Critical Infrastructure Telecom Tutorial
Room: 13

Everything you always wanted to know about how utilities use telecom and how it’s regulated packed into one dynamic session! Perfect for professionals new to the field who need to know the background of critical systems, for experienced professionals who are curious about new technology, or for technology vendors who are looking to understand this market better. Learn how the industry uses telecommunications, facilities, media and mechanisms, and get the basics on how the FCC and other agencies regulate what we do. Highlights include a focus on data networks, telecom applications unique to utilities and wireless and fiber-based telecom technologies.

Birds of a Feather Networking Lunch
Room: Ballroom A

Enterprise IT Tutorial for Critical Infrastructure
Room: 14

Ethernet to the substation. IP Communications for critical infrastructure control networks. Seamless integration of traditional enterprise IT and telecommunications functions. These are key issues that every utility is facing in one fashion or another today or will face soon. This tutorial will focus on the role of traditional enterprise IT functions as they specifically are applied in critical infrastructure organizations, how their role is changing, and how your utility can take advantage of these changes. Key issues include the demands of integrated network and application performance management as well as measuring and understanding what the required elements are to ensure availability, optimization and delivery of critical networked business services. The tutorial also will address business continuity planning and how to identify key resource/service dependencies in your network. Whether your background is traditional IT or utility telecom, this tutorial is essential to understand the future role of enterprise IT.

Grand Opening of UTC TELECOM 2006 in UTC EXPO 2006

Don’t miss the opening reception for UTC TELECOM 2006. Kick off your conference experience by meeting with potential partners in the UTC EXPO 2006. Network with colleagues and friends as you see new products and services. Enjoy the food, drinks and fun as you walk around UTC EXPO 2006 - the premier critical infrastructure technology showcase!

Opening General Session

Join us as we kick off UTC TELECOM 2006 in a grand fashion! As we look into the future of the utility industry, it often is hard to see beyond the demands and responsibilities of our current project. This session will draw on the expertise of one of our own – Leonard Leech, UTC’s Chairman of the Board – and a leading utility CEO to explore the question – where is technology leading the telecom and IT departments of critical infrastructure entities. It’s never to early to be educated about what is coming next to prepare for it and plan for it, for as the old adage says, failure to plan is a plan to fail. Additionally, this session will explore UTC in detail, outlining the benefits you receive as a UTC member or the benefits potential members could receive. In this era of change, it never hurts to have an ally on your side. That’s what UTC is – your ally. *New* UTC TELECOM 2006 General Session will feature Dr. Larry J. Sabato, a political analyst director of the University Of Virginia's Center for Politics and the Robert Kent Gooch -Professor Of Government and Foreign Affairs. He is a former Rhodes Scholar and Danforth Fellow. Dr. Sabato will be a touch of humor and insight to the opening general session on politics and the future.

Capitalizing Upon the Emerging Applications of IP Communications
Room: 16

Transmission of voice and data over the Internet has precipitated a revolution in the way that all enterprises – including utilities – communicate. IP services are expanding out from traditional business units to vital core operations, such as substation communications, as utilities realize substantial cost savings by implementing IP Communications solutions. This session will focus on the findings of recent UTC IP Communications studies and address ways to take advantage of IP-enabled applications such as multimedia collaboration, instant messaging and presence management, as well as the convergence of the Wireless LAN with IP. This session will discuss the future of IP Communications for critical infrastructure entities and their technology partners.

Unleashing the Power of Optical Networks to Enable New IP Services
Room: 05/06

New commercial IP services hold great promise as new revenues for utilities seeking to capitalize on the power of their existing optical networks. In many instances, utilities and their UTelcos may need to add capacity to their existing networks to fully realize the potential of offering commercial Voice over IP (VoIP) and other broadband services. This session will examine what some utilities have done already and how they are meeting real-world challenges as they deploy commercial IP services. This session will teach you how to unleash the power of optical networks in order to deliver new revenue producing services.

Networking Break

UTC Expo Hall Opens

Networking Lunch in UTC EXPO 2006

HOT TOPIC: 2006 UTC Engineering Papers
Room: 16

Attendees won’t want to miss this special hot topic session featuring the student winners of the first annual UTC Engineering Paper Competition! The UTC Engineering Paper Competition was designed as a way to get student involvement on a technical engineering aspect of utility telecommunications. In an open presentation format, winners will discuss their paper as well as address questions from attendees. Before you attend this session, check out the UTC Engineering Paper Competition display inside UTC EXPO 2006. This display will feature the papers of the top finalists. Don’t be the one attendee who’s not talking about these papers!

HOT TOPIC: IPv6 - New Internet Protocols
Room: 15

IPv6 has been on the horizon for many years and may become reality soon, help prepare your organization for the proposed 2008 adoption of IPv6 by the Federal Government. This session will show you the differences between IPv4 and IPv5 and the changes that IPv6 will include when implemented. Learn about its applications and products as well as how future two-way radio, microwave radio, MAS systems and fiber/SONET systems might be influenced as a result of the change. Join experts as they discuss how this technology will determine the development of new end user technologies as well as simplified network operations.

UTC Gala

This year’s UTC Gala will be a “swashbuckling” event! “Walk the Plank” with us in the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina for a night of food, fun and friends as we celebrate this year’s UTC Gala with a pirate theme! In the long tradition of UTC Gala’s, this will be an evening to remember!

UTC Apex Award Presentation Breakfast
Room: Ballroom B

Sponsored by Motorola

The Second Annual UTC Apex Award promises to be an awards breakfast to remember honoring the absolute best in utility telecommunications. Join us as we showcase not only the winners of this distinguished award, but the finalists as well - told through the stories they submitted. Come and get inspired by how your peers have taken the jobs they do every day and made them a unilateral success story for their companies and their communities. As we continue to work through the many changes and challenges of the industry, the UTC Apex Award reminds us and our bosses of the critical function we deliver on a daily basis. UTC continues to strive for higher recognition of the importance of telecom and IT departments within critical infrastructure. The UTC Apex Award highlights the deeds and actions that make these departments stand out in a crowd. Learning from these stories is an essential step in raising the bar on your own successes with community assistance.

Developing an Enterprise-Wide Mobility Strategy
Room: 13

How mobile is your enterprise? Where do you want it to be five years from now? How well do you communicate and share critical information with your mobile workforce? Join us as we answer these questions and more with utility and technology experts. The key to managing an enterprise-wide mobile communications strategy is anticipating in equal measure your ever-changing business needs and a constantly evolving technology. This session will offer real advice from executives who are doing it today and will help you understand how your wireless investment ties to the overall goals of critical infrastructure organizations.

UTC EXPO 2006 Open

Networking Break in UTC EXPO 2006

HOT TOPIC: Hurricane Response Town Hall Meeting: Lessons Learned from Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Etc.
Room: 10/11

The critical communications networks deployed by America’s utilities in the regions devastated by hurricanes in 2005 performed amazingly well, supporting recovery as designed and often providing the only communications in affected areas for the first days following the storms’ impact. However, while much worked well, response to the hurricanes of 2005 also pointed out problems and opportunities for improvement that will be of use to everyone who responds to disasters. The Hurricane Response Town Hall Meeting will feature an open discussion among leaders from critical infrastructure industries, as well as their counterparts from public safety, Federal or State government, commercial telecommunications – and YOU! Please plan on being a part of this unique and essential event.

HOT TOPIC: The A,B,C’s of Creating a Successful Business Case for Utility Telecom and IT Projects
Room: 16

A serious challenge faces telecommunications/IT departments of critical infrastructure companies - how to gain the support of executive management for the necessary capital funding for network improvements. A well thought-out, organized and written business case can make all the difference in the critical step of justifying a project and securing management support. This session will explain the basics of A) How to write an RFP or RFI document for vendors; B) How to calculate and present key financial benchmark; C) How to write a business case document incorporating all of the elements of a successful plan. You can learn from the examples of your industry peers as you prepare to launch the “big idea”.

Networking Lunch in UTC EXPO 2006

Managing a Rising Flood of Data
Room: 05/06

You’ll soon have more data available in your control centers than ever before. What are you going to do with it? Deploying applications such as automated meter reading, transformer monitoring, outage localization, fault characterization, and peak load shaving means that vast quantities of data from meters, sensors and home devices will be available. How you handle this data is an essential element in order to succeed in adding new capabilities and making operations more efficient without disrupting the reliable delivery of ongoing service. This "can't-miss" session will feature experts outlining how to develop a data handling solution to manage these new sources of data.

Transitioning to New Advanced Metering Infrastructure
Room: 16

Instituting a new advance metering infrastructure (AMI) network presents many challenges – especially as utilities look to evolve from traditional automated meter reading (AMR) systems. There often may be gaps between the utilities existing IT infrastructure and the new AMI system as well as the tools associated with the new technology. Since utility information systems currently are built around monthly meter reading cycles, they are not designed to deal with communications systems delivering data every day. This session will focus on utilities’ IT needs and highlight strategies to resolve impediments and recommend strategies to consider before migrating to an AMI system.

Networking Break

Enterprise IT Security
Room: 16

Securing traditional enterprise IT networks to the same high level currently deployed on control networks will be key to the successful integration of IP communications into core utility functions. Today, everything from security of all operating systems, databases, applications, and the network itself are being scrutinized more and more closely. Securing the IT infrastructure can be a complex task. This session will explore solutions for critical infrastructure organizations from general computing controls to strategies for understanding in real time what is happening across all enterprise networks and well as the latest in ethernet security management.

UTC Awards Dinner

The UTC Awards Dinner is the social event of UTC TELECOM 2006! Join us as we honor the recipients of UTC’s most prestigious awards, the Dondanville, Meehan and Chairman’s Awards. This event will feature cocktails, dinner and award presentations with colleagues and friends.

Coffee Service

Telecom/IT Integration: More Reliability with Less Cost
Room: 14

More and more utilities are moving forward to integrate traditional telecom functions with enterprise IT departments. The rethinking and reengineering of how these combined resources are managed to meet the immediate business needs of the utility for higher quality operations at a lower cost is paramount. Understanding how the assets work independently of each other is key to combining networks and applications into one tool. Learn how “best of breed” tools and technologies come together to deliver infrastructure services more effectively and efficiently This session will discuss changes to network management, IT infrastructure and application management systems to create improved quality and consistency of service and reduce cost and risk associated with managing the infrastructure.

Capstone Session and UTC Annual Membership Meeting
Room: Ballroom B

Help us close out UTC TELECOM 2006 with brunch and installation of new officers. Join the outgoing Chairman and the Board as we report on the activities over the past year and the planned activities in our next membership year. We know that you’ve absorbed a LOT of information over the past few days, this session gives you a chance to reflect on what you’ve learned and how UTC is addressing the issues we feel will develop as we move forward. As UTC expands our focus, especially in advocacy, it is important to understand how this benefits you and your company. Find out how you can benefit more in your professional life by volunteering to serve in some capacity with UTC. If all you do with UTC is attend the annual conference, this session will point out all that you are missing. Come and be reminded of why you joined UTC!