ATTEND THIS SIG AND ATTEND CTIA FREE!**

The show is not over at 5PM on October 11th. After the CTIA tradeshow floor closes, join the CommNexus Digital Media SIG at the San Diego Convention Center as they present a high-quality panel featuring leaders at LG Electronics, Qualcomm Ventures, and Comcast Ventures who will share their thoughts on the current and future landscape of the Digital Media industry including identifying opportunities during uncertain times.Fueled by the twin revolutions of Internet delivery and media mobility, there has never been a more exciting yet uncertain time for content owners, service providers, technology companies and investors. The CommNexus Digital Media SIG is orchestrating an event, Start-Up Opportunities in the Digital Media Space, to illustrate the complex and dynamic nature of today’s major industry trends in the context of identifying the brightest, most promising areas for start-up companies to capitalize on. Major categories such as social networking, TV Everywhere, cloud computing and personalized music are posing seismic shifts to the digital media landscape. Our panelists include a leading technology company leading technology companies with strategic interests in innovative new companies and technologies, a traditional venture capitalist in pursuit of the next Google or Facebook, and a serial entrepreneur with a knack for finding the next technological sweet spot. With the entire value chain, comprising content creation, distribution and consumption, undergoing dramatic changes, what are the most fertile, innovative areas for new devices, infrastructure equipment, tools and apps? With every niche seemingly so competitive, what are some of the new business models under consideration? Come join us for this exciting and timely panel discussion.

PANELISTS:
Nagraj Kashyap
VP, Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures
Nagraj Kashyap is vice president of Qualcomm Ventures. In this role, Kashyap is the global head of the group and oversees the Company’s strategic investments in wireless-industry ventures. In addition, he provides direction and guidance to the Qualcomm Innovation Network team and oversees business development activities for R&D programs such as Augmented Reality, Indoor Positioning and Personal Area Networking. Before being promoted to vice president, Kashyap was a senior director of Qualcomm Ventures where he served as the global head of the group and expanded the team’s presence to India and Israel. Prior to that, Kashyap was a director, leading the North America operations for the Ventures group. Kashyap joined Qualcomm in July of 2003 as a senior manager in business development. Prior to Qualcomm, Kashyap was a manager at PRTM, a management consulting company and had direct client engagements with Nextel, Motorola, DuPont, Caterpillar, Michelin, Bell Mobility and ADC. Prior to PRTM, Kashyap was a senior product marketing manager at Motorola. He has also held engineering positions at 3Com/US Robotics and Nortel. Kashyap serves on the boards of Avaak, Brain Corporation and Zeebo. He is a board observer at Livescribe, Location Labs, Obopay and Sotera Wireless. Kashyap has also contributed to the successful acquisitions and IPOs of companies such as Airvana (IPO:AIRV), Bitfone (acquired by H-P) and Novarra (acquired by Nokia).

Nandhu Nandhakumar
SVP Advanced Technology, LG Electronics
Nandhu Nandhakumar is currently SVP Advanced Technology at LG Electronics, where he influences corporate business and technology strategy related to the access of entertainment and information content from network-connected CE devices, 3D entertainment in the home, and mobile broadcast television. He is also responsible for identifying and establishing strategic business and technology partnerships in a broad range of areas of interest to LG. He has initiated and led new activities in media/telecom technology standards development groups, and represents the office of the CTO of LGE on technology policy issues in interactions with US regulatory agencies and trade associations. His prior positions at LG include CTO and VP Engineering of Triveni Digital, a subsidiary of LG Electronics. At Triveni Digital, Nandhu led the development of products for media & metadata distribution, monitoring and translation over different types of broadcast networks. These infrastructure products are being used by the world’s largest cable, terrestrial, telco, and satellite systems to extend services and implement new business models. Prior to this, as Director of Engineering at LG Electronics Research Center of America, he led MPEG standards development and prototyping of advanced networked consumer media appliances. He holds numerous patents and has published over a 100 journal and conference papers in these areas of technology. He has also served on the faculties of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Nandhu has a PhD in EE from UT Austin, an MS in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a B.E (Hons) in Electronics & Communications Engineering from University of Madras, India.

Dave Zilberman
Principal, Comcast Ventures
Dave joined Comcast Ventures in early 2006 and is responsible for identifying, executing and managing new investments while supporting existing portfolio companies. As an investor focusing on telecommunications and digital media, Dave brings a combination of operational, technical and advisory experience to bear as a board member. Prior to joining CV, Dave was a business development manager at Flarion Technologies responsible for a variety of corporate development initiatives. Dave played a pivotal role in Flarion’s fundraising activities and ultimate $805M acquisition by Qualcomm. Prior to Flarion, Dave was a communications and media investment banking analyst and asset management associate at Lehman Brothers. Dave holds a Bachelors of Science in Management with a concentration in Finance from Binghamton University. Dave serves on the Board of Directors of BelAir Networks, EdgeConneX, Ortiva Wireless and SB Nation and is involved in as an advisor or board observer to a number of other CV portfolio companies including Bubble Motion and previously was the Board Observers on Broadsoft prior to their IPO.

MODERATOR:
Naresh Soni
CTO, InterDigital
Naresh Soni is InterDigital’s Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the company’s  technology strategy and roadmap, university and industry relationships and providing guidance on merger and acquisition opportunities.  Mr. Soni joined the company as Vice President of Strategic Engineering in July 2009.  Prior to InterDigital, Naresh founded Exemplar Technologies, a consulting firm that provides innovative services and product development strategies to clients.  Previously, he served as chief technology officer for Streamezzo, a venture-funded provider of interactive rich media solutions for some of the world’s leading handset manufacturers and wireless operators.  Mr. Soni’s previous experience includes research and innovation-focused positions at STMicroelectronics, AT&T Bell Labs, and IBM, as well as the position of vice president of Computing Architecture Research Lab at Nokia.
Mr. Soni holds several patents, has authored technical papers and has given keynotes at conferences in the areas of communications and computing.  Mr. Soni earned his Master of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas, Austin, and Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mumbai.  Naresh has served on the board of University of California San Diego (UCSD) Center for Wireless Communications and is currently on the advisory board of the UCSD school of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Questions? Contact Michele Yoshioka at michele@commnexus.org