The Forefather

I was involved in wireless when I didn't even know it. I had a choice coming out of college to go to either Bell Labs or Western Electric. After careful consideration and realizing that Western Electric was 5 miles closer to where I lived, I chose Western Electric. I was a switching engineer in Chicago, and Illinois Bell was going through the transformation to all-electronic switching. In the middle of doing that I started going to graduate school to get a master's degree in computer science, and they transitioned me over to do software translations.

What I didn't realize was that one of the projects I was given was the first cellular network in Chicago. It was the trial network that was up and running for a number of years, and I did the retrofit to upgrade it from a 1ESS to a 1aESS. Then I went off to start working on another job, and the people involved with cellular said ‘Where did Scott go?’ So I got pulled back in.

I had reached a point with Lucent where I had achieved a lot. I also realized that my son went to college, and I forgot he went to high school. It was a good time to step aside.

Earlier this year I got a call from someone here who wanted me to do a little consulting. I told him I didn't know — the golf course was open, it was April and I had a goal to lower my handicap this year. But I agreed to meet with him. A couple weeks later I got a call from someone who asked me if I would really consider coming back and working full time. I told them that if Telcordia was really committed to going into the mobility space, I wanted to be a part of it.

It's an old company that, in this space, is in start-up mode. There's a new breed of wireless operators trying to come on as MVNOs, so there are some new windows of opportunity and some very capable people here. I'm hoping that with the relationships I have, I'll be able to open doors, show carriers what we are and what we're doing and find out how else we can help them.

I got a call this morning about a charity golf function I had agreed to participate in. It's today. I probably had it on my other calendar, but I forgot. I had to tell them that I'm working now. But I have the weekends.