Google’s wireless experts take on Google Fiber
Google has promoted a former Qualcomm executive to lead Google Fiber, according to The Wall Street Journal. Dennis Kish will head up Google Fiber and will report to another Qualcomm alum, Dr. Craig Barratt. Barratt, who may have recruited Kish, runs Google’s access and energy group and is reportedly a top adviser to CEO Larry Page.
Barratt spent eight years as CEO of Atheros Communications, joining Qualcomm when it bought Atheros for $3.1 billion. Atheros was a developer of chipsets for Wi-Fi access points, Ethernet switches, and hybrid Wi-Fi/powerline routers. Dennis Kish also has a wireless LAN background, having worked on those chipsets at ST-Ericsson before joining Qualcomm’s MEMS group.
Wireless expertise should serve Google well if it follows up on rumored plans to launch an MVNO in cities where it is installing Google Fiber. Google has reportedly looked at adding Wi-Fi hotspots in those same cities.
Mobile training comes at a cost
IBM has reportedly told some employees that they need to spend one day a week in training to develop their skills in mobile, cloud, analytics and social media. The company is providing the training but in a way the employees are paying for it; IBM will reportedly cut their salaries by 10% for the six month duration of the training.
The training-with-reduced-pay program appears to impact a relatively small number of IBM employees. The only group impacted is IBM’s Global Technology Services strategic outsourcing group, and fewer than 10% of the employees in that group are said to be targeted for training.
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