IP: CSTB Broadband Study Call for Papers (fwd)

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "Alan Inouye" <AInouye () nas edu>
>
>
>
> As you may know, the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB)
> has a Broadband Last-Mile Technology project that got underway last fall.
> The committee has met two times to take testimony and frame its work, and
> it now seeks to extend a broad invitation to experts such as yourself to
> contribute to its understanding of the broadband arena.  We would appreciate
> your contributing your views in the form of a response to the enclosed Call
> for Papers, which we also encourage you to share with others that you think
> might generate useful contributions.
>
> The project is anchored in an exploration of what is technically feasible,
> what is expected over the next several years, and how technology interacts
> with economics/business and public policy issues.  The committee welcomes
> inputs on all three aspects-technology, economics, and policy-and especially
> on how they interact.  The current popular and political attention to today's
> broadband issues assures that there is an abundance of material available
> that presents general overviews and assorted arguments.  Against 
> that backdrop,
> the committee is looking for material that is more factual and analytical, as
>  you would expect from an activity associated with the National Academies.
>
> The committee will treat papers as part of its resource base and cite them in
> its final report.  It will compile the papers and share them with key federal
> policy-makers as an interim output from its ongoing project.  Papers that it
> finds particularly valuable will be published as companions to the committee's
>  report; that judgment will be made by the committee at a later point.  To
>  help the committee anticipate and assimilate the papers, we ask that you work
> with the following schedule:  Please submit a Response Form, 
> indicating intent,
>  by April 7.  Please then provide a one-page, abstract/outline by May 5.
> The deadline for receipt of final papers is June 7.  CSTB Project 
> Assistant D.C.
>  Drake (202/334-2605; ddrake () nas edu) is responsible for receiving and
> processing
> the papers for the committee.
>
> CSTB's projects relating to the Internet have been widely circulated among
> policy
> makers and decision-makers in the private sector.  Your response to 
> our Call for
> Papers will be part of a recognized process for generating quality, apolitical
> analysis relating to telecommunications and information-technology policy.
> I look forward to receiving your contribution.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
>
> Marjory S. Blumenthal
> Executive Director
>
>
>
> CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS:
> BROADBAND LAST-MILE TECHNOLOGY
>
>
> The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board's
> Committee to Study Broadband Last-Mile Technology
> seeks white papers from academia, business,
> foundations, industry, interest groups, trade associations
> and other interested parties on topics relevant to advancing
> broadband technology and its deployment closer to homes and
> small businesses (what many refer to as the last-or
> first-mile in communications connectivity).  These papers will
> be provided to federal telecommunications technology and
> policy decision makers and other interested parties,
> and a selected number will be used as the basis for
> discussion at a workshop to be held in Washington,
> D.C., June 19-20.  Because these papers will support the
> deliberations of an expert committee, they will be most helpful
> to the extent that they contain hard data, tight
> arguments that are well-supported, and appropriate
> references.  Strong papers may be published as companions to
> the Committee's report.
>
> ** Note that the information below is duplicated in the attached Word
> file <wp-solicit-broadband-pc.doc> **
>
> =============
>
> Committee to Study Broadband Last-Mile Technology
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> Nikil Jayant (Chair)
> Georgia Institute of Technology
>
> James Chiddix
> TimeWarner Cable and CSTB (CSTB member)
>
> John M. Cioffi
> Stanford University and CSTB  (CSTB member)
>
> Paul Green
> Tellabs
>
> Kevin Kahn
> Intel Corporation
>
> Richard Lowenberg
> Davis Community Network
>
> Clifford Lynch
> Coalition for Networked Information
>
> Richard Metzger
> Lawler, Metzger & Milkman
>
> Beth Mynatt
> Georgia Institute of Technology
>
> Eli M. Noam
> Columbia Institute for Tele-Information
>
> Dipankar ("Ray") Raychaudhuri
> Gigabit Wireless
>
> Bob Rowe
> Montana Public Service Commission
>
> Steven S. Wildman
> Michigan State University
>
> Special Advisor
> David D. Clark
> MIT and CSTB (Board Chair)
>
> CSTB Staff
>
> Marjory Blumenthal
> Executive Director
>
> Jon Eisenberg
> Program Officer
>
> D.C. Drake
> Project Assistant
>
> =============
>
> Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB)
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
> A pioneer in framing and analyzing Internet policy issues,
> CSTB is the division of the National Research Council (NRC)
> responsible for technology and public policy projects
> related to information infrastructure, computing, and their
> implications for society and the economy.  Established by
> the National Academy of Sciences in 1916, the NRC is the
> federal government's principal advisor on science and
> technology issues, producing reports for decision-makers
> and the nation under the congressional charter that created
> the National Academy of Sciences in 1863; this group of
> prestigious organizations is known as the National Academies.
> The NRC conducts its work primarily by convening committees
> of experts (serving pro bono) on a given issue.  CSTB, itself
> composed of experts from industry and academia, generated the
> Broadband Last-Mile Technology project and oversees the project
> and its Study Committee. NRC processes, beginning with CSTB
> oversight, assure that the project is undertaken free of
> influence from sponsors or others.
>
> For information about CSTB and its past and present work relating
> to the Internet, see www.cstb.org.  For more information about
> the project, contact David ("D.C.") Drake at CSTB 202-334-2605 or
> > ddrake () nas edu.
>
> =============
>
> Broadband Last-Mile Technology Project Background
> -------------------------------------------------
> Despite changes in regulatory policy and the emergence of new technology
> options, considerable uncertainty remains surrounding deployment of broadband
> technology for the last mile, the link to the home and many small businesses.
> Progress has been slow, especially in sparsely settled areas, raising
> questions about what research, policies, and strategies would accelerate
> deployment and increase broadband access availability.  In policy debates, the
> rhetoric flows about regulatory barriers and purported business objectives,
> while in laboratories progress is being made in advancing key technologies,
> some of which appear in new start-ups that add more complexity to the
> deployment picture.  Although today's news focuses on the roll-out of digital
> subscriber line (DSL) and cable-modem technologies, over the longer term the
> technical mix is expected to change, and it is important to understand how,
> why, and when.  Experience with the Internet has already generated filings at
> the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that assert a need to cultivate
> access technologies, deployment strategies, and supporting regulation that
> anticipate consumer demand for new, advanced services.  Understanding
> technology trends is essential to getting the regulatory posture right.  To
> many, the key uncertainties are economic rather than technical.  Business
> models-the thinking about how investment in broadband capacity will be
> recouped-are confounded by uncertainty in consumer demand for applications-
> such as multimedia content delivery, enhanced electronic commerce, and
> telecommuting-that would exploit local broadband access.
>
> Building on its numerous studies of the growth and impacts of the Internet-
> notably Realizing the Information Future, The Unpredictable Certainty, and the
> nearly completed "Internet in the Evolving Information Infrastructure"-CSTB
> recognized the need for independent, expert analysis of the challenge and
> opportunities for getting more widespread broadband capacity, and it
> recognized the value of complementing the typical approaches to
> telecommunications policy (with emphases in law and economics) with an
> approach that better leveraged insights into how alternative technologies
> worked and could be deployed.  In the late 1990s, it secured majority funding
> for a project from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the
> National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Association of Computing
> Machinery's Special Interest Group on Communications (ACM SIGCOMM), with the
> remainder of the funding coming from a coalition of companies.  As with other
> CSTB projects, the conduct of the Broadband Last-Mile Technology project is
> independent of its sponsors, whose help is appreciated in making this
> important activity possible.
>
> In the fall of 1999, a Study Committee of 14 experts was formed to conduct
> CSTB's work on this project.  The Committee met in November 1999 and March
> 2000 to take preliminary input, assess its own knowledge, and begin the
> process of deliberating.  Drawing from its early interactions, the Committee
> is now requesting white papers on relevant topics from the Internet and
> telecommunications communities.  These papers will provide input to the
> Committee, be shared with sponsors, and contribute to the Study Committee's
> final report on the Broadband Last-Mile Technology project.  All white paper
> authors will have the opportunity to revise their papers after the June
> workshop.
>
> =============
>
> Nature of Call: White Papers on Broadband Last-Mile Technology for CSTB
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Please see attached information detailing criteria and format
> and a Response Form due by April 7.
>
> Additionally, a one-page, abstract/outline must be submitted to CSTB
> by May 5.  The deadline for receipt of final papers is June 7.
>
> The Committee to Study Broadband Last-Mile Technology seeks thoughtful,
> properly documented papers that address (over a 5-7 year timeframe)
> technology development and deployment issues such as:
>
> -- Network architecture, interoperability, openness
>
> >  How are architectures of specific networks evolving?
> >  What are the architectural ramifications of the emergence of multiple
> local access technologies and deployment scenarios?
> >  What are the economic implications of access network architecture
> trends?
>
> -- Physical technology options and trends (optical, cable, copper, wireless
> (terrestrial and satellite))
>
> >  What are realistic expectations for fiber in the access network within
> the decade?
> >  What are realistic expectations for satellite Internet access,
> especially for remote areas?
> >  What are realistic expectations for wireless local loops?  For mobile
> wireless Internet access?
>
> -- Content trends and content-processing technology trends-what are they,
> how do they affect demand for broadband communications capacity
>
> >  What are key technical content trends that relate to demand for
> broadband local access?
> >  How is the relationship between content and network supply evolving?
> What are the funding models and the funds flows?
>
> -- Deployment trends for broadband channels and for devices that capitalize
> on broadband
>
> >  Deployment perspective: will substantial broadband increases come
> through monolithic deployment or are evolutionary paths more likely?
>  Is there an equivalent to a Moore's Law for the local loop?
> >  What is the relationship (economic and technical) between broadband
> Internet deployment and broadband for more focused services (e.g.,
> voice, video)
>
> -- Broadband applications and demand evolution in the home, including
> enabling technologies and symmetry
>
> >  How do home technologies relate to applications associated with other
> institutions (e.g., schools, employers, health care organizations)?
> >  What is the range of technologies and applications in the home?  How
> is the totality changing?
> >  How wide is the range of home technologies and applications, and with
> what (e.g., size, wealth, location) does home technology vary?
> >  How rapidly is home technology changing?  How stable are inferences
> based on conditions that are one year old?  Three years old?
>
> -- Broadband applications and demand evolution in public-access sites
> (kiosks, libraries, schools, commercial centers), including enabling
> technologies and symmetry
>
> -- Rural and other hard-to-serve access to broadband-technology and economic
> dimensions
>
> >  How variable are rural conditions for broadband access?
> >  How can rural conditions be contrasted to inner-city conditions?
> >  What is the likelihood of "leapfrog" solutions that bring advanced
> technology to rural (and other hard-to-serve) areas comparatively
> quickly?
>
> -- Trends for supporting services/components such as protection of privacy
> and security, directories, games, intellectual property rights, privacy,
> search agents
>
> >  To what extent is this kind of infrastructure understood and being
> built?  What are the impediments to progress?
>
> -- Business models for broadband
>
> >  Recovery of costs for facilities- and non-facilities-based broadband
> network services, including implications of an open network
> environment and specifying assumptions and key sensitivity factors
> >  What is known about willingness to pay for broadband?
> >  Alternative allocation of responsibility for payment-what options
> exist other than monthly service subscription payments by consumers?
>  What are the implications of alternative allocations of payment
> responsibility?
> >  Prospects for competition-how much, among whom, for what
> services/products
> >  How should sunk costs of existing facilities be treated in developing
> business models for broadband local access?  Given anecdotal evidence
> of reluctance to write off expensive facilities that can continue to
> generate significant monthly payment flows, what can be done to
> accelerate deployment of new facilities?
> >  Actual experience (and how it compared to expectations)
>
> -- Critical hardware and/or software standards-their nature, key
> participants, and likely or desirable standard-development organizations
>
> -- Lessons learned from recent field trials, experiments, and commercial
> deployment (technical and business aspects as well as relevant policy
> interactions)
>
> -- Public service obligations as they relate to broadband technology
> deployment (what kind, what cost implications, what impacts on deployment
> patterns)
>
> -- Critical areas for future research and development-what is hard to do
> today, where could a lot of leverage be obtained from technical progress,
> what are the discontinuities
>
> -- Scenarios for the deployment of broadband in the last mile
>
> =============
>
> White Paper Criteria and Format
> -------------------------------
>
> I. Criteria
>
> A. Substantive - to the degree relevant, each paper should:
>
> Distinctly frame a problem/issue related to broadband last-mile
> technology deployment
>
> Provide a baseline and status report of key developments related to that
> problem or issue as background for an assessment of how progress can
> be made
>
> Provide an in-depth analysis of the problem/issue, including, as
> appropriate, economic/business, legal/regulatory, social, and
> technical factors
>
> Provide supporting data, indicating the source of the data
>
> Identify contingencies and uncertainties related to investment and
> deployment of new technologies
>
> Identify key applications, enabling technologies, capabilities; specify
> whether voice-oriented, video-oriented, voice/data-oriented,
> Internet-oriented, etc.-or whether such distinctions are even
> meaningful
>
> Identify classes of users and locations to be served
>
> When using terms such as "interactive," "open," "scalable," and so on,
> provide a short definition or context for understanding how those
> terms are being used
>
> Make a projection regarding the problem/issue over the next 5-7 years-
> how are circumstances likely to change, and with what impetus or
> constraint?  Why might tomorrow be different from today?  What could
> maximize favorable change?
>
> Telecommunications policy discussions typically relate changes in
> practice to changes in regulation.  If you pursue this line of
> reasoning, go beyond the rhetorical and provide data and analysis to
> support the relationship asserted.
>
> Identify possible public, private, or public/private sector responses to
> facilitate broadband deployment in the last mile.
>
> B. Technical
>
> Submissions should be double-spaced
>
> Submissions may be no longer than 6,250 words (approx. 25 pages, double-
> spaced)
>
> All papers must be signed by a principal of the organization, group, or
> firm
>
> A one-page abstract/outline of the paper must be received by May 5
>
> Deadline for submissions is June 7
>
> All authors must sign a National Research Council copyright agreement
>
> Statistics must be referenced
>
> Cites should be formatted as endnotes
>
> Papers should be submitted in hard copy form, as well as on a diskette
> (Word format) or via e-mail (ASCII or Word) to cstb () nas edu
>
>
> II. Format  (Page lengths are provided as guidelines only)
>
> A. Statement of the Problem
>
> Each paper should provide a 1-2 paragraph statement of the
> particular technology deployment issue.
>
> B. Background (approx. 4-5 pages)
>
> This section should provide a baseline understanding of the
> technology, service, industry, domain, or issue in question, and
> define terms.  A picture of the current "state-of-play" should emerge
> from the section.  Useful data should be provided to back up
> characterizations.
>
> C. Analysis and Forecast (approx. 10-12 pages)
>
> This third section is the heart of the paper and as such, should
> look at some of the broad factors (economic, social, technical,
> legal/regulatory) influencing deployment decisions.  In particular,
> authors should (to the extent relevant): (a) identify contingencies
> and uncertainties of investment decisions; (b) discuss factors used
> by the industry/domain in making the business case for a new
> technology; and (c) make projections regarding the next 5-7 years.
> This section should also include a discussion of barriers to
> resolving any outstanding problems/issues.
>
> D. Recommendations (approx. 6-8 pages)
>
> In this final section, authors should state how the problem(s)
> identified can best be addressed and by whom.  Recommendations can
> relate to R&D, support for business or other economic activity that
> can generate revenue to pay for broadband, specific changes in law or
> regulation (no general anti-regulatory rants, please: these are
> readily available in published forms), and so on.
>
> E. Additional Resources (optional)
>
> A listing of relevant documents, analyses, forecasts is welcome.
> Authors may attach these source materials as appendices.
>
>
>
> For more information, contact David (D.C.) Drake, CSTB, 202-334-
> 2605.
>
> =============
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>      Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
>      National Research Council
>
>      Broadband Last-Mile Technology:  CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS
>
>      RESPONSE FORM
>
>
>
> Complete and return to CSTB by April 7
>
>
> NAME
>
>
> TITLE
>
>
> AFFILIATION
>
>
> ADDRESS
>
>
>
>
> PHONE
>
> FAX
>
> E-MAIL
>
>
> What is the topic of your white paper?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> RETURN TO:
>
> Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
> Attn:  David Drake
> National Research Council
> 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW-HA-560
> Washington, DC  20418
> FAX: 202-334-2318
> E-mail: cstb () nas edu