PROJECT 38: How the Top 100's telecom giants keep us connected during the pandemic

In this episode of Project 38, we hear from top public sector executives at the 2020 Washington Technology Top 100’s three highest-ranked telecommunications firms on their work to keep government agencies and people connected during the coronavirus pandemic.

Almost overnight, the COVID-19 situation created a vast dispersed workforce that sees many people based at home and all of them primarily using the same networks provided by the three largest telecom companies – AT&T, Lumen and Verizon – and others. That shift posed new questions around the networks themselves, cybersecurity and work culture that will last beyond on the end of the pandemic, whenever that is.

These conversations with Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers reveal more on how the network providers worked with agencies to get ready quickly for a new working world and what that looks like today. Also up for discussion: the technology and business trends already shaping today’s environment that are accelerating and perhaps here to stay.

Participants in order of appearance are:

• Dave Young, Lumen (formerly CenturyLink Inc.) senior vice president for public sector and global hyperscale cloud
• Mike Maiorana, Verizon senior vice president for public sector
• Xavier Williams, AT&T president for public sector and the FirstNet public safety network