SaaS in the Contact Center an Attractive Alternative
During a Down Economy

Prem Uppaluru
Chief Executive Officer (Co-Founder), Transera

Prem has over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications and networking industry and is a proven serial entrepreneur. He was formally EVP at Genesys, where he drove the company's Voice Platform and Managed Service solutions. Prem joined Genesys when the company he co-founded, Telera, was acquired by Alcatel the parent company of Genesys. At Telera, Prem spearheaded the development of what is now the world’s leading VoiceXML-based IVR platform. Telera’s technology has revolutionized the contact center industry, and has earned various accolades and industry recognition. Prior to co-founding Telera, Prem co-founded VOIS Corporation where he served as CEO. Before launching into his entrepreneurial efforts, Prem held several executive management positions at Novell, Fluent, Samsung Software America, Bell Labs and Bellcore.

Prem holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his masters and undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay.

Dan Miller
Senior Analyst & Founder, Opus Research

Dan Miller has over 25 years experience in marketing, business development and corporate strategy for telecom service providers, computer manufacturers and application software developers. Miller founded Opus Research in 1985 and helped define the Conversational Access Technologies marketplace by authoring scores of reports, advisories and newsletters addressing business opportunities that reside where automated speech leverages Web services, mobility and enterprise software infrastructure. More recently he oversaw the launch of research practices covering Voice Biometrics and Local Mobile Search.

As Director of the New Electronic Media Program at LINK Resources from 1980-1983, he helped define one of the first continuous advisory services in for electronic content providers, including publishers, movie studios, television networks and cable TV system operators. Miller then held management positions at Atari, Warner Communications and Pacific Telesis Group. At The Kelsey Group from 1994-1999, Dan was Editor-in-Chief of The Kelsey Report and later served as Vice President with responsibility for launching and managing information services on Local Online Commerce, Voice and Wireless Commerce and Directory Driven Commerce.

Miller received his BA from Hampshire College (1976) and an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business (1980). He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences regarding speech processing, contact center automation, unified communications and mobile commerce. He has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Investor’s Business Daily, Wired.com, CommWeb and provided commentary on CNN and TechTV.

Rich Tehrani - Moderator
President, Group Editor-in-Chief, TMC

Rich Tehrani is a VoIP industry expert, visionary, author and columnist. He founded the first magazine focused on VoIP in 1998 and, in his role as president of Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC), is the owner of the registered trademark for the term Internet Telephony. Rich, currently president and group editor-in-chief, has led TMC in many capacities since 1982.

Rich plays a pivotal role in positioning TMC as the only publishing and trade show company focusing exclusively on the rapidly growing voice/data convergence and computer telephony integration. He continues to be a driving force in the creation and implementation of pioneering publications and events. Rich Tehrani is a computer engineer who graduated from the University Of Connecticut with a hardware/software Bachelor of Science degree.