Alan Stein

Alan Stein is Vice President of Technology at InterDigital, based in Princeton NJ. He manages video and visual standards and related R&D activity. Formerly, at Technicolor, Alan led a program of advanced technology development focused around Digital Home Solutions, and as Director of Technology Strategy in the Research and Innovation group, led a program of 80 researchers and development engineers focused on electronic media delivery technology, including Internet/P2P, Telco and Cable IPTV/triple play, Mobile TV and Home Networking. Alan also represents InterDigital in MPEG, ATSC, CTA and other standards bodies.

Alan has more than 30 years experience in R&D management, technology research and advanced product development, and is a technical expert in the fields of digital video, image processing, digital signal processing, distributed/parallel computing and IP networking.

Alan began his career at in the mid '80s at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, developing advanced imaging and DSP systems for radar applications in defense and air traffic monitoring, and was a key contributor to a milestone Laser Radar SDI program in 1990. Alan then spent three years at startup Ariel Corporation, a provider of OEM DSP hardware and software for the defense, cellular and pro audio industries in the early/mid 90s. In 1997 he started his own consulting company focused on real-time embedded media computing, with a client list that included Sarnoff, NEC Research and Bell Labs, Alan and his team contributed to groundbreaking innovation in vision systems, video watermarking and advanced compression. He joined Thomson in 2002, working first on the MPEG-AVC (H.264) video codec, then IPTV and Mobile Broadcast domains, assuming management roles of greater significance along the way.

Alan holds a BSEE degree from Tufts University and has completed certificate programs in Strategy and Innovation from MIT/Sloan and Harvard Business School, and was among the first to obtain certification in Scrum, a leading Agile software development methodology. He holds patents in the areas of video compression and media networking.

When not focused on technology, Alan spends much of his time playing jazz and blues/rock guitar in area bands. He is also a distance runner and cyclist. Alan lives in Princeton Junction NJ with wife Marcia.