After a proposed transfer of control between Broadview Networks and XO Communications, no individual or entity will have common voting or operational control, attorneys for Broadview told FCC officials Monday in response to a commission query (http://xrl.us/bnricy). Where both Broadview and XO operate in the same markets, “robust competition from other nationwide and regional service providers exists,” they said.
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and TeleCommunication Systems teamed up to produce what they called low-cost satellite terminals for protected communications. The companies are operating under a collaborative agreement for TCS “to manufacture, market and sell LCT [low cost terminal] products under license from Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin,” TCS said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bnrh6y). The LCT solution addresses the military’s need “for lower cost technologies and systems to enable protected and secure communications for tactical warfighters in theater,” TCS said. It has secure and protected networks that offer anti-jam, low probability of interception and cyber resistance, TCS said.
A 3D microchip being designed by an EU-funded project could slash the electricity and installation costs of servers in cloud computing centers, the European Commission said Wednesday. Cloud data centers can consume the same amount of electricity as 40,000 homes, but they're essential because they enable cloud services such as Facebook, mobile apps and business customer databases, it said. The Eurocloud project has adapted low-power microprocessor technologies generally used in mobile phones to work on a larger scale, it said. Preliminary measurements show these technologies reduce power needs by 90 percent compared to conventional servers, it said. That could make data center investment affordable for more European companies, grow a new industry, and save customers of data centers billions of euros, it said. The EC will unveil an overall cloud computing strategy Thursday.
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, was “dumbfounded” to hear of allegations, in an FTC settlement with seven rent-to-own companies and a software firm, of spying on customers who rented computers, he said the day after the deal was struck. The companies allegedly spied on customers through screenshots, keylogging, geolocation tracking and even webcams (CD Sept 26 p16). “How can any company believe that it is ok to secretly gather data such as medical records, keystrokes, and even taking webcam pictures of unknowing customers inside their homes?” the co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus asked in a statement Wednesday. “I believe that we desperately need stronger privacy laws to fight against this type of behavior. Everyone should have a say in how their personal information is used."
Comcast’s broadband product for the poor is working with the U.S. Labor Department and the Connect2Compete initiative of the FCC, ISPs and other companies, the cable operator said Wednesday. Working with Labor, Comcast will provide information about its Internet Essentials program at “American Job Centers across Comcast’s 39-state footprint,” the cable ISP said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bnrhss). Like Comcast’s Internet Essentials product (CD Sept 25 p12) that it agreed to start to get FCC OK last year to buy control of NBCUniversal, Connect2Compete provides $9.95 monthly broadband and inexpensive computers to the poor. Comcast said it’s working with that initiative to sell Internet Essentials customers “a low-cost, high value desktop or laptop through its partner Redemtech, as an alternative to the low-cost netbook currently made available directly through Comcast’s hardware partners.” Redemtech recycles computers for Connect2Compete.
Orbcomm’s first prototype of its second-generation satellites is scheduled to launch Oct. 7 from Cape Canaveral, the company said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bnrhtg). The satellite will be used “to evaluate performance for subsequent OG2 satellite launches,” it said. The OG2 satellite will feature an automatic identification system payload “to receive and report transmissions from AIS-equipped vessels for ship tracking and other maritime navigational and safety efforts,” Orbcomm added.
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn learned about California’s broadband efforts for the underserved, in a recent meeting involving many of the state’s initiatives. The meeting included representatives from Manchester Community Technologies, Community Centers Inc., the California Emerging Technology Fund and California Telehealth Network, an ex parte filing said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnrhms). The California Telehealth Network urged the FCC to review its recent comments on the commission’s Rural Health Care Services Program. The network agreed to provide “information documenting how FCC Rural Health Care funded telehealth networks can help deliver cost savings to Medicare/Medicaid programs,” the filing said.
Chicago wants to become a broadband powerhouse, according to a new government initiative and inquiry begun this week. The city is asking for input by Oct. 19 in a new request for information (http://xrl.us/bnrhp3). Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s request outlines an ambitious plan, with three major goals. Chicago wants to create an open-access fiber network with transmission speeds of at least a gigabit “in targeted commercial and industrial corridors to foster innovation,” the document said. It said the program will sell “free or heavily discounted” multi-megabit Internet to the poor and underserved over wired or wireless networks and create free wireless throughout Chicago’s parks and public spaces. The request seeks ideas and recommendations about how to make this broadband vision possible. There’s a list of relevant public spaces, parks and “innovation zones” within the request. The city’s agencies spend about $30 million annually on broadband, which would be leveraged and focused to achieve the new aims, the request said. Emanuel calls the initiative the Chicago Broadband Challenge.
Municipal fiber projects have value, said a new white paper presented at the Fiber-to-the-Home Conference in Dallas Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnrhoy). The paper’s author is Todd Marriott, executive director of the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, a fiber project spanning 11 cities. Marriott described historical objections to municipal involvement in the electric industry and said there are “uncanny parallels to modern objections to the need for municipal broadband infrastructure development.” Private entities aren’t always able to build the necessary infrastructure, the paper said. Government action is “essential” in expanding this “revolutionary” technology, Marriott said. People need to think in terms of data and apps rather than just the Internet, he argued.
The FCC International Bureau allowed Intelsat to continue operating a C-band satellite at 129 degrees west without being subject to competing applications. The bureau granted Intelsat’s petition, which was filed after the company had to use a C-band station intended for that orbital location as an emergency replacement for a failed satellite, the bureau said in a memorandum opinion and order (http://xrl.us/bnricq). Intelsat didn’t lose its C-band replacement expectancy at the location “simply by choosing to redeploy Galaxy 12 to 133 degrees west as an emergency replacement,” the bureau said. The bureau also said Intelsat has lost its replacement expectancy in the Ku-band for the 11.7-12.2 GHz and 14.0-14.5 GHz frequencies at 120 degrees west, “and we will make these frequencies available for reassignment,” it said.