Our Team | OpenOP by ETSI

Meet the dedicated individuals leading and contributing to the OpenOP initiative. Our team is composed of experts from various fields, including telecommunications, software development, and open source collaboration. Together, we are committed to driving innovation and fostering a vibrant ecosystem around OpenOP.

Leadership Group (LG)

The Leadership Group provides strategic direction and oversight for the OpenOP initiative.

Vasileios Theodorou

SDG Chair // Intracom Telecom

Vasileios leads Research Collaboration at Intracom Telecom, focusing on AI, Cloud Computing, and 6G networks, with extensive EU project management experience. He holds advanced degrees and is actively involved in standardization and academic publications.

Christos Verikoukis

SDG Vice-Chair // ISI·ATH

Christos is an Associate Professor at the University of Patras and a Collaborating Faculty member with the Industrial Systems Institute (ISI) since 2022, with a research focus on AI-aided 5G/6G networks, network slicing, and resource management. He has published extensively, coordinated numerous research projects, and received multiple awards for his contributions to wireless communications and networking.

Technical Steering Committee (TSC)

The Technical Steering Committee oversees the technical direction and implementation of OpenOP.

Michael Makidis

TSC Chair // Intracom Telecom

Mike, an experienced Software Engineer & Development Lead with over 18 years in the industry, specializes in Spring & JavaEE application development and has led teams in creating complex telecom services for international customers.

Konstantinos Togias

TSC Member // ISI·ATH

Konstantinos, holding degrees in Mathematics from the University of Patras, has served as a Laboratory Assistant and participated in various R&D projects, with research interests spanning software development methodologies, semantic web, and open-source software, while actively engaging in multiple software communities.

Adlen Ksentini

TSC Member // EURECOM

Adlen, a professor at EURECOM, leads the Netsoft group and focuses on network softwarization and cloudification for 5G and 6G, actively participating in and managing multiple related projects, with notable achievements including several best paper awards.

Apostolis Salkintzis

TSC Member // Motorola Mobility

Apostolis, with a Diploma and Ph.D. from Democritus University of Thrace, has extensive experience in wireless communication technologies, holding over 150 U.S. patents and authoring numerous publications, while actively contributing to 3GPP and ETSI standards development.

Marius Iordache

TSC Member // Orange (Romania)

With 18 years of experience in telecom, Marius, the Telco Cloud & Service Platforms Manager at Orange Romania specializes in designing and architecting complex networks, serving as a 5G technical manager and E2E architect, and contributing to numerous papers on 5G and 6G networks.

Pouria Khodashenas

TSC Member // i2CAT

Pouria is the Director of Software Networks Research at i2CAT, Chair of 6G-IA’s 5G/6G for Connected Mobility (CAM) group, and former 6G expert at Huawei Sweden. With 15+ years in telecom innovation, he leads EU projects, advises MIT on 5G/edge computing, and shapes standards in 3GPP, 5G-ACIA, and One6G. Author of 100+ papers. Awarded Best PhD in Telecommunications (UPC).

Module Development Groups (MDG)

The Module Development Group leaders are responsible for the development and maintenance of specific modules within OpenOP.

George Papathanail

MDG Leader (OEG) // Intracom Telecom

George is a DevOps and researcher engineer at Intracom Telecom, focusing on research and collaborations in 6G, AI/ML, edge computing, and network slicing, with contributions to projects like MESON, COSMOS, and NEPHELE, and holds a PhD in Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications from the University of Macedonia.

Konstantinos Togias

MDG Leader (T.F. SDK) // ISI·ATH

Sergio Giménez

MDG Leader (FM) // i2CAT

Sergio is a researcher and developer at the i2CAT Foundation, specializing in next-generation networking—such as 6G architectures, network virtualization, programmable data planes, and intent-based networking. His expertise includes network protocol design, automation, API development, and AI tool integration. He is also pursuing a PhD at UPC, focusing on recursive network.

Marinela Mertiri

MDG Leader (Portal) // Intracom Telecom

Marinela, holding an MSc and a BSc in Informatics, Communication Systems and Network Technologies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, is currently serving as a research engineer at Intracom Telecom, focusing on software solutions for 5G and 6G networks and on the development of graphical user interfaces for facilitating the use if such tools.

Chartsias Konstantinos

MDG Leader (AI2) // Intracom Telecom

Kostas is a Technical Project Coordinator managing multiple European Commission–funded ICT projects. He has broad experience across the software lifecycle, from concept and prototyping to deployment, with a focus on networking technologies and emerging standards. He holds a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens.

Host

In its quality of host for this project, ETSI provides the necessary infrastructure and support to ensure the success of the initiative. This includes access to resources, tools, and expertise.

Julien Satti

Technical Expert // ETSI

Julien is the Technical Expert of three Software Development Groups at ETSI, including the OpenOP initiative, and holds top degrees in Computer Science and Business Administration from Nice's Polytechnic University and Graduate School of Management. He has broad experience in software architecture, project management, and open-source collaboration.