Broadband Forum Honors Three of its Top Contributors

Greg Bathrick and J. Rao Cherukuri named Distinguished Fellows, while Thomas Haag is inducted into the Forum's Circle of Excellence

MARINA DEL REY, Calif., Dec. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Broadband Forum is only as strong as its membership, and this past week, the Forum recognized the contributions of three top contributors, who have provided significant steer to the work of the Forum.  Announced at the Broadband Forum's Q4 meeting in Marina del Rey, California, the status of Distinguished Fellow, the Forum's highest honor, has been awarded to Greg Bathrick and Rao Cherukiri.

The Distinguished Fellow title is bestowed by the Broadband Forum to exceptional individuals who have over time provided a major influence on the direction and success of broadband development. Individuals who attain this honor and are recognized as Broadband Forum Distinguished Fellows are the key individuals who help the Forum chart uncharted territory in overcoming deployment obstacles, and whose vision continues to inspire our industry's growth.  Greg Bathrick and J. Rao Cherukuri are both worthy of this top honor, and join a select group of seven individuals who have achieved this high honor over the last sixteen years.

Greg Bathrick, PMC-Sierra, has served on the Broadband Forum Board of Directors for nine years and was inducted into the Circle of Excellence in 2003.  He has also served since 1998 as Co-chair of the Forum's BroadbandHome™ and Operations & Network Management Technical Working Groups.  He is an active Broadband Forum speaker as well as strong liaison officer, encouraging CPE WAN Management Protocol (TR-069) adoption worldwide.

An active leader in the telecom industry for 20+ years, J. Rao Cherukuri of Juniper Networks, served as IP/MPLS & Core Working Group Chair since 2009.  Prior to that, he was a leader within the IP/MPLS Forum for many years.  He currently serves as the editor for "MPLS in Carrier Ethernet Networks" (WT-224). Rao continues to provide leadership and outstanding technical contribution on all MPLS related work items.

Thomas Haag was inducted into the Broadband Forum Circle of Excellence, which is an achievement determined by member nomination and given to a select few who have exhibited leadership, diligence, or provided a contribution that was foremost in advancing the Forum's mission.   

Over the past nine years, Thomas Haag, Deutsche Telekom, has authored or co-authored over 100 contributions that helped drive many of the End-to-End Architecture technical reports. Besides being the driving force behind "Layer 2 Control Mechanism for Broadband Multi-Service Architectures" (TR-147), Thomas has provided influential input to a broad range of technical reports including TR-101, TR-144, TR-147, TR-156, TR-177, and TR-187.

"The awards are our way of recognizing the outstanding contributions of key individuals who progress the work of the Forum," said Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum. "We are very fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated individuals who are prepared to work tirelessly, alongside their 'day jobs,' in order to address the needs of the industry and to advance the work of the Forum in developing better, faster broadband."

For further information please contact Brian Dolby on +44 (0) 7899 914168 or Sheila Lashford on +44 (0) 7986 514240 or email [email protected] or [email protected]

About the Broadband Forum
Broadband Forum, a non-profit industry organization, is focused on engineering smarter and faster broadband connections. Our work defines best practices for global networks, enables service and content delivery, establishes technology migration strategies, engineers critical device & service management tools, and is key to redefining broadband.  Our technical reports and free white papers can be found at www.broadband-forum.org.

SOURCE The Broadband Forum