FCC Plans Spectrum Sharing Testbed

The FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration seek to evaluate innovative methods for spectrum sharing among disparate users to enable more intensive use of the finite radio spectrum. The plan is to set up a test-bed where both federal and non-federal users could undertake one or more studies and experiments to test these ideas. In June 2004, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued two reports with policy recommendations for improving spectrum management. One report addressed federal spectrum use and the other addressed...

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Court Affirms FCC's VoIP CALEA Ruling

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the FCC's decision concluding that VoIP and facilities- based broadband Internet access providers have CALEA obligations similar to those of telephone companies. http://www.fcc.govIn May 2006, The FCC voted to adopt an order that requires facilities-based broadband Internet access providers and interconnected VOIP providers to provide Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) with all of the resources of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), enacted...

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IEEE Begins Work on Wireless, Long-Wavelength Standard (P1902.1)

The IEEE has begun work on a new standard, IEEE P1902.1, which will improve upon the visibility network protocol known as RuBee. RuBee is a bidirectional, on-demand, peer-to-peer, radiating, transceiver protocol operating at wavelengths below 450 Khz. This protocol works in harsh environments with networks of many thousands of tags and has an area range of 10 to 50 feet. RuBee networks and tags are distinguished from most RFID tags in that they are unaffected by liquids and can be used underwater and underground. RuBee networks are already deployed...

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DOJ Nationwide Wireless Network RFP Begins Final Phase

The Department of Justice selected vendor teams led by General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin to compete in the final phase of the multi-billion dollar Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) competition. Lockheed Martin is leading a team of vendors on the bid.IWN will provide secure, interoperable nationwide wireless communications for more than 80,000 federal law enforcement agents and officers and support multi-agency operations between the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Treasury.IWN is jointly managed by the Departments of Justice, Homeland...

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U.S. House Approves COPE Telecom Reform Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the "Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006" (H.R. 5252) by a vote of 321- 101. The final bill provides for national video franchises and did not include a Net Neutrality provision.Key provisions of the bill include.Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for a national franchise to provide cable service in lieu of any other authority under federal, state, or local law. Obtaining the franchise requires: the filing of a franchise certification with the FCC; and...

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Cisco to Acquire Metreos and Audium for Application Creation/Integration into Service Networks

Cisco Systems agreed to acquire privately-held Metreos Corp of Austin, Texas, and Audium Corp of New York in two separate deals. Both of these companies offer application creation/integration environments which will strengthen Cisco's Service Oriented Network Architecture (SONA). Cisco's recently announced its Unified Communications system, which leverages SONA, enables enterprise customers to integrate their communications systems with their IT infrastructure, thereby creating a single enterprise-wide communications platform.Metreos is a provider...

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