BT Group Chief Technology Officer Howard Watson is implementing a number of changes internally within the networks division of BT Group. Among them: Neil McRae, currently BT’s chief architect, will be leaving later this year.
The company did not name a direct replacement for McRae but said some of his roles now sit under the new Network Services team while others fall into the Strategy and Research team.
Watson’s title is now Chief Security and Networks Officer, a change that was communicated internally last month. BT said this role puts security at the center of the business, pulling together cyber, physical and personnel security teams into one function within Networks.
Watson will work directly with government agencies, security services and wider industry in the U.K. to ensure BT Group’s networks and cyber security services “continue to deliver world-leading protection,” the company said.
Specifically, the new Networks organization will consist of Network Services, Strategy & Research, Cyber & Information Security, Operational Resilience & Service Management, Security Transformation and Health, Safety and Environment. Greg McCall has been appointed to serve as Chief Networks Officer to bring together the design, delivery and operations teams across Networks.
McRae is not the only one who’s leaving. Andy Skingley, the current managing director of Dynamic Infrastructure, is retiring. Tim Whitley, currently managing director for Applied Research, will lead the new Strategy and Research operation on an interim basis before leaving BT next summer. Upon his departure, Whitley will continue to serve on the Technology Advisory Board and work with BT in that capacity.
In a statement, Watson said McCall has done a brilliant job leading the company’s Service Platforms over the years and greatly improved the mobile network. He also thanked Skingley and McRae for their efforts over the years and changes they made to the business.
McRae, who was named after the astronaut Neil Armstrong, acknowledged his departure in a Twitter thread on Friday. He revealed that he was going to leave BT after they acquired the mobile network EE in 2016 “because all the big things had been solved, but I was wrong.”
He went on to lead BT’s IT and digital platforms, choosing “to drive cloud native as the core technology underpinning the future” and said BT now has “everything it needs to be successful,” including the No. 1 network in fixed and mobile. He didn’t reveal next plans, but ended with: “You'll find me a network near you soon...”
McRae told TelecomTV this past summer that BT thinks the RAN Intelligence Controller (RIC) is one of the greatest strengths of open RAN, allowing the operator to run the network in a more granular way and in much more real time. Open RAN isn’t going to save them tons of money, but it will allow for increasing the performance of the radio network, he said.