The Wireless History Foundation announced four individuals set to be inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame at an Oct. 15 event at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif. That event will be just ahead of wireless trade association CTIA’s MobileCon event. This year’s inductees include George Schmitt, Kris Rinne, Mark Warner and Craig Farrill.
Schmitt has a 40-plus year history in the telecom space, including being involved in building the first GSM system in the world in Germany for the Mannesmann consortium. Schmitt also served as president of Omnipoint where he was involved in putting together a GSM-based network using 1.9 GHz spectrum; served as EVP of international operations for Airtouch where he oversaw the deployment of the world’s first CDMA network in South Korea; and also served as the first American chair of the GSM Association.
Rinne counts more than 30 years of experience in the telecom industry, including early leadership in deploying GSM technology in the United States. Rinne has served in various roles at AT&T, and is currently SVP of network technologies at AT&T Labs. Rinne formerly served as VP of technology strategy for SBC Wireless and managing director of operations at Southwestern Bell Mobile. Rinne has also served as the chairperson of the board of governors at 3G Americas and as a director of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions.
Warner was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008 from Virginia and served as governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006. Before entering public office, Senator Warner was managing director of venture capital firm Columbia Capital that invested in many cellular startups, including the Nextel pre-cursor FleetCall. Through these investments, Warner was either founded or co-founded MRW Enterprises, Capital Cellular and Columbia Cellular.
Farrill has been participating in the telecom space for more than 38 years, getting an early start with Communications Industries, one of the first modern wireless companies. Farrill also served as CTO for a number of wireless carriers, including Vodafone AirTouch, PacTel and AirTouch Communications. Farrill was also a founder of the CDMA Development Group and is one of the original board members of FirstNet, having served as acting general manager during its organizational phase.
The Wireless Hall of Fame was initiated by RCR Wireless News in 1999, with the first round of inductees honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in 2000. Those initial inductees included Martin Cooper, Robert Galvin, Dr. Irwin Jacobs, Fred Link, Craig McCaw, William McGowen and Andrew Viterbi. The Wireless History Foundation noted that 36 individuals have been inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame.
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