December 22, 2017.  The Board of the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN) announced the appointment of Robert Fitts as Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO).  Mr. Fitts is the Director of Corporate Development at EXFO and will split his time to help-out CENGN on an interim basis.  Mr. Fitts has temporarily stepped down as Vice-Chair of CENGN and will not serve as a Director during this time.

CENGN’s search for a new CEO is ongoing and the Board of Directors believes that Mr. Fitts will ensure a smooth transition.  Mr. Fitts has extensive knowledge of CENGN’s expertise, having been on the Board of Directors and Vice Chair over the past three years.

Mike Scott, Chairman of the Board said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Ritch Dusome for his significant contributions in founding and guiding CENGN through its first three years and wish him all the best for the future. Mr. Fitts has the full support of the Board and the management team and I am certain that he will provide strong leadership as we search for a permanent CEO.”

About CENGN:

Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN), is a consortium of large multinational companies, academic and research leaders dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of next generation communications solutions. CENGN is a not-for-profit company funded by the Canadian Government’s Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) through the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) Program, as well as its industry members. The organization’s members include: Cisco, Bell Canada, EXFO, Huawei, Invest Ottawa, Juniper Networks, Mitel, Nokia, Ribbon Communications, Rogers, TELUS and Wind River. CENGN’s mission is to create a viable Canadian eco-system that facilitates commercialization in the next generation of networks by providing validation services to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Industry, Academia, and Government.

CENGN’s internationally recognized multi-vendor infrastructure is built on open source as well as commercially available Software and Hardware. CENGN’s technology areas of focus are: Data Centre and Cloud Infrastructure, Internet of things (IoT), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and Software Defined Networks (SDN), among others. The organization is at the leading edge in the development and deployment of Wired and Wireless Technologies that are utilized by applications such as Cloud, Wireless 5G, Autonomous Vehicles, Broadband Internet, and Cyber Security.

About the Author

CENGN, Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, drives technology innovation and industry growth through our testbed, technical expertise, talent development, and partner ecosystem. Through our projects, CENGN enables small and medium Canadian Enterprises to test and validate promising technologies, removing barriers to product commercialization and accelerating market growth.

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