COMSOF consultants are regular attendees and/or speakers on international conferences.

Upcoming events

Past events

FTTH Council 2010:

Lisbon, Portugal
24 February - 25 February 2010
Press release: Comsof & Bentley at FTTH Conference 2010 in Lisbon

Broadband World Forum Europe 2009: Delivering the promise:

Paris, France
07 September - 09 September 2009

IBBT iMinds 2009:

Gent, Belgium
12 May 2009

FTTH Forum 2009:

Barcelona, Spain
05 May - 07 May 2009

Presentation by Raf Meersman (CTO - Comsof)
"Successful Strategic Planning of FTTX networks by combining GIS based network planning with geo-marketing data"

FTTH Council 2009: Building a sustainable future:

Copenhagen, Denmark
11 February - 12 February 2009

BOM-Vl press event/demonstration:

Videohouse - Brussels, Belgium
December 8, 2008

Live MediaDRAIN demo by Brecht Vermeulen.

Source: IBBT

IIR Conference London:

Telecoms Cost Allocation And Profitability Analysis London, UK
01 December - 05 December 2008

Presentation by Jeroen Vanhaverbeke (Development Engineer Network Design & Cost Modelling, Comsof, Belgium):
"Bottom-up modelling of NGN Access Networks"

Broadband World Forum 2008:

Brussels, Belgium
29 September- 2 October 2008

Presentation by Raf Meersman (CTO - Comsof)
"Using GIS-based optimisation software to compare several strategical and technological scenarios"

FITCE 2008: Transformation - Next stop... True convergence?:

London, UK
21 September- 24 September 2008

Paper by Koen Casier, IBCN, Ghent University
"A clear and balanced view on FTTH deployment costs"

ECOC 2008: The largest conference on optical communication in Europe:

Brussels, Belgium
21 September- 25 September 2008

Symposium Presentation by Raf Meersman (CTO - Comsof)
"Fiber closing in to the customer´s premises: Making the right design decisions"

Demonstration of FiberPlanIT:
"Obtaining the optimal design for your FTTx network with FiberPlanIT"

ICTON 2008: 10th Anniversary International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks:

Athens, Greece
22 June - 26 June 2008

Invited Presentation by Dr. Sofie Verbrugge
"FTTH deployment and its impact on network maintenance and repair costs" (co-authored by Raf Meersman)

NOC 2008: 13th European Conference on Networks & Optical Communications:

Krems, Austria
1 July - 3 July 2008

Invited Presentation by Koen Casier
"Techno-economic evaluations of FTTH roll-out scenarios" (co-authored by Raf Meersman)

FTTH Council Europe Conference: Crossing the Chasm to Mass Market Fiber:

Le Palais des Congrès, Paris, France
27 February -28 February 2008

Presentation by Astrid Wisse (manager, Ernst & Young Business Advisory, Netherlands) and Raf Meersman (CTO, Comsof, Belgium):
"The business case for NGN: NGN requires a local approach"

IIR Conference Amsterdam:

GPON Deployment Forum Amsterdam, Netherlands
03 December - 06 December 2007

Presentation by Paul van de Loo (senior manager, Ernst & Young Advisory, Netherlands) and Jeroen Vanhaverbeke (Development Engineer Network Design & Cost Modelling, Comsof, Belgium):
"Assessing Optimal Deployment strategies for FTTx access networks"

IIR Conference London:

Allocating Costs & Calculating Profitability in Telecoms London UK
03 December - 07 December 2007

Presentation by Raf Meersman (CTO - Comsof):
"Dimensioning & Optimising FTTx Networks To Minimise Investments And Operational Costs"

IIR Conference Dubai:
"Telecoms Cost Accounting"
JW Marriott Hotel, Dubai
28 October - 01 November 2007

Presentation by Raf Meersman (CTO - COMSOF):
"Fixed Line LRIC: Determining How To Construct And Maintain A Top-Down LRIC Model"

Opening iCubes:
iCUBES is a unique incubation center for innovative ICT companies in Flanders
Comsof, POM Oost-Vlaanderen, ParticipatieMaatschappij Vlaanderen and IBBT would like te welcome anyone with an interest in the new incubation center
Ghent, Belgium
10 October 2007

During the event, Comsof will present & demonstrate some of its solutions like Mediadrain
Registration is free but mandatory: registration

DRCN Conference 2007:
The 6th International Workshop on Design and Reliable Communication Networks
La Rochelle, France
07 October - 10 October 2007

Presentation by Koen Casier:
"Impact of reliability constraints and operational expenses on equipment planning" (co-authored by Raf Meersman and Jeroen Vanhaverbeke)

NOC Conference 2007:
12th European Conference on Networks & Optical Communications
Stockholm, Sweden
19 June -21 June 2007

Presentation by Dr. Sofie Verbrugge:
"Issues in techno-economic evaluation of VDSL/FTTH access networks roll out" (co-authored by Raf Meersman and Jeroen Vanhaverbeke)

ETIS conference 2007:
"Innovative Telecommunication Services & Business Models to Win New Markets"
Brussels, Belgium
07 June - 08 June 2007

Presentation by Dr. Sofie Verbrugge:
"Cost Modelling in Telcos" (co-authored by Jeroen Vanhaverbeke)

IIR conference 2007:
"Regulatory Cost Modelling and Accounting in Telecoms"
Prague, Czech Republic
21 May 2007 - 25 May 2007

Presentation by Raf Meersman (CTO - COMSOF):
"Outlining The Construction Of An Accurate Bottom-Up Model For The Fixed Access Network". Presentation can be downloaded from the documents section.

Cost Intelligence in Network and Regulated Industries
Developing tailor-made and transparent cost and profitability models implemented on a robust and flexible platform.

Lunch seminar organised by COMSOF and Deloitte on Cost Intelligence in Network and Regulated Industries.
Further information and program can be found here.
Presentations can be downloaded from the documents section.

IIR conference 2006: "Allocating Costs and Calculating Profitability"
London, UK
27 Nov 2006 - 01 Dec 2006

Presentation by Raf Meersman (Engineer Network Design & Cost Modelling - COMSOF): "Determining How to Adapt Existing Regulatory Oriented Cost Models for Internal Use and Profitability Analysis".

Workshop led by COMSOF's cost modelling experts, in cooperation with Deloitte: "Defining a Roadmap to develop Effective Cost Models for Regulatory and Profitability Analysis".
Download the workshop agenda here.
Presentations can be downloaded from the documents section.

IIR conference 2006: "Regulatory Cost Accounting & Reporting"
Vienna, Austria
02 Juli - 06 Juli 2006

Presentation by Raf Meersman (Engineer Network Design & Cost Modelling - COMSOF): "Demonstrating the use of a hybrid model to improve transparency and repeatability of costing results".

Workshop led by COMSOF's cost modelling experts: "Concepts and Practicalities of constructing Top-Down and Bottom-Up cost models for Regulatory Purposes".
Download the workshop agenda here.
Presentations can be downloaded from the documents section.

FITCE congres 2006: "Telecom Wars: The return of the Profit"
Athens, Greece
30 August - 02 September 2006

Presentation by Raf Meersman (Engineer Network Design & Cost Modelling - COMSOF): "Adding cost-drivers to the pricing process by using a bottom-up cost-allocation approach" (co-authored by IBCN researchers).

IEEE workshop 2006: "1st IEEE International workshop on Broadband Convergence Networks"
Vancouver, Canada
07 April 2006

Presentation by Sofie Verbrugge (Research Engineer - PhD student, IBCN - INTEC - Ugent): "A two-phased scheme for allocating shared costs to services in a converged network" (co-authored by Raf Meersman).

IIR cost conference 2005: "Allocating Costs and Calculating Profitability in Telecoms"
London, Great-Britain
29 November - 01 December 2005

Presentation by Raf Meersman (Senior Engineer Network Design & Cost Modelling COMSOF): "Evaluating the use of flexible reporting to better understand the cost structure of your services".

You can download this presentation in pdf-format from our download section.

ETIS conference 2005: "Aligning IT & Corporate Goals in the Face of Convergence"
Brussels, Belgium
June 2005

COMSOF was supporting this event and presented information about consultancy projects and software realisations at a booth, including demos.

About ETIS: ETIS is a membership based organisation which brings together the major telecommunications providers in Europe on key information and communication technology issues. The mission of ETIS is to enable its members to improve their business performance by personal exchange of information on using ICT effectively. ETIS achieves this by engaging its members in various working groups, sharing best-practices, benchmarking, web-based information services, discussion forums, EU projects, workshops and conferences.

European FITCE CONGRESS 2004: "To boldly go ... on-line any time, anywhere: A vision for the future of ICT services"
Ghent, Belgium
08 September - 11 September 2004

Presentation by Sofie De Meyer (Senior Engineer COMSOF) and Dominique Delcoigne (Belgacom): "Telecom & Video: more than a dream"

COMSOF and the "INTEC Broadband Communication Networks" (IBCN) research group of Ghent University had a common booth to inform the participants about the latest developments.

About FITCE: FITCE stands for Federation of Telecommunications Engineers of the European Union and is an international organization with scientific and cultural objectives.
The aims of FITCE are to
- promote the development of scientific and technical knowledge in the fields of informatics and telecommunications (ICT)
- to develop international social and cultural contacts among the members of the national associations
- to study all aspects of the careers of telecom professionals in the EU
- to offer a forum for the exchange of expertise, for both individuals and organizations, in order to promote the development of telecommunications and IT in all its aspects in the EU
More information can be found on FITCE's website: www.fitce.org

COMSOF also acts as industrial member in 2 GBOU-user committees:

2002-2005: GBOU-project "Optical Networking and Node Architectures"
The project studies next-generation transport networks, in which optical techniques are intensively used. The increasing demand for capacity, as well as the requirement to offer this capacity as cost-efficient as possible, can only be realiszed by optical networks. Therefore the project studies the different options ranging from circuit-switched optical networks (short term solution) to packet-switched networks (longer term solution). In addition research is done into the integration with IP (Internet protocol) based networks, since in the future the Internet technology will even more become the integrating network technology, integrating voice, data and video. This generic research project tries to obtain scientific results (e.g. routing algorithms, buffer strategies, planning algorithms), as well as technological results (e.g. practical evaluation of peer vs. overlay model, technological evolution, strategical planning rules, multi-layer protection strategies). The project is supported by an industrial advisory committee, called the User Committee ("Gebruikerscommissie"). This committee consists of companies interested in the project research. There is continuous interaction between the project members and the User Committee with the organisation of the User Committee meetings, which are 6-monthly symposia, in which the project consortium presents the progress of the project towards the user committee and towards the IWT. COMSOF is a member of this industrial user committee.

2003-2006: GBOU-project "End-to-end QoS in an IP-based Mobile Network"
The overall aim of the project is to study layer 3 mechanisms that deal with mobility management and QoS support in mobile networks. This aim is realized in three steps. First, a reference architecture is considered assuming a simple tree structured network consisting of several hierarchical levels and a single hop wireless access network. For this architecture, mobility management schemes and QoS support mechanisms are investigated. Both existing and new mobility management and QoS support solutions will be investigated. In the next step, more complex topologies for the wired access network part and the wireless access network part are considered. The impact of these topologies on the mobility management and QoS supporting schemes is further investigated. A multi-hop wireless access network (wireless ad hoc network) is also considered. Finally, an instance of the general network architecture is realized and integrated in the ATLANTIS network infrastructure. Selected protocols are implemented and their performance is measured. This allows an experimental validation of previous modelling work. The project is supported by an industrial advisory committee, called the User Committee ("Gebruikerscommissie"). This committee consists of companies interested in the project research. There is continuous interaction between the project members and the User Committee with the organisation of the User Committee meetings, which are 6-monthly symposia, in which the project consortium presents the progress of the project towards the user committee and towards the IWT. COMSOF is a member of this industrial user committee.

About GBOU: GBOU stands for "Generisch Basis Onderzoek aan de Universiteiten" or in English: Generic Basic Research at the Universities. It is a particular type of research project funded by the Flemish government/IWT. The goal of these projects is to perform strategical and technological research at the universities of which the results create a truly added value in the economical and social domain. Another very important goal of these projects is to create a bridge between the research world on the one hand and the economy and society on the other hand. More details can be found on the IWT-website (only available in Dutch).