Former AT&T executive Chris Rice has joined Sterlite Technologies (STL), a company based out of India. Rice has been named CEO of STL’s new Access Solutions business, which will focus on open radio access networks (RAN) and 5G.
STL is a 25-year-old company that built its reputation in optical communications and system integration. It’s now expanding into access solutions, both on the wireline and 5G wireless side. In addition to open RAN and 5G, the new access business unit will also focus on programmable FTTx and controller/orchestration software.
While at AT&T, Rice was well-known in the open-source software community, where he led AT&T’s work on software-defined networking (SDN).
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Rice, who started at AT&T in 1995, was senior vice president of network infrastructure and cloud prior to his decision to move on to new horizons. When Rice left AT&T he said he wanted to pursue new opportunities across SDN, automation and cloudification. And his new position at STL looks to fit that bill.
Rice holds an MBA from the University of Central Florida, a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, from Virginia Tech, and is a graduate from Rutgers’ wireless information networks laboratory.
"The digital networking space is at an inflection point where open technologies and software-driven infrastructures are becoming increasingly relevant,” said Rice, in a statement today.
Although STL is headquartered in India, it has global reach and office locations around the world.
Group CEO of STL Anand Agarwal said: “STL is committed to making open source and converged networks a reality. We have been investing in SDN for 5G wireless and fiber-based wireline networks for over five years. I am extremely excited to have Chris lead our Access Solutions team.”