Interconnects and Applications We have entered a period of rapid change in high performance interconnect offerings. Our panel begins with a 5 minute introduction called "What is Converged Ethernet?" HPEC is inviting panelists from both the user community and interconnect standards bodies. The panel will address questions ranging from "what is an optimal big data interconnect?" to "why is Intel acquiring so many HPC interconnect technologies?" to "is RapidIO still needed?"Panelists: Bill Boas of System Fabric Works and the OpenFabrics Alliance (RoCE) Sam Fuller, executive director of the RapidIO Trade Association Jeremy Kepner of Lincoln Labs and the MIT Big Data initiative Kurt Keville, Researcher, MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies Kalpesh Sheth, Director of Engineering at DRS Intelligence, Communications and Avionics Solutions and Craig Lund, a consultant, as chair