October 2009 - Posts

This week, Gil Casellas did a fantastic job effectively delivering testimony on green IT procurement issues before a House subcommittee. Details on the subcommittee, the purpose of the hearing, and other information is below.

A One Dell Way posting (from 10/27) and vlog by Gil on the hearing can be found at: http://onedellway.us.dell.com/blogs/odw/Default.aspx.  We achieved all of our objectives through this process: we delivered Dell's strong green IT story before Congress, key administration stake holders, customers and others; we enhanced Dell's general standing with Congress and this key committee by our willingness and effort to put forth a witness; and, through the witness prep and hearing process, we have prepared an excellent witness in the event that we're called upon to testify on other matters in the months ahead.

Details from the hearing (list of witnesses, their testimony, and statements made by members of Congress) can be found at the subcommittee's site: http://governmentmanagement.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2653

From the Dell Government Affairs Public Policy Team:

Yesterday, Dell participated in the very exciting unveiling of the world's first white spaces wireless broadband network in rural Claudville, Virginia.  This town, in a mountainous, sparsely populated area, has remained almost completely unserved by broadband providers.  Dell donated 7 computers to the town's school, while MSFT donated software, and Spectrum Bridge provided the networking.  The white spaces network wirelessly connects the school, the post office, town café, and other locations to the Internet backbone.  The FCC granted Spectrum Bridge a special experimental license for this network.

This event was strategic for Dell because it underscores our commitment to ubiquitous broadband deployment across the U.S., using an innovative new approach for the "last mile" (white spaces), as well as our commitment to learning & technology in education.  The event was a joint videoconference between the Claudville school and Capitol Hill.  Congressman Boucher (D-VA), a leader on technology issues, thanked Dell and the other companies for their participation.  He also spoke about what this network means to the community and expressed his hope that this network would be a model for other communities.  Government Affairs head Becca Gould spoke for Dell in thanking Cong. Boucher for his support.  She noted that white spaces holds the promise of being the lowest cost last-mile broadband alternative available.  Becca also emphasized Dell's commitment to education and the learning ecosystem.  From Claudville, one of the students spoke about how important the computers and network were to his education.  In the audience, which was standing room only, were 2 FCC Commissioners (Copps and Baker), as well as a dozen or more FCC and Hill staff in addition to media.

For more information about the event and white spaces technology more generally, pls see the detailed blog written by Neeraj Srivastava on white spaces.  We hope to do additional projects both in the US and overseas (if our partners agree) to publicize the promise of white spaces.