The 3rd “Info Communication Technologies: Science for Business” research and practical conference was opened in St. Petersburg February 13, 2007. The event is dedicated to education, science, and scientific community-business interaction related to info communication technologies.

The conference is sponsored by North-West Telecom, M. A. Bonch-Bruevich St. Petersburg Telecommunications University, board of the “Information Systems” united education and procedural committee, and “Automated Data Processing and Management Systems” education and procedural commission. It is scheduled until February 15 as part of the annual Norwecom 2007 exhibition.

The conference’s main issues are:

- practical development and implementation of next-generation info communication technologies and communication networks (NGN);

- experience of, and prospects for implementation of information technologies in St. Petersburg;

- educational applications of info communication technologies.

The conference is attended by prominent Russian scientists, among which are B. Y. Sovetov, Hon. Scientist and Technologist of the RF, Member of the Russian Academy of Education, and co-chairman of St. Petersburg’s IT scientific council and Professor A. A. Gogol, President of the M. A. Bonch-Bruevich University, and by representatives of governmental authorities, heads of scientific institutions and Russia’s leading colleges, and companies specializing in development and application of info communication technologies.

At the conference opening ceremony, NWT General Manager V. A. Akulich greeted the guests, thanked Russian scientists for their input in the telecommunication industry research and development, and noted that “telecommunication research is a way to easy, simple, and, above all, high-quality operation of any communication network, and to most advanced services to be provided to the users.” Today, North-West Telecom, due to new scientific achievements in info communications, offers its customers new unique telecommunication services such as IP-TV, broadband Internet access etc., which may be viewed during the Norwecom 2007 exhibition in the Lenexpo pavilion.  

V. D. Nesterenko, Head of the New Technologies Dept. of NWT, delivered a report titled “Main Sectors of NGN Implementation in the Networks of North-West Telecom OJSC” at the first plenary session of the conference. In his speech, he made a review of the Company’s rapidly developing infrastructure and prospects for implementation of NGN-based networks in the region. The NGN technologies combine the transport and switching functions, enable switching of any data flow (voice, data, video), and offer a common control system, reliability, high efficiency of resource utilization, and any kind of service provided without network reconfiguration. 

The next days of the conference, February 14 and 15, will see sectional meetings dedicated to theoretical principles of info communications development, and practical development and implementation of next-generation info communication technologies and communication networks (NGN).