Render Connect

As the industry continues to respond to the pandemic and explore new ways to operate and drive growth, ISE and Render are bringing together a team of industry leaders to highlight areas of opportunity and ways for network operators and their trusted partners to maximize their investment, accelerate deployment and connect customers smarter and faster in 2021.Key predictions will cover: + Best-practice network deployment trends and approaches + Funding models + Innovative and future-ready technologies + Strategic partnershipsSpeakers: Christopher Ali - Associate Professor, University of Virginia Kara Mullaley - Market Development Manager, CorningIsak Finér - CMO & VP - North America, COS Systems Sam Pratt - CEO, Render Networks

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Ervin Cable entering the market, now a multi-state corporation operating in over 30 states with over 1000 employees. Gary Ervin, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, is a universally respected figure in the telecommunications industry and yet, arguably, some of his personal achievements steal the limelight from his professional career. As part of the Render Connect executive series, Sam Pratt, Render Networks’ CEO, sat down with the telecommunications construction leader to unpack some of the technology and trends evolving the broadband sector - particularly in these challenging times - and the critical role cooperatives are playing in bridging the rural divide.

Steve Ross is well known as the founding editor and now Editor-at-large at Broadband Communities magazine. Steve speaks across the US and abroad on topics ranging from broadband feasibility, international relations, analytic journalism and for more than 20 years on the chronic refugee and poverty issues facing humanitarian aid organisations.His articles on the relationship between broadband access and job growth, particularly in reference to rural and disadvantaged communities have won multiple editorial awards and delivered unbiased data outcomes that have since justified $2.35 billion dollars in federal funding for rural broadband. Data has been the cornerstone of Steve’s world for a long time. We could not imagine a more suitable candidate to join Render's CEO, Sam Pratt, to explore how data is moving the broadband industry forward.