Council Includes Innovators and Thought Leaders Who Will Guide the Digital Transformation of Rural America
BOULDER, Colo., July 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Fourth Industrial Revolution is poised to transform rural America with next-generation digital technologies that will revolutionize the ways data flows and information is accessed across the heartland. Helping to guide that effort will be a team of innovators and thought leaders whose collective expertise in the unique dynamics of the rural market and the boundary-pushing capabilities of edge compute technology will drive the development and deployment of technologies for rural industries.
The Rural Cloud Initiative (RCI), a unique coalition of telecom and edge innovation partners committed to promoting and accelerating the digital transformation of rural America, today announced the first group of industry thought leaders to join ACRES – the Advisory Council for Rural Edge Solutions. ACRES will be comprised of industry influencers, operators and stakeholders representing the ever-changing rural technology landscape. These executives will bring industry and legislative insight to the RCI, helping to shape strategy and evaluate rural market dynamics.
The inaugural ACRES council includes:
- Brian Spurgeon, General Manager, Chat Mobility; Chairman Emeritus, Competitive Carriers Association; Board of Directors, CTIA
- Caroline Y. Chan, Vice President and General Manager of Network Business Incubator Division, Intel Corporation; Board of Directors, Telecom Infrastructure Project (TIP); Advisory Board Member, 5G Open Innovation Lab
- John Nettles, President, Pine Belt Communications, Inc.; Chairman, Rural National Security Council; Board of Directors, Rural Wireless Association
- Nancy White, VP, Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative; Member and former Board of Directors, NTCA
- Carri Bennet, Partner, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP; Founding Member & General Counsel, Rural Wireless Association
- Mike Kilgore, GM & CEO, Nemont Telephone Cooperative; Past President, Rural Wireless Association; Board of Directors, Rural National Security Council
- George Woodward, President & CEO, Trilogy Networks; Member, FCC Precision Agriculture Task Force; Board Advisor, Rural National Security Council
“The ACRES council is a marquee collection of industry thought leaders who know how to navigate the technical, tactical, legal and fiscal requirements that guide edge compute and 5G technology deployments,” said George Woodward, CEO, Trilogy Networks. “In short, they know how to get things done. The ACRES council will be instrumental in bringing next-generation high-speed data connectivity to rural industries – including potentially more than 2,000,000 farms – nationwide.”
“I’m immensely proud to begin working with this team of innovators to help rural industries harness the power of 5G and edge compute to work more efficiently,” said Caroline Chan, Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Network Business Incubator Division. “New digital capabilities like IoT connected devices, 5G networks and innovative applications will help make rural industries more globally competitive and stimulate economic investment in rural areas.”
“It would be difficult to overstate the importance of timely deployments of high-bandwidth, low-latency edge and 5G services to the future of rural America,” said John Nettles, President, Pine Belt Communications, Inc. “The formation of the Rural Cloud Initiative and the ACRES council, with the support of solution partners and local entities and jurisdictions, will ensure those services are deployed effectively and efficiently. Such partnerships will be critical in making the infrastructure investments and building the digital ecosystem needed to bring these advanced technologies to these areas – areas the rest of America depends on for so much of its existences and well-being.”
Network providers and edge innovators with interest in joining the Rural Cloud Initiative should visit www.ruralcloud.com or e-mail hello@ruralcloud.com.
About Trilogy
Trilogy is an established leader in the emerging Edge Compute ecosystem with the deployment of Metro, Regional and On-Premise Cloud installations across the United States. Trilogy recently founded the Rural Cloud Initiative, a coalition of network operators and technology providers committed to promoting and accelerating the digital transformation of rural America. In conjunction with network operators and edge innovation partners, Trilogy is utilizing its LinX™ virtual private network and ConEx infrastructure platform to build a unified, distributed cloud capability on a single network fabric to cover 1.5 million square miles. To learn more, please visit www.ruralcloud.com or www.trilogynet.com
CONTACT:
John O’Malley
john@guyergroup.com
SOURCE Rural Cloud Initiative
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