“Determining the “least-cost option” for a smart grid rollout often proves difficult if a regulator is not given sufficient data,” he said.  A regulator’s job is made much easier in these types of rate proceedings when telecom firms join with a utility to provide information on how they could install a smart grid communications network and at what cost, he asserted.  “This type of dialogue and information is extremely important for regulators,” he added.

DOE General Counsel Scott Harris said he often hears that power utilities need to build their own networks because of their need for reliability and security.  However, when he talks to telecom firms, they argue that commercial networks, both wired and wireless, are the most cost-effective means for utilities to gather and use data for consumers, he said. DOE published a request for information on utilities’ smart-grid related communications requirements last month and set a July 12 deadline for interested parties to submit comments.

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) predicts that, at the current rate of IPv4 assignments, these addresses will be exhausted by the end of 2010, almost a full year ahead of earlier predictions. Richard Jimmerson, the CIO of ARIN notes that the ARIN community has adopted policies that permit address transfer from an IPv4 registrant to another party, through ARIN.  Jimmerson is hopeful that this will mitigate the likelihood of a growing black market for IPv4 addresses.

Of course, as the entire Internet engineering community has been touting since 2004, the networks that make up the Internet will need to migrate fully to IPv6 addressing in order to keep up and serve the explosive growth of the Internet as a whole. Both Oberman and Jimmerson agree that there is very little time left for IPv4 users to fully migrate to IPv6, and that most new computing servers will soon be shipped as IPv6-only machines, thus isolating any holdover IPv4-only Internet users.

However it all comes down to this:  Is a service provider delivering its services from multiple diverse locations, using virtualized servers?  Or are they just using virtualized servers in a single massive data center and calling it a “cloud”? This minor detail separates the real cloud providers from the “wanna-be” cloud providers.

So before you purchase, lease, or subscribe to a service provider that claims that they offer a cloud-based solution, ask them two questions: How many data centers do they operate out of?  And how many cities do their data centers reside in?  You may be surprised to find how many of today’s so-called cloud providers give you an answer of “one.”

To learn more about Cloud Computing, keep an eye out for the Summer edition of USTelecom’s Communications Crossroads magazine, where we discuss current trends, advantages and vulnerabilities of working in the cloud. The summer edition mails at the end of May, and will be viewable online via our website soon thereafter.

“If you don’t demystify security, people become anxious about it and don’t want to do it,” former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff stated at the East-West Institute security meeting held in Brussels earlier this year. “In an ideal world you would change your password every day. You would have 14 characters and no more than two would repeat themselves. No one can live with that,” said Chertoff.

You can learn more about this event and the discussions on cyber security at http://www.ewi.info/wsc7.

To kick off Oscar’s social media makeover, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences streamed the nominations announcement live on Facebook – encouraging fans to watch and share their reactions with friends.  The free Oscar smartphone app, downloaded approximately 25,000 times, shared trailers of nominated films and encouraged users to make their own winner predictions.  And Oscar.com captured viewer data for its marketing efforts by encouraging consumers to register to receive mobile alerts, participate in the site’s “Live Challenge” trivia game, and receive email updates and other communications.

Social media even helped catapult a relatively unknown film to “Best Animated Feature” status.  With a limited budget, the company promoting “The Secret of Kells” chose to market the movie via social media.  The filmmaker’s blog, which chronicled the movie’s production since 2005, helped promote “The Secret of Kells” Edinburgh Film Festival win.  Screenings were scheduled at animation schools, and a viral word-of-mouth campaign on Facebook and Twitter propelled the fan base from there.  Animator and “super-fan” Jamie Bolio served as a citizen publicist, promoting the film and sharing DVDs of the production with the Los Angeles cartooning industry.  While the film didn’t take the top award on Oscar night– it’s widely agreed the picture would never have been in contention without this creative online effort.

For those who find the red carpet more fascinating than the awards, ABC streamed its live red carpet show at Oscar.com for two hours prior to the show, and attached it to a Facebook discussion engine.  There was even a designated spot on the red carpet for celebrities to answer fan questions posted on the Academy’s Facebook page.  And if you missed acceptance speeches or want to see the extended, backstage version, Oscar.com has all of these clips and more ready to view at a click of a button.  Now that’s entertainment your way brought to you by broadband.

Through nearly a week of snow, ice, blizzards and their aftermath, Washingtonians kept key components of our city and our government working.  We both sought and shared information and assistance.  And, as the days wore on, we even relied on the social nature of online community to stave off cabin fever.

Approximately 50 million Americans have been affected by ‘Snowmageddon.’  From the federal government to small businesses, schools and community centers, closings have been rampant.  But thanks to broadband, many of us – including the staff here at USTelecom – have stayed connected and conducted business (almost) as usual.

How has the high-speed Internet kept commerce from careening to a halt?  Telework tops the list.  As the National Weather Service urged citizens to stay home, many of us seamlessly shifted to our home computers trading emails with colleagues and marching diligently toward our deadlines.

What’s at stake for the public and private sectors?  Productivity and cost.  The federal government loses an estimated $100 million each day its Washington offices close.  Fortunately, agencies such as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have enabled more than 80 percent of eligible staff to telework – promoting productivity despite weather conditions and defraying the costs of a federal shutdown.  White House staff also continued to work through the storm via broadband, and President Obama supports increasing the rate of federal employees with teleworking capabilities to 50% by 2011, which would be a 10-fold increase from 2009.  And while the FCC may have had to postpone some of its meetings, Chairman Genachowski sent an email to staff acknowledging those at the agency who were “working hard from home.”

Another benefit of broadband?  The power to communicate with and help others.  Snowmageddoncleanup.com encourages people to offer and receive help – a stuck car here, an elderly neighbor in need of a shovel there and a virtual city of good Samaritans.  And for those looking for some good old-fashioned, cold-weather fun, the Internet was a big help there, too.  High-spirited (and safe) snowball fights have been a fixture of city parks, and social media helped organize 2,000 snowball-lobbing enthusiasts, who descended on Washington’s Dupont Circle last weekend.

The days of disconnection when weather strikes are ebbing, thanks to home broadband – and our desire to stay on track and in touch.  We often talk about online community as something separate and apart from ‘the real world.’  As the sun shines on our city once again, perhaps one lasting lesson is that they were never quite so far apart as they seemed.

As the FCC puts the finishing touches on its National Broadband Plan, and considers the role broadband will play in its smart grid recommendations, U.S. telecom providers of all sizes and in all areas of the country are well positioned and ready to offer  innovative smart grid solutions. Building on years of substantial communications infrastructure investment, and with powerful national networks in place, these  providers possess the core competencies to support effective smart grid solutions.

Here are just a few examples of new partnerships underway.  Working in collaboration with Cooper Power Systems, AT&T offers smart grid sensors that will help utilities better manage their grid and SmartSynch. Along similar lines, Verizon Wireless and Ambient Corporation have developed Open Smart Grid Communications Architecture, an integrated solution for utilities deploying smart grid programs that leverages the reliability and breadth of Verizon’s network. Meanwhile, Qwest and Current Communications have a trial underway with Xcel Energy utilizing DSL to backhaul smart-grid data from connected homes.

From reducing resource consumption to increasing the reliability and efficiency of the power grid, smart grid solutions have much to offer. Given broadband providers’ capabilities and vision on this front, we will see many more innovative smart grid developments in the years to come that benefit consumers and our environment.

On Thursday, January 21st, Vaughn Suazo from Cisco provided our audience a review of Cisco’s comprehensive vision and architecture for Virtualized Data Centers along with their impact on “Cloud” computing models. Vaughn began with the basic building blocks of virtualization and proceeded all the way through to actual service provider implementations of virtualized systems, networks and cloud computing data centers.

If you’d like to view the archived version of this webinar, it will be available on-demand at:  http://www.ustelecom.org/Events/Default.aspx.

Skype announces HD Video Conferencing: Although network connected TVs were not really a surprise because of the demand of Internet based video, the announcement that Skype will be delivering HD video conferencing through Skype-enabled TVs may have caught a few folks off guard.  Skype will be embedding its service on HDTVs from LG and Panasonic, which will also be offering HD webcams that can pick up audio and video from a typical “couch distance.”

3D Agreements Take Shape: DirecTV and Panasonic have agreed to jointly launch three HD-3D channels by June. They are hoping that the buzz created by the movie Avatar will jump-start the demand for HD-3D equipped televisions. The DirecTV-Panasonic partnership creates a 3D system from the original filming all the way to the television. DirecTV is also in talks with Viacom, CBS and NBC.

Greater demand for bandwidth: With just these two announcements, it’s not so difficult to envision the demand for greater bandwidth across all aspects of the network (access & backbone) when these products become mainstream. Stay tuned.

Just this week, the online recording archive WolfgangsVault.com will begin posting free streams of 1,000 to 1,200 individual performances from the Newport Jazz Festival.  The $5 million dollar music preservation project has successfully recovered live performances dating back to at least 1955.  For the music lover, Wolfgang’s Vault unearths a treasure trove of jazz legends from Count Basie to Thelonious Monk, and many more.  In addition to the goal of preservation, the project is a love letter to the Newport Jazz Festival, which has faced challenging times in recent years, raising questions about the festival’s future.  But, thanks to broadband, these historic tracks will live on online.

And, speaking of online, have you ever wondered what happens when websites with a historic context disappear?  The Library of Congress’s Digital Preservation Program is intent on saving this kind of content, and has built a preservation network of over 130 partners nationwide to serve as stewards of this information.  Through digitalpreservation.gov, Americans nationwide can search archives of historic web pages, including national elections, 9/11, and more.  The site also features extensive digital collections dedicated to everything from historic newspapers, prints and photographs to veterans’ history and American culture.  Even local libraries are starting to adopt digital preservation – from digitizing and uploading old high school yearbooks to scanning old images and texts.

Broadband is proving to be a powerful resource for preservation, as well as an easy way of sharing these artifacts with the world.  Lucky for us, relics of our past that might otherwise vanish forever can now be enjoyed online.