NEW YORK – Alef, the first Mobile Edge API Platform, today announced, Tom Wheeler, the former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission of the United States, has joined Alef's Board of Directors. As one of the champions of the platform around the US 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and a fierce proponent for competition in the telecom industry, Wheeler will serve as an advocate for enterprises to rapidly adopt mobility inside the enterprise private network and act as an advisor as Alef builds the first open mobile edge developer community, where enterprise application developers create the fuel for the rapid acceleration of mobile innovation through-out the enterprise application category.
In tandem with this appointment, Alef has joined the OnGo Alliance, an organization designed to support the development, commercialization, and adoption of new solutions for CBRS. This news demonstrates the company's continued leadership across the telecom industry, ushering in a new era of capability delivered to the enterprise from the mobile edge.
"As the first purpose built Edge API Platform, we're focused on creating a developer first approach and community. Through a suite of open, programmable APIs, enterprises and developers can build enterprise software as a service with the flexibility to create, customize, and control the mobile network infrastructure and build applications at the edge. Tom Wheeler's experience and drive to put consumers first is a natural fit to our Board of Directors, and his ethos will propel us forward to make mobility a first class citizen within the enterprise. We're gratified to have one of the communications industry's great minds joining our advisory team and I look forward to working closely with Tom," said Mike Mulica, CEO of Alef.
With more than 40 years' experience in the telecommunications industry, Tom Wheeler is an author and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Most notably, Wheeler was Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appointed by former President Barack Obama. At the FCC, he led the efforts that resulted in the adoption of CBRS, Net Neutrality and significantly enhanced cybersecurity policies.
"Alef is a pioneer for the kind of competitive offering that we were envisioning when the FCC created CBRS, and thus it is an honor to join this Board of Directors," said Tom Wheeler. "What Alef has created is transformational for industry - I am thoroughly looking forward to working with this organization and continuing to develop innovative offerings as we move into the future of telecoms."
In joining the OnGo Alliance, Alef will work with other industry veterans to identify key issues and drive forth the development of LTE and 5G NR solutions for CBRS.
"The OnGo Alliance is excited to add Alef to its membership and recognizes the unique value proposition they bring to the CBRS ecosystem, and with the addition of Tom Wheeler, we are excited to see them accelerate enterprise adoption of edge technology," said Alan Ewing, Secretary & Executive Director, OnGo Alliance.
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