State IT chiefs see IoT, artificial intelligence and machine learning having the biggest impact among emerging IT areas in the next three to five years, said a 2017 survey released Tuesday by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. While 69 percent of state CIOs are discussing only networked state devices, states with a road map increased to 15 percent in 2017 from 4 percent last year. Emerging networked devices are in 21 percent of state IT strategic plans, up from 9 percent. Funding is a major concern for about half of CIOs, it said. "Some states struggle with a mechanism to recover costs and balance that model with appropriations for enterprise-wide services like cybersecurity." Digital government is an enterprise priority for all state CIOs. Barriers are “agency readiness, budget, security/identity management and cross-boundary collaboration,” NASCIO found.
State IT chiefs see IoT, artificial intelligence and machine learning having the biggest impact among emerging IT areas in the next three to five years, said a 2017 survey released Tuesday by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. While 69 percent of state CIOs are discussing only networked state devices, states with a road map increased to 15 percent in 2017 from 4 percent last year. Emerging networked devices are in 21 percent of state IT strategic plans, up from 9 percent. Funding is a major concern for about half of CIOs, it said. "Some states struggle with a mechanism to recover costs and balance that model with appropriations for enterprise-wide services like cybersecurity." Digital government is an enterprise priority for all state CIOs. Barriers are “agency readiness, budget, security/identity management and cross-boundary collaboration,” NASCIO found.
State IT chiefs see IoT, artificial intelligence and machine learning having the biggest impact among emerging IT areas in the next three to five years, said a 2017 survey released Tuesday by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. While 69 percent of state CIOs are discussing only networked state devices, states with a road map increased to 15 percent in 2017 from 4 percent last year. Emerging networked devices are in 21 percent of state IT strategic plans, up from 9 percent. Funding is a major concern for about half of CIOs, it said. "Some states struggle with a mechanism to recover costs and balance that model with appropriations for enterprise-wide services like cybersecurity." Digital government is an enterprise priority for all state CIOs. Barriers are “agency readiness, budget, security/identity management and cross-boundary collaboration,” NASCIO found.
The FCC appears likely to act soon on CenturyLink's planned buy of Level 3 now that other agencies signaled willingness to clear the deal subject to conditions, a commission official and an analyst said Tuesday. Another analyst doubted major FCC resistance and called DOJ-required divestitures light. Justice confirmed it would require CenturyLink and Level 3 to divest or effectively divest certain assets under a proposed settlement. Monday, CenturyLink reported the antitrust action and repeated its target of closing the deal this month. DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security ("Team Telecom") said they wouldn't object to the deal on national security and law enforcement grounds provided the FCC conditions it on CenturyLink compliance with commitments (see 1710020050).
The FCC appears likely to act soon on CenturyLink's planned buy of Level 3 now that other agencies signaled willingness to clear the deal subject to conditions, a commission official and an analyst said Tuesday. Another analyst doubted major FCC resistance and called DOJ-required divestitures light. Justice confirmed it would require CenturyLink and Level 3 to divest or effectively divest certain assets under a proposed settlement. Monday, CenturyLink reported the antitrust action and repeated its target of closing the deal this month. DOJ, DOD and the Department of Homeland Security ("Team Telecom") said they wouldn't object to the deal on national security and law enforcement grounds provided the FCC conditions it on CenturyLink compliance with commitments (see 1710020050).
The FCC mid-band spectrum inquiry, asking for advice on bands from 3.7 GHz to 24 GHz that might be suitable for 5G, has run into concerns from public safety groups worried about the 6 GHz band, one of the bands targeted. Commissioners approved 3-0 a mid-band spectrum notice of inquiry Aug. 3 (see 1708030052). The NOI asked about 3.7-4.2, 5.925-6.425 and 6.425-7.125 GHz, but also for suggestions on other suitable spectrum. APCO asked the FCC to move with care, saying the 5.925-6.425 GHz and 6.425-7.125 GHz bands, used for fixed point-to-point microwave links, are essential to public safety agencies. “To avoid negatively impacting public safety communications, APCO urges the Commission to consider bands other than 6 GHz to achieve its flexible spectrum use goals,” the group commented in docket 17-183. “The 6 GHz bands are the most ideal for long haul microwave transmissions for public safety, in some cases throughout entire states. By comparison, higher frequency bands available for public safety use, such as 11 GHz are not as useful given the shorter path lengths and susceptibility to signal attenuation from environmental factors like rain.” The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said public safety had to move some critical functions to the 6 GHz band now in the agency’s sights. In the early 1990s, the FCC reallocated another critical microwave band, 1.8-2 GHz range “for emerging technology services and required public safety and other critical users to relocate from that band,” NPSTC said. “The 5.925-6.425 GHz band now under consideration for ‘additional flexible use’ is the home to which many of the microwave links were relocated, albeit at increased costs.” The National Academy of Sciences, through its Committee on Radio Frequencies, noted that radio astronomy researchers and others do research on many of the bands being studied for 5G. "As the Commission has long recognized, radio astronomy is a vitally important tool used by scientists to study the universe,” the filing said. “It was through the use of radio astronomy that scientists discovered the first planets outside the solar system, circling a distant pulsar. … Radio astronomy has also enabled the discovery of organic matter and prebiotic molecules outside our solar system, leading to new insights into the potential existence of life elsewhere in our galaxy, the Milky Way.”
The FCC mid-band spectrum inquiry, asking for advice on bands from 3.7 GHz to 24 GHz that might be suitable for 5G, has run into concerns from public safety groups worried about the 6 GHz band, one of the bands targeted. Commissioners approved 3-0 a mid-band spectrum notice of inquiry Aug. 3 (see 1708030052). The NOI asked about 3.7-4.2, 5.925-6.425 and 6.425-7.125 GHz, but also for suggestions on other suitable spectrum. APCO asked the FCC to move with care, saying the 5.925-6.425 GHz and 6.425-7.125 GHz bands, used for fixed point-to-point microwave links, are essential to public safety agencies. “To avoid negatively impacting public safety communications, APCO urges the Commission to consider bands other than 6 GHz to achieve its flexible spectrum use goals,” the group commented in docket 17-183. “The 6 GHz bands are the most ideal for long haul microwave transmissions for public safety, in some cases throughout entire states. By comparison, higher frequency bands available for public safety use, such as 11 GHz are not as useful given the shorter path lengths and susceptibility to signal attenuation from environmental factors like rain.” The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said public safety had to move some critical functions to the 6 GHz band now in the agency’s sights. In the early 1990s, the FCC reallocated another critical microwave band, 1.8-2 GHz range “for emerging technology services and required public safety and other critical users to relocate from that band,” NPSTC said. “The 5.925-6.425 GHz band now under consideration for ‘additional flexible use’ is the home to which many of the microwave links were relocated, albeit at increased costs.” The National Academy of Sciences, through its Committee on Radio Frequencies, noted that radio astronomy researchers and others do research on many of the bands being studied for 5G. "As the Commission has long recognized, radio astronomy is a vitally important tool used by scientists to study the universe,” the filing said. “It was through the use of radio astronomy that scientists discovered the first planets outside the solar system, circling a distant pulsar. … Radio astronomy has also enabled the discovery of organic matter and prebiotic molecules outside our solar system, leading to new insights into the potential existence of life elsewhere in our galaxy, the Milky Way.”
The ITU constitution is all about collective sharing and protection of spectrum, but rules on non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite systems violate those fundamentals, Thomas Choi, CEO of satellite operator ABS, blogged Friday on LinkedIn. A few companies control almost all C- and Ku-band spectrum in the geostationary arc, boxing out new operators and emerging nations, and a second round of "this spectrum imperialism" is coming with NGSO constellations, Choi said. Rules have some NGSO operators rushing to launch a handful of satellites before ITU filings expire to try to cement ITU priority to NGSO spectrum in the Ka- and Ku-bands, and the rules need to be addressed at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), Choi said. He said NGSO coordination is a major technical challenge and regardless of exclusivity and forced sharing issues, it's impractical that more than a few NGSO systems can share bands globally. Deep-pocketed companies from richer nations "stand to lock up the usable frequencies in the NGSO arc," and developing countries "will find themselves once again ‘locked out’ of the exclusive club of spectrum owning nations." Choi said WRC-19 regulation changes should include stipulations NGSO systems that lack landing rights in any specific country should design systems to shut off beams when they cross over nations where they lack licenses, if such requests are made by that nation.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai or his representative on the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System subcommittee to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Advisory Council will be exempt from ex parte rules for matters that occur as part of subcommittee business, said an FCC public notice Friday. Participation in the committee by Pai or Pai’s designee is required by statute, the PN said. “This treatment is appropriate since communications to the Chairman or the Chairman’s designee as Subcommittee members, like comments on a Notice of Inquiry, will not directly result in the promulgation of new rules.” Since the subcommittee may look at subjects that are also pending commission proceedings, the agency won’t rely on information gathered through the subcommittee unless it’s first placed into the record of the relevant FCC proceeding, the PN said.
Google received nearly 49,000 government requests globally for user data involving more than 83,000 accounts for the first half of 2017, it reported Thursday. Richard Salgado, director-law enforcement and information security, blogged that the information includes requests for user data in criminal case and national security matters. In the first six months of 2016, Google received nearly 45,000 requests globally for data involving more than 76,700 accounts. In the U.S., Google received more than 16,800 requests -- including subpoenas, search warrants, court orders and emergency disclosures -- for user data from more than 33,700 accounts in the first six months of 2017. In the year-ago period, the company got nearly 13,700 requests about more than 27,200 U.S. accounts.