Four chief technology officers from four different service providers on one stage. It's a panel session that sells itself, and maybe something more — it demands your presence.

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions has slated its 2007 ATIS TechThink Technology Conference to be held June 19-20 in Chicago, in conjunction with NXTcomm 2007. The main attraction and the kick-off session of the conference is a general session panel June 19 at 9 a.m. (as an extension of the NXTcomm keynote scheduled that day) featuring AT&T CTO Chris Rice, Qwest CTO Pieter Poll, Verizon CTO and senior vice president of technology Mark Wegleitner and British Telecom Group Technology Officer Matt Bross.

That session, moderated by ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller, is called “What's NEXT is NOW: Delivering Telecom's Converged Network and Entertainment Experience.” It's a broad topic, but one that goes right to the heart of the opportunities and challenges that all four service providers — and pretty much any other service providers on any continents (except that cold one, of course) — are facing.

It's anybody's guess as to how specifically these top technology executives will talk about their own experiences. Will Rice provide an up-to-the-minute update on Project Lightspeed, and will he be willing to entertain questions about challenges AT&T reportedly has had in rolling out IPTV service? Will Wegleitner tell the crowd how FiOS is fairing? Will Poll provide a prettier picture of Qwest's plans for network and entertainment convergence? And will Bross sweep aside everyone else's experiences with a gesture as grand as BT's 21st Century Network, and tell us what it's really like to operate a network in an era of service convergence?

Whether these questions are answered or not, the TechThink CTO panel looks to be one of the star attractions of NXTcomm 2007. The telecom industry, and especially the vendors looking to serve these carriers, are looking for guidance on how and at what pace network technology is evolving — not only a vision for the technology future, but also for the present. There are probably no four more appropriate people in the telecom industry to provide that vision.

Qwest's Poll said: “Convergence is an opportunity for carriers, like Qwest, to extend the suite of services we provide customers. As we move toward a converged infrastructure, common network technologies will enable services to interact in new and more graceful ways than they do today, and consumers will be able to tailor and coordinate devices and services to best suit their lifestyles and needs.”

“ATIS TechThink is a meeting of the best minds shaping communications technology and setting the direction of the industry,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “ATIS TechThink will offer NXTcomm 2007 attendees insights and critical perspectives with respect to both future business and technology decisions.”

Beyond the general session panel, the ATIS TechThink Technology Conference also will feature sessions such as the “Mind Bender” panels on IPTV and IMS. The IPTV Mind Bender Session, called “The Ultimate Entertainment! The IPTV Experience,” will be moderated by Danny Briere, CEO of TeleChoice, and will feature panelists Jeff Weber, vice president of product and strategy for AT&T; Telus CTO Ibrahim Gedeon; Scientific-Atlanta CTO Bob McIntyre; BigBand Networks CTO Ran Oz; Prem Tirilok, vice president of IPTV strategy for Tellabs; and Andy Addis, executive vice president of marketing for Hillcrest Labs.

The IMS Mind Bender Session, called “The Power of Intelligent Networking: How IMS Will Further Revolutionize Content and Entertainment Delivery,” will feature Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Nokia Siemens Networks and Qwest representatives.