Grassroots Membership Worth a Visit

As an organization representing more than 500 companies, TIA has members all over the place. Often, when we think of companies in far-flung locations, we think of large multinationals with headquarters, factories and back offices in major cities and ports all over the globe. And those companies are a big part of what TIA does, and play a major role in the communications sector worldwide. 

But an altogether different sort of company makes up the bulk of our members: businesses with headquarters or major manufacturing operations in the backyards of America. Places like Huntsville, Ala., New Holland, Pa., and Chelmsford, Mass. They're businesses that make cutting-edge VoIP products, state-of-the-art copper cabling, and top-of-the-line wireless hardware. As president of TIA, I've made it a recent priority to make sure I'm catching up with these members, to see what their needs really are.

Take ADTRAN, in Huntsville. It's a trip that most folks here on the East Coast don't usually make. Too long by car for most Beltway regulators, too many roadside fast food places for the average telecom investor. But ADTRAN is on its game. One top VoIP blogger recently called it "the best kept secret in the VoIP industry." The company manufactures its all-purpose networking hardware from a gorgeous campus amidst a bevy of other nearby manufacturers, all in the vicinity of a military base with plenty of high-tech needs. 

I've also had the chance to meet with many other small businesses with innovative business models, like Airvana, in Chelmsford, which is a leading manufacturer of femto cells, small cellular access points that use a broadband connection to bring enhanced voice, video and data into the home. Airvana has recently been in the news for some successes stemming from its femto cells. Then there's Berk-Tek, in New Holland, which has recently announced a new fiber-optic cable design that has greatly enhanced data center/storage area networks for its partners.

It's companies like these that push the envelope of American innovation. It's these companies that our policy goals of broadband deployment and reduced regulations aim to help. It's these companies that our business networking strategies at NXTcomm and other events are in place for. Our standards, whether the popular TIA/EIA 568-B series and TIA-222 series or our new TIA-1083 for the hearing-loss community, are adopted by these companies so they can interoperate, do business with larger vendors or carriers, or avoid onerous state and federal regulations.

This is a big country, with untold businesses working full tilt every day to bring new products and innovations to the consumer. It's these companies that TIA exists to serve – it's these companies that are worth a trip to the backyards of America.

Thank you,
Grant Seiffert
President,
Telecommunications Industry Association