Press release: ISPA Launches iWeek Talent Search

Published on: 2012-04-18

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The Internet Service Providers’ Association of SA (ISPA) has embarked on its annual search for the Internet industry’s best and brightest who are invited to speak at iWeek 2012.

Taking place in September 2012, the industry’s annual get together that attracts speakers and delegates from several countries worldwide, will this year be hosted in Century City, Cape Town.

The Call for Papers specifies that the initial proposal to be considered as a speaker for iWeek should be submitted to ISPA by the end of May, with the final deadline for submission of the speaker’s profile and presentation content being 30 June 2012.

Presentations should be no longer than 30 minutes and should cater for a few questions afterwards. Most talks will be streamed live via the web and all presentations will be posted on the iWeek website subsequent to the event.

“Potential speakers should note they will be speaking to an interesting mix of the most competent individuals from the greater Internet industry. Furthermore, iWeek is in its 11th incarnation which by itself implies high standards,” said Jaap Scholten, co-Chair of ISPA.

There is always tremendous competition for speaking slots at iWeek and several proposals have already been received.

ISPA plans to offer three content streams at iWeek 2012. Potential speakers should be cognisant of the fact that their presentations should address: business trends, legislation & governance or technical advances in the Internet industry. Examples of topics up that would be considered for discussion include the pointers below.

The business trends track is focused on what lies ahead for ISPs: Where is the business case for an ISP these days and where will it be in the near future? Who are the up-and-coming examples of planning for the future? Build or sell? Financing equipment through investment or leasing? Diversify or focus? Where will the “un-capped” frenzy end? Is there space for multiple VoIP providers, or will we consolidate into three or four major players? How to provide a CDN at globally competitive rates? How do you market SaaS to SMBs?

The legislation & governance track is there to help ISPs figure out how to capitalise on markets that are opening up from a governance point of view such as Whitespace and Local Spectrum. Where are we going with Privacy, Copyright and Spam? How do ISPs remain compliant on a budget? 10 Regulatory issues you can’t ignore.

The technical advances track will be delving into the new technologies that are busy defining the tasks and efficiencies of today’s ISPs. Ranging from the much-hyped Cloud to Billing Systems, IPv6 to High-speed Fibre, these talks have to provide ISPs’ technical staff with information on subjects that will make their customers happier and their engineering lives easier. Topics such as Building the Cloud, turning it into Off-site Storage, or even a Content Delivery Network. What to do with the insatiable P2P network demands. How can we provision more cost-effective National Bandwidth?

Please visit http://www.iweek.org.za/iweek-2012-speakers/ for further information.

Further Information

For further information, please contact the ISPA secretariat on the Contact ISPA page.