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HomeAbout the SIP ForumAnnual Meetings and Reports2012 Annual General Meeting Notice

2012 Annual General Meeting Notice

Meeting date: Tuesday, 18 December 2012

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, 18 December 2012
1:00 – 2:30 pm U.S. Eastern Standard Time
Via WebEx
Login URL, Dial-In Number and Passcode: To be sent in follow-on message via the mailing list

2 – Subject Matter for the Meeting

In the meeting, a review of the financial operations, including a review of the audit for fiscal year 2012, will be provided, as well as a review of the operational activities that have occurred since the last General meeting.

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

2.1 – Voting Items

Two official voting items are on the agenda:

Please note:
As the 2012 Annual General Meeting will be held remotely, via WebEx, all Full Member Representatives must complete the online ballot or fax or email their Proxy vote using the Voting Form Proxy document prior to the AGM.

Votes must be received from > 50% of Full Members in order to have a valid election, and in order to have a valid vote regarding the Discharge item.

The deadline described below for returning ballots via surface mail is Friday, 14 December 2012 and via fax or email Monday, 17 December 2012.

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 five (5) Board seats expiring this year. They are the seats currently held by Mary Barnes, Chris Gatch, Steve Johnson, Hadriel Kaplan and Glenn Russell. The seats held by Alan Johnston, Vijey Jenkal and Richard Shockey are not expiring.

3.1 – Voting Limits

Our By Laws indicate that only two Directors may be Participant Members at any one time. Since the seat occupied by one participant member (Richard Shockey) is filled, one additional Participant 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 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.

Full Members not voting electronically (using the online voting method) 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.

The Board strongly urges you to submit an online vote via the SIP Forum website.

3.3 – Candidates for Election

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.

The Board has not endorsed any slate of candidates.

3.4.1 – Mary Barnes – Polycom

3.4.1.1 – Statement of Candidacy

While I spent nearly half of my career working with traditional telephony protocols, upon initial exposure to Internet protocols in 1998, I became a strong advocate of SIP. While working in the 3G.IP forum in 1999, I was a key contributor to the document comparing SIP versus H.323 as the call control protocol for the IMS architecture. The document was submitted as a 3GPP contribution and resulted in the selection of SIP as the call control protocol for IMS. Soon thereafter, I served as editor of the Functional Architecture specification and as vice-chair of the Architecture WG in the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF) where SIP was a central component of the architecture.

My level of involvement in SIP Forum has varied over the years based on my primary job responsibilities. I participated in the discussions during the development of SIP Connect 1.1 and actively followed the User Agent Configuration Task Group. I proposed a new Task Group to develop a baseline data profile for the user agent configuration, which was approved by the board. My primary motivation in continuing in my SIP Forum BoD position is to increase my level of advocacy for SIP. In particular, I am very interested in interoperability for video – both point to point video sessions, as well as video conferencing. I firmly believe that the SIP forum has an important role in continuing to define interoperability specifications and profiles to facilitate the further deployment of SIP infrastructure and endpoints. I believe that I can provide some valuable contributions to promote that mission within the industry and in particular within the other SDOs and forums in which I participate.

3.4.1.2 – Biography

Mary Barnes is a Principal Engineer in the Video Solutions Group CTO organization within Polycom. Mary has been involved in system architecture and product development for real-time communication systems for over 25 years, focusing for the past 14 years on IP communications and standards development. She is an active contributor to the IETF. She is the author of RFCs relating to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Centralized Conferencing, NAT/Firewall traversal and Geographic Location Delivery. She is past chair of the SIPPING WG and the IETF Nominations Committee for 2010-2011. She currently serves as chair of the DISPATCH and Controlling Multiple Streams for Telepresence (CLUE) working groups in the Real-time Applications and Infrastructure (RAI) Area. She is past chair of the IETF Nominations Committee for 2010-2011. She was appointed Executive Director of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) in January, 2012. In addition, Mary currently serves as the Vice-chair of the Technical WG in the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum (UCIF).

Prior to Polycom, Mary was most recently a Senior Advisor for Nortel, leading the IETF standards strategy for the Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) business unit (now Genband). She was also a senior manager/advisor for Nortel’s 3G IP research, participating in industry standards forums and prototyping a mobile IP based system. She is the inventor of several patents related to this work. She also designed and developed real-time software for Nortel’s DMS-based GSM and Enterprise products. Prior to her 22 years at Nortel, Mary developed real-time embedded software for GPS and video reconnaissance systems for Texas Instruments. Mary has a BS in Computer Science with a minor in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

3.4.2 – Andrew Hutton – Siemens Enterprise Communications

3.4.2.1 – Statement of Candidacy

For over 13 years I have been actively involved in the development of SIP based products and seen SIP move from the early adopter phase to the current position in which SIP is widely deployed and the protocol of choice in many markets. I actively participated in the development of SIP Connect 1.1 and now co-chair the SIP Forum IPv6 Task Group.

Despite the wide deployment of SIP based products and the increasing adoption of SIP trunking there are still challenges in the area of interoperability, management, and security of SIP products. The SIP Forum has a major role in helping the industry adopt best practices in these areas.

The development of the SIP Connect 1.1 Trunking specification was a major achievement and the SIP Forum must continue to work on promoting SIP Connect 1.1 as the interoperable standard for SIP Trunking. I support the SIP Forum initiative regarding interoperability and conformance testing for SIP Connect 1,1. I believe the specification needs to be maintained and enhanced to keep pace with latest developments in emergency call handling, IPv6, Video etc. I will contribute to keeping SIP Connect relevant and current.

I am active in the IETF where I contribute to SIP based standards such as a SIP based interface for media recording (SIPREC) and in new technologies such as RTCWEB/WEBRTC. I am therefore able to monitor and influence new technologies which impact SIP interoperability. As I am based in Europe I am also able to help extend the reach of the SIP Forum.

I would very much appreciate your support.

3.4.2.2 – Biography

Andrew Hutton is Head of Standardization at Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG and has over 25 years experience within the communications industry. Andy is an experienced software engineer with extensive knowledge of communications protocols.

Prior to his current role at Siemens Enterprise Communications, Andy gained many years hands on experience of developing SIP based communications products (SIP Phones, Gateways and Servers) and related interworking and deployment issues. Andy has been engaged in many projects related to SIP based multi-vendor connectivity and interoperability.

An active supporter of open standards based communications; Andy is active in the IETF as well as in other international standards organisations and is co-chair of the IETF SIPREC (SIP Based Media Recording) working group and the SIP Forum IPv6 task group.

Andy is a Chartered IT Professional member of the British Computer Society (MBCS CITP).

3.4.3 – Steve Johnson – Ingate Systems

3.4.3.1 – Statement of Candidacy

Ingate Systems has been committed to the SIP protocol since it was first introduced by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Since that time, we have been working to develop enterprise security products and innovative software solutions that not only put SIP within reach of any business (from the smallest home office to the largest corporation), but extend the benefits of SIP beyond the Local Area Network of the enterprise. Our goal is to help speed the transition to Unified Communications, when everyone can be reached regardless of location, as long as there’s a connection to the Internet. Under Johnson’s leadership, the company has evolved its product line to meet the changing needs of customers; most recently, with a software-only version of Ingate’s Enterprise Session Border Controller.

We believe that SIP is the true leveler for businesses. Small businesses can now offer the same kind of services, leverage the cost-saving benefits of VoIP, as their largest competitor. SIP offers the opportunity for a common signaling protocol to enable communications across the Internet using various media beyond voice.

The recent success of the SIP Forum in developing best practices for SIP Trunking (SIPconnect) and User Agents, and the ongoing work to standardize the delivery of FAX-over-IP are major achievements. But, there is much to be done in raising and promoting these and other practices so they gain wide adoption, and in continuing to stress the benefits of SIP, the possibilities it offers, and in driving interoperability. I believe the SIP Forum is an excellent resource for developers and end users alike. I am looking forward to continuing as a member of the SIP Forum Board of Directors, and helping to execute on these objectives and achieve the promise that SIP offers.

3.4.3.2 – Biography

As President of Ingate Systems Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Ingate Systems AB, Steven Johnson is responsible for building market recognition, business development and sales of Ingate’s Enterprise Session Border Controller products. Since joining Ingate, he has developed multiple sales channels within the United States, Canada and South America and is responsible for generating several important partnerships with suppliers and service providers.

Johnson is a champion for SIP and the widespread adoption of the protocol. For many years he has spearheaded the SIP Trunking-UC Seminars in an effort to help educate the market about the benefits of SIP to end-users, and to provide the same for the channel community — with the end-goal being to provide real-world, actionable solutions for an easy, secure adoption of SIP.

Johnson boasts more than 15 years of senior management experience with Sanders Associates, Telco Systems, and Lockheed Martin. Prior to Ingate, he served as CEO of Abrena, Inc, a business development consulting firm focused on assisting European firms to expand in the United States. Prior to that, he was President and CEO of Transcept Inc, a wireless telecommunications infrastructure company. Johnson is a member of the Board of Directors for the SIP Forum, an industry organization with members from the leading SIP technology companies. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Master’s in Business Administration from Boston University.

3.4.4 – Hadriel Kaplan – Acme Packet

3.4.4.1 – Statement of candidacy

SIP has moved from a developing technology to a widely deployed technology, and is quickly supplanting the PSTN and legacy installed base. As the market focus shifts from research and development to massive global deployment, I believe it is imperative that the SIP Forum shifts focus as well. I believe the critical pieces for this next phase of SIP’s progression are interoperability and operability/manageability, and I intend to make the SIP Forum Board of Directors address those challenges.

If I am elected to serve on the SIP Forum Board of Directors, I will fight for (1) actual certification testing for SIP Forum brand/marks of profiles such as SIPconnect 1.1, and (2) a permanent interoperability testbed in a neutral facility with defined test plans. Such things would not be staffed/run by SIP Forum per se, but rather by third parties such as IIT or UNH-IOL, with initial financial and technical aid from SIP Forum and its members. This is what other technology industry associations have done to achieve interoperability, when the market has not achieved it organically through single-vendor dominance. Ad-hoc test events such as SIPit and SIPconnect-It are necessary as well, but are not sufficient, as they tend to attract new/non-GA products and test new features in severely limited time slots, and ignore already deployed products and lack detailed reproducible testing. The time has come for us to do more, for the benefit of our members and SIP as a whole.

Lastly, I have been directly involved with the SIP Forum’s SIPNOC conference since its inception. This is a conference not for marketing, not for sales, not for high-level executives – but a meeting for the people who actually run SIP networks. If I am re-elected I plan to work towards having a SIPNOC in Europe as well, as I believe there is sufficient demand for such an event there, and because I think doing so falls within the SIP Forum’s mission.

I would appreciate your consideration, and thank you for your support.

3.4.4.2 – Biography

Hadriel Kaplan is Vice President of Technology at Acme Packet, having previously served roles as Senior Solutions Architect, and prior to that as Senior Product Manager. He has been at Acme Packet since 2004, but has been involved in VoIP since the late 90’s when he worked at Nortel Networks. Hadriel deals with SIP interoperability issues on a daily basis, directly with numerous SIP Service Providers around the World. He is also an active member of the IETF, has written numerous SIP-related drafts and is a co-author of RFCs. He was an active contributor to the SIP Forum’s SIPconnect 1.0 and more recently the 1.1 effort.

3.4.5 – Robert Kinder – Cox Communications

3.4.5.1 – Statement of Candidacy

SIP-based communications and applications are changing the way we interact for both consumers and businesses with rapid advances in user-experience, unified communications and multi-media services. New technologies also introduce new integration challenges such that the SIP ecosystem of networks, applications and services seamlessly and reliably interoperate. The SIP Forum is well positioned work through the many RFC’s in an inclusive environment towards a consistent standard, facilitate compliance and interoperability testing, and then work with the stakeholders to make the appropriate updates to the reference documents.

As co-chair of the SIPconnect-IT Task Group resulting in the inaugural SIPconnect-IT 2012 SIP Trunking Interoperability Testing event, I have had the privilege working with a team of experts on the development of the interoperability test plan and found it to be a rewarding experience. I also had the honor of presenting at the 2011 SIP NOC. Your vote would enable me to contribute in a greater role on the SIP Forum towards the development of technical recommendations, reference implementations and network operations support.

3.4.5.2 – Biography

Robert Kinder is a Sr. Product Development Manager with Cox Business, a $1B+ division of Cox Communications where he’s responsible for the specification, cross-functional development and launch of Hosted PBX, SIP Trunking, SIP-based ISDN PRI trunk and other VoIP services. With over 25 years of experience, Robert previously held positions in Product Operations (lifecycle management), Product Management and Distinguished Member Technical Staff with Cox Business, Tollgrade Communications and Siemens for a variety of SIP, PacketCable, softswitch and BSS/OSS products.

Robert has a deep operational understanding of SIP communications and frequently meets with strategic account customers to understand their requirements, design customized SIP Trunking solutions and guide the implementation through cutover. Working directly with the hardware/software manufacturers and end-users has given Robert an appreciation of how SIP interoperability challenges impact field deployments and ideas for what can be done through the SIP Forum to improve SIP interworking for our mutual success.

3.4.6 – Gonzalo Salgueiro – Cisco Systems

3.4.6.1 – Statement of Candidacy

The goal of eventual PSTN replacement and the widespread adoption of SIP as the technology of choice for real-time IP communications is well in hand. Focus needs to shift to the next generation of transformational goals for SIP. The SIP Forum must be at the forefront of that effort and use its considerable influence and penetration in the industry to drive awareness and facilitate solutions. A Board of Directors position in the SIP Forum is the ideal pulpit to advocate for this evolution and growth.

If elected to serve on the Board of Directors, it is my intent to focus attention in two key areas. (1) The ubiquitousness of SIP-enabled video solutions (anything ranging from dedicated hardware to embedded in existing applications) requires a new level of commitment across the board from the SIP Forum. I’d support an increased awareness and engagement in the RTCWEB efforts, an acceleration in the VRS Task Group work and a focus on research, identification, analysis of the major challenges facing the deployment of video in SIP multimedia networks. Central to that work would be the definition of deployment profiles to mitigate the myriad of interoperability issues as well as an increased presence at interoperability test events like SIPit.

(2) The second point of emphasis would be to raise awareness about the dire need to improve the inherent serviceability and troubleshooting preparedness capabilities of SIP at a protocol level. I believe there is tremendous value in the creation of a feedback channel that reaches out to vendors, carriers, SIP network operators and implementers (i.e., taps into participants of SIPit and SIPNOC) and can be effectively targeted to have an impact in prioritizing and driving standards development efforts in the IETF in this area (e.g. similar to the current INSIPID WG.)

I greatly appreciate the opportunity and your consideration for this position.

3.4.6.2 – Biography

Gonzalo Salgueiro is a technical leader in the area of Unified Communications at Cisco Systems. As a member of the Global Technical Center (GTC), Gonzalo drives engineering excellence and customer success as a senior advisor and escalation point for many of Cisco’s largest and most critical Unified Communications networks. Gonzalo’s highly technical responsibilities coupled with his Services background give him a unique perspective on real-time communications architectures and how they can deliver customer value and ROI through strategic extensibility and effective product serviceability.

Gonzalo is an established member of numerous industry organizations and is a regular presenter at a variety of technical industry conferences and Cisco events around the world. He currently serves in various industry leadership roles, including co-chair of the INSIPID Working Group in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as well as co-chair of the FoIP Task Group in the SIP Forum. He is an active contributor to various standardization activities in the IETF and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). After 16 years of work in real-time communications, Gonzalo has co-authored a book, technical papers, is co-inventor of seven patents (pending), and has contributed to various open source development efforts. He holds an M.S. in Physics from the University of Miami.

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.

The Board recommends a Yes vote on this item.

5 – Procedure for Voting

The By Laws permit voting 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 Annual 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 using the online voting application), each Full Member should do the following as described immediately below in Section 6.1.1.

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 as many candidates as you wish, but we recommend you vote for at least 5.
  • Approve or reject the discharge of Directors’ liability.
  • Deliver the Voting Form to the SIP Forum Managing Director prior to the date of the Annual General Meeting by sending the Voting Form via surface mail to the address listed on the ballot, or send a facsimile to the fax number listed on the first page of the ballot form.
    Please note that if surface mail is used, the Voting Form must be sent to arrive NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2012 or if Fax delivery is used, the Voting Form must be sent to arrive NO LATER THAN MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2012.

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 method is supplied immediately below in Section 6.2.1.
  • Alternately, it is sufficient for Full Members to mark the paper Voting Form ballot, and return it to the Managing Director via electronic mail as a scanned image file or PDF. 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. The 2012 Voting Form is attached to this Meeting Notice.

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:

  1. 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.)
  2. Find the ballot. When logged in, a menu entry entitled “2012 Gen’l Meeting vote” will appear in the User Menu in the upper left corner. Click this entry. A ballot form will appear.
  3. 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.
  4. Liability Discharge question. Vote Yes or No on the liability discharge question.
  5. 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 Voting Form 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 Marc Robins, the SIP Forum Managing Director. (PDF, JPG, TIFF, or GIF are all acceptable electronic formats)

Please note that 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 MONDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2012 (one business day before the Annual 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 Annual General Meeting. (This will permit electronic votes to be cast after Board candidates have answered questions from members at the general meeting.)

5.4 – Ballot Counting

Ballots, including those received in email, via fax, and those cast on the web interface, will be counted when the vote is called in the Annual 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 2012 General Meeting Notice
November 16, 2012

Document number: GA-22-0

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