joined Alcatel Submarine Network in 1994 and has been involved in various technical functions in design, integration and engineering: He is currently Technical Marketing Manager and Product Line Manager for submerged Equipment in ASN Product Strategy Group.From 2007 to 2019, he...

Kasyapa Balemarthy received his Bachelor’s degree from IIT-Kanpur, India and the Ph.D. degree from Georgia Tech, USA both in Electrical Engineering. After working at Bell Labs on high-speed data transmission, he is currently with the Global Fiber R&D department at Lightera (formerly known as...

Summary With over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Andy has developed and implemented numerous submarine network systems totalling over 260,000km of global, international, and regional networks to deliver disruptive, sustainable connectivity into regions that...

Ciprian BEJENARU has been with Alcatel Submarine Networks since 2016, bringing over 17 years of experience with DWDM equipment and taking on various technical roles, including product integration and validation, technical bidding, and project management. • Since 2019, he has held the position of...

Afrim Beka, is Director of Submarine Network Solutions at Nokia based in Dubai/UAE, serving as solutions consultant covering EMEA & Global. Afrim brings 29 years of experience in optical transport networking. Previously roles include, Director for Ultra Long-Haul, Pan European Network...

Alain has been working for more than 25 years in telecoms, with Nortel, then Alcatel-Lucent / Nokia, holding management and leadership positions in R&D, Product Line, Industrial Operations, Sales & Marketing, Business Unit P&L accountability. At the helm of ASN since 2019, he brings his ...

Steinar Bjørnstad is with Tampnet AS in Norway, Stavanger, specializing in R&D on fibre sensing and optical communication. He holds a Ph.d. in telecommunication from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and has authored/co-authored more than 70 scientific papers within optical...

Jean-Pierre Blondel has started his career along with the advent of erbium optical amplification and worked on the early design of amplified transoceanic systems as well as on high power unrepeatered systems. He published regular, postdeadline and invited papers in major conferences. Then, after...

Stuart Blythe is a partner with the international law firm, Baker Botts. He is dual U.S./English law qualified (having practiced both in London and New York) and advises on a wide range of corporate and commercial transactions in the technology and telecoms sectors. He has significant industry...

Claire has 36 years experience in the submarine telecommunications industry.  She has spent much of her career at Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) where she was directly involved in managing all submarine telecom cable projects delivered around the world by ASN (and formerly STC) over a 29 year...

After earning a degree in Hydrography in 2013, Emilie began her career as a Surveyor aboard cable ships, spending five years offshore in this role. Emilie then pursued a Master’s in GIS, working across various sectors, including renewables, local government, and hydrographic services. In...

Emilio Bravi obtained PhD in Physics from University College Cork (Ireland). He has expertise in optical communication with 20+ years of experience in Optical Networks R&D, Architectures, Modeling and Pre-sale, both Terrestrial and Submarine applications.   He holds several US patents and has...

Master Marine with over 35 years of experience in the submarine cable industry and offshore operations. Solid knowledge in submarine systems design, installation and maintenance of submarine and energy cables. Experienced Operations and Maintenance Manager with a demonstrated history of working...

Jan Kristoffer Brenne is R&D Manager at Alcatel Submarine Networks Norway, with over 20 years’ experience in development of fiber optics sensing technology. His research interests are fiber Bragg gratings, low-noise fiber lasers, interferometric fiber optic sensing and distributed acoustic...

Kent Bressie is Partner and Head of International Practice with the law firm HWG LLP in Washington DC and the Legal Adviser to the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), the world’s leading nongovernmental organization dedicated to submarine cable protection and resilience.  Kent has...

Lane is a Senior Analyst at TeleGeography. She specializes in internet infrastructure with a focus on submarine cables, data centers, and security policy.

Alexis Carbó Meseguer joined ASN in 2018. Since then, he has worked on the modeling and characterization of new subsea Open Cable systems. Among other topics, he has studied the impact of signal droop, GAWBS, and EEPN. He also proposed a novel experimental model to analyze both the homogeneous and...

Nuno Carreira, currently serving as the Lead Subsea Engineer at Nokia has over a decade of experience in the field, Nuno has established himself as a knowledgeable and innovative expert in subsea engineering and telecommunications technology. His expertise spans a wide range of areas including...

Malte Cesson is the Global Key Account Manager for the telecoms cables service line at geo-data company Fugro. The company is headquartered in the Netherlands and is the world leading provider for geo-data and related specialist services. After working as a surveyor and engineer for many...

Dr Mike Clare is a Principal Researcher in Ocean BioGeoscience at the National Oceanography Centre, UK. His research focuses on dynamic processes that operate in the deep sea, the influence of climate change and human activities on the seafloor, and assessing risks to seafloor infrastructure, which ...

Kieran Clark is the Senior Analyst for Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc. He originally joined the company in 2013 as a Broadcast Technician to provide support for live event video streaming. He has 8+ years of live production experience and has worked alongside some of the premier organizations in...

Mike is co-chair of the international telecoms group and lead partner for digital infrastructure at DLA Piper, one of the largest law firms in the world. He is rated as one of the leading telecoms lawyers globally by all the various guides and is the editor of two books on telecoms regulation Mike ...

Infra-Analytics is a boutique strategic advisory and consulting company serving investment banks, private equity, infrastructure funds and other organisations across the digital infrastructure and subsea cable ecosystem.Mike is a respected senior executive and industry veteran, whose expertise is...

President – Board of Trustees | SubOptic Foundation Founder – CEO | StratWorks, Inc Independent Board Member | Padtec Co-Founder & Board Advisor | Seafields Solutions, Ltd Former CEO and Executive Chairman | GlobeNet Cabos Submarinos Erick Contag is a seasoned strategist driven by his...

Jonathan is a Partner in CMS’s energy and infrastructure project financing practice. He has delivered solutions involving bank debt, bond issues (public and private placements), mezzanine financing, holdco financings and portfolio financing and worked on many deals involving IFIs and ECAs. He acts...

Andrea D’Amico received the Ph.D. degree in electric, electronic and communication engineering with the Politecnico di Torino in 2023. He joined NEC Laboratories America in 2023. His current research activity includes the optical transmission and networking. Since early 2024, he is co-chair of the...

Emmanuel Danjou is currently Head of Business Development of Alcatel Submarine Networks. During his 27-year career in the Telecommunications industry, Emmanuel has held several management positions in Industrialization, Projects, Sales & Marketing and Strategic Alliances & Partnership at...

René joined the OMS Group in 2023 as Telco group COO. René previously oversaw the global business development of services provided by Fugro to the subsea cable industry such as desktop studies and route surveys. René was employed by Fugro for over 20 years, he headed the offshore positioning...

Benoit is a Senior Investment Officer with the Corporate Finance and Global Activities Department at EIB Global. Benoit focusses on the corporate debt financing in the ICT sector sector (including submarine cables, satellites, telecom networks, datacenters, e-health). Prior to this role, he worked...

A member of Meta's Subsea engineering team based in Singapore, supporting new build subsea projects and marine maintenance planning and operations. Area of coverage is Transpacific and Intra-Asia submarine systems. Technical marine program manager of multiple projects, partnering with other...

Chief Executive Officer of Orange Marine and Elettra Tlc ▪ Didier Dillard is an experienced executive in the telecom industry, who spent most of his career within the Orange Group, formerly known as France Telecom, and several years in the wholesale team of the American operator Sprint. ▪ He...

John Downie is currently a Research Fellow with Corning Research and Development Corporation in Corning, NY.  He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1989.  Prior to joining Corning, he worked at the NASA Ames Research Center for 10 years.   In 1999, he joined...

Wilfried Dudink is Senior Director - Strategy & Development, Network Service Providers, responsible for Strategic Initiatives that seed future business, such as Edge Computing, Satellite Systems and Subsea Cable Systems. Furthermore, business development with selected Strategic Accounts in the...

Currently the head of Financing and Treasury at Alcatel Submarine Network (ASN),  Laure has more than 20 years of experience in the high tech and finance industries. She left the banking world in November 2015 to return to ASN where she had started her career in 1999. She is a Telecommunications...

Sumudu Edirisinghe obtained BEng in Electronic Systems Engineering from University of Essex in 1997 and in 2001 was awarded a PhD in Optical communications by University of Essex for his research work on high-speed dispersion tolerant transmission systems. Over the next 20 years he has been working ...

Katherine Edwards is Senior Submarine Cable Investments Manager at Vodafone and has an extensive background in the subsea cable industry, particularly with a focus on operational aspects. She was formerly Operations Manage for Apollo Submarine Cable System and Director for Submarine Systems and...

Managing Director Global Subsea Cable Business – EGS Survey Group Vice Chairman – International Cable Protection Committee Graham has 47 years’ experience as a marine geoscientist and is Managing Director Global Subsea Cable Business for the EGS Survey Group of companies, and co-founder and...

Ivan Fernandez de Jauregui Ruiz, Ph.D., is an optical system architect specializing in coherent optical transmission systems. Since 2022, he serves as a Principal Optical Engineer at Nokia, where he focuses on developing advanced engineering solutions to conceive the next generation of coherent...

Joshua B. Forman is a member of the Corporate Practice in Greenberg Traurig’s Miami office. Joshua represents data center owners, developers, operators, and investors globally, specifically focusing on data center expansion, operations, leases and colocation agreements, and transit...

Leigh Frame serves as the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Xtera Subsea Networks, and he is a key architect of the company’s strategy. Leigh brings with him a wealth of senior-level and hands-on experience. Previously Leigh had an extensive career with Alcatel Submarine Networks, which includes...

I joined Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) in Greenwich in 2019, first working as a Cable Route Engineer designing the routes and pre-installation surveys of ASN supplied cable systems in many different parts of the world. Following this and after working briefly offshore on ASN’s Cable Ship the C/S ...

Tony started work at British Telecom’s Research Lab (BTRL). A move to Alcatel Australia gave him practical experience in testing and commissioning submarine systems. After this he was at Bell Labs working on terminal design and troubleshooting. This was followed by a return to Alcatel in...

Clément Galic is the CEO and co-founder of Unseenlabs, the global leader in space-based RF detection for maritime surveillance. A graduate of the École Nationale de l’Aviation Civile (ENAC), he co-founded the company in 2015 with his brothers to address the lack of maritime visibility beyond...

Capacity Planning Senior Consultant at Telxius Cable, with over 25 years of experience in the subsea industry. Responsible for designing the capacity network. I have led the early adoption of new transmission technologies in submarine systems, including the first use of terrestrial transponders...

Lara Garrett received her Ph.D. in integrated optics from the University of Texas and then joined AT&T Bell Labs in the early days of long haul WDM transmission research. She is now Director of Product Management at SubCom, working on novel architectures to combine the flexibility of...

Willy George is Zain Omantel International’s Head of Department, Networks.Based in Muscat, Willy leads the engineering team responsible for ZOI’s global network infrastructure that includes submarine cable systems, terrestrial DWDM and IP transport infrastructure. Acting as a key technical advisor...

Terry is a mechanical engineer with over 25 years’ experience in pipeline, subsea facilities and cables engineering including in Australia, Asia and the North Sea. He has been involved in the full life cycle from conceptual, FEED and detailed design to operational integrity studies, including...

Stephen Hall FIMarEST is a chartered marine scientist, and a Fellow of IMarEST, SUT and MTS. He has worked in ocean science, technology and policy for over 35 years, in the public & private sector, with roles including managing autonomous underwater vehicle programmes for the UK National...

With a professional background in optical communication and 18 years of working experience in the submarine cable industry, mainly responsible for the technical management of the TK project delivery of submarine cables, verification of system transmission specification, and possessing rich...

Nick has been Submarine Cable Engineer at Meta since 2018 working across a number of global subsea cable projects, including as the 2Africa MWG chair. Previously held the positions of Cable Route Engineer and Marine Engineering Projects Manager for six years at ASN, having previously come from a...

Takemi Hasegawa is an R&D manager at Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (SEI). He is in charge of development of optical fibers including submarine fibers, multi-core fibers, and component fibers. He joined SEI in 1999, and has been engaged in R&D on optical fibers and their...

Silas Lasak Hedeboe is a Ph.D student in the high-speed optical communications group at DTU Electro. He received his B.Sc degree in Physics and Nanotechology from DTU, Denmark in 2022. In 2024 he received the M.Sc degree in Photonics Engineering from DTU. He started his Ph.D with focus on...

Florian is the Product Manager for the Submarine Cable Group at Makai Ocean Engineering, where he ensures product quality and drives the development of new features to meet customer needs. With expertise in submarine cable installation, marine engineering projects, and software testing and...

Mark graduated with a graduating with a B Sc EE 1984 and an M Sc EE 1989 from the University of Saskatchewan and has since been working in fiber optic transmission. He started his career with MPB Technologies working on the TAT-9 cable system project doing test, installation and maintenance, of...

Alan Hollander is Nokia's VP Subsea Systems Engineering. Based in Amsterdam, Alan leads a global subsea engineering team responsible for network upgrade solutions. Acting as a key technical advisor both externally and internally, Alan has been involved with some of the largest subsea network...

Dr. Howe leads the Joint Task Force (JTF) SMART Cable Initiative (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications) to incorporate sensors into the global submarine telecommunication cable network for climate, ocean circulation and sea level monitoring and tsunami and earthquake warning. He...

Yue Hu is a seasoned Principal Optical Engineer at Nokia with a strong background in the submarine fiber industry. With over a decade of experience in designing and optimizing optical communication systems, Yue has a proven track record of delivering innovative solutions that push the boundaries of ...

Arif is a Network Development Manager at Meta, overseeing their commercial interests in various subsea and terrestrial fiber projects, including 2Africa. With over 25 years’ experience in fiber optic and wireless networks, he has expertise throughout the digital infrastructure development lifecycle ...

Mary Jackson is VP Human Resources at SubCom, where she drives the HR strategy to support a highly skilled, global workforce. With over 20 years of experience in human resources and manufacturing, Mary specializes in talent acquisition, workforce planning, and organizational development.  In her...

Tom is part of the Operations Team in Google's Global Submarine Network business unit. As the Global Lead for Marine Strategy and Innovation, he is charged with leading engagement with partners and the industry to develop future marine strategies, including marine maintenance, and implementing...

Adrian is the Software Development Manager for the Submarine Cable Group at Makai Ocean Engineering, where he leads the development of Makai’s software for submarine cable planning (MakaiPlan) and installation (MakaiLay). With over 28 years of experience in software development, electrical system...

 Majoring in Electronic and Communication Engineering and having 12 years of project delivery experience in the submarine cable industry,  as the technical manager of the delivery department, I have accomplished the delivery of multiple TK and live network expansion projects and possess rich...

Shuaishuai Jiang is a senior cable route engineer at HMN Tech, with 10 years of experience in cable route design and marine survey operations. His work focuses on delivering reliable solutions for submarine cable projects. Proficient in geospatial analysis, risk assessment, and compliance with...

Jingjing Li is an senior Hardware Engineer at HMN Technologies, specializing in the research and development of submarine cable terminal equipment. With over six years of professional experience, she has contributed to the design and optimization of critical marine communication systems. Her...

raig Jones is a Managing Principal at Integral Consulting Inc., where he leads cutting-edge initiatives focused on reducing risks to subsea cable infrastructure. With over 20 years of experience in coastal and offshore processes, Craig has become a recognized expert in the application of...

Sonia is the Founder and Executive Director of the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP). She has successfully led global coalitions to reduce the cost of connectivity and make universal meaningful connectivity a reality for everyone in global majority countries. Sonia is an experienced...

I am a Cable Engineer at KDDI Cableships & Subsea Engineering Inc. with nine years of experience in submarine telecommunications. For eight years, I specialized in ROV operations for submarine cable repair, gaining advanced technical and hands-on skills. I also worked at a Cable Landing...

Valey is a founder of Kamalov LLC company dedicated to subsea environmental sensing and protection of submarine cables (since 2023). Valey discovered polarization based sensing with transcontinental submarine cables in January 2020, and has been devoted to optical fiber sensing technologies since...

Dr. Camino Kavanagh is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, a Research Fellow with UNIDIR’s Security and Technology Programme and Senior Digital Advisor to the Policy and Mediation Division in the UN Dept. of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs. Her...

Yuki Kawaguchi, PhDAssistant General Manager,Optical Communications Lab., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.He received the Ph.D. degree in information science from Hokkaido University, in 2011.Following a Research Fellowship with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science during 2009–2012, he...

I have been involved in submarine communications as a cable engineer at KDDI Cable Ship & Subsea Engineering Co. Since joining KCS, I have been aboard the cable ship for 10 years. Mainly I take lead for cable handling on deck work and plan the equipment used for deck operations such as...

With a remarkable experience spanning two decades in the fields of business development and international customers’ relations, Ola Khaled is currently holding the position of International Business Development Senior Manager for International Network and Digital Infrastructure at Telecom Egypt. ...

Dmitriy Kovsh received his PhD in Optics from CREOL, School of Optics, University of Central Florida. Since joining SubCom R&D Organization, Dmitriy has been a lead developer of simulation software tools to optimize undersea systems, studying technologies ranging from 10G direct detection and...

Dr Benoit Kowalski is a French-born scientist who started his professional carrier in 1995 at Alcatel Research in Emmanuel Desurvire’s lab to work on the introduction of EDFA and EDFFA amplifiers in optical networks. He moved on to the France Telecom research centre (CNET) for 3 years in the frame...

Marta Lahuerta Escolano is a Partner at Jones Day. She focuses on major digital infrastructure projects (subsea cables, data centers, backbones, satellites), from their design and construction to their O&M. Her expertise in the field of submarine cables, has allowed her to work on over 20...

Siu-Kei Lee is currently Product Line Manager at Alcatel Submarine Network (ASN) and member of various SubOptic working groups since 2022. He joined the telecom industry 25 years ago and has worked in different international telecom supplier companies in the 4G and 5G wireless domain, holding...

Kim Lefebvre is a System Engineer at Ciena Corporation for over a decade in the telecommunications industry. Throughout his career, Kim has demonstrated a strong technical acumen and a deep understanding of submarine network systems as he travels around the world to test Ciena technologies on...

Zhen LI has 14-year experience as a Route Engineer and DTS & Survey manager carrying out route engineering, Desktop Study, marine survey, burial assessment survey for projects in Philippines, Russia, Middle East, Cameroon, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore etc.

Jiang Lin was born in Hube province, China, in 1986. He received the master’s degree in photoelectric information engineering from Huazhong University of Science&Technology in 2011. In 2013 He joined in Huawei Marine Networks, which has changed name to HMN Technologies in 2021, and has been...

Shuang LinProcess Engineer, HMN Technologies Co., Ltd. Shuang Lin is a process engineer specializing in subsea communication systems at HMN. With 6+ years of hands-on experience in high-reliability process design and material failure analysis, she has led critical advancements in sealing system...

Andrew D. Lipman practices in most aspects of communications law and related fields, including regulatory, transactional, litigation, legislative, and land use. Andy’s clients in the private and public sectors include those in the areas of local, long distance, and international telephone common...

Zhuoyu LIU joins in HMN TECH Company since 2013 and working in this area for over 12 years. now he is the dupty manager for the HMN TECH NEW ENERGY BU and provide solar, energy storage and wind solutions for the OTT, opterator and other business owners. he is familiar with the submarine...

The ICPC FAD Work Group: Created to provide guidance to governments, fishing communities, and cable owners on the risks of fish aggregating devices (FADS) to submarine cables and recommended mitigation measures.  Determine the form that guidance should take, either in a position/white paper, ICPC...

Ma Simin is a permit manager working in HMN Tech where she participated more than five international submarine cable projects including ALC, SEA-H2X, SCIP 2, SHV-HK and had successfully applied permits of many Southeast Asia countries.

Luciano Maniglio has a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering (EQF level 6) and a master's degree in Civil Engineering (EQF level 7), both from the University of Salento, and is also a certified PMP. In 2024 he started an MBA which he will finish in 2025. Through his master's thesis...

Juan Maranesi is the QHSE Systems and Audits team Manager for Alcatel Submarine Networks. He has over 25 years of experience in different industries with a diverse international and multi-cultural background. He takes a pragmatic approach to Quality and HSE. Experienced in developing, maintaining...

Matt Marchant is Principal Engineer, Submarine Engineering at Vodafone Group. He joined Vodafone in January 2022, having previously worked at BT Group since 2015.   Matt is responsible for the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of Vodafone’s portfolio of submarine cable systems, which covers a...

Ronan MAREC is the Marine Strategy Officer at Alcatel Submarine Networks, bringing over 33 years of maritime experience across operational, advisory, and leadership roles. He began his career at sea aboard cable ships and seismic vessels, advancing to the rank of Captain. He later transitioned to...

Giuseppe Marra is a Principal Scientist in the Time and Frequency department. His specialist area of research expertise is optical frequency metrology, with a focus on dissemination of ultra-stable optical frequencies over optical fibre links, including for comparison of distantly located optical...

Diego Matas is the Chief Operating Officer of EllaLink, where he has been working for the past eight years, joining the project during its development phase. With a career spanning 28 years, Diego has held key leadership positions in major telecommunications firms. At Interoute, he served as...

Eduardo Mateo is the Chief Strategy Officer of the Submarine Network Division at NEC, Tokyo. He leads technology strategy and network architecture activities since 2012. Prior to that, he held a research and development role at NEC Labs America in Princeton, NJ, where he conducted pioneering...

Luis Matias finished his PhD in 1996 in Physics (Geophysics) at the Lisbon University. He is since 2015 Associate Professor in the Geographic Engineering, Geophysics and Energy Department of FCUL. The research activity has been conducted at the Instituto Dom Luiz, Associate Laboratory. The main...

Yuushi Matsuo received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in science and engineering from Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan, in 2017. In 2017, he joined NEC Corporation. He is currently an Engineer with Submarine Network Division, where he is responsible for high-capacity submarine transmission...

Alan Mauldin is a Research Director at TeleGeography. He manages the company’s infrastructure research group, focusing primarily on submarine cables, terrestrial networks, international Internet infrastructure, and bandwidth demand modeling. He also advises clients with due diligence...

Sandra Maximiano, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of ANACOM since 15 December 2023, holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam. She is an Associate Professor of Economics at ISEG - Higher Institute of Economics and Management of the University of Lisbon, where she is...

Mikael Mazur received his PhD from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden in 2019. At Bell Labs, he develops real-time signal processing techniques for optical transmission and fiber sensing systems. His work puts particular emphasis on developing fiber sensing systems that are compatible with...

Mick commenced his career with Standard Telephones & Cables in 1985 as a transmission engineer in fiber optics for terrestrial network build. He moved to the submarine division in 1988 and held various positions within the Marine installation department both offshore and onshore installing...

Dr Priyanth Mehta is a seasoned professional with over 10 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Priyanth manages the optical engineering team on subsea and terrestrial photonic network performance at Ciena Canada. He holds over 50 academic publications (500+ citations), and...

Jamie Merrett is a seasoned Project Manager at Alcatel Submarine Networks, with over 34 years of experience in the submarine cable telecommunications industry. For the last 20 years he has been dedicated to obtaining cable system permits and environmental licences for global digital infrastructure...

Dr. Mertz is currently a Fellow in the Advanced Optical Development group at Infinera, now part of Nokia, developing advanced modulation formats, automation software, and fiber sensing solutions for subsea communications.  He was awarded OSA’s 2021 Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award...

Master’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Results-driven telecommunications professional with over 25 years of experience in designing, planning, developing, and troubleshooting complex projects. Extensive expertise in analyzing customer requirements and delivering customized...

Teresa Monteiro is Director of Marketing at Nokia, where she champions Nokia Network Infrastructure solutions. Her focus includes management, control, software automation, SDN, and Analytics and Machine Learning techniques. Teresa is dedicated to helping network operators evolve and optimize their...

Jan Petter Morten is working as Principal Engineer in the R&D department the ASN Norway office in Trondheim. The focus for his work is on fiber sensing applications and signal processing. He received a PhD in theoretical physics in 2008 from NTNU, Norway.  He has experience in geophysical...

Nakayama is an engineer at OCC's Submarine Systems Division Engineering Department. He received his M.S. from Hokkaido University, Department of Condensed Matter Physics in 2018 and joined OCC's Submarine Systems Division in same year. His responsibility is cable performance evaluation.

Quynh Nguyen is Lead Environmental Officer at Oceanic Environmental Cables in Germany, specializing in subsea cable recovery and recycling. With a background in Environmental Engineering and expertise in carbon footprint analysis, she actively promotes sustainable practices across the subsea cable...

Kristian Nielsen is based in the WFN main office in Sterling, Virginia USA. He has more than 17 years’ experience and knowledge in submarine cable systems, including Arctic and offshore Oil & Gas submarine fiber systems. As Chief Revenue Officer, he supports the Projects and Technical...

Alexander Nikolaidis has been a Network Planner at Meta for ten years. He is responsible for long-term demand forecasting, backbone network architecture, investment planning, and multi-layer topology modeling and simulation. Alexander has worked on the topology design, timing, and technology...

Jing Ning has 15 years' experience with the submarine telecommunication, currently serving as senior optical simulation engineer at HMN Tech. She is mainly responsible for the development of simulation platforms, the research of the performance of long-distance submarine transmission...

Miki Nishioka received the B.E. degree in engineering from Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, in 2018, and the M.E. degree in 2020. She joined NEC in 2020, where she developed amplifiers for satellite communication until 2022. Since 2022, she has been responsible for the development and maintenance...

Richard Norris is Senior Director of Global Submarine System Engineering at Ciena with responsibility for submarine solution technical sales and development. He’s been in the telecom industry for over 30 years working for both vendors and operators. He was first involved in submarine networking in...

Gabriele Olivieri is a PhD student in Geographical Studies at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, where he obtained a master's degree in Political Science. He has published several articles on the geopolitics of the sea, as well as contributions to De Agostini's high school textbooks. His ...

Alex Overstall joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2022 as a Technical Business Developer, involved with developing Amazon’s subsea backbone infrastructure globally including the design, contracting and implementation of subsea cables and associated infrastructure. Prior to joining Amazon, Alex...

  Andy Palmer-Felgate is responsible for marine engineering and route planning of submarine cable systems at Meta and serves as Acting President of the North America Submarine Cable Association.  Andy is also a Director and Executive Committee member of the International Submarine Cable Protection ...

Mike Pan is a Senior Product Manager at Cisco, specializing in Optical Networking. With over two decades of experience in the optical telecommunications sector, Mike drives innovation and customer-focused solutions. His current role builds upon a distinguished tenure at Acacia Communications, where ...

Pascal Pecci is a Global Optical Architect for Meta, overseeing the design, build, and operation of Open Cable submarine systems and introducing new optical technologies in the Meta global network. After 25 years within Alcatel working on terrestrial and subsea projects as a researcher, system...

Philippe A. Perrier joined Meta’s Subsea Engineering Team as Submarine Cable Systems Engineer at the end of 2021 in Singapore. His main responsibilities include the design, build, and delivery of Open Cable submarine cable systems in the APAC region and to drive technology developments for the next ...

Jon Perry is a Partner with Environmental Resources Management (ERM), based in Oxford, UK.  He has 30 years of experience providing environmental consultancy services across the subsea cables, marine infrastructure, energy and decarbonisation sectors. Jon is an experienced EIA practitioner and...

Ulises R. Pin, deputy leader of the firm’s telecommunications, media, and technology (TMT) practice, represents US and foreign communications and technology companies on corporate, financial, and regulatory matters. He also advises private equity firms, venture capital funds, and financial...

Ben Plimmer works as a Technical Program Manager within Google's Subsea build team. His previous experience includes working on Subsea build projects for Meta and Vodafone working primarily on the 2Africa cable system. Ben's roles have led him to place a particular focus on overseeing the...

Oli is the Managing Director at Route Position, a consultancy specialising in supporting subsea telecoms cable planning and implementation. Oli started offshore in 2007, working in commercial seabed survey, offshore construction and metocean projects for the energy sector before joining the subsea...

James Porter is a Cable Route Engineer working for ASN, in the Greenwich office, London. James has experience working on numerous large scale submarine cable projects, he is responsible for the cable routing and cable design from early concept phase through to cable manufacturing. During this...

Xiaoyong Qin is an accomplished R&D Engineer at HMN Tech, specializing in submarine cable system solutions and fiber sensing technologies. He has played a key role in the development of critical submarine communication equipment including Open Cable Access Equipment, Repeater, Branching...

Spanning five decades and multiple complex domains and continents, Julian is a highly respected figure in the telecommunications industry. Having worked in many emerging markets, including Myanmar and the former Soviet Union, his expertise lies in driving innovation towards strategic growth. Driven ...

Elaine Reed leads the Submarine Engineering team at Vodafone Group, ensuring technical and operational best practice in the deployment, operation and decommissioning of submarine cable systems for which Vodafone have responsibility. Elaine joined Vodafone in April 2021, having spent the previous...

Aldo Righetti is a visionary entrepreneur and one of the Founder of Subphoton srl, a cutting-edge technology company specializing in the development of advanced solutions for the submarine fiber industry. With over 40 years of experience in the telecommunications sector, Aldo is a recognized expert ...

Kim Roberts has been a major force in the field of digital signal processing for optical transmission in developing the first coherent 40, 100, 400, 800, and 1600 Gb/s optical systems. Today Kim is Vice President at Ciena, leading an R&D team focused on pushing the optical boundaries even...

Nico’s career has largely focused on network infrastructure ranging from academic research to network investment. As Director, Network Investment APAC, Nico leads a team at Meta focused on building out the connectivity required to deliver Meta’s Family of Apps to people in APAC including recently...

Jane Ruffino is a PhD researcher at Södertörn University in Sweden. Her research looks at the subsea cable network in the Baltic Sea region through the lens of archaeology. She's interested in the people, places, and material things, and processes that contribute to resilience. 

He Rui, male, graduated from Jinan University, is currently working in Fiberhome Marine Network Equipment Co., Ltd., a senior process engineer, mainly engaged in the process design and development of optical cables.

Stefano Russo is a telecommunications Program Manager at RETELIT with 10 years of experience in managing large-scale network projects, specializing in submarine cable terrestrial infrastructure and Modular Cable Landing Stations (MCLS). His expertise covers program planning, technical...

Max Schneider is a Senior Project Manager at Global Marine.With an MSc in Project Management, Max joined Global Marine Group's inaugural graduate scheme in 2014. Over a two-year period Max navigated four role rotations within the business including experience offshore, and in 2016 he became a...

Patrick Scully, Chief Product Officer, Quantum CorridorPatrick Scully, P. Eng., MBA, has been involved in the research and development of optical networks for over 25 years. Over the last 15 years, he pioneered and oversaw the development and market introduction of several generations of industry...

Dr. Lindsay Smith joined SMD in 2023 as Business Development Manager for New Technologies. She holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering and brings over a decade of experience working in research and development within the subsea sector. At SMD, Lindsay leads the integration and commercialisation of...

Ruben S. Luis is a Senior Researcher at the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT) in Japan, specializing in cutting-edge optical fiber transmission systems and spatial division multiplexing. Since joining NICT in 2016, he has focused in advancing ultra-high-capacity...

Dr. Zack Spica, CEO, is a recognized leader in fiber-optic sensing technology, credited with over a decade of pioneering contributions to the field. He merges academic expertise with entrepreneurial vision to accelerate innovation, translating cutting-edge research into real-world applications.

Nicole Starosielski is Professor of Film and Media at the University of California-Berkeley and a principal investigator on the Sustainable Subsea Networks, a project of the SubOptic Foundation, working to enhance the sustainability of subsea cable systems.

Matthias Stegmaier graduated from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) in 2013 and received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Münster (Germany) in 2017. In 2017 he joined OFS (now Lightera) where he is currently working as a Senior Development Engineer. His work has centered around ...

Marc is a Director of Systems Engineering at Nokia, a global leader in optical telecommunications. With a focus on subsea optical transmission and SLTE technology, he collaborates closely with Webscale subsea teams to help achieve their data transmission goals. Marc's optical communications...

Tim Stronge is Chief Research Officer at TeleGeography. His responsibilities span across many of our research practices including network infrastructure, bandwidth demand modeling, cross-border traffic flows, and telecom services pricing.

With a background in fiber-optic communications, I have 15 years of experience in the marine cable industry. As a technical manager, I specialize in system design, engineering delivery, and overseeing large-scale projects. I am well-versed in open cable systems and committed to delivering...

Ryuichi Sugizaki received his B. E. degree from Chiba Institute of Technology in Chiba, Japan, in 1990. He joined Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. in1990 where he has been engaged in research and development of optical fibers. He is now a specialist for the Photonics laboratories. Mr. Sugizaki is...

Sun yunpeng (1995-), a research and Development Engineer of submarine optical cable in Jiangsu HMN Technologies Group Co., Ltd., has long been engaged in the design and development of submarine optical cable and reliability verification, and has rich knowledge of optical fiber, submarine optical...

My name is Shengjie Sun, working in HMN Technologies Co., Ltd. as an assistant software development engineer. During my tenure, I participated in the development and maintenance of SLM, PFE and other products, and had a certain understanding of product characteristics. In addition, during the study ...

Hitoshi Takeshita received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering and information from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1993 and 1995 and his Ph.D. degree in information and communication engineering from the University of Nagoya, Japan in 2019. In 1995, he joined NEC...

As Principal Submarine Cable Engineer for Vodafone Group, I specialise in Operations and Maintenance. Managing both marine and land repair operations for various submarine cable systems and working within several global operations and maintenance consortia working groups. Additionally, I co-chair...

Olly Thomson has worked for Alcatel Submarine Networks since 2012 across multiple teams. He now works in the ASN Services team as a Commercial Manager responsible for customer relationships after systems have been installed and throughout their lifecycles. Olly is involved with ASN’s expansion of...

Denise Toombs, Toombs Marine Consultancy LLC, Principal Ms. Toombs is a globally recognized expert in environmental permitting for subsea cables and other marine projects. She has global experience working with engineering, legal and construction teams to obtain approvals needed from multiple...

Anders Tysdal is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Infrastructure at Tampnet, overseeing the company’s extensive telecommunications networks, including 5,500 km of submarine fibre optic cables in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Tampnet’s network provides international connectivity...

Cédric Vandenweghe holds a Master's degree in Computer Methods for Industrial Systems from the University of Versailles and a Telecommunications Engineering degree from Esigetel Paris. Cédric Vandenweghe began his career in WDM optical communication and was recognized as a Distinguished Member...

Siddharth Varughese obtained his B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2015 and in 2020 was awarded a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology for his research on modelling impairments in high-speed optical communication systems and ...

Alexandre Vázquez is currently a PHD student in Univesidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) who researchs about integrated and quantum optics applied to physical security. On one hand, he works in quantum cryptography using photonic devices, in particular, in continuous variable quantum key...

Alexei Pilipetskii received his Ph.D. in 1990 in nonlinear fiber optics. From 1994 to 1997, he worked on fiber optic data transmission at UMBC. In 1997, he joined SubCom, focusing on new transmission technologies for undersea fiber optic cables. He became an IEEE Photonics Society Fellow in 2018.

Senior Tech Advisor

As CTO, Jeff Wabik is responsible for strategic, technical, and operational aspects across the DC BLOX business, as well as for innovation to advance the company’s Hyperscale, Connectivity, and Subsea solutions.  For more than 38 years, Jeff has combined imagination, vision, and a deep technical ...

Cécile Walch Sousa is Deputy General Counsel at Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), France. She holds a postgraduate degree in public and private international law and brings over 20 years of global legal experience, including expatriate work in India. At ASN, she provides legal support for submarine ...

David Walker earned a first-class degree in Ocean Exploration and Surveying from the University of Plymouth. He began his career working as a Hydrographic Surveyor for an unmanned surface vehicle company in Exeter before relocating to London in 2022 to work for Alcatel Submarine Networks as a Cable ...

Dave Walters first started in the submarine cable industry as a Cambridge University physics graduate in 1971, working on the development and then on the marine installation of an electrical analogue transatlantic cable system. He later worked for 17 years at the STL research laboratories on the...

WangYanpu joined HMN in 2008. Since then, he has been working on the research of submarine cable transmission system in system integration laboratory. He engaged in the design and verification of large capacity and long distance submarine system solutions. In recent years, He is responsible for...

Simon Webster is Director, Submarine Networks EMEA for NEC. He started in NEC’s cable business in 1998, and currently heads NEC’s business in EMEA for submarine cable networks and ocean observation systems. He is also a steering committee member of the UN ESCAP Sustainable Business Network task...

Quanying Wen is a skilled engineer specializing in submarine fiber optic systems, dedicated to advancing global connectivity through technology. At HMN Technologies Co., Ltd, he plays a key role in designing and deploying high-performance undersea cable solutions that strengthen international...

Matthew has worked for Global Marine Group since 2012. He leads the Route Planning Team within the OceanIQ business unit that carries out Desktop Studies and other consultancy work. He has worked worldwide engineering and surveying cable routes. Highlights include planning a telecoms cable route to ...

William Wilcock is a professor in the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he holds the Jerome M. Paros Endowed Chair in Sensor Networks.  He is a marine geophysicist whose research interests include the seismicity of submarine volcanoes, seafloor...

Denise Wood is a trusted advisor to technology and communications companies, focusing on commercial and regulatory matters with a particular emphasis on subsea and terrestrial digital infrastructure and space and satellite issues. Her diverse clientele spans the technology and communications...

Mr. Xiaolong Zhang with PH.D is a senior route engineer and marine survey manager in HMN Tech with over 25 years’ experience relating to the submarine cable industry. He has mainly engaged in desktop study, cable routing and protection design, marine survey management, burial...

I have a MSE in computer science and technology and work as a software engineer in HMN. I concentrate on solve traditional problems using new method such as machine learning , AI ,etc. With new methods, we aim at providing highly reliable, high-performance and energy efficient solution to people...

Hideki YAMAGUCHI received the B.S. degree in Systems Engineering from Shizuoka University, Japan in 2001 and the M.S. degree in Basic Production Engineering from Toyota Technological Institute, Japan in 2003. In 2003, he joined Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Japan.

Yoshinori Yamamoto received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in electronics, information, and energy engineering from Osaka University, Japan, in 2000 and 2002, respectively. In 2002, he joined Optical Communications Laboratory in Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Japan, where he was engaged in R&D...

Fatih Yaman received his Ph.D. in Optical Engineering from The Institute of Optics at University of Rochester in 2006. After postdoctoral research at CREOL, he joined NEC Laboratories of America in 2010 as a research staff member.  His current research interests include performance optimization of...

YASUHARA Keisuke (yasuhara.occ@nec.com) is an engineer in the OCC's Submarine Systems Division Engineering Department. He joined OCC's Submarine Systems Division in 2015. His responsibility is submarine cable R&D. He received his B.Sc. from Nagasaki University in 2015.

Kwok is a route engineer and survey manager. She has been with HMN Tech since 2010, and dedicated in submarine cable route industry for the management and supervision of desktop study, site visit and survey activities performed by contractors, as well as conducting route engineering for cable...

Isobel Yeo is a senior researcher in volcanology and geohazards at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, where her research focuses on understanding threats to coastal communities and seafloor infrastructure and application of novel technology to better understand hazards in the ocean. Her PhD was ...

Hesham Youssef is Senior Transmission Engineer and CLS expert at Telecom Egypt, bringing over 14 years of experience in optical communications and submarine cable operations. He holds a master's degree in electrical, electronics, and communications engineering from Alexandria University, where...

Jingying Yu is a dynamic Technical Solution Engineer at HMN Technologies Co., Ltd., with a proven track record of designing and implementing innovative solutions in the submarine cable system industry. With a strong background in engineering and a passion for cutting-edge technology, Jingying...

Deputy director of submarine network design dept. of HMN Tech, with over 15 years of experience in the submarine cable industry, specializing in system architecture and design. Demonstrates extensive expertise in both underwater and terrestrial plant product functionalities, as well as network...

Donghai ZHANG, HMN Technologies, Director of Business Innovation With over 20 years of professional experience spanning both terrestrial and submarine networks. Specialized in Ethernet, IP, and transmission technologies, with deep expertise in submarine cable system planning and global network...

Zhaopeng ZHANG has 8-year experience as a Route Engineer & Survey Manager in company of HMN Technologies, carrying out route engineering, Desktop Study, inshore and offshore geophysical & geotechnical surveys and burial assessment survey for submarine cable projects, and has rich project...

Elva (Zhao Ling) has 17 years’ experience within the Terrestrial and Submarine Telecommunication & Service Provider sectors, currently serving as System simulation Engineer for HMN Technologies Co. in China. She has gained experience in large scale telecommunications project simulation of...

Qian Zhong joined Google in January 2023 as the Subsea Quality Lead where he is responsible for ensuring the quality of Google's subsea network.  Prior to joining Google, Qian held various leadership roles in R&D, product line management, and sales at AT&T Bell Labs, Tyco Telecom, and...

Damon Zhang：Damon joined HMN Tech in 2017 and currently serves as a senior technical solution engineer. Having rich industry experience, mainly responsible for system design of submarine cable system, familiar with dry and wet plants and network architecture. In addition, he has conducted in-depth...