Four Inductees Honored at San Diego Celebration

Thirty-two wireless pioneers and innovators previously inducted into the prestigious Wireless Hall of Fame welcomed four more individuals to their ranks. Movers and shakers from across the industry gathered at the Manchester Grand Hyatt October 8^th to honor the four 2012 inductees.

Introduced by previous inductees and industry executives, the 2012 honorees were: Wayne Perry, Richard Lynch, Raj Singh, and Amos Joel (posthumous).

Perry, the Service Provider Honoree, served as president of McCaw Communications, Vice Chairman of AT&T Wireless Services, CEO and Vice Chairman of NEXTLINK Communications, and Co-Founder of Edge Wireless. He was also instrumental in forming the wireless industry’s trade group (CTIA) and was its Chairman from 1993 to 1994. Perry was introduced by Wireless Hall of Fame member Craig McCaw.

Lynch, the Technology Honoree, formerly led enterprise-wide strategic technology initiatives as Executive Vice President at Verizon Communications, Inc. He served with New England Telephone, Bell of Pennsylvania, and Bell Atlantic Mobile. Lynch built one of the largest early wireless data networks in the country. Verizon Wireless President and CEO Dan Mead presented Lynch with his award.

Raj Singh, Industry Associate Honoree, founded LCC International in 1983 and provided engineering designs for many early cellular networks in the United States and more than 30 other countries. Singh also held cellular licenses in Latin America and India and brought wireless service to those markets. In addition, he co-founded Appex, one of the first U.S. wireless roaming clearinghouses. Anne Schelle, CEO of Acta Wireless, introduced Singh.

Amos Joel (posthumously), Pioneer Honoree, was granted more than 70 patents in his lifetime. He designed and patented automated mobile switching, revolutionizing mobile communications and making cellular telephone service possible. The former AT&T Bell Labs engineer and inventor received the National Technology Medal of Honor in 1993 and was named to the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame in 2008. John Marinho, currently CTIA Vice President of Cybersecurity and Technology and formerly with Bell Labs, presented Joel’s award to Andrea and Stephanie Joel and David Quinto, representing the family of the “father of switching.”

The Wireless Hall of Fame, hosted by the non-profit Wireless History Foundation (WHF), recognizes outstanding achievement across all disciplines of the wireless industry. Sponsors of the 2012 Wireless Hall of Fame were:

Bandwidth level: AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, and Eagle River.

Spectrum level: Assurant Solutions, Ericsson, Gemalto, NetCracker Technology, Personal Communications Devices, Ruckus Wireless, Sprint and Trilogy Partnership.

Frequencies level: Acta Wireless, AirTyme Communications, Aloha Partners, Asurion, Cenoplex, Dyna LLC, Interop Technologies, LG Electronics, Mobilitie, Motorola Mobility, Sybase 365, Syniverse, The Wireless Foundation, and T-Mobile.

Connections level: CFE Telecom, Kineto Wireless, and Mosaik Solutions

Organizations providing communications support and assistance included: CTIA–The Wireless Association, CommNexus, Coracle Group, and the Telecom Council of Silicon Valley.

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