Dell Announces 1st White Spaces Network

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.