CHICAGO-Two high-profile wireless veterans have joined BridgePort Networks’ board of advisors. The mobile Voice over Internet Protocol company has added Perry M. LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group, and Thomas E. Wheeler, former president and chief executive officer of CTIA, to its board.
The company said LaForge and Wheeler will help it guide the industry through a transition to the emerging market of mobile VoIP.
“As the unification of wireless and Internet voice services becomes a reality, the industry as a whole faces the need to define the next generation of communications business models and update the regulatory environment to deal with the new realities of the blurring between fixed, mobile and Internet voice,” said Mike Mulica, president and CEO of BridgePort Networks.
“Tom and Perry have tremendous experience in guiding industry transitions on behalf of vendors, service providers and end users.”
LaForge is the founder, executive director and chairman of the CDG, a trade association comprised of more than 100 of the world’s leading wireless operators and manufacturers. He is also the founder of inOvate Communications Group, a developer and investor in wireless products and services, and inCode Telecom Group, a wireless systems integration company.
Wheeler served as president and CEO of the CTIA from 1992 to 2003. Prior to that, Wheeler also served as president of the National Cable Television Association. He is currently a special partner at Core Capital Partners and sits on the boards of Earthlink, InPhonic and Telephia.
BridgePort Networks offers a platform for mobile VoIP convergence that bridges cellular roaming technology compatible with mobile networks and VoIP based on open Session Initiation Protocol standards.
