Don Sheppard

    Don Sheppard is a professional engineer who has, for more than 30 years, been a successful technology specialist and manager in the telecommunications industry.  Most recently Don has established a private consulting practice serving major users and providers of networks, distributed systems and open Information Technologies.  Consulting services include development of architectures and standards, the formulation of plans and policies, the assessment of technologies, the facilitation of change and the management of projects. Don has been Associated with Open-IT since 1995 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

    Don is a recognized authority on networking standards, having been a key contributor to the definition of the OSI Reference Model and its related protocols from 1978 until 1994.  Don participates in the effort to standardize a framework for Quality of Service and monitors the overall progress of IT standardization.  In 1990, Don co-authored a book explaining the principles underlying the OSI layered architecture.  From 1990-92 Don served as Chairman and President of The Canadian Interest Group on Open Systems, a group that helped to popularize standards-based networking in Canada.

    Over the past decade, Don has successfully advised carriers, governments and users of networks in a range of networking topics.  Don was an employee of The PSC Group/GeoTrain Corporation from 1986 until 1997 where he participated in the growth and evolution of the company as a senior consultant and manager.  Don has also developed and taught a variety of executive briefings and courses and has been a frequent speaker at conferences. 

    Don can be described as a person who works well either on his own or as part of a team, usually in a leadership role.  He is an innovator and facilitator who is most productive when solving complex problems and presenting the solutions to executives.  Over the past few years Don has been a telecommuter who relies heavily on the use of a PC and the Internet to keep up to date and stay in touch.  Don's expertise includes project management, network planning, architecture development and technology assessment.  He is currently intrigued by the impact the Internet is having on business and our personal lives, and the rapid advances in multiservice networking, nomadicity and convergence .

Notable accomplishments include:

• Managed various planning and development functions for a large systems organization;

• Led an international standards committee concerned with banking telecommunications messages for three years;

• Contributed to the formulation of the OSI Reference Model and production of the initial version of the ISO standard;

• Developed a standards-based networking policy for a government department and assisted with its promotion;

• Prepared responses to RFP's for router networks for a large carrier; and

• Wrote a series of white papers on technical topics of current interest.