Esther brings a unique set of talents and experiences to her role as moderator of this series. With a BA in economics at Harvard and five years' experience on Wall Street, she is trained to recognize the power and the flaws in any business model.

With 23 years of experience writing the high-tech newsletter Release 1.0 and two years as chairman of ICANN, the agency that sets policy for the Internet's domain name system, she is completely at home with the new economy (and has investments in many start-ups including Google to prove it).

Finally, as moderator of the PC Forum conference for 23 years, she is comfortable engaging titans of industry with thought-provoking questions that generate new insights both for the audience and for the titans themselves.

Matt is well known as a visionary and an innovator in the media and telecommunications industries. His role includes chairing the largest cross-BT transformation programme to deliver BT's 21st Century Network – the enabling infrastructure of BT's future vision and customer experience. Matt is also responsible for BT's Research and Venturing global laboratories that span the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific and exploiting technology for the benefit of customers and shareholders.

Matt has had a long and distinguished career in communications and innovation. Prior to joining BT, Matt served as senior vice president, of Emerging Markets, and as CTO for Williams Communications.

He joined WCG in March 1997 through its acquisition of Critical Technologies, a company he co-founded in 1992. Critical Technologies focused on large scale, global telecommunications infrastructures with an emphasis on the emerging Internet. Before Critical, Matt headed up global engineering for MasterCard International.

Matt is married, has five children, and is proud to have one of the coolest jobs on the planet.

eCourier is the only courier company worldwide to employ an intelligent, automated dispatch solution. Unlike traditional hub-and-spoke distributions systems, Jay pioneered the use of a peer-to-peer courier network that has revolutionised the way the company serves both its couriers and clients.

It has developed an advanced web-based tracking system for its couriers, alongside an easy-to-use booking engine that has driven over 90% of its business through ecourier.co.uk and an auto-allocation engine which automatically dispatches incoming customer requests to the most appropriate courier without human intervention.

Recognition for the success of eCourier's innovative approach has been widespread. The company won several high-level industry and computing awards, including the 2006 winner of the Mobile Initiative of the Year at the Cnet Networks UK Technology awards, The Most Innovative Use of IT 2006 from the Information Age Effective IT Awards, as well as eleven other prestigious awards since it began trading in 2004.

Jay's passion for technology was stirred at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, where he co-authored a study which was used to advise ICANN on its first member election. Jay holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Dartmouth College and an MSc in Media and Communications Regulation & Policy from the London School of Economics.

A prominent high-tech entrepreneur and system software expert, Ed's technology vision is matched by his management and leadership skills. In 1998, Ed was recognised as the top entrepreneur in the world with the prestigious CNN, USA Today and Ernst & Young "International Entrepreneur of the Year" award.

Ed's interest in aviation led him to found DayJet. As he explained, "DayJet travel is about flexibility, convenience and control. But most of all, it's about time. Our vision is to create a personalised air transportation network that responds to your needs and makes direct, on-demand regional transportation an affordable reality."

Ed began his career at IBM where he was a key part of Big Blue's entry into the commercial software business. Ed led the joint IBM-Microsoft design team that launched the modern era of multi-tasking personal computing operating systems.

In 1989, Ed left IBM to co-found a new company to explore and implement his vision of server-based computing, Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), where he led the company through all of its market and product development phases as served as chairman through to 2000.

Ed serves on the board of directors of the SCO Group (Nasdaq: SCOX) and is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Ken has been working at the intersection of information technology and physical logistics processes since the late seventies. He has been directly involved in many of the pivotal events that have helped shape the use of computer based communications within the industry.

He was with United Parcel Service for nine years. The last five years as Information Services Director and then Vice President for International Information Services with the UPS Logistics Group. Ken was part of a small team responsible for creating and developing the business internationally, as an innovative, non-asset based, global logistics business, re-engineering supply chains through the application of technology and advanced operational processes.

Ken frequently acts as an advisor to commercial organizations and the investment banking community. He is also member of government forums and institutes focused on the impact of technology on supply chain strategies.

Ken has been a frequent speaker at conferences and international trade and transportation conventions around the world over the past 15 years. With numerous papers, advisory councils and real-live logistics systems to his credit, Lyon has been identified as "a unique resource in the electronic management of the physical world". Of course, it's in his blood: He grew up in London close to the River Thames and the dock.