Leaders From Tech & Telecom Join FCC Chairman at The Connectivity Expo

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The Connectivity Expo yesterday announced their keynote speakers for the inaugural event taking place at the Charlotte Convention Center May 21-24 in Charlotte, NC. Among them are:

  • Charlie Ergen, chairman and co-founder of DISH. Ergen oversees the company’s emerging wireless group as well as its long-term business development and strategy. He will discuss the current state of connectivity with a focus on how new technologies, like IoT, will drive the ever-increasing demand for capacity from wireless networks, forcing the industry to rethink how networks are designed and deployed.
  • Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC. Under his leadership the FCC has taken several steps toward reducing regulatory barriers to the deployment of wireless infrastructure in order to deliver broadband connectivity to more communities throughout the United States and close the digital divide.
  • Geoff Arnold, CTO Verizon Smart Communities. Arnold joined Verizon in 2016 as part of the acquisition of Sensity Systems, where he was responsible for setting technical direction. Over the past 10 years, he has been a cloud computing architect for several large companies, including Cisco, Huawei, Yahoo, and Amazon.

  • Ed Davis, former Chief of Police for the City of Boston. Davis was responsible for perimeter and physical security for six world championship celebrations, the Occupy Boston Movement, and the highly successful response to the Boston Marathon bombing.
  • Satyen Yadav, Global Head of IoT Ecosystem Development at Amazon Web Services. Yadav is responsible for driving innovative end-to-end solutions for the Internet of Things, including device and edge computing software and associated cloud services.
  • Steve Worling, Managing Director of Information Technology for NASCAR. Worling is responsible for delivering and supporting technology throughout NASCAR and the motorsports industry.

Connect (X), which is produced by the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), will feature several sessions designed to deliver insights from industry luminaries on the most pressing challenges and opportunities in front of the wireless industry today. These include:

  • A panel examining the convergence of data centers, towers and the cloud at the edge of the network, featuring Cole Crawford, CEO of Vapor.IO; Jonathan Schildkraut, Chief Strategy Officer at Cyrus One; and Zachary Smith, CEO at Packet. The session will be moderated by Sami Badri, senior analyst at Credit Suisse.
  • “A View From the Top: A Tower Executive Roundtable,” featuring Jonathan Adelstein, President and CEO of WIA; Steve Vondran, SVP and General Counsel at American Tower Corp.; Jay Brown, President and CEO of Crown Castle International; Jeffrey Stoops, President and CEO of SBA Communications; Alexander L. Gellman, CEO of Vertical Bridge; and David E. Weisman, President and CEO of InSite Wireless.

“We are thrilled to feature so many prominent voices from the world of government and business at the inaugural Connectivity Expo,” said WIA CEO Adelstein. “This is an incredibly exciting time in the world of mobile connectivity. Our industry’s ability to efficiently deploy broadband networks is key to the future of the United States. Through engaging keynotes and in-depth panel discussions, we will explore the current state of the wireless industry as well as catch of glimpse of what the future holds for all of us.”
All of the programming at Connect (X) is focused on the rapidly evolving and expanding telecommunications ecosystem. Over three action-packed days, attendees will experience cutting-edge discussions, workshops and keynote speeches from leaders across multiple industries – from wireless infrastructure and automotive to smart cities and commercial real estate.
Programming at Connect (X) will include Smart Cities and Connected Communities, Macro Cell: Towers and Edge Infrastructure, Private LTE Networks, Connected Real Estate, V2i (or Vehicle to Infrastructure), Critical LTE Communications, Innovations in Infrastructure, and Workforce Diversity. For more details on each of these programming tracks, go to www.connectityexpo.com/conference.
WIA also will host the third annual Supplier Diversity Summit at Connect (X). The Supplier Diversity Summit aims at connecting qualified veteran-, woman- and minority-owned businesses with procurement officials from major wireless companies including Verizon Wireless, American Tower, Crown Castle, and SBA Communications.
Registered participants will be able to access an online meeting scheduling portal to connect with representatives from major telecommunications companies to set up exclusive meetings at the Supplier Diversity Summit.
April 13, 2018