Dr. Luiz Fernando Gomes Soares is full professor at the Informatics Department in the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), where since 1990 he heads the TeleMidia Lab. He is a Member of the Brazilian National Academy of Engineering, Chair of the Middleware Working Group for the Japanese-Brazilian Digital TV System (ISDB-TB), Co-editor of ITU-T H.761 WG 16 for IPTV services, and member of the Counsel Committee of the Brazilian Computer Society. Prior to join PUC-Rio he was a researcher at the Brazilian Computer Company (COBRA). He also spent two years in the IBM Scientific Center in Rio. Other academic appointments include visiting senior lecturers and professorships in computer science at École Nationale Superieure de Télécomunications (France), Université Blaise Pascal (France), CWI (Netherlands) and Universidad Federico Santa Maria (Chile).