Robert G. Laird

Robert G. Laird is an IT Architect with IBM in the SOA Advanced Technologies group, performing worldwide consulting for IBM customers in the area of SOA governance and SOA architecture since May 2006. He is a member of the industry TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) SOA Governance working group. Robert has more than 20 years experience in the telecom industry at MCI and Verizon Business. He was the MCI chief architect, leading the enterprise architecture group and working across the entire order-to-cash suite of applications. He led the development of the SOA-based single-stack strategy to simplify the multiple network and applications silos. Bob has driven the strategy, planning, and execution of MCI’s product development in the area of contact centers, IP/VPN, VoIP, IMS™, and managed services. For OSS, he has led successful implementations to automate network provisioning, network restoration, and network management. Before joining MCI, Robert worked as a consultant for American Management Systems (AMS) and Ideation, Inc. He has a Master’s degree and a Bachelor degree in Computer Science from Purdue University and has been granted two patents in the area of telephony. He has spoken at various industry forums, written for the SOA Magazine, and been quoted in CIO Insight, Telecommunications, InfoWorld, and Computerworld.