Optimi

Juan Manuel Melero sets the company's overall strategic direction and leads its international expansion. He has served as senior vice president of sales since 2004 when Optimi merged with TarTec, a company he helped launch and for which he served as president and CEO.

Previously, Juan served Nokia Networks in such senior positions as: head of R&D Nokia in Malaga, Spain; 3G business development manager, responsible for developing the 3G market in the U.S.; and global head of the performance solution area, where he was responsible for performance functionality systems research, specification and roadmapping.

Juan is the author of 10 patent applications in the telecommunications market sector, three international publications and co-author of the book GPRS/EDGE Performance: GSM Evolution Towards 3G/UTMS. He received a Master of Engineering in telecommunications in 1994 from the University of Malaga.

Dr. Khalid Hamied is President and Chief Technology Officer of Optimi, where he directs the development of advanced simulation and optimization technology for planning GSM, GPRS and UMTS wireless networks. He is one of the founders of Optimi Corporation in 2003.

Prior to founding Optimi, Khalid held positions as: lead engineer for the Cellular Infrastructure Group at Motorola, Inc., where he worked on high-speed data for third generation CDMA systems; senior staff engineer in the Wireless Access and Applications Group at Motorola Labs; and principal engineer at MSI, where he developed system optimization tools for CDMA and GPRS networks.

Khalid has 12 refereed papers, one patent on controlling AMPS interference in a CDMA network and two patent applications on MIMO and space-time coded OFDM. His research interests include adaptive equalization, channel estimation, coded modulation and mobile cellular and personal communications. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1994 from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

As Senior Vice President, Technical Sales and marketing, Javier Munoz is responsible for the development of Optimi's product portfolio, which includes applications for the design, optimization and monitoring of cellular networks.

Javier has served in this position since 2004 when Optimi merged with the Spanish-based company TarTec, a spin-off from a Nokia Networks R&D center in Spain which he helped launch in 2003.

Previously, Javier held various research and management positions in Nokia Networks' global R&D system engineering group. His work focused on mobile networks performance and optimization, as well as the development of validation systems for the introduction of new technologies and services. His career began as a software and systems engineer for the Elektrobit Group in Switzerland. Javier received a M.Sc. E.E. in 1995 from the University of Malaga.

Alejandro Sanchez joined Optimi in 2005 as director of corporate finance and control. He held the same position at Tartessos Technologies before its merger with Optimi. Alejandro has extensive experience in the definition and implementation of planning and budgeting models, cost models (ABC), reporting and balance scorecard and project/ company valuation.

Previously, Alejandro worked at KPMG as a project manager for several international telecommunication companies. He also held positions in corporate development and finance with Instituto de Empresa, a leading European business school, as well as Concord Consulting. Alejandro earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1997 from the University of Malaga and completed an M.B.A. in 1999 from Instituto de Empresa.

Fabio Longoni is responsible for Optimi sales and operations in Europe.

Fabio previously covered the role of sales director in Optimi, contributing to the growth of the European business. He previously managed the professional service business in Optimi.s funding company, Tartessos Technologies .

Formerly, Fabio developed his carrier in Nokia Networks units in Italy, Finland and Spain, covering several roles related to research and system development of wireless radio access networks. Fabio contributed actively to the standardization of first releases of the UMTS Radio Access Network and has generated several IPRs and publications .

Fabio completed his study in year 1995 at Politecnico di Milano, Italy, with a degree 'cum laude' in Telecommunication engineering .

Ben Gardiner is Optimi's Vice President and Executive General Manager for the Middle East and Africa. With more than 15 years of industry experience and a strong technical background, Gardiner is responsible for managing and driving Optimi's business in this fast-growing region.

Optimi's new Dubai office was opened to meet the growing demand for wireless planning and optimization services in the region. Gardiner previously led Motorola's Value Added Services business for the MEA region. He held additional senior management positions in several countries throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia for Motorola and Aircom International. Gardiner has extensive field experience in numerous countries and a strong expertise in mobile network performance and optimization. Gardiner was based in India from 1995-1999 during the country's first Metro and Circle GSM rollouts and was responsible for various GSM design and optimization projects during this period.

Gardiner holds a bachelor's degree in electronics and communications engineering from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Justin Eidson has more than 12 years of sales, business development and project management experience in the wireless industry, and is responsible for sales and operations for the North America region at Optimi.

Eidson was the former Director of East Coast sales at Optimi before assuming responsibility for North America. Prior to joining Optimi, he was responsible for overall sales with the Cingular Wireless account at Syniverse Technologies, a voice and data interconnect services provider. In addition, Eidson served in various senior sales roles with increasing levels of responsibility at Siemens Communications and Ericsson, Inc. and was responsible for wireless and data infrastructure, services, and solutions. Eidson has experience in the services sector previously working as director of project management and business development at NSORO, LLC, a turnkey site development company in the wireless industry.

Eidson earned a bachelor's degree in management information systems from Auburn University.

Pablo Cerreda is responsible for the Global Delivery Department in OPTIMI. His responsibility entails the coordination of the delivery of both OPTIMI's software and services worldwide.

Pablo started his career at AIRTEL, before it was acquired by VODAFONE and after gaining experience on international markets and companies, he started his career as a Consultant.

Pablo Cerreda knows in depth the wide range of markets around the world from technical and strategy radio point of view. He worked for many different Operators and Vendors around the world, such as Vodafone, AT&T and ORANGE and has established professional relationships with many other operators, vendors, and telecom companies worldwide.

He is highly recognized in the telecom industry and besides his technical skills, he also enjoys training and introducing new Expert Radio Engineers to the industry. He has been collaborating with the University of Madrid (UPM) for the last years, building up from a solid group of engineers capable of providing solutions worldwide.