DixieFest 2005
Featured Speaker Bio
Alex Kelly, WU2W

Alex Kelly, WU2W, is a member of Cisco Systems’ Product and Technology Marketing Organization (PTMO), focusing on Cisco's fiber optic communications products.  Alex has also worked as a member of the Product Management team and as a Consulting Systems Engineer at Cisco.  Prior to Cisco, Alex was a Sales Engineer at Cerent Corporation- later purchased by Cisco.   Before joining Cerent, Alex worked for Nortel Networks, in their fiber optic division in Atlanta, Georgia.  Alex has twenty years of experience with fiber optic network design, deployment, and emergency system restoration.

Earlier, Alex was selected by the National Society of Professional Engineers to serve as a Congressional Fellow in the 104th Congress and as a technology advisor for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, a branch of the Executive Office of the President.  He has a BSEE from Georgia Institute of Technology, is a registered Professional Engineer, an active member of the IEEE Communications Society, and a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers.  Alex is a member of the ARRL, and is a member of the Williamson County, TN ARES planning committee. 

While working with the WCARES planning committee to introduce digital modes to the WCARES membership and served agencies, Alex met Steve Waterman, K4CJX, (a member of the Winlink 2000 design team that also resides in Nashville,) and worked with Steve to deploy a Winlink 2000 system for ARES use in Williamson County.  The Winlink 2000 system is now functional, and system expansion via remote Telpac nodes is underway.  The final system configuration will provide a backup email server capability to served agencies via HF, VHF, and UHF in case of disruption to normal “last mile” Internet connectivity.

Alex was first licensed as a ham in 1981. (KA4VQY)

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