AT&T's Donovan, Google's Barratt continue to disrupt the telecom industry

AT&T's (NYSE: T) Chief Strategy Officer and Group President John Donovan and Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Senior VP of Access and Energy Craig Barratt are clearly disrupting the way service providers think about broadband and how to operate a network.

Donovan is leading AT&T's efforts to transform the telco's network construct from hardware to software by implementing SDN and NFV. He has set a goal for AT&T to virtualize 75 percent of the operator's network by 2020.

Barratt is also blazing a compelling trail for the search engine giant. The Australian-born executive known for his technology prowess heads up a number of key telecom initiatives: Google Fiber, the company's unit that delivers 1 Gbps fiber-optic internet service. 

In our new feature, Fierce has assembled a list of executives who are blazing a trail to the future -- executives who we believe are poised to deliver on the next big thing. Take a look at the feature here.