Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Erik has approximately 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry with over 25 years of experience in Toll-Free numbering and administration. Initially, he worked for three (3) years as a System Engineer in the SMS/800 Software Development organization at Bell Communications Research (BELLCORE). His next assignment was a one-year position as a Solution Architect in the Intelligent Networks division where he developed Local Number Portability and Number Pooling industry solutions. Erik eventually accepted a position as the Senior Vice-President of Operations at Database Service Management, Inc. (DSMI), an independent subsidiary of Telcordia Technologies. DSMI was designated in 1993 as the North American Toll-Free Administrator (NATFA) and manager of the SMS/800 system. He held this position until 2013. In 2013, the NATFA and SMS/800 system responsibilities were assigned to SOMOS, LLC. During the transition, he personally assumed the position of NATFA for approximately two (2) years. At the conclusion of that transition, he started his own consulting company with much of his work involving Toll-Free numbering and services as well as other telecommunications support. Erik currently provides Expert Witness services for Toll-Free Number disputes. As the sole neutral Toll-Free administrator for approximately two (2) years, and in his previous thirteen (13) years of employment with DSMI, he worked with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB), the SMS/800 Management Team (SMT), fellow DSMI managers, industry representatives, Resp Orgs and End Subscribers. He assisted with the establishment, implementation, and enforcement of Toll-Free Regulations and the SMS/800 Tariff to ensure that these resources were used in an open, fair and equitable manner. Toll-Free numbers are considered a national resource and utilizing the SMS/800 system to gain control over these resources is not permitted. The assistance included the regulations and policies regarding the hoarding, warehousing, brokering and reselling of toll-free numbers. He was personally involved with the drafting of information used in correspondence, training, and inquiries for Responsible Organizations, Toll-Free End Subscribers, the general public regarding regulatory and tariff issues, as well as system and functionality updates.