GENEVA -- Policymaker submissions to an ITU Global Symposium for Regulators consultation on spurring the availability of cloud services internationally echoed the importance of the technology, though policy suggestions, definitions, concerns, and ideas on how best to provide regulatory certainty varied. The consultation to the Oct. 2-4 event in Colombo, Sri Lanka, aimed at identifying approaches that policymakers and regulators can use to spur access to digital opportunities through cloud services, the ITU website said.
GENEVA -- Policymaker submissions to an ITU Global Symposium for Regulators consultation on spurring the availability of cloud services internationally echoed the importance of the technology, though policy suggestions, definitions, concerns, and ideas on how best to provide regulatory certainty varied. The consultation to the Oct. 2-4 event in Colombo, Sri Lanka, aimed at identifying approaches that policymakers and regulators can use to spur access to digital opportunities through cloud services, the ITU website said.
GENEVA -- Policymaker submissions to an ITU Global Symposium for Regulators consultation on spurring the availability of cloud services internationally echoed the importance of the technology, though policy suggestions, definitions, concerns, and ideas on how best to provide regulatory certainty varied. The consultation to the Oct. 2-4 event in Colombo, Sri Lanka, aimed at identifying approaches that policymakers and regulators can use to spur access to digital opportunities through cloud services, the ITU website said.
As the federal government faces sequestration and otherwise looks for ways to reduce spending, the American Association of Port Authorities said it's imperative to focus scarce federal resources in those areas that can have the greatest impact on economic growth, immediate and long-term job creation, national security, and our current and future competitiveness in the global economy.
The National Emergency Number Association released its standard document on “civic location” data for next-generation 911 providers for a second round of comments starting Monday, NENA said Saturday. The standards apply to location data that will be critical for routing, dispatch and mapping services of NG-911, it said. The document, which will define “the civic location data elements that will be used to support the NENA compliant Next Generation systems, databases, call routing, call handling, and related processes,” first received comments starting Sept. 5, but various factors demand more time for response, NENA said (http://xrl.us/bnp6re). “Due to the number of comments previously received and the quantity of edits and clarification that have been made to this document, it is being released for a 2nd round of public review and comments with only the edits shown being subject to review,” NENA said when releasing the new document. The new comment period ends Oct. 5. The document’s intended to be an “information source for the designers, manufacturers, administrators and operators of systems to be utilized for the purpose of processing emergency calls,” the standard document draft said (http://xrl.us/bnp6rp). It’s part of a larger series of NG-911 standards in development, the organization said.
Broadcaster, carrier and cellphone manufacturer representatives continued their disagreement on whether more mobile devices should include FM chips to receive terrestrial radio, in written comments Friday. NAB, CTIA and CEA executives met with staff from the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Friday to discuss how FM chips in cellphones could assist in national emergencies, a committee spokeswoman said. Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., is interested in FM radio chips because it’s an emergency issue, a radio executive invited to attend had said (CD Aug 10 p14). Carriers “continue to believe that decisions about device functionality should be driven by consumer demand and competitive considerations rather than government fiat,” CTIA Vice President Jot Carpenter said. “NAB would be better served to expend its energy exploring commercial opportunities instead of asking the government for help.” Broadcasters aren’t “seeking legislation, nor a mandate,” an NAB spokesman said. “Rather, we ask for voluntary activation of radio chips that are currently installed in most cellphones in America. Giving consumers the option of free and local radio on mobile devices would be good for the carriers and good for the 260 million Americans who listen to local radio every week.” CEA sees consumer demand as the “key driver of features in mobile devices,” Vice President Julie Kearney said. “Consumers do, in fact, have the choice to purchase a phone with FM radio capability, though research shows that it isn’t a desired feature. If NAB and the broadcasters want to start designing mobile phones, then they should be talking to consumers, carriers and manufacturers, not Congress and the FCC.”
Government agencies don’t distribute emergency alert system warnings to radio listeners and viewers of over-the-air and pay TV only via the Internet, state and federal originators of EAS alerts and industry executives said. During Hurricane Isaac, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new Web-based EAS distribution system wasn’t used by agencies serving the Gulf Coast that responded to our survey. Instead, the traditional method of distributing storm and disaster alerts by broadcasting them to all radio and TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors in a region was used late last month, as it continues to be.
Government agencies don’t distribute emergency alert system warnings to radio listeners and viewers of over-the-air and pay TV only via the Internet, state and federal originators of EAS alerts and industry executives said. During Hurricane Isaac, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s new Web-based EAS distribution system wasn’t used by agencies serving the Gulf Coast that responded to our survey. Instead, the traditional method of distributing storm and disaster alerts by broadcasting them to all radio and TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors in a region was used late last month, as it continues to be.
Next-generation 911 is moving forward as text-to-911 trials continue and authorities reconsider old regulation, panelists at an FCBA emergency communications session said Wednesday night. They looked at the virtues and shortfalls of text-to-911 and considered the broader regulatory challenges 911 providers face, such as in interconnection agreements.
Linda Menghetti Dempsey, ex-Emergency Committee for American Trade, has joined the National Association of Manufacturers as vice president for international economic affairs.