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HomeAbout the SIP ForumAnnual Meetings and Reports2013 Annual General Meeting Notice

2013 Annual General Meeting Notice

Meeting date: Monday, 09 December 2013

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:

Monday, 09 December 2013
2:00 – 3:30 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 2013, 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 2013 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 Thursday, 05 December 2013 and via fax or email Friday, 06 December 2013

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 (3) Board seats expiring this year. They are the seats currently held by Vijey Jenkal, Dr. Alan Johnston and Richard Shockey. The seats held by Mary Barnes, Andrew Hutton, Hadriel Kaplan, Robert Kinder and Gonzalo Salgueiro 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 up for election,
two Participant (Individual) Members 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 – Alan Johnston – Avaya

3.4.1.1 – Statement of Candidacy

I have been actively involved in the SIP Forum since its inception, serving on the Board of Directors a number of times. The SIP Forum continues to serve our industry with the publication of the SIPconnect 1.1 SIP trunking recommendation, the successful launch of our SIPNOC conferences, and the continuing success of the SIPit SIP interoperability events. Our current challenge is to get the word out on SIPconnect 1.1 and drive industry adoption and interoperability. I have been actively involved in all of these areas. Recently, I have been active as a co-chair in the SIPconnect Interoperability Certification Task Group.

I have considerable experience in SIP and WebRTC standards, and with interoperability and conformance testing of SIP which I believe will be valuable in charting the course for this organization. In addition, I plan to continue to work with the IETF in terms of identifying and fixing SIP interoperability issues. Finally, I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on the board to further the interests of SIP and our industry.

3.4.1.2 – Biography

Dr. Alan Johnston, Distinguished Engineer in Avaya’s Technology and Strategy group, has been involved with SIP and VoIP since the mid 1990s. While a Distinguished Technical Member at MCI, he served as an architect of the first enterprise SIP VoIP product in the United States. He is also an adjunct assistant instructor of electrical and systems engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a co-author of the SIP protocol specification RFC 3261, and editor of the Basic and PSTN call flows BCP (Best Current Practices) documents, RFC 3665 and RFC 3666 and several other RFCs.

His recent areas of work include SIP call control user-to-user transport, SIP recording, and WebRTC. Dr. Johnston has authored or co-authored four books on SIP including the best selling “SIP: Understanding the Session Initiation Protocol”, “Understanding Voice over IP Security” “SIP Beyond VoIP” and “Internet Communications Using SIP”. He is also the co-author of the first book on WebRTC. He holds a Bachelor’s of Engineering degree with Honours from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA.

3.4.2 – Gernot Scheichl – Edgewater Systems

3.4.2.1 – Statement of Candidacy

For the last 20 years, I have been heavily involved in the application networking space providing secure solutions for global service providers and enterprises for data, voice, and video over different network technologies using various protocols. In the mid-1990s I started designing and deploying several global video conferencing and video on demand solutions for fortune 100 companies (e.g. IBM, Goldman Sachs). Since 2003 I have worked primarily in the VoIP space (hosted and SIP trunking) dealing with interoperability issues between different vendors equipment.

At Edgewater Networks, we have built out a broad multivendor lab to test variations of voice protocols adopted since 2004. I have had the opportunity to work with many VoIP protocols (proprietary, SCCP (Skinny), MGCP, H.323, and SIP) and by doing so I have acquired extensive knowledge on what customers are asking for as well as how a solution can be designed and deployed. One of my most recent projects was to build a SIP-trunking interoperability lab, which currently has over 30 IP PBX’s, enterprise session border controllers, and SIP trunks from many major U.S. SIP trunking service providers.

This effort exposes many interoperability issues, which need to be better addressed by the industry as a whole. For example, the SIPconnect standard has been a big step forward for the SIP VoIP industry and we need to continue to enhance that effort and get wider adoption of that standard. The SIP community also needs to focus on SIP security, VoIP fraud issues and how to better prevent it. I think the SIP Forum is an ideal arena to continue to address these issue. I believe that I can provide valuable contribution to the SIP Forum and the different work groups as a Board of Director through my years of hands-on experience in the industry and as a long-time advocate for SIP as the protocol of choice.

3.4.2.2 – Biography

Gernot Scheichl has over 20 years experience in the networking industry in a variety of business development, sales and customer support roles. Mr. Scheichl is the VP of Support and Services at Edgewater where he is responsible for customer support, systems engineering and professional services. Mr. Scheichl joined Edgewater from First Virtual Communications where he held a number of senior positions in worldwide support and international business development. Mr. Scheichl holds a degree in Electronic Engineering and Information Technology from the Technical University Vienna, Austria.

3.4.3 – Richard Shockey – Shockey Consulting

3.4.3.1 – Statement of candidacy

The “Islands of SIP” are a continuing reminder that the SIP forum still has much work to do, but I believe we may be reaching a significant turning point in the industry. The advancement of SIP into the network is proceeding at a accelerated pace. Market statistics indicated that interconnect SIP is rapidly approaching 35% in the US alone and with the advent of VoLTE we should see that deployment past 50 % in the next 3-4 years. Of greater significance are moves by both the industry and government to finally tackle the issue of turning off the classic Class5/SS7/PSTN infrastructure. This would make SIP THE principal protocol of choice for all real-time communications.

But we cannot declare victory yet. We should look back on several significant achievements the SIP Forum has made in the last few years and outline what our plans look like for the future.

SIPconnect is continuing to receive positive coverage in the press and industry and is still the only comprehensive specification detailing how PBX’s should interconnect with service provider networks. BITKOM and the SIP Forum formally announced a new partnership in the development of the next version of the specification, promising to greatly expand its International impact. We also successfully advanced SIPconnect work by producing a formal interoperability testing event called SIPconnect-IT at UNH-IOL.

We are re-energizing our task groups on SIP user agent configuration, and the FoIP Task group achieved a milestone with the publication of IETF RFC 6913. Task groups on SIP/IPv6 profiles and WebRTC are up and running. I am especially proud of SIPNOC — our conference (entering its fourth year) bringing together hundreds of engineers from service providers around the world dedicated to promoting the interoperability of SIP and share real experiences in the network.

We are not a Standards Development Organization but our structure and commitment can permit the SIP community to develop requirements and practical use cases that the IETF can use to develop further solutions.

Of course, our most important commitment as the SIP Forum is to continue the work of SIPit and the other interoperability testing events we produce. No other event has been devised that advances the interoperability of SIP more that SIPit and I believe the role of SIPit(s) may expand into separate interoperability test environments as carrier to carrier SIP interconnection projects begin to deploy.

I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the SIP Forum and the overall SIP community.

3.4.3.2 – Biography

Richard Shockey is an internationally recognized expert on Data Communications, Voice over IP Technology, Numbering and Signaling, and is currently the Principal of Shockey Consulting, a private firm advising telecommunications companies and the investment community on any number of issues related to Next Generation Networks.

Mr. Shockey also currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SIP Forum, and chair of the Forum’s Technology Working Group (TECHWG).

Mr. Shockey is also a member of the United States Federal Communications Commission’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC), an FCC advisory council tasked with advising the federal agency regarding best practices and practical actions pertaining to the security, reliability, and interoperability of communications systems.

Mr. Shockey has spoken countless times at industry events on SIP, ENUM and Next Generation Networks and led the architecture and design of several commercial products based on ENUM. ENUM [RFC6116] has been frequently mentioned in the media as a key enabler in the convergence of the PSTN and VoIP and the principal technology service provider’s are considering for VoIP Network to Network Interconnection, Peering and SS7 avoidance.

Mr. Shockey was a founder and Co-Chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force ENUM Work Group and is an author of several IETF RFC’s Active in IETF affairs since 1998 he also participated in numerous other WG including FAX, SIP, SIPPING, SPEERMINT, SIMPLE, and its management nominating committee NOMCOM. He is also co-founded the IETF working group DRINKS on the provisioning of data for VoIP Peering Federations.

He has recently worked on several projects involving White Space Databases using unlicensed spectrum, enterprise interconnection federations and communications systems used in Smart Grid systems. His current interest is in the retirement of the Public Switched Telephone network and ending the scourge of SS7 from planet Earth.

Mr. Shockey was formerly Director & Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at NeuStar, Inc. [www.neustar.biz] based in Suburban Washington, D.C.

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. 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 5.1.1.

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 3.
  • 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 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 05, 2013 or if Fax delivery is used, the Voting Form must be sent to arrive NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2013.

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 5.2.1.
  • 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 2013 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 “2013 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 FRIDAY, 06 DECEMBER 2013 (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 2013 General Meeting Notice
November 9, 2013

Document number: GA-23-0

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