Chief executive officers, board members, and other senior business leaders need to realize that managing cyber risks is “one of the most important things you can do to protect your assets, your customers, and your companies,” the acting chief of the National Institute of Standards and Technology said. Speaking at the Board Agenda: CYBER conference in Washington, Willie May, acting under secretary for standards and technology at the Department of Commerce and acting director at NIST, said top corporate managers should review and consider using NIST’s cybersecurity framework. “The framework sets out basic guidelines to help organizations better understand and prioritize their cyber risks, and then it suggests specific cybersecurity ‘best practices’ most relevant to those risks,” Mr. May said. Continue reading
Month: April 2015
LA City Council OKs Police Sites for LA-RICS
On April 17, 2015, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a motion to endorse an amended public safety network construction plan proposed by the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS), while also approving the siting of cell sites at 19 police stations. The vote rescinded an April 1 council vote (TRDaily, April 2) that halted construction of the LA-RICS LTE network at city fire and police stations. However, the plan endorsed on April 17 would not include any deployments at fire stations. Fire union officials and their members, as have some residents, have expressed concern about the health impacts of RF emissions from towers. Continue reading
NIST Releases FirstNet Identity Management Report
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a report exploring identity management issues related to the nationwide public safety broadband network being overseen by the First Responder Network Authority. NIST stressed in a news release the importance of ensuring “that only authorized people can use it, but also ensuring that sensitive information, such as a criminal record, is shared only with sanctioned people that have a ‘need to know.’”
NIST said its “analysis draws on its expertise in identity management for mobile devices. Considerations for Identity Management in Public Safety Networks provides background information on identity management and a review of applicable federal and industry guidance for using next generation networks with a number of options for policy makers to consider. Topics include selecting identity credentials and the authentication process. It also includes analysis of possible identity management technologies that could be used. The NIST analysis on securing first responder communications may be applicable to local public safety networks, private sector communities and public safety applications that leverage identity management services, including criminal justice information and records management systems.”
TRDaily Reports Crosby Criticizes FCC Field Office Plan
Mark Crosby, president and chief executive officer of the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, is joining those who are criticizing an FCC proposal to close a number of its field offices. “We remain dumbfounded that the FCC leadership continues to extol the virtues of its plans … ,” Mr. Crosby said in a column for “IWCE’s Urgent Communications.” “I would like to believe these commitments and promises of better wireless days ahead resulting from these reorganization plans, but I am having difficulty drinking the Kool Aid. … By the way, expect the Tiger Teams to come home to Columbia only a few days each year as they will remain in perpetual motion out in America’s wireless world chasing down unlicensed operators, purposeful interference to mission-critical communication, pirate broadcasters, unbalanced folks who have fun interfering with aeronautical functions, citizens-band users who like to add amplifiers to their systems, and those nasty enough to impede ubiquitous access to the internet, thus prohibiting the opportunity of all citizens to download past episodes of the Game of Thrones.” FCC officials have defended the proposal, most recently Chairman Tom Wheeler in a speech at the 2015 NAB Show in Las Vegas.
Urgent Comms Reports BayRICS Testing xG Technology PS Pilot Network
BayRICS is testing xG Technology public-safety pilot network in three California municipalities. A cognitive-radio pilot network built by xG Technology on unlicensed 900 MHz spectrum has been deployed in three San Francisco Bay-area municipalities for public-safety communications. Initial usage has been “encouraging,” but the system will be subject to more comprehensive testing later this month, according to an official with the Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority (BayRICS).
BayRICS General Manager Barry Fraser said “we’re really just getting started” with evaluations of the three-site xMax system that covers the cities of Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton, but initial impressions have been positive.
Read More: http://urgentcomm.com/cognitivesoftware-defined-radio/bayrics-testing-xg-technology-public-safety-pilot-network-three-cali
NASCIO Issues a Call to Action for State CIOs on the IT Workforce
LEXINGTON, Ky., Thursday, April 16 — The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today released a study on the current landscape of the state Information Technology (IT) workforce: State IT Workforce: Facing Reality with Innovation. The study includes survey data collected from 49 states and territories earlier this year and features findings and recommendations for state chief information officers (CIOs).
NASCIO has studied the issue of IT workforce for several years and released reports in 2007 and 2011 on the topic. Building upon these previous offerings, the 2015 report shines a light on the current landscape of the state IT workforce and includes candid feedback from state CIOs. The report also details innovative techniques state IT agencies are using to recruit and retain both entry level and highly skilled personnel.
The study is a presidential priority of NASCIO President Stu Davis, CIO, state of Ohio, who said, “for the first time in several years, ‘human resources/talent management’ made NASCIO’s “Top Ten” list for 2015—a compilation of top priorities for state CIOs. Therefore, we felt it was important to take a fresh look at the issue.” Continue reading
LA-RIC’s Amended Plan Proposes 48 Sites for Baseline System
The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) is proposing building out 48 permanent LTE sites and two microwave facilities as a baseline public safety broadband network in its region, it said in a response submitted to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration this week (TRDaily, April 13) in the wake of the federal government’s suspension of further construction of the LA-RICS project.
The suspension came after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles City Council voted to halt LA-RICS construction of cell sites on government-owned land in their jurisdictions, including at fire and police stations. Continue reading
Tiger Teams and the FCC Enforcement Bureau, Urgent Comms, View from the Top
By Mark E. Crosby, President and CEO, EWA
The FCC has announced plans to reduce the staff of its Enforcement Bureau. Given the explosion in the use of wireless devices across all markets—thereby increasing the potential for interference—wouldn’t it make more sense to expand the Enforcement Bureau’s capabilities instead of trying to consolidate them?
We remain dumbfounded that the FCC leadership continues to extol the virtues of its plans to significantly shrink the Enforcement Bureau, reducing the number of its employees by perhaps as much as 60%, and the number of its field offices by nearly 50%. Apparently saved from the chopping block will be New York City, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, and Columbia, Md., bureau offices. Not so lucky may be the offices in Seattle, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, and Houston.
According to one Commission official, “Interference resolution is and will remain the field’s top priority, our methods and organization need to evolve with changes in the industry such as spectrum sharing, improvements in remote detection, and self-regulation. The proposals under consideration would adequately equip the field to meet the enforcement needs of the commission.”
Read More here: http://urgentcomm.com/blog/view-from-the-top
NTIA Reports Progress in Spectrum Initiative
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration said today that it, the FCC, and other federal agencies “have made substantial progress” in meeting the Obama administration’s goal of freeing up 500 megahertz of additional spectrum for wireless broadband services by 2020. NTIA released a fifth interim progress report on meeting the 10-year spectrum identification and allocation plan.
The report, which covers Oct. 1, 2013, to Sept. 30, 2014, cited 80 MHz of spectrum made available, 207-309 MHz identified and in the process of being made available, 205 MHz being studied, and 955 MHz that may be studied in the future.
Among the successes cited in the report are the FCC’s AWS (advanced wireless services)-3 auction and efforts to make spectrum available in the 3.5 gigahertz and 5 GHz bands.
“NTIA and the FCC, together with the federal agencies in the PPSG [Policy and Plans Steering Group], are continuing to work diligently toward achieving the goals of the 2010 Presidential Memorandum through ongoing rulemaking proceedings and implementation of the Ten-Year Plan, applicable provisions of the Tax Relief Act, and the 2013 Presidential Memorandum,” NTIA said in the report. “Activities for the next twelve months will focus on transitioning the 1695-1710 MHz and 1755-1780 MHz bands to shared federal/non-federal use, promoting three-tiered shared access using a dynamic spectrum access system in the 3550-3650 MHz band while protecting federal radar operations, continuing work to identify sharing solutions at 5 GHz, and further refining the proposed Model City concept to promote innovative spectrum-sharing technologies. In addition, NTIA will work with the federal agencies to complete quantitative assessments of five frequency bands totaling 960 megahertz of spectrum.”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com
LeBlanc Defends Proposal to Close Many Field Offices
LAS VEGAS – FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc today defended a proposal to shrink the number of agency field offices from two dozen to eight, saying it will allow the agency to focus its resources where they are most needed as its budgets remain stagnant. During a session at the 2015 NAB Show here, Mr. LeBlanc also touted changes he said the bureau has already made since he arrived a year ago that he said allows it to ensure it is pursuing matters that will make the greatest difference to the American people.
The FCC has drawn criticism from some members of Congress and industry entities, including the National Association of Broadcasters, for the proposal FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has forwarded to shutter many of its field offices. “We have spent a lot of time thinking about how our field operations are tailored to the 21st century challenges that we have,” Mr. LeBlanc said today. He said that over a number of years, the number of personnel working in field offices has declined through attrition and that morale in field offices is low. More than half of field office agents are eligible for retirement today, Mr. LeBlanc said.
For the past six years, the FCC has had a flatlined budget, meaning it has less money to spend after mandatory expenses are covered, Mr. LeBlanc said. Continue reading