Hugh S Bradlow is Chief Technology Officer for Telstra and is responsible for investigating the future technologies that will impact Telstra's business.

Prior to joining Telstra in September 1995, Professor Bradlow was Professor of Computer Engineering at the University of Wollongong in Australia and Professor of Electrical Engineering (Digital Systems) at the University of Cape Town.

Professor Bradlow is a graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Cape Town in 1973 and received the D.Phil. degree for research in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, an Emeritus Professor of the University of Wollongong, a Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, and a recipient of a Centenary Medal from the Commonwealth of Australia. He was elected as the joint 2009 Australian Telecommunications Ambassador of the Year. He was listed in the 2010 Global Telecom Business Power 100 rankings (at number 32) and was named by Smart Company as one of the 12 most influential people in Australian ICT.

Presentation Title: Not all networks are created equal

Peter set up a brand-new UK-based company, Quixoticity Ltd., in March 2012, to focus on developing new solutions to the challenges facing the global critical communications industry.

Taking advantage of almost 20 years of research into radically-new forecasting techniques and methodology, Quixoticity has conceived a new way of understanding and interpreting post-modern societies and economies dependent on rapidly evolving technological innovation. As Managing Director of Quixoticity, Peter is working together with forward-looking, ideas-driven organisations to deliver the next generation of critical communications solutions.

Presentation Title: Developing winning strategies for critical communications in a time of rapid technological change

Chris Chapman commenced as the inaugural Chairman and CEO of Australasian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in February 2006, and as an Associate Member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in September 2007.

Chris is a seasoned executive with experience in the media, broadcasting and film, internet, telecommunications, sports rights, infrastructure and finance development worlds.

Before joining ACMA, Chris held a number of senior management positions with the Seven Network, Stadium Australia Management, Optus and Babcock and Brown. Chris has also been the Chairman of Film Australia and SportsVision Australia, and a previous member of the National Film and Sound Archives' Advisory Council.

Presentation Title: 400MHz and Beyond

Aaron Camp is the marketing and projects manager at Icom headquarters in Osaka, Japan. He is also an active member of the dPMR Association and NXDN Forum, and represents Icom at these meetings. He has lived in Japan for more than 20 years and has worked for Icom for almost 13 years.

Presentation Title: dPMR: A few things you should know

With more than ten years of dedicatedly serving various industries with core telecommunications engineering expertise, Alvin has had the opportunity to understand the many aspects of this industry. He has worked on different technologies from fibre-based systems to radio systems that have been implemented across different sectors from oil and gas to railways to utilities.

As a professional member of Engineers Australia, he has continuously developed his skills and knowledge in the telecommunications field by adding certifications to his profile and understanding ever-evolving technological advances. In the course, Alvin developed and improved various processes relating to risk and security for many organisations.

The diverse knowledge gained provides Alvin with the ability to stand out from our usual technological practice and questions the areas and gaps generally overlooked. His expertise lies in developing technical strategy for businesses by aligning the business needs with the operational risks and security requirements. 

Presentation Title: PMR networks: understanding and securing its vulnerabilities

Anton is the current chairman of the Australasian TETRA Forum. He has more than 35 years’ experience in the Mobile Radio Industry and in his earlier stage of his working life he spent some 15 years with Philips in Australia, UK and Asia, based in Singapore and Hong Kong as Regional Director for Philips Telecommunications and Data System's mobile radio division in Asia. Then he spent some 6 years in India for Telecom Australia (Telstra) as Regional Manager Asia South, instrumental in the implementation of India's first GSM network (Modi/Telstra) and VSAT services.

From there he joined his ex-Philips colleagues in the UK to set up Simoco International, and worked as MD Simoco South Asia and Pacific gaining first-hand experience in TETRA followed by a number of years with M/A-COM in the US as Regional Director Asia/Pac gaining experience in EDACS and P25, before joining MCS Digital as GM. Anton was formally educated in the Netherlands and spent a number of years in the Dutch Royal Navy prior to joining Philips in Australia.

Presentation Title: An Outline of the current status of TETRA and potential future developments

Dr Arvind Sharma, Divisional Manager (Higher Level Programs), School of Engineering (TAFE), RMIT University, coordinated a development team of seven curriculum writers supported by academic development staff who developed the Contemporary Digital Radio Technologies course. He has been teaching this course to ACMA staff and public in general for the last seven years. He is a Cisco Certified Academy Instructor and has taught networking, wireless networking and data communications for the last 11 years.

Presentation Title Training Options for the Radio Communications Industry

Presentation Title: Workshop 1 - IP Technologies for Radio Communications Professionals

Bogdan Klobassa has an extensive background and depth of knowledge in grounding and surge protection with patents to his name. He is a globally recognised authority and speaker in power quality, RF and grounding in the field of EMP protection. He regularly conducts engineering seminars on the topics of lightning protection and grounding solutions for communications networks.

Presentation Title: Lightning protection and ground solutions for wireless networks

Brett Abraham is the General Manager of Sigtec’s Critical Communications Division which is a specialist in delivering mission-critical mobile data applications to public safety agencies. He has over 20 years' engineering experience including being the Chief Technology Officer of Technisyst prior to his current role and now has over 10 years of experience specialised in Public Safety.

Presentation Title: Technology convergence in ambulance vehicles of the future

Brendon founded Radhaz Consulting in 1998 and was the Managing Director and Principal Consultant until 2006 when the business was sold. Brendon held the position of Principal Consultant under the new company until 2010, after which he resigned to take a new role within UGL as an EME Design Engineering Manager/Business Development Manager. His roles required him to build a team and provide expert assessment and advice on the hazards associated with exposure to radiofrequency radiation and wireless technologies. The areas of involvement include: risk management and control for OH&S requirements, narrow and broadband measurements, training in RF hazard assessment/management and providing high-end consultancy and community mediation for the major telecommunication companies with respect to RF exposure, safety and the standards.

He has 32 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry of which 22 years has been in Radio communications as a Principal Consultant, Principal Technical Officer/RF Engineer, EME specialist and Manager. His other experience includes electronics design and development in a design laboratory. He is currently the principal NATA signatory for Inspection and Assessments (ISO17020) for UGL and previously held signatory status for both Measurements (ISO17025) and Inspection ISO17020 with his previous company.

Presentation Title: Communications compliance and safety

Brent Williams has over 20 years' experience in the specification, design and build of PMR radio networks for Tait Communications based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Over that time he has held a range of roles within the Tait organisation, including Design Engineer, System Engineer, Product Architect and recently, Solution Marketing roles. Brent completed a Bachelor of Engineering degree at Canterbury University, New Zealand.

Presentation Title: DMR-based automation

Born in South Africa, Casper learnt the foundations of his radio knowledge while working as a Radio Radar Technician within the South African National Defence Force Navy. Currently Casper is working as the Technical Operations Manager for Octocom in the Perth suburb of Kewdale and in that capacity is responsible for the design, installation and ongoing management of the wireless networks for Octocom's mining and industrial customers.

Presentation Title: Unlicensed telemetry and real-time data: The pros and cons.

Christian Kelly graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering & Electronics in 1982. He then worked for 19 years at Motorola as a systems engineer and technical editor, approving factory orders including the first SmartNet trunking systems; as project engineer and group leader responding to tenders and designing and building police radio networks, simulcast, receiver voting, trunking, mobile data, telemetry, console and CAD systems; and a project manager on The Met trunking system. After spending two years in Sydney on the NSW GRN proposal, Chris returned to Victoria as a systems specialist, eventually moving on to become an account manager, systems engineering manager and finally service business manager for AsiaPac. During that time he completed an MBA in Technology Management at Deakin University in 1996. Chris joined Telstra in 2002, and is currently a design manager of radio and wireless solutions and also President of ARCIA.

Presentation Title: Industry Talking

David Deacon is Director of Auria Wireless, an Australian designer of advanced radio network solutions and a part of the Etherstack group of companies. Founded by Deacon in 2002, Etherstack is a world-leading technology licensor of protocol stacks to radio equipment manufacturers globally.

With 20 years' experience in the wireless communications industry, David's teams have been at the forefront of TETRA and APCO P25 standards development and have been active contributors to both the ETSI and TIA standards process. During this time David has overseen Etherstack's growth into an ASX company with operations in seven countries around the world. David's current areas of focus include the future of P25 - ranging from 4G LTE integration to IP data support and location services.

Prior to Auria and Etherstack, David founded and ran a wireless technology company for six years before it was sold to a publicly traded company in 2000.

Presentation Title: Next generation P25 networks in the next decade

Des Bahr has over 25 years' experience within the emergency services sector. During his career Des held the position of General Manager – Operations with the Department of Justice and assisted in the facilitation of the Computer Aided Dispatch services, to ensure the delivery of a quality emergency call taking and dispatch service, representing Victoria’s Emergency Services Organisations and assisted in the procurement and delivery of Victoria’s State-wide Integrated Public Safety and Communications Strategy (SIPSaCS) policy and priorities. During this time Des also represented the Victorian Government on a number of national and international public safety and emergency management committees.

Previously a Chief Investigator with the APS Group, Des is also an emergency management trainer who volunteers his time to assist the State Emergency Service.

Des Bahr is currently CEO of APCO Australasia. In addition to his role at APCO Australasia, Des is also the President of the National Safety Agency (NSA), a not- for-profit entity which focuses on accelerating the introduction of new and innovative technology into local, state and federal government, in particular the emergency services sector.

Presentation Title: How to integrate conventional radio and LTE in the public safety sector

Dietmar Schöps has worked in the PMR industry for more than 30 years. Starting in software development for sequential tone-based trunking systems, Dietmar soon became involved in product management positions for switches and complete radio systems. He gained vast experience in MPT and TETRA international sales at Rohde & Schwarz Professional Mobile Radio. In 2009 Dietmar joined Funkwerk Security Communications as International Sales Director. Dietmar is responsible for the international sales of TETRA hand portable radios, the associated personal and lone worker security solution and the complete DECT portfolio of the company.

Presentation Title: Personal security communications - incident detection and management using TETRA

Doug Booth was appointed as CFA’s Manager, Communications in October 1997 and then as Project Director for its Radio Replacement Project in July 2008. Having obtained an engineering degree at the University of Queensland, Doug began his career as a project engineer with the Department of Defence. After some years there Doug lectured at RMIT’s TAFE college before progressing to project management roles in a second stint with Defence followed by some years in Telstra and a series of contracting roles prior to joining CFA.

Presentation Title: Transition to digital - Victoria's regional fire-fighting moves ahead

With a solid background in engineering, supported by his M.Eng, Electronic & Electrical Engineering from The University of Manchester, Giles has held many senior technical and product management roles in the past 15 years. Before joining Simoco, Giles worked in some of the largest multinational technology companies including ARM and Arrow Electronics. In his current role as Product Manager at Simoco, Giles is responsible for the Simoco terminals, influencing R&D and technical disciplines and works closely with sales, operations, and customers to create a strategic product roadmap for the expanding portfolio of Simoco products.

Presentation Title: Evaluating DMR: Its adoption and evolution

Hamish Duff is the Managing Director of Master Communications and Electronics based in Sydney, having worked for the company for 31 years. Mastercom provides specialist two-way radio services to a wide range of commercial and government entities and has been operating for 44 years. The business owns and operates radio systems that are used in a variety of business-critical applications. Hamish Duff is a founding partner in the ORION DMR Radio Network and a committee member of the Australian Radio Communications Industry Association.

Presentation Title: Determining which applications users in different industry sectors are looking for, with examples of available applications that enhance business efficiency

Dr Irena Atov is the Technology Manager of the reliability engineering group in Telstra, responsible for setting design guidelines for achieving carrier-grade network performance and reliability. She is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne and through her research activities has published over 20 technical papers and a book chapter in the area of network performance modelling and design.

Irena actively promotes careers in science and engineering. She has created numerous outreach programs, is the founding Chair of the first IEEE Women-in-Engineering (WIE) group in Australia, and the immediate past Chair of the worldwide IEEE WIE, headquartered in NY, USA.

Presentation Title: Diversity of perspectives for success in the changing technological landscape

John has spent over 35 years in the radio communications business, designing, building and deploying custom solutions for a wide range of customers. This was both as an owner and director of the communications business. He also spent about 4 years in the industrial instrumentation business.

Presentation Title: Workforce Management in a Wireless World

John is the founder of 4RF Limited, establishing the company in late 1998. He has been instrumental in the development of the advanced Aprisa digital microwave and SCADA radio products which 4RF exports to more than 130 countries. He held senior engineering and management roles at DMC Stratex Networks, past NASDAQ listed MAS Technology, and started his career with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

John is a member of the Victoria University Engineering Advisory Board, the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, and the New Zealand Search and Rescue Council's Consultative Committee. A graduate of Victoria University of Wellington, John has a Bachelor of Science degree and has done post graduate study in France at École Nationale SupÉrieure des TÉlÉcommunications.

Presentation Title: Spectrum for LMR networks backhaul

Jonathan Bunce is Group Marketing Director of Simoco Group, a global mobile radio specialist. Jonathan joined Simoco in April 2011 and is responsible for all marketing activity across Team Simoco in the UK and ComGroup in Australia. Jonathan’s role at Simoco supports the company’s plans for further expansion in key markets across Europe, the Americas, the Far East and Australasia, as it works to further increase sales of its cutting-edge technologies and solutions. Previously Commercial Director for Airborne Networks, Jonathan oversaw the introduction of new patented mesh technologies and prior to this held global marketing roles for Motorola and senior marketing roles in consumer product organisations.

He joined Motorola in 2001 as Global Marketing Manager and was responsible for global systems marketing and product development for TETRA secure radio networks.

Presentation Title: Your digital advantage

Lawrence is a Telecommunications/ICT Systems Engineer with over 22 years of telecommunications and ICT industry experience, conducting works for Queensland Rail (15 years as an employee), Victorian Rail Industry, Corrections, Justice, Police, Education, Mining and Defence. During his career, Lawrence has had extensive experience on radio communication systems, voice networking (inc PABXs), telecommunication and transmission networks (optical fibre and microwave radio), WAN/ CANs, LANs, audiovisual systems.

Presentation Title: Citizen band in 2020 - Does it have a future in Australia?

Educated as a telecommunications engineer, Marta Fontecha has been working for Teltronic since 1998. She is a widely experienced TETRA Design Manager, participating in the very beginnings of the design of the TETRA products of this company. During her working years, she has been head of several R&D teams to develop TETRA products, services, applications and professional solutions for critical communications. Between her activities, Marta has been a representative in the TETRA Assoc. Technical Forum and responsible for the TELTRONIC interoperability process within the Association.

Currently, she is in charge of the Transport and Utilities division of the TELTRONIC Business Development Area, leading the expansion of the TETRA technology within the transport market. She has participated in the design of numerous projects for metros, tramways, buses and today, she has been in the front line of the newest experiences with rail signalling systems over TETRA.

Presentation Title: How to achieve sustainable railway projects by selecting the right wireless technologies

Mike has over 30 years of multinational experience in the wireless business. Mike’s early career included technical positions in the Metropolitan Police, Rediffusion Radio Systems and Scottish Telecom, and has since held many senior technical and managerial positions in the PMR industry.

Presently as Chairman of the Simoco Group, Mike oversees and directs the group’s global engineering, manufacturing, distribution and product development functions. He has become the driving force behind the creation, growth and success of the Simoco Group, and a vigorous advocate for the future of radio communication technologies.

Presentation Title: The IP revolution in radio

Nigel started his technical career as a technical assistant for a defence engineering company in 1988. After completing his Associate Diploma of Electrical Engineering (Communications) he has worked as a senior technical officer in the areas of telecommunications, broadcasting, microwave and high-powered lasers. During a three-year stint with the Australian Communications and Media Authority as a frequency assigner and policy analyst, Nigel completed a post grad certificate and Masters degree in management and leadership. Since 2004 he has held roles as a Senior Executive Officer for government, Operations Manager for a telecommunications company and Business Manager/Systems Engineer within the radio communications industry.

Presentation Title: Looking back through the looking glass at ourselves; the digital battle

As a Strategic Management Specialist with 35 years’ experience in the electronics, IT and telecommunications business, Paul has held senior management positions in many of the divisions of Tait Electronics. External to the Tait group, Paul spent 10 years with Australasia’s largest component distributor as both the Sales and Marketing Director and Technical Director, and was also South Island Manager Corporate for Telecom NZ.

Paul also spent two years in private consulting on a number of technology business re-engineering projects. Paul is a Director at Auriga Systems Ltd UK, and is currently the CEO/Managing Director of MiMOMax Wireless Ltd.

Paul has been a highly well-received speaker at the global level. His recent speaking engagements include Utilities Telecommunications Conference (UTC) Expo 2012 (USA) and UTC Apex Award Night 2012 (while receiving award on behalf of customer Orion NZ Limited), RFUANZ Conference 2012 (NZ) and RadioComms Connect 2011 (Aus.)

Presentation Title: Brains beat brawn in radio linking

Peter currently holds the role as Product Manager for Ericsson’s Group-Radio solution. Prior to his current role, Peter has more than 20 years experience in providing solutions to Telecom operators and Ministries of Defense. Graduating from Chalmers Institute of Technology in 1986 he pursued a career in software development and project management of support systems for Telecom operators. Starting up a new product line for Inter-carrier billing systems in EHPT, a Joint Venture between Hewlett Packard and Ericsson, he successfully brought the new product into becoming a market leader in the area. In the early 2000's Peter was in charge of the Systems Integration divisions in Ericsson’s Mexico and later Malaysia market units - providing business and technical consulting and Systems Integration leadership to Ericsson customers. In mid 2010 Peter was assigned his current responsibility - to provide a new solution addressing Industry verticals need for managed group communication - utilizing existing commercial networks.

Presentation Title: Workshop 2 - Radio for IP Connected Professionals in the Networked Society

Phil Sidebottom manages the APCO P25 product portfolio for Motorola Solutions Australia across the Asia Pacific region. During a career spanning more than 36 years with Motorola, Phil has worked in many roles including development, manufacturing, quality, marketing and product management. This experience has allowed him to be involved in the definition, configuration and implementation of many communications solutions for customers across the Asia Pacific region.These systems have included large statewide networks with hundreds of sites for government and public safety users to smaller systems of one to five sites for use within mining operations, in addition to deployable systems for military application and transport systems for railways. His direct involvement with customers from such a wide variety of agencies and industries means Phil is well equipped to discuss and advise the many applications, capabilities and comparisons of the TETRA, APCO P25, DMR, dPMR and analog standards as a solution for today’s communications needs.

Presentation Title: Capability, application and comparison of existing technologies - TETRA, P25, DMR, dPMR and analogue

Simon joined Motorola Solutions in 2012 to lead and manage the Advanced Technologies business, including enterprise WLAN, MESH, Voice over WLAN and AirDefense management and security portfolio. Simon has more than 15 years' experience in voice and data communications and security. After starting his career in network engineering, he has specialised in the development of commercial offerings based on emerging business technologies for companies including Nortel, Juniper Networks and IBM across Australasia, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Presentation Title: Communication and automation in the mine of the future

As a Senior Solution Architect at Ericsson Australia, Steve brings Over 20 Years Experience as an ICT Solution Expert in Private and Public Radio Communications, Mobility Computing and Automation, Applications Development and Integration and Infrastructure Support Solutions. Following a Career as a Communications Electronics Technician in the Royal Australian Air Force, Steve has leveraged his Communications networks Training to form the backbone of over 15 years in designing, delivering and integrating Mobility based connected vehicle and workforce communications solutions to National Security and Public Safety, Transport Logistics, Utilities and Mining Sectors. Steve has held senior solution design and management roles in some of Australia’s leading vehicle tracking and logistics original equipment manufacturers. Prior to Ericsson Steve lead the strategic development of the mobility logistics applications design team in one of Australia’s largest Transport Logistics companies, Toll Holdings. As the Ericsson Australia Senior Solution Architect for Industry Verticals of Public Safety, Utilities, Mining and Machine to Machine (M2M), he is able to leverage a vast technical background in providing innovative solutions that can leverage the technologies of today and tomorrow guided by the leading market trends.

Presentation Title: Workshop 2 - Radio for IP Connected Professionals in the Networked Society

Steven Jenkins holds the position of Director, Product Management with Codan Radio Communications. Steven has a first class honours degree in electronic engineering, and has over 14 years’ experience within the Radio Communications industry. He has been involved in the design and development of numerous communications and ancillary products, and has lead new designs from inception through to successful commercialisation. Steven also has experience in the areas of customer requirements analysis & definition, product marketing / promotion and after sales customer service / field support.

Presentation Title: High frequency radio: A valid solution to the challenges of today

Tony Gray is a 30+ years veteran of the critical communications PMR industry, with broad experience gained initially as an engineer and latterly a consultant working on a wide variety of public safety and security, transportation, utility and related mission- and business-critical mobile communications solutions.

Based in Europe and holding a global portfolio on behalf of his employer, the German consulting and engineering firm P3 communications GmbH, Tony serves as a Board member and Director of the TETRA & Critical Communications Association (TCCA) and also as chairman of the TCCA’s Critical Communications Broadband Group (CCBG). The CCBG is working with standards and regulatory bodies as well as other stakeholders globally to develop and find spectrum for future broadband critical communications solutions such as LTE.

Presentation Title: Towards a broadband future: Can LTE ever support the critical communications features required by users of today's PMR technologies