WISPA Announces Development of Climate Resilience Industry Certification
Washington, DC, September 30, 2021 – Severe weather events have shown just how vulnerable our internet infrastructure is, significantly impacting the connectivity of critical public safety, business, education, and government institutions, among others. As the public and private sector continue to pour billions of dollars into connectivity infrastructure, those investments must be protected against climate change and more severe environmental impacts.
WISPA is answering this challenge by developing the first-ever certification program designed to protect vulnerable internet and cloud access from climate-related events. To bring this about, WISPA is creating a suite of climate resilient best practices focused on protecting the commercial and public sector marketplace.
“Industry must take a leadership role in developing proactive practices to take us from disaster recovery towards resilience,” said Claude Aiken, President and CEO of WISPA. “This certification will be critical to ensuring the resilience of commercial and public sector connectivity as climate-related events increase,” added Aiken.
WISPA has tapped member and wireless broadband pioneer David Theodore, co-founder and CTO of Climate Resilient Internet (CRi), to chair the working group developing the climate-resilient best practices. “CRi’s groundbreaking work on internet vulnerability highlights the relevance of wireless providers in the era of climate change,” said Aiken. “This will be a differentiator in the marketplace, equipping the industry with needed skills and know-how to meet mounting resiliency challenges that lie ahead.”
For further details, please contact Richard Bernhardt, National Spectrum Adviser, WISPA at rbernhardt@wispa.org.
About WISPA
WISPA’s 1000 members are composed of fixed Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) and the industry that supports fixed wireless broadband, including equipment suppliers, support services, and other components needed to run a successful business. Our members, and WISPs, in general, provide broadband access to millions of residential and business customers, often in exclusively rural areas.
Contact
Mike Wendy
WISPA
202-763-5257
mwendy@wispa.org