More than 90 Nokia employees in Israel took a break from their meetings and put a pause on their programming duties for an hour on Thursday (Apr. 8) afternoon to gather some perspective on one of the most somber days of the Israeli calendar. Some visibly shaken, they remained glued to their screens to hear 91-year-old Shimon Greenhouse methodically lay … Read More
While studying business administration at the University of Texas at Dallas, Issa Eid was hired as a product quality analyst at Nortel Networks in Dallas. Human resources and leaving the Lone Star state were the furthest things from his mind. All that changed when he joined the HR Mobility department at Alcatel, building the IT system to manage the ex-pat … Read More
A version of this story was published in the World Economic Forum Last year’s historic SpaceX launch may have marked another small step for spaceflight, but it was a giant leap for automation. Fifty years after Neil Armstrong manually piloted Apollo XI safely down to the moon’s surface, the SpaceX astronauts docked successfully into the International Space Station without having to lift … Read More
Throughout his extensive networking career, Karl Bream has frequently alternated between the carrier and enterprise worlds. Starting at AT&T and in later roles at Alcatel-Lucent and, following the 2016 merger, at Nokia as well, Bream has found himself moving back and forth between various roles in the two domains. So, when Cloud and Network Services was established this year, essentially … Read More
Chris Johnson has two passions: sales and music. For the past 30+ years, he has pursued both with similar enthusiasm. By day, he’s at the forefront of Nokia’s push into Industry 4.0 as leader of Cloud and Network Services’ Enterprise Customer Team, having previously held senior sales positions at HP, RSA, EMC, Sequent and NCR. By night, he’s the lead … Read More
Hamdy Farid likens his path from a modest upbringing in Egypt to a top leadership position at Nokia to that of a typical immigrant story. After earning a computer engineering degree from Alexandria University, and briefly working in software in Cairo, he departed the scorching Middle East at age 24 to seek a brighter future in frigid Ottawa, Canada to … Read More
Israel desperately needs electoral reform so that election day can once again become a celebration of democracy. Op-ed published in The Times of Israel. Israel’s election on March 23 will be the fourth since my youngest daughter was born. She’s not even two. Teenaged American girls can celebrate their Quinceanera at 15, and French teenagers can turn 19 and be … Read More
If there is one key take away from Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler’s fascinating book, “The future is faster than you think,” it is that the future really is faster and closer than you think. What was once the realm of science fiction is now quickly becoming science fact. Flying cars, bullet train “hyperloops” and mega-rockets transporting you anywhere on … Read More
Israel’s great Faustian bargain with the ultra-Orthodox has been a colossal failure. The upcoming election may be the last chance to fix it. Op-ed published in The Times of Israel. It was a historic night. Benjamin Netanyahu had been defeated and Ehud Barak was standing on the balcony of Rabin Square promising “the dawn of a new day.” But what … Read More
Israelis can count on the US president to have their country’s most significant interests at heart, even if it comes with a dose of tough love. Op-ed published in The Times of Israel. When Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, his familiarity with the African American community prompted some to fondly call him the “first Black president.” According to … Read More
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has upended the way we live in so many ways that it’s shaping up to be the kind of world-altering event that rivals the two world wars, the Great Depression, the fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11 and the rise of the internet. It’s still far too early to predict how it will affect everything, especially … Read More
The virus and its consequences have focused a spotlight on fault lines that have been ignored for years. But instead of providing a wakeup call, few in power seem willing to seriously confront it. Op-ed published in The Times of Israel. COVID-19 is a deadly virus. It can target our vital organs, choke our flow of oxygen and slow down our … Read More
I thought it would be a one-off, but even after a dozen stories in various platforms over these past three months all anyone at Nokia still wants to ask me about is acronyms. Despite delving into serious topics such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence, office diversity and personal journeys, colleagues I encounter mostly appear to recall my goofy take on all the wacky … Read More
The prime minister’s unmatched zest for ruling has beaten down and worn out anyone with even a hint of potential to succeed him. Op-ed published in The Times of Israel. Seated in a plush conference room of a Lisbon hotel in late 2019, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fielding questions from his traveling press entourage. He detailed his meetings … Read More
The super speed and low latency of 5G technology leaves little to the imagination, and dreamers salivate at its potential. At the same time, the breakthroughs have also spawned a slew of conspiracy theories with little connection to reality. 5G’s dizzying upside ranges from creating the ability to perform long-distance medical procedures to deploying autonomous vehicles and downloading a two-hour … Read More