Martin Halstead is a worldwide Distinguished Technologist, Telco Vertical at HP Enterprise. Prior to this role, Martin was worldwide Chief Technologist for Communications, Media and Entertainment within HPE’s BEST (Business Development, Enablement, Solutions & Technology) organization. Martin has in-depth knowledge of industry trends in SDN and NFV with over 20 years’ experience specializing in Communications Services Provider networking environments where he lead several engineering teams in developing innovative networking solutions. Prior to joining HPE, Martin has held senior engineering leadership positions at Nortel Networks, FirstMark Communications and Nexagent which was acquired by EDS. He has co-authored several Internet Drafts, as well as holding a patent on Inter Service Provider communications networking. Martin attended the University of West London where he majored in Computer Studies. He is based in Maidenhead in the United Kingdom.