Ghani Abbas - International Standards Manager, Ericsson. Has spent the last fifteen years in SDH transmission business, initially with GPT and later with Marconi Communications, UK. He is international standards manager in the in the Network Engineering and Technology department and currently is rapporteur of Q9 in the ITU SG15 which develops standards for transport equipment and network protection and restoration. He is also an active member of ITU SG 13 (Next Generation Networks).