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Technology Policy Working Group
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Call for White Papers Pertaining to Technology Policy Issues Related to the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Issued by the Technology Policy Working Group
4/16/97
INTRODUCTION
The Technology Policy Working Group (TPWG) consistent with its focus to identify NII architectural principles and strategies that promote interoperability, scalability and the use and expansion of affordable commercial technologies, is inviting white papers on technology policy issues arising from the Telecommunications Act of 1996 referred herein as the "Act."
SUBMISSIONS
White papers are specifically solicited from industry, academia, government, standards organizations, and from foundations focused on the telecommunication technology challenges confronting the Nation and what may be done about them. Submissions may be made by electronic mail or on paper and sent to the addresses indicated below. Papers must be received by June 1, 1997 for consideration. While not a complete list, typical of technology policy issues that have been noted and may be considered, are the following:
o Impact on Fundamental Communications Research o Decline in Knowledge Sharing o Development of Technical Standards o Internet Reliability o Security and Privacy o Impact of Regulatory Process on Technology* o Bandwidth to the Home
Submissions should be responsive to the primary goal of this call, i.e., focused specifically on technology policy issues related to the Act and not on general policy related to the Act. These White papers will be reviewed by the TPWG and some may be posted on its Web page. Further, some will be selected for further discussion at future TPWG meetings. Accordingly, all white paper submissions are deemed to include the owner's permission for the TPWG to post the content of their papers.
ASCII text (or typed papers) are requested and it is suggested that the maximum length be approximately 2000 words. Submissions must include the name(s), positions, affiliations and complete contact information for the white paper author(s).
Submissions may be made to one of the following addresses:
Electronic Mail:
Address submissions to
Conventional Mail: Technology Policy Working Group Chair C/O Defense Advanced Projects Agency Information Technology Office 3701 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA 22203-1714
We thank you and look forward to your help on this call.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
TPWG
The TPWG is a working group of the Information Infrastructure Task Force that was created in January of 1994. Its members are representatives of Federal agencies, departments and organizations with extensive interest and activities in NII technology. Its mission is to provide a forum to address technology policy issues whose resolution would speed the creation of the NII. Its focus is to identify NII architectural principles and strategies that promote interoperability, scalability and the use and expansion of affordable commercial technologies. A detailed copy of TPWG's charter is available at: http://nii.nist.gov/cat/tp/tp.html.
The Working Group interacts with key industry groups and serves as an instrument for industry to interact with government about NII technology policy issues. Representatives of industry are asked to provide briefings and white papers, to interact with the Working Group, to comment on the group's agenda, to focus attention on issues of industry concern and to suggest approaches to their solution.
At its last two meetings, the TPWG has discussed a number of technology policy issues related to the Act. Some of the following technology challenges associated with the Act that have been discussed are:- IMPACT ON FUNDAMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH
The Act will enable new companies to compete against the regulated monopolies which have dominated the telecommunications sector. The growth of competition is causing some companies to focus their research efforts more to short-term profit opportunities and less on the types of long-term research that has led to major technological breakthroughs. There seems to be a decline in the contribution being made by some of the largest telecommunications players to the development of advanced communications technology.
The implications of this change in focus has been examined by the Council on Competitiveness in their "Endless Frontier, Limited Resources" report. Questions for the TPWG to consider are: Is this a problem? Who will develop the breakthrough technologies in the future? Will competition in telecommunications spur new investments in R&D? Should government be playing a more active role? What is the role of industry consortia, etc.? What is the role of universities?- DECLINE IN KNOWLEDGE SHARING
There have been anecdotal reports that intense competition is leading to a decline in industry participation in fora for sharing ideas. Some leading technical societies are facing a decline in industry involvement and volunteer participation because of increased competitive activity. The reason suggested is that their key technical people are overloaded and are focused on short-term research that cannot be comfortably shared with others.
It seems that ideas are kept confidential for a longer period of time and that increased workloads hinder volunteers from active society participation. The question is: Is this a real issue and what can or should be done about it?- DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL STANDARDS
The computer industry has benefited from rapid product evolution and de facto standards while telecommunication standards have generally been set by the de jure process. For example, the ISDN standard started in 1972 and took more than ten years to emerge. When it did, there were several versions before Bellcore settled on a national ISDN standard. Will it take as long to get agreement on uniformly accepted standards for advanced technologies for asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL), personal communications services (PCS), for time-division multiple access (TDMA), for code division multiple access (CDMA), or for the recent digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) technology and other technologies brewing in various laboratories? How will increased competition affect standards development?
Interface standards are necessary for interoperability. The question is: Is there more that needs to be done to foster development of technical interface standards as a result of the Telecommunications Act? Who are the standards bodies coordinating these standards? Are they moving fast enough? Who is responsible for the development of tests that establishes conformance to standards and ensure interoperability? Is there more that needs to be done? If so, what, and by whom?- INTERNET RELIABILITY
The Internet, over the last ten years, has grown exponentially. It has a life of its own - no one is in charge - and there is no real system architecture. Instead, the Internet community governs itself. But will self-governance of the Internet be able to deal with growing demands for non-stop operations, higher quality of service, and growing concerns about brown-outs, power failures or network vulnerabilities? Who will be responsible for Internet reliability?- SECURITY AND PRIVACY
As the Telecom Act is implemented, single networks run by monopoly carriers will be replace by a network of networks run by literally hundreds of different companies. How can the security of the entire system be assured? Who will be liable for breaches in security? How will private data about customers be shared between companies and how will the privacy of their communications be guaranteed, when a single message might traverse different networks run by dozens of different companies? What is the minimum level of security and privacy that should be expected by the average user, be it an individual, a corporation or a government agency? How will consumers define their needs? Who will be responsible? Is there more that needs to be done and who should do it?- IMPACT OF REGULATORY PROCESS ON TECHNOLOGY
As it implements the Telecommunications Act, the FCC will make dozens of critical regulatory decisions which will impact how technology is developed and deployed. For instance, how will the FCC define universal service and how will that definition impact technology directions over the next 5 to 10 years? The goal is to accelerate not delay technology development and to avoid favoring one technology at the expense of another. How can this best be done? What role does regulation play in encouraging R&D or deployment of new technologies? Are there specific policies that deter innovation or should be changed to encourage innovation?- BANDWIDTH TO THE HOME
One goal of the Act is to bring new high bandwidth applications to the home. It has been indicated that technology exist today to deliver these applications to the home. The Act anticipates a migration from a voice driven 64 Kbps tariff structure to future high bandwidth applications. How soon will this happen? Are fiber, cable, and wireless the viable alternatives for high bandwidth? What happens when these services can economically be delivered to the home? When will this happen? What can be done to avoid congestion on existing and planned networks?
SUMMARY
Clearly, the issues outlined above are not a complete list of technology policy issues arising from the Telecommunications Act of 1996. White paper authors are invited to comment on any of these and to explore other issues as well. ```
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