New appointments to the board of collaborative open-source community group, the prpl Foundation, mean the organization now contains complete representation from across the entire connected device sector.
For the first time, the Board now represents a complete set of operators, application developers, original equipment manufacturers, and silicon vendors, which will ensure greater collaboration across the connected device ecosystem. By bridging the gap between the large number of companies and technologies used today, the Board is better positioned to drive a united, open-source framework for operators to certify and launch new broadband devices for the benefit of end users and the wider industry.
“We are delighted to announce our new-look Board for the first time publicly,” prpl Foundation President, Dr. Leonard Dauphinee. “We are confident the experience and expertise demonstrated by our new additions will bolster the strategic thinking of the prpl Foundation. As a result, we will clear the way for greater time-to-market for our open-source software and continue to foster innovation within the industry.”
New appointees included Frontier Communications Technical Fellow, John Valdez, Calix Vice President Mike Emmendorfer, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.’s Senior Director of Technology, Sreekanth Natarjan, as Platinum Directors. This year, three Silver Directors have been elected to take into account the rapid growth of Silver members within the Foundation. Ian Wheelock (Vantiva), Peter Vandenengel (Sagemcom), and JP Camille (MediaTek) were appointed to these positions in June (short biographies of each appointment are below).
The election process also saw Jason Savard, Assistant Vice President of Product Development Engineering at AT&T and existing Platinum Board member of the prpl Foundation, take up the mantle of Treasurer.
The full list of Board members can be found on the prpl Foundation website.
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New board member biographies
John Valdez, Technical Fellow, Network Architecture at Frontier Communications, is a seasoned technology leader with over two decades of experience in product and platform development. Specializing in the architecture and delivery of strategic programs, Valdez leads the Innovation team at Frontier’s Fiber Innovation Labs, where he is responsible for pioneering advancements in network infrastructure, and driving the company’s patent program. He also holds several patents in optical networking and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and has made significant contributions to ITU-T and IEEE industry standards.
Sreekanth Natarajan, Sr. Director Technology at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has over 27 years of experience in networking and communications technology. He has held several technology and leadership positions leading engineering teams that focus on wired & wireless networking solutions. This spans software systems engineering, requirements and architecture, solutions for carrier gateways, retail home gateways, enterprise routers across networking, and WAN and Wireless LAN technologies. In his current role, he focusses on Technology Strategy, Networking Solutions, incubating new concepts, and System Definition. Primarily from a networking and carrier software background, he has been associated with numerous cutting-edge technologies for the carrier service providers, Enterprise networks, handheld devices, and Home Networking segments. He currently works with worldwide network operators to introduce and bring new wireless technologies and features to market. Natarajan holds the position of Platinum Director on the Board.
Mike Emmendorfer, Vice President of Technology at Calix is responsible for defining new premises, access, as well as cloud platforms and standards. Mike has received several industry awards including his induction into the Cable TV Pioneers and SCTE’s IP Innovator Award. He serves on the Broadband Forum’s Executive Advisory Board and chairs the Fiber Broadband Association’s Sustainability Working Group. He previously served on CableLabs DOCSIS Certification Board and chaired Working Groups in both CableLabs and IEEE. Prior to his role at Calix, Emmendorfer was Vice President of Systems Engineering and Architecture at both CommScope and ARRIS. In 1999 he joined Charter Communications as a founding member, later engineering executive, of its Internet, Telephone & Business Services Units that oversaw the initial launch across their 40-state footprint.
Ian Wheelock is an Engineering Fellow in Vantiva’s CTO team and holds over thirty years of experience in the network communications industry. Having worked in various capacities at companies like Com21 Inc, ARRIS, and Commscope, Wheelock now collaborates with service providers and silicon partners on cutting-edge technologies, industry standards, and sustainability initiatives in his role with Vantiva. He also participates in key standards groups outside of the prpl Foundation, including CableLabs, the Broadband Foundation, and WFA.
Peter Vandenengel is the Vice President Broadband Solutions at Sagemcom North America. Bringing over two decades of experience in technology and operations leadership, he oversees the development of some of today’s most advanced Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). Having previously held key roles with Plume Design and Bell Canada, Vandenengel now leads a multinational team to develop and deploy industry-leading broadband fiber and Wi-Fi solutions to support millions of customer devices across North America.
JP Camille is the Business Development Lead at MediaTek, where he is responsible for engagement with the Broadband Operator market and its associated ecosystems across North America and Europe. Before joining MediaTek, Camille held a variety of roles within the broadband sector, including positions at operators, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and silicon providers. He brings over twenty years of experience within the industry to his new role as Director.
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About the prpl Foundation
The prpl Foundation is a collaborative open-source community dedicated to open APIs and open industry standards, focusing on carrier-grade software for broadband customer premise equipment as specified by operator members. The prpl Foundation brings together service providers, original equipment manufacturers, system integrators, chip vendors and application developers to harmonize home network architecture, then commonizes a reference implementation of standardized open-source infrastructure built atop open APIs and open industry standards. prpl enables a service delivery ecosystem including innovative third-party applications that can be quickly and easily deployed across different CPE platforms.
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