21 Jan 2022

Overton to lead BT’s focus on 5G and IoT

Telecoms giant BT has appointed Marc Overton to head up its newly created ‘Division X’, which will focus on developing 5G private network, Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge computing solutions for businesses.

Overton will join the business on 14 February and said Division X will support BT’s transition “from a telco to a tech company” by expanding into services which “go far beyond traditional calls and lines”.

Division X will be tasked with developing and turning emerging technologies including 5G, IoT, Edge and artificial intelligence (AI) into solutions for BT’s enterprise customers. According to the company, these technologies will “provide the foundations to fuel the digital transformation of high growth industries” such as healthcare, transport and logistics.

Overton has previously held senior roles in IoT units at Cisco Jasper, Orange UK and EE. He was most recently senior vice president for EMEA and APAC at Sierra Wireless, a global provider of enterprise networking solutions.

Rob Shuter, chief executive of BT’s Enterprise business, said: “Marc’s breadth of global experience across mobile and digital platforms, together with his proven ability to transform the latest tech innovations into scalable customer solutions, made him the ideal candidate to lead Division X.