Telcordia Comments on FCC National Broadband Plan

Outlines Support for Standards, Information Sharing, Cyber Security, and Future Innovation Roadmap

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Mar 17, 2010, 06:39 ET

PISCATAWAY, N.J., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Telcordia, a global leader in the development of fixed, mobile and broadband communications software and services, commends the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) Broadband team on the issuance of the National Broadband Plan this week

"Clearly the FCC embarked on an inclusive and thoughtful process that led to this comprehensive roadmap," said Adam Drobot, CTO & President, Advanced Technology Solutions, Telcordia. "The recommendations in the plan will help ensure universal, affordable access to broadband for all citizens, businesses, and organizations and to achieve both the broadband infrastructure and the technology leadership necessary for our global competitiveness."

Telcordia has deep expertise across the full spectrum of broadband and information technologies and software solutions. In a number of public commentaries held throughout the creation of the National Broadband Plan, Telcordia has addressed many of the broadband-related issues touched upon in the plan including metrics, measurements and best practices; research and development (R&D) support and cyber security, privacy, and robustness.

"In general, Telcordia supports the FCC's recommendations around standards, information sharing and roadmaps for future and continued innovation," Drobot added. "In particular, we would like to highlight our general support and interest in the following recommendations which, while far from forming a complete list, align with main areas of Telcordia's expertise and capability."

Creating broadband performance measurement standards and associated assessment methodologies that will provide objective tracking of broadband services and of progress on the national plan (Recommendation 4.3);

Spurring the development of trusted, insured Identity Information Management Providers who protect the privacy and security of online information for consumers and small businesses (Recommendation 4.15);

Developing a balanced research roadmap to ensure that the necessary innovations, including both short-term, low-risk projects and longer-term, high-risk projects are funded (Recommendations 7.1 and 7.4). Drobot noted that innovation is the engine for achieving cost-effective, secure and usable broadband services and it is critical to engage and support the entire research and development community – businesses, large and small, universities, standards organizations, foundations, and government at all levels -- in the broadband R&D effort.

Establishing and maintaining a National Broadband Clearinghouse to promote information sharing and to identify and promulgate best practices that will deliver value in cost and time savings as well as providing a fact-based framework for sound policy and decision making (Recommendation 9.13).

Promoting the development of standards for interoperability and portability of information, applications and services in health care (Recommendation 10.4), digital educational content and records (Recommendations 11.1 and 11.11), energy (Recommendation 12.8), government services (Recommendation 15.13), and network reliability (Recommendation 16.12). Drobot noted that the development and use of standards provides substantial benefits in cost savings, ease of use, and more rapid advancement. He commented further that a strong federal role in supporting both the generation of standards and their usage will accelerate the development and adoption of broadband services in each national purpose area.

Public safety, cyber security, and network reliability and resilience are areas of particular knowledge and activity in Telcordia and there are many valuable and important recommendations here including that the United States must take steps to build a nation-wide public safety broadband network (Recommendation 16.1) and successfully deploy Next Generation 911 systems in all states, territories, and tribes (Recommendation 16.13).

Networks, services and information are subject to ever greater threats and attacks ranging from human mistakes, poor designs, and configuration errors to sophisticated hackers, criminal entities, and terrorist organizations. The country must develop a roadmap for addressing Cyber security (Recommendation 16.2) and assess network resilience, fault tolerance and recovery (Recommendation 16.10).

Securing our networks and services requires information on outages, attacks, vulnerabilities, and response strategies (Recommendations 16.6 and 16.8) in order to stay ahead of ever escalating threats. It also requires identifying best practices and implementing programs to track and certify their use (Recommendation 16.7).

"We look forward to working with the FCC and the broadband industry to achieve our nation's broadband future – a high-performance America, powered by a robust, high-speed network infrastructure that connects all citizens," Drobot said.

For more information about Telcordia, visit www.telcordia.com

For more information about Telcordia's contribution to the National Broadband discussion, visit http://www.telcordia.com/innovation/advanced_networks/broadband-comments.html

About Telcordia

Telcordia, a global leader in the development of fixed, mobile and broadband communications software and services, enables Communications Service Providers (CSPs), enterprises, suppliers and government entities to successfully deploy innovative and advanced services that help our clients realize operational efficiencies, drive revenue, and maintain a competitive edge in the new era of services-dominated communications. Telcordia has globally trusted expertise in software and services to meet the needs of customers and partners, including, consulting, next-generation OSS, network and application interconnection, service delivery and charging solutions, industry research and new technology development. Telcordia is headquartered in Piscataway, N.J., with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Central and Latin America. (www.telcordia.com).