Walt Roehr is the co-inventor of SkyTel's 2-way paging system -- an effort that resulted in 6 patents, an FCC pioneer's preference, and the launch of the narrowband PCS industry.
Packetized Telephony Solutions
Packetized Telephony solutions have been, and continue to be, hot topics. A few years ago the focus was on "free" phone calls to any where in the world, via a service that closely resembled ham radio operation. ATM, to a greater or lesser extent, uses packet techniques for voice transmission. Sprint's ION service had a major PR introduction in mid-1998. Voice over Frame Relay (VoFR) engendered moderate interest a few years ago and Voice over IP (VoIP), in it's many forms, continues to gather significant industry interest.
Walt Roehr will provide a high-level overview that will organize all of these initiatives into a framework and then examine the opportunities and the hazards associated with various classes of solutions.
Walt Roehr is an independent consultant who specializes in the conception and planning of communication systems that satisfy complex technical and organizational requirements. These systems generally include communication links plus computers, protocols, and new organizational functions. Local Area Networks, mobile and aeronautical telephone systems, and various integrated voice data systems (including ISDN) are typical previous endeavors. A particular interest is signaling systems for telephony networks. An increasing component of his practice is assistance, as either a non-testifying consultant or an expert witness, in patent litigation efforts. He has also aided in a number of FCC filings.
He has had seven US patents granted since 1996. Other publications include two Data Communications articles on Signaling System Number 7 (October 1985 and February 1989); a chapter on message handling protocols (focusing on the X.400 protocols) in a Pergamon volume on "Communications standards"; and AMulticarrier Modulation for Narrowband PCS@ in the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology. (November 1994)
Walt has a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering and over 35 years of experience. Prior to establishing his independent practice, he was associated with IBM, Defense Communications Agency, Network Analysis Corporation, and M/A-COM LINKABIT; the last two of these at the Director level. However, Walt prefers interacting with the clients and the technology to managing others who are doing the interacting. Therefore, in 1984 Walt founded Telecommunication Networks Consulting.
Pre-talk questions can be sent to Walt at w.c.roehr@ieee.org
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