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2007 General Meeting Notice

Meeting date: 30 October 2007

1 – Announcement: Annual General Meeting

Section 12 of the By Laws of the SIP Forum (the “Forum”) provides that the Forum hold an annual general meeting that
is open to all members. In accordance with the By Laws, this document shall serve as official notice for the Annual Meeting of the SIP Forum to be held as follows:

1.1 – Date / time of meeting

The general meeting will be held:

Tuesday, 30 October 2007
6:00 – 7:30 pm
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center
Room 204A
415 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210, USA

The meeting will be in a meeting room provided by Pulvermedia in conjunction with Fall 2007 VON.

Consult the VON program directory or event signs in the hotel for specific room location information on the date of the meeting.

2 – Subject matter for the meeting

In the meeting, a review of the financial operations, including a review of the audit for fiscal year 2007, will be provided, as well as a review of the operational activities that have occurred over the past 12 months since the last General meeting.

In addition, Full Members will be asked to vote on two items.

2.1 – Voting items

Two official voting items are on the agenda:

Election of new board members;
Discharge of Board Member liability.

Please note:

If you are not planning on attending the general meeting, it is imperative that you complete and return a proxy vote.

Votes must be received from > 50% of Full Members in order to have a valid election.

The deadline described below for returning ballots is 29 October 2007.

3 – Board member elections

Members of the Board of Directors serve for two-year terms, with terms expiring at the general meeting that takes place at the end of this term. Elections for new board members will take place at this general meeting.

There are three Board seats expiring this year.They are the seats currently held by Jay Batson, Eric Burger, and Bernard Hammer. (The seats held by Chris Gatch, Steve Johnson, David Oran, Anwar Siddiqui and Robert Sparks are not expiring.)

3.1 – Voting limits

Our By Laws indicate that only two Directors may be Participating Members at any one time. Jay Batson is a current Participating Member Director whose term is expiring this year; the seat held by Robert Sparks, a Participating Member, is not expiring. Therefore, only one Director who is a Participating Member can be elected in this election.

You will be voting by expressing a preference order for candidates. This preference order will be used to tally the Directors who are elected.

3.2 – Who can vote

Each Full (paying) member is entitled to a single vote on the matters being presented for a vote. Each Full Member has the right to vote either in person, electronically, or by an agent authorized by a proxy validly executed by the Full Member. A proxy shall be executed by written authorizations signed by the Full Member, giving the proxy holder the right to vote the vote.

Members not planning on attending the meeting in person can utilize a proxy form provided with this general meeting announcement package. The proxy provides a method to vote for the Director candidates, and grants to the Managing Director of the SIP Forum the right to cast the vote on behalf of the Full Member giving the proxy. Alternately, a Full Member can cast a vote electronically, as described in Section 5 of this notice.

3.3 – Candidates for election

Eric Burger – BEA Systems (current board member standing for re-election
Mark Enstrom – Broadsoft
Marc Robins – Robins Consulting Group, SIP Forum Managing Director (elect)
Richard Shockey – Neustar
Andrew Singleton – McLeodUSA

3.4 – Candidate statements and biographies

The statements by the candidates about their desire to serve on the board, along with their biographies, are shown here as provided by each candidate. The Board strongly recommends you read these, as we seek Directors who will add substantial value, so it is crucial your vote is well informed.

Candidates are listed in alphabetical order by last name. Please do not allow this order to influence your voting.

3.4.1 – Eric Burger – BEA Systems

3.4.1.1 – Statement of candidacy

I see the mission of the SIP Forum as promoting the global advancement of true Internet Standard multimedia communications. As SIP is the standard interactive Internet multimedia communication protocol, the SIP Forum should continue to work on promoting the interoperability, scalability, reliability, and deployments of the protocol. The SIP Forum should be agnostic to topologies, favoring neither entirely peer-to-peer nor entirely centralized and restricted networks. Likewise, the SIP Forum should be agnostic to business models. We should favor neither free services and free software, nor paid services and bespoke hardware. However, the SIP Forum should endeavor to keep the SIP protocol within the bounds of an Internet Protocol. Namely, this means protecting the end-to-end principal, user privacy and security, network operator security, and the capability for user choice in communications and devices.

This mission is wholly compatible with the Purpose of the SIP Forum as stated in the bylaws (Section 3). However, I would offer that it expands our scope and relevance, without diluting the purity of purpose that has differentiated the SIP Forum from other industry consortia. By expanding our influence in measured steps, I believe we can promote the use of SIP and end-to-end Internet technology for consumer, enterprise, and operator users.

3.4.1.2 – Biography

I have served two terms on the Board of Directors and have focused on awareness of the Forum, membership recruitment, and internal operations. From a SIP technology perspective, I have published ten RFC’s in the IETF, am a contributor to the VoiceXML and CCXML specifications, and have published two IEEE journal articles related to SIP technology. I am an IETF Work Group Chair for speechsc, mediactrl, and lemonade.

From a commercial perspective, I was a founder of SnowShore Networks, where we invented the multifunction SIP-controlled media server (five patents issued or published related to SIP; one offered Royalty Free as it relates to RFC 5022). SnowShore was acquired by Brooktrout, where we integrated SIP technology into their fax and voice processing products. Brooktrout was acquired by Excel to form Cantata Technology, which, in addition to all of the SnowShore and Brooktrout portfolio, had SIP-based programmable switches and integrated media gateways. In all three companies, I served as CTO. I am currently Deputy CTO at BEA Systems, where we offer a SIP-based application server and web services gateway, as well as being the #1 supplier of OSS/BSS infrastructure to the telecommunications industry.

I am a Benefactor of the Internet Society, Senior Member of the ACM, Senior Member of the IEEE, and Patron of the AAAS. I have my SBEE, MBA, and Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Catholic University of Leuven, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

3.4.2 – Mark Enstrom – Broadsoft

3.4.2.1 – Statement of candidacy

(Candidacy statement written in 2nd-person as he was nominated by a third-party. He has consented to his nomination.)

Mark views the SIP Forum as the key organization in the adoption of SIP as the standard in voice communications. A key focus of the group should be the marketing of the SIP Forum, not only to the communications industry in general, but also to the enterprise space and the channels that work with them. Mark’s background, combining both technical competency and marketing know-how, give a unique perspective on how to really drive the industry to adopt, refine, and market SIP as a usable and ubiquitous set of standards for all types of communications. As a director, Mark can help move the SIP Forum from a highly technical organization to an organization focused on both developing the technology, and then marketing the technology to outside stakeholders.

3.4.2.2 – Biography

Mark is a telecommunications professional with almost 14 years in the industry, including roles in Systems Engineering, Product Line Management, and Product/Field Marketing. In these roles, Mark has been instrumental in many product introductions via product management and product marketing roles. Most recently, Mark has been a key player in the marketing of the Business Trunking and SIP Trunking solutions at BroadSoft, Inc. As a Solutions Manager, Mark led the effort to define and document the SIP Trunking solution, which is now BroadSoft’s fastest growing application. Recently, Mark was active with the SIP Forum’s SIPconnect Certification Committee, and helped launch the SIPconnect Compliance Trademark as part of that group. As a Field Marketing Manager, Mark works with service providers on their go-to-market efforts for both Hosted PBX and Business Trunking solutions. Mark’s previous roles include 9 years at the testing and performance management company, TTC/Acterna (now JDSU), and sentitO Networks (now Verso). Mark has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT and an MBA from the R. H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

3.4.3 – Marc Robins – Robins Consulting Group (RCG)

3.4.3.1 – Statement of candidacy

I have been involved in the telecommunications industry as a reporter and analyst, editor and author, trade show producer and publisher, and marketing executive and consultant for more than 25 years. With a perspective honed by decades of consistent industry analysis and coverage, I see myself as an advocate and champion of new, disruptive IP communications technologies and their commercial applications. Over the years, I have followed the work of the SIP Forum, and consider it to be one of the leading industry organizations for advancing the “state-of-the-art-and-science” of IP communications technology and a vital proponent of standardization and interoperability.

As the incoming Managing Director (elect) of the SIP Forum, I look forward to working with the board of directors to improve the quality and impact of the Forum’s SIP community outreach and support through a variety of innovative marketing, technical, educational and communications programs, and ultimately contribute to strong growth of the SIP Forum membership base.

3.4.3.2 – Biography

Currently the Chief Evangelism Officer of Robins Consulting Group (RGC), I provide market intelligence and advisory services; business development; comprehensive marketing, communications and promotional services; online/Web site development; and educational and special event development specifically for companies in the IP communications industry.

Prior to RCG, I served for five years as Vice President of Publications and Trade Shows, Associate Group Publisher and Group Editorial Director at TMC (Technology Marketing Corporation). I was the co-founder, conference architect and Co-Chairman of the conference curriculums at all TMC events, such as the Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO, and Communications Solutions EXPO, As Associate Group Publisher and Group Editorial Director, I managed the editorial and sales operations of a number of leading industry publications — including Internet Telephony® magazine, Customer Inter@ction Solutions®, Communications Solutions®, and Communications ASP®. I was also responsible for directing the operation of TMC’s online efforts, TMCnet.com.

Prior to TMC, I served as VP of Marketing at Linkon Corporation – a computer telephony software and communications board vendor, and before that founded Robins Press, a publishing, market intelligence and consulting firm specializing in emerging computer-telephony technologies and their commercial applications. In the mid-1980s, I worked with Harry Newton (and survived!), the original publisher of Computer Telephony, Teleconnect and Call Center magazines and producer of the Computer Telephony trade show.

3.4.4 – Richard Shockey – Neustar

3.4.4.1 -Statement of candidacy

I’m a firm believe in the principal of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” In general I think this applies to the past and current work of the SIP Forum, however it is clear there are a couple of areas that could be improved and I would be willing to use my voice on the Board of Directors to initiate some new activities.

It is clear the SIP is the de-facto call control protocol of choice for NGN networks. I think, therefore, that the membership of the SIP forum needs more participation by service providers, since our membership is somewhat skewed towards equipment vendors. I strongly support more outreach and membership by service providers such as Cable Operators.

I’m particularly proud of what the SIP Forum has accomplished this year with the IP PBX and Service Provider Interoperability Task Group. I chaired this task group under the direction of Rohan Mahy and Technical WG. The commercial potential for this “SIP Profile” is enormous. This type of work needs to continue as relevant standards on SIP Identity are finalized and need to be incorporated into later versions of the SIP Connect standard.

I support the principle that the SIP Forum should not attempt to become a “Certification Body” for SIP and SIP applications. The continuing SIP Forum sponsorship of SIPit test events is the best use of the Forum’s current resources and capabilities. In addition I strongly support the formation of additional Task Groups to tackle such pressing issues as SIP Device configuration.

3.4.4.2 – Biography

Richard Shockey is a Director& Member of the Technical Staff for NeuStar, Inc. [www.neustar.biz] based in Suburban Washington DC. NeuStar provides a number of critical services to the communications industry including the administration of all telephone numbers in North America, management of the wireline and wireless Number Portability Administration, number pooling and OSS products for carriers. NeuStar also operates the .BIZ. Internet Top Level Domain and manages the United States Country Code domain .US for the U.S. Dept of Commerce.

Mr. Shockey is a founder and has been Co-Chair of the IETF ENUM Work Group for many years and is an author of several IETF RFC’s and numerous articles on Next Generation Network technologies for various publications. Mr. Shockey has lost count of how many times he has given a speech on ENUM. Educated at Washington University in St. Louis. Mr. Shockey and his wife live in Reston, Virginia.

3.4.5 – Andrew Singleton – McLeodUSA

3.4.5.1 – Statement of candidacy

I have been actively involved in the business of high technology since 1993 and have worked in the telecommunications industry since 1996. I have been involved with SIP since 1999, when I began studying the technology for potential use at Allegiance Telecom. At Allegiance, I served as Director of Technology, and my primary duties centered around new technology adoption and developing product roadmaps that extended 12-18 months out. During my time at Allegiance, I performed considerable evaluations of the Broadsoft platform. After leaving Allegiance Telecom in 2002, I took a sales engineering position with Broadsoft.

I left Broadsoft in 2006 and returned to the carrier space as Director of Product Engineering for McLeodUSA. I have been actively engaged in the company’s turnaround to focus on IP-based services. Through various work experiences, I have developed extensive knowledge of the SIP protocol in addition to expertise in TDM and data networking. A key focus has been the productization of new technologies to spur customer adoption of profitable services. My perspective ranges from SIP vendor to provider as well as end-user consultant. My background also includes both the engineering and sales sides of SIP technology.

3.4.5.2 – Biography

Andy Singleton is Director of Product Engineering for McLeodUSA, a competitive communications carrier specializing in IP-based services for businesses. Andy leads an engineering team that studies industry trends, analyzes telecommunications technologies and helps guide McLeodUSA’s resulting product roadmap. Andy has worked actively in the technology field since 1993. He received his BBA from West Texas State University in Canyon Texas.

4 – Discharge of liability for Board Members and Managing Director

The By Laws of the SIP Forum require that, at each general meeting, the members vote on whether to discharge the Board Members and the Managing Director from liability for actions or inactions resulting from their service to the SIP Forum over the prior year. This discharge is a normal practice for non-profit organizations based in Sweden. In all annual general meetings to date, this has been presented, and the Board Members have been accordingly discharged. At this time, the Board represents that the Directors and Managing Director have collectively performed all required responsibilities for this past year, and requests discharge from liability. Full Members shall vote Yes or No on their ballots to so discharge the Board and Managing Director.

5 – Procedure for voting

The By Laws permit voting in person at the general meeting. Voting can also be done by proxy, using paper ballots or electronically submitted ballots that are returned using a method that the Board deems sufficient to establish the authenticity of the ballot

5.1 – Written proxy

Included in the bundle distributed to the Full Members with this general meeting notice is a ballot document entitled “Voting Form.” If a Full Member intends to submit a ballot to vote by written proxy (instead of in person), each Full Member should do the following.

5.1.1 – Minimal procedure for proxy voting

The Full Member shall mark the ballot (either by modifying the document to indicate the mark, or by printing the document and marking it in ink) to:

Rank your votes for Director’s candidates. Mark your first preference “1”, your second preference “2”, and so on. You may vote for only as many candidates as you wish, but we recommend you vote for at least 3.
Approve or reject the discharge of Directors’ liability.
Deliver the paper ballot by hand to the SIP Forum Managing Director prior to the date of the general meeting. Or, send the ballot via surface mail to the address on the first page of this meeting notice, or send a facsimile to the fax number on the first page of this meeting notice.

5.2 Electronic voting

The Board has concluded that two methods are acceptable for electronic voting:

Full Members may cast their vote on an Internet web page supplied by the SIP Forum for this purpose. The web page voting method must (a) assure only one vote per Full Member, and (b) permit only one, Member-designated representative of the Full Member to cast the vote, and (c) the voting interface must be password-protected. The SIP Forum has implemented a web interface that meets these requirements, and which will be used for the voting for this year. A URL for this voting will be supplied under separate cover (when voting opens).
Alternately, it is sufficient for Full Members to mark a paper ballot, and return it to the Managing Director via electronic mail. The Managing Director shall use reasonable efforts to assure that the received email has been sent from a domain name that appears to be from a Full Member organization.

5.2.1 Web ballots

Full Members wishing to vote by electronic ballot shall vote at the following URL:

https://www.sipforum.org/vote

Because this URL is actually login-protected, the actual procedure to vote is as follows:

Log in. Login to the SIP Forum website using the username of your designated voting representative.
(Please contact the SIP Forum Managing Director to confirm, or change, the name of this representative.)
Find the ballot. When logged in, a menu entry entitled “2007 Gen’l Meeting vote” will appear in the User Menu in the upper left corner. Click this entry. A ballot form will appear.
Board candidate question. Please rank your vote for Board Member candidates. Note that the candidate list will be dynamically rearranged to show your ranking as you rank each candidate. Please do NOT rank two candidates equally.
Discharge question. Vote Yes or No on the discharge question.
Vote. Click Submit Vote to complete your vote.

You may then log out of the website.

5.2.2 Email ballots

Follow this procedure to vote by email:

Mark the ballot (as above)
Print, and sign a paper copy of the marked ballot document
Scan the marked ballot document, and email the scanned, signed document to the address above. (PDF, JPG, TIFF, or GIF are all acceptable electronic formats)

You may NOT simply send an email with your voting choices in the email body.

5.3 – Deadline for ballot return for proxy voting

Ballots sent to the Managing Director to be handled by proxy must be received ON OR BEFORE 29 OCTOBER 2007 (one day before the general meeting) in order to be counted.

Ballots cast via the web page method may be cast at any time up until the Managing Director calls for the voting time to be closed at the general meeting. (This will permit electronic votes to be cast after Board candidates have answered questions from members at the general meeting.)

5.4 – Casting ballots in person

If a ballot is not received in email or surface mail by the above deadline, the ballot can still be cast by the voting Full Member by appearing in person at the general meeting, and providing the signed, marked ballot when the vote is called.

5.5 – Ballot counting

Ballots, including those received in email, surface mail, those cast on the web interface, and those cast in person, will be counted when the vote is called in the general meeting. Results will be announced at the meeting (assuming the tally method results in clear winners), and official minutes taken to reflect the voting.

– END –

SIP Forum 2007 General Meeting Notice
September 28, 2007

Document number: GA-8-0