Jean-Pierre Blondel has started his career along with the advent of erbium optical amplification and worked on the early design of amplified transoceanic systems as well as on high power unrepeatered systems. He published regular, postdeadline and invited papers in major conferences. Then, after leading R&D teams, he moved to the implementation of large actual systems, as Project Manager in charge of the customer delivery. He is now leading the team in charge of the design and technical implementation of networks projects.