“I’ve had a lot of major projects working with the (California Governor’s) Office of Emergency Services, helping CHP upgrade their network for all their locations … and helping a bunch of different agencies with Voice over IP implementations, as well,” La O told Techwire. Among the other large state entities with which he’s worked in various roles, La O said, is the Department of Water Resources.
La O moved to Cradlepoint this month after leaving AT&T.
“One of the main reasons for that decision, as far as choosing Cradlepoint as my next employer, was really — if you think about the cool initiatives that are happening in the IT and technology space, Cradlepoint really hits on two of the major four. I feel like cloud, AI, 5G and SD-WAN are kind of the big things that all these different IT resources and groups are talking about, and Cradlepoint really has sunk their teeth into the 5G and SD-WAN part of things,” La O said.
“The wireless world has finally reached the point where, from a bandwidth and a reliability perspective, it’s really going to start competing against the wireline world … and that’s where SD-WAN comes in, where customers are now starting to support their branch locations and small offices/home offices with wireless connections, as opposed to having to wait several months for some sort of physical wireline infrastructure to be installed.”
La O added that among his goals is to build awareness of Cradlepoint outside of the emergency-services sector.
“Cradlepoint is already a household name amongst the mobile world,” such as the California Highway Patrol and fire and police departments. “The next step is really that jump from just being a mobile service provider to actually now replacing fixed locations through branch/small office/home office, Internet of Things initiatives.”
La O graduated from St. Mary’s College in Moraga in 1994 with political science degree. He lives near the Capitol and said he’s looking forward to walking to in-person meetings at the statehouse again. In his off hours, La O is working on restoring his 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle — and “an old yacht.”