Based in Huawei's European CTO office in Basingstoke, UK, Frieslaar is tasked with ensuring that Huawei remains focused on identifying and qualifying new technologies and market directions in order to further develop and strengthen its industry leading product portfolio. This will be based on several market analysis techniques as well as customer input.
Frieslaar's previous experience includes working with a number of local and global service providers, such as China Telecom, DT, BT, AT&T, Sprint and Telekom SA. Much of his career has been focused on working within the equipment vendor community for companies such as Lucent Technologies, Madge Networks and ZTE.
Most recently, Frieslaar has spent much of his time supporting the BT 21CN network activities and other service provider Next Generation Network projects and programmes. This has required him to lead and develop several, often geographically diverse teams, in providing comprehensive solutions to either internal or external customer requirements.
Commenting on his new role, Frieslaar says "Huawei is at an exciting stage of its global growth and development. It is a company committed to delivering the best value to its customers and I'm delighted to be at the forefront of the continual development of innovative solutions to meet its customers requirements. I look forward to the prospect of helping to drive the business forward and exploit new opportunities in this dynamic market."
Edward Chen, Managing Director of Huawei UK, added: "We are delighted to have Frieslaar on board. His appointment is a sign of our commitment to hiring employees with the breadth of experience needed to best serve our customers. Huawei's growth and reputation for technical innovation mean that as an employer we are attractive to people that have gained experience throughout the vendor community. John Frieslaar's experience of next generation networks will bring enormous benefits to the team."