Comms Connect Melbourne to feature global leaders — program just announced

Some of the world’s leading authorities on public safety, emergency services and critical communications technology have joined the conference program for this year’s Comms Connect event, taking place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) on 18–19 October.

FirstNet USA Executive Director Joe Wassell will keynote on day one and GSMA APAC Head Julian Gorman will travel from Hong Kong to headline day two. Other internationals on the program include Dereck Orr and Brianna Huettel from NIST, and Phil Crnko from Canada’s PSBN Innovation Alliance. New Zealand will be represented by the NGCC Executive Director Steve Ferguson and Hourua’s Vaughan Matthews. They will be joined by local industry leaders such as NSW Telco’s Kylie De Courteney, AMTA’s Louise Hyland, ACMA’s Dominic Byrne, Telstra’s Sri Amirthalingam and Chris Dowling from the telco division of Victorian Government Services.

Featured sessions on the program include a review on the rollout of the TasGRN network, the latest on the NGCC program in NZ and leadership panels on public safety mobile broadband and the converging technologies in the critical communications landscape, along with a variety of technical papers focused on industry, technology, public safety, emergency and disaster response communications. The full program can be viewed here and early-bird ticket registration is now open.

Comms Connect association partners ARCIA and ACCF/TCCA have put together six pre-conference workshops, to be held on 17 October at the MCEC with full details available here. ARCIA’s annual Gala Awards Dinner will again take place during the event, celebrating the best people and projects across the local industry, with MC Paul McDermott certain to ensure an entertaining evening. Details and booking information are available here.