DECT World 2024

William Webb

William Webb is an independent consultant providing advice across all telecommunications matters. He was one of the founding directors of Neul, a company developing machine-to-machine technologies and networks, which was formed at the start of 2011 and became CEO of the Weightless SIG, a body standardizing IoT technology. Prior to this William was a Director at Ofcom where he managed a team providing technical advice and performing research. He has worked for a range of communications consultancies and spent three years providing strategic management across Motorola’s entire communications portfolio, based in Chicago. He was IET President 2014-2015.

William Webb has published 19 books, 100 papers, and 18 patents. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IEEE and the IET, a Visiting Professor at Southampton University and a Board Member of the Marconi Society. He has been awarded multiple honorary doctorates by the UK’s leading universities and in 2018 was awarded the IET’s prestigious Mountbatten Medal for technology entrepreneurship.

Andreas Zipp

Andreas Zipp joined VTech Telecommunications Hong Kong in 2006 to support VTech’s transition into new business areas. Andreas is responsible for broadband business development, new technologies and innovation in VTech Telecommunications ODM business division. Prior to joining VTech Andreas had been CTO of Swissvoice. Andreas has over 20-years-experience in Broadcasting Systems, Multimedia and Telecommunications in various senior positions. Since 2006 Andreas is a member of the board of the DECT forum, in 2012 he became chairman of the DECT Forum board.

Kristian Saether

Kristian Saether was born in Lillehammer, Norway, and holds a M.Sc. degree in cybernetics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has 18+ years of experience in various R&D-, applications-, -marketing and -product management roles for microcontrollers, processors, UWB radar and wireless solutions. He enjoys working with new technologies set to transform the world.

Lauri Piikivi

Lauri Piikivi is Technical Product Manager, DECT NR+, at Nordic Semiconductors. He received his M.Sc. Degree from University of Oulu in 1999. He has worked in communication protocols design, development and testing for over 25 years. His work experience spans from embedded SW and cyber security to cloud service implementations. A major part of his work has been on different mesh networking technologies.

Wolfgang Bilz

Wolfgang Bilz is the chairman of the Regulatory Working Group. He will give an update about spectrum protection and other important regulatory topics. Wolfgang finalised his study on telecommunication with the diploma thesis developing a wireless microphone system achieving market access for Europe. During his career with Shure, he had the chance to work in different departments in different roles including engineering, project management, compliance, and regulation. He is now a member of Shure’s Spectrum and Regulatory Team responsible for the European region. Wolfgang is chair of the PMSE (Programme Making and Special Events) industry organisation APWPT.org and chair of DECT Forum's Regulatory Working Group. For several years he has participated in several national and international regulatory and standardization groups including ITU-R, CEPT, ETSI to name a few.

Andreas Wilzeck

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Wilzeck is Head of Spectrum Policy and Standards at Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG, Germany.
He is Vice-Chair of the ETSI TC DECT, was Chair of the ETSI Evaluation Group for IMT-2020 and is an active participant in the standardisation work of various ETSI technical committees. He also participates in WRC, ITU-R, CEPT and other PMSE-related spectrum regulatory work globally.
He received the Dr.-Ing. degree from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover in August 2009.

Jussi Numminen

Jussi Numminen has over 30 years of experience on developing global wireless communication technologies ( 3G, 4G, DECT-2020 NR) and attending in standards development in various organizations (ETSI, 3GPP and ITU). He has joined Wirepas since 2015 and is responsible for radio strategy covering standards, regulation and IPRs. Jussi is serving also ETSI TC DECT vice-chair. Before joining Wirepas he has leading standardization role at Nokia, STMicroelectronics, ST-Ericsson and Ericsson.

Joonas Sae

Joonas Säe is a Staff Scientist at Tampere University. He received his D.Sc. (Tech.) degree in Communications Engineering with a focus on critical communications from Tampere University of Technology in 2017. He has 10+ years of experience with private mobile test networks, field measurements and network fault management. His current research interests include DECT NR+, 5G/6G networks, IoT technologies, and UAV communications.

Johan van der Stoel

Johan van der Stoel is CEO of Streamit BV. He holds a M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology. He has a wide experience in Product Development, Management, Marketing and Sales. He founded Streamit in 2003. Streamit has developed and marketed several business audio streaming systems. This includes audio players, distribution platforms and wireless audio systems.

Jens Nielsen

joined RTX in 1994 in R/D and since 2001 worked in product management and sales. Today commercially responsible for Enterprise DECT sales in RTX including our wireless portfolio of DECT base stations, DECT handsets, retail headsets and our professional series of DECT wireless office headsets.

Barclay Milne

Barclay Milne started his engineering career with Philips as a Digital Systems-on-chip Designer. As an engineer-turned-MBA-qualified business manager, he has been managing product development teams for 35 years, and at senior level for over 30 years. As Manging Director of TES UK – a design services company he launched in 2002, Barclay and his team in Edinburgh have helped many multinational companies and SMEs, bring a long and very varied list of successful DECT products to the market. In 2018, TES UK was acquired by its biggest customer Shure, and in January this year the Shure Edinburgh team launched a product at the ISE show in Barcelona, that has since received 13 design awards from around the World - including the prestigious Red Dot Design Award. Barclay is often heard to say that DECT is the next best thing to a wire!

Thomas Weisshaupt

Over seven years at Wirepas, Thomas led the introduction of the DECT NR+ standard as Regional Head Energy Market EU, working toward a sustainable and efficient energy future. His goal is to make DECT NR+ synonymous with intelligent, citizen-centered energy management, prioritizing technological advancement that serves people's needs.
In addition, as regional Managing Director of Wirepas Germany GmbH, Thomas expands Wirepas partnerships and, through business and partner development expertise, positioned Wirepas as a leader in digital transformation focused on Asset Tracking/RTLS, Industry 4.0, and Smart Building.
Thomas is chairing the Data Communications and Privacy Working Group in ESMIG (European Smart Metering Industry Group) and is active in DECT Forum to make NR+ the connectivity of choice.

Vaughan John

Vaughan is the Spectrum Policy and Standards Manager at Sennheiser electronic SE & Co. KG, the leading European manufacturer for professional audio solutions such as microphones, meeting solutions, streaming technologies and in-ear monitoring systems. Vaughan works with national and international spectrum regulatory bodies to ensure access to spectrum for existing and new wireless audio technologies (such as Wireless Multi-channel Audio Systems) used in Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE).
Vaughan is heavily involved in CEPT to ensure DECT-2020 NR is included in its work regarding shared use of the 3.8 to 4.2 GHz frequency band. Prior to joining Sennheiser, Vaughan gained over 20 years of experience in spectrum policy and regulation as a Principal Spectrum Policy Manager at Ofcom (UK) where he initiated and delivered a range of spectrum policy objectives. He was responsible for spectrum policy for Private Mobile Radio, Emergency Services, Utilities, PMSE, TV White Space, Shared Access licensing and Dynamic Spectrum Access.

Ferry Cserép

Ferry Cserép earned his bachelor's degree in electronics and computer science in 1984 and began his career in hardware and software design at the Free University of Amsterdam, where he held a board position at the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences. In 1990, he co-founded and became CEO of MicroTask, an embedded hardware and software design firm. In 2009, he co-founded Netinium BV, contributing to high-resolution data acquisition systems for windmills, automation for cryostats in quantum computing, and a vendor-agnostic device management platform for IoT and smart metering. A pioneer in smart metering since 1997, he helped establish the standards currently in use. He currently chairs the Empower Prosumers group at Esmig, focusing on standards for smart meters and energy applications.

Wolfgang Fritz

After several positions as project and product manager in the audio industry at renowned companies such as AKG Acoustics and Beyerdynamic, Wolfgang Fritz developed the Bolero DECT wireless intercom system with Riedel Communications. With new approaches in DECT wireless technology and influences from the pro audio sector, Bolero became a resounding success and was honored with an Emmy Award® in 2023.

Naveen Chhangani

Naveen Chhangani is ADT's Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer. In this role, Naveen leads ADT's Product Management and Design teams, crafting a strategic product roadmap and collaborating closely with executive, senior leadership, and technology leaders to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality products. With a background deeply rooted in the smart home and consumer technology sector, Naveen has a proven track record of successful product launches, strategic business planning, and leading high-performing teams.

Before joining ADT, Naveen held key leadership positions at Palo Alto Networks, where he advanced their Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) product portfolio and developed the industry’s first cybersecurity solution for the home (OKYO). He also served as Vice President and Head of Products at Arlo Technologies, where he successfully launched Arlo Smart Services and developed products for Verisure, Europe’s largest home security company. His experience includes leadership roles at NETGEAR, where he drove the development of connected home products, and at Seagate Technology. Naveen also co-founded the industry’s first standards-based outdoor Wi-Fi category, demonstrating his innovative approach to consumer-connected solutions.

As a recognized leader in the smart home industry, Naveen is a regular speaker at CES and other key industry conferences. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications from Amravati University, India, Business Management from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Executive Business Management programs at Harvard Business School.