National Broadband Plan Workshop on Best Big Ideas

National Broadband Plan Workshop (Best Practices/Big Ideas)

Federal Communications Commission
Sept 3, 2009
9:30am-12:00pm

Contact:
Jon Peha
Jon.Peha@fcc.gov
(202) 418-2406
http://broadband.gov/ws_best_practices.html

The goal of this workshop is to consider some of the ideas that would address the congressional goals but that do not fit neatly into any of the other workshops, in part because the ideas cross so many different topics. The workshop will also be an opportunity to consider some of the ideas that came up in earlier workshops but that deserve particular additional attention. In addition, this workshop will be a forum for considering the impact of developments over a longer time period that are important for the United States reclaiming and maintaining its leadership in broadband.

FCC/NTIA Participants:

• Jon Peha, Chief Technologist
• Stagg Newman, Chief Technologist, Omnibus Broadband Initiative
• Jonathan Levy, Deputy Chief Economist
• Jeffrey Neumann, Electronics Engineer, Media Bureau
• Daniel J. Weitzner, Associate Administrator for Policy, National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Panel 1:

• Dr. Robert D. Atkinson, President, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
• Dr. David D. Clark, Professor and Senior Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
• Dr. Van Jacobson, Research Fellow, Palo Alto Research Center
• Dr. Scott Shenker, Professor of Computer Science, University of California Berkley
• Dr. Taieb Znati, Division Director, National Science Foundation, and Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Pittsburg

Panel 2:

• Gilles BianRosa, Chief Executive Officer, Vuze, Inc.
• Dr. Richard R. Green, President and CEO, CableLabs
• Angela K. Morgenstern, Managing Director, PBS Online
• Gigi Sohn, President and Co-Founder, Public Knowledge
• Phil Wiser, Co-founder, Chairman and President, Sezmi

The following are some of the preliminary topics that will be covered at this workshop. The FCC is inviting suggestions.

• What might unmanaged (i.e. "over the top") Internet TV become, and what would be the implications if it becomes popular? Implications for the underlying infrastructure, video market, including but not limited to existing players (cable, satellite, over the air) and other broadband applications.
• How can broadband Internet be used to maximum advantage as a medium of education and information? Where federal policy in the radio and TV eras centered around "Public Broadcasting," what should be the approach in the broadband era?
• What might the Internet architecture look like in 10-20 years? (looking beyond incremental changes, such as doing the same thing a bit faster) OR How do we foster innovation and US leadership to create the next generation of Internet technology?
• What might competition look like in a fiber-to-the-premises world? Relationships between technology, policy, and market structure in next-generation wired networks.
• How vulnerable is the Internet, how vulnerable are its users, and can we improve protection?
• Are there new spectrum management policies that might make more spectrum available for broadband?