Government Affairs

Gil on the Hill

DELL-Brian J — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:27:17 GMT

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

Dell Announces 1st White Spaces Network

DELL-Brian J — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:55:31 GMT

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.

DELL HELPS HOST SOUTHERN LEGISLATORS AT REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN NORTH CAROLINA

Dell-Fran V — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:32:04 GMT

The Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), an affiliate of the Council of State Governments, brought together almost 1,000 state legislators, staff and other guests from 16 southern states for its annual meeting in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Dell Inc. was a sponsor and participant in the SLC Annual Meeting, held Aug. 15-19, 2009. Fran Valluzzo and Donna Oldham represented Dell at the meeting, and worked closely with the North Carolina General Assembly’s Host Committee. Following is a summary of the key programs and Dell activities:

Dell Donation of Equipment for Cyber Café and Staff Offices

Dell donated the use of 33 laptops and 12 printers for the SLC meeting. Dell hosted the SLC Cyber Café, which provided opportunities for meeting participants to check email and surf the net while attending the meeting. We also provided laptops and printers for all staff offices and the registration area. After the meeting, 18 laptops and 12 printers were donated to local charities that partner with Dell in the Winston-Salem area.

Dell Plenary Session Sponsorship

Dell sponsored the opening plenary session, at which NC Speaker Joe Hackney welcomed attendees and specifically thanked Dell for its support and mentioned our facility in Winston-Salem. Dell was also formally thanked by Sen. Jeff Wentworth (TX), chair of the SLC. The plenary session featured keynote speaker Harry Markopolos, certified fraud examiner, who uncovered the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Markopolos is also an expert on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, which he characterized as "medical terrorism." He stated that Medicare waste and fraud accounts for 40 cents of every Medicare dollar spent. He said that the only way to reduce waste and fraud is to establish an electronic patient records system. He also discussed the fact that the big financial fraud cases are being initiated by states, not the SEC, which he characterized as weak and "owned by the industry." He gave examples of the NY *** General and the MA Securities Division being leaders in investigating and prosecuting financial fraud.

"Education and the Federal Stimulus"

The program featured Jimmy Wynn from The Education Trust, an independent non-profit established in 1990 to support K-12 reform efforts. TET is supported by a number of private and corporate foundations, including the Gates Foundation. Wynn discussed TET's Title I Fairness Campaign, an effort to equalize per student expenditures among the states. He said that 5 states (NY, MD, PA, CT and MA) receive $2,013 per student under the Title I formula, much more than other states such as TX ($1,425/student) and NC ($1,351/student). TET's campaign is aimed at raising the "floor" so that all states receive the highest level of funding, $2,013 per student. He said the cost of raising all states to that level would be $3.7 billion a year ("$700 million more than Cash for Clunkers," in his words). Stacy Jordan with U.S. DOEd discussed the education stimulus program and its four goals: 1) save jobs, 2) improve student achievement, 3) insure transparency by measuring and tracking results, and 4) providing one shot investments that are sustainable over time. A number of legislators raised questions about sustainability of programs funded by one-time federal infusions of funds. She responded that that was a concern, as states would have to provide ongoing funding after the initial federal funding. She also discussed the Race to the Top (RTTT) funding, the largest discretionary program in the history of DOEd ($4.3 billion). RTTT is a competitive grant program for states and school districts that focuses on four core reforms designed to improve standards, increase data to track student achievement, improve quality of teachers, and turn around low performing schools and districts (See article on RTTT by U.S. Sec'y of Education Arne Duncan, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/23/AR2009072302634.html ).

Chris Minnich of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) discussed the development of "common core standards" in English language arts and math for all 50 states to allow comparison of "apples to apples" in determining a child's academic progress. The CCSSO is working with the National Governors' Association to develop uniform standards, and 46 of the 50 states are participating (TX, AK, SC and MO are not participating).

Meetings with Legislators and Others

During the conference, we met with numerous NC legislators who expressed appreciation for Dell's support for the SLC meeting, including Reps. Julia Howard, Earline Parmon, Beverly Earle, David Lewis, Pryor Gibson, and Senator Linda Garrou. We also met with legislators from other states.

Social Media and State Legislators

DELL-Michael Yo — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:02:00 GMT

Last week the National Council of State Legislators (NCSL) held a conference in Dell's home town of Austin, Texas with state legislative staff to talk about how to engage with the multiple social media and "new media" alternatives that have proliferated over the last few years. Being recognized as a leader in the social media space, Dell had several speakers. Hopefully you followed some if events on Twitter and Facebook.

Probably the most important point stressed again and again was that legislators need to engage in this space or risk alienating a whole generation of voters. For these voters, communicating WITH them instead of TO them is key. They want to be part of the conversation. It's an exciting time to watch these state legislatures develop their social media strategy.

One of the best panel discussions was lead by Dell's very own Bri Brewer who runs EDU4U.com. Bri moderated the panel "How to Tweet and Not Be a Twit", that included Dell's own Chief Blogger, Lionel Menchaca, Christi Day of Southwest Airlines, Ric Cantrell, Chief Deputy of the Utah Senate and Mike Chapman of Ivy Worldwide. The panel represented diverse interests from public to corporate and offered insights and best practices for getting started and building Twitter strategy. The panelists had a lively discussion from legal risk to training for employees who Tweet. Gene Rose, with NCSL filmed a quick vlog with Bri after the session. Watch the video to hear more about how Twitter can support traditional media strategies.

Connecting Communities of Healthcare Practices through IT

DELL-Matt K — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:00:58 GMT

I hope you all saw our announcement yesterday of Dell’s Electronic Medical Records (EMR) solution for hospital-affiliated physician practices. [See The Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog]

Dell’s EMR solution is built on a concept starting a digital transformation of healthcare by connecting existing ‘Communities of Practice’. The EMR system is sponsored by hospitals for their affiliated physicians and is designed to first make it affordable and practical for many more physician practices to transition from paper to electronic records. The EMR solution will also connect the community of physicians and their sponsoring hospitals so that they can harness the power of electronic patient information to improve and coordinate care, help reduce costs and streamline administration across their local healthcare system.

Working together, Dell and sponsoring hospitals are working to eliminate the long-standing barriers to widespread EMR adoption by small and medium medical practices: the cost and complexity of deploying the systems and incompatibility with other provider systems.

Hospitals and Affiliated Physicians can learn more about Dell’s Affiliated Physicians EMR solution at www.dell.com/EMRNow.

NSCL Social Media Bootcamp in Austin this Week

DELL-Michael Yo — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:31:56 GMT

This week the National Council for State Legislatures (NCSL) will host a two and a half day conference for legislative staff on social media. The conference will allow staffers the opportunity to see first-hand how to use these tools to further legislative, political and constituent objectives. Dell has several employees speaking to the group about our experiences with the various mediums. Bri Brewer who runs the EDU4U.com site will be tweeting from her account. You can also follow the conference live on Twitter using #NCSL20.

Carbon Neutral: Dell Completes Homework Before Teacher Asks for It

DELL-Brian J — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:36:33 GMT

The 2nd of Paul's posts discusses Dell's great leadership in the area of carbon neutrality and environmental stewardship.

Dell has gone carbon neutral. In fact, we did so more than a year ago. This was well ahead of our own self-imposed deadline and certainly well ahead of the launch of a comprehensive federal carbon regulatory regime. We have done so less to get out ahead of the policy debate and more in support of our aspiration to become the “greenest technology company on the planet.”

While this is something that we’re enormously proud of at Dell, it has generated skepticism in some quarters. Nonetheless, we stand behind it and it remains a powerful statement of commitment on our part.

While policy makers, industry, NGOs and others all wrestle with the gargantuan task of moving the climate debate forward, we intend to continue to not only lead by example, but to engage policy makers directly and via groups like the Dell-founded Digital Energy Solutions Campaign (DESC).

Remembering Senator Kennedy

DELL-Brian J — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:26:20 GMT

Today's pair of blogs come from Government Affairs Director Paul Brownell. The first here is a wonderful commentary on the recent death of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

The coincidence of Sen. Ted Kennedy's passing with the congressional recess has allowed those of us in Washington ample time to reflect on his legacy.

Without doubt, industry all too frequently was on the opposite sides of any given issue with the Senator from Massachusetts. Nonetheless, he and his staff were always approachable and willing to listen. And, in fact, there are many instances where he was very supportive of the tech industry, which has a strong presence in his state.

I was part of a group of IT lobbyists that met with Sen. Kennedy about a year and a half ago on Capitol Hill. The meeting was organized by one of our trade associations and was intended to brief the Senator on our issues in pursuit of identifying items of common interest.

All of us were assembled around a table in a Senate hearing room when the door opened. Instead of seeing the Senator immediately, in bounded his two Portuguese Water Spaniels that stayed with him in his office most days. Sen. Kennedy followed them in. The dogs ran around in a frenzy sniffing each of us before settling down at the head of the table at the foot of the Senator.

Ordinarily, a member of Congress bringing dogs to a meeting like this would be viewed as eccentric at best and arrogant at worst. With a legend of the Senate like Ted Kennedy, though, those of us in the room were fine with it. Given the stature of someone who had been a force in the Senate since before most of us were born, there was a sense that we were guests in his home.

After introductions and a recitation of the IT industry’s issues by our trade association representative, the table was turned over to Sen. Kennedy. Although we had touched on issues that we knew he would not support, Kennedy obviously felt very comfortable in front of us, a bi-partisan group of industry lobbyists. True to his legend, he launched into a lengthy monologue on the legislation he helped shepherd over the years to help boost and promote innovation in the U.S. economy.

To our amazement, it wasn’t just a laundry list of items. Instead, he recalled chapter-and-verse his hand in creating the Small Business Innovation & Research (SBIR) program in the late ‘70s, for example. He could recall which Senators he worked with on the program, the fact that the legislation was attached as an amendment to another bill, what the vote count was, and the month that it was enacted. It was clear he believed deeply in the program and invested his credibility, integrity, and energy in its enactment.

He was a true legislator, one who’s preferred path was to build broad consensus behind legislation that he thought was in the best interests of the country. Although we were frequently at odds with him on matters of policy, all of us left that meeting with a strong and undeniable sense of respect for him.

Giving kids the tools that help them to learn....

DELL-Roxanne G — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:58:23 GMT

Governor Schwarzenegger recently released his "Free Digital Textbook Initiative Report" with a goal of providing California students, teachers and parents access to free digital high school textbooks. The free digital textbook initiative is supposed to take California’s schools into the 21st century has taken step forward, but it is questionable how many schools will be able to take advantage of this effort unless significant mindset changes take place.

Yesterday CETPA (California Education Technology Professionals Association) held a conference that included a demonstration of Orange County school children of all ages eagerly and effectively using netbooks to conduct everyday school work. The demonstration was followed by remarks from California Secretary of Education Glen Thomas who talked about the need for California to embrace technology stating that it "is the key to reforming the education system. That equity equals access to content and that every child across the state and every socio-economic level deserves to benefit from all that digital textbooks and technology have to offer.

Educators, technology experts (including Dells own Snow White and Robyn Nirken) as well as school board members rounded out the day by participating on panels that included discussion regarding how best to introduce and advance the use of technology in the classroom. Robyn discussed how we need to view our education system as an Eco-system, how we don't need to replace textbooks, but need to consider "re-engineering" the system with textbooks possibly playing a different role for kids in the classroom. key message that kids today are surrounded by technology and that it can be an effective tool in getting more information, and timely information, to kids in a format that they are excited about using. She talked about the need for education solutions to be affordable, easy to use and secure - qualifications that netbooks and digital content can easily fulfill when used appropriately and presented by teachers and parents that have been trained and prepared. That training being one of the key components that Robyn cited as being key to a successful use of technology in the classroom.

Snow echoed and agreed with Robyn's comments but added that not only are kids wired differently today with regard to what stimulates them and assists them in learning, but that kids today are entering the classroom with individual needs, and different learning styles. She added that including technology to the classroom give teachers one more - and very effective - tool in their effort to personalize and effectively address the differing needs found in today's classroom. .

Perhaps the day was best summed up by William Habermehl, Orange County superintendent of schools who said “Digital textbooks will enhance the quality of education, we need to get out of the old schedules and get in the 21st century.”

Stimulus Learning Site Updated

DELL-Michael Yo — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:59:09 GMT

Several months after the passage of the massive fiscal stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), there remains several questions about the specifics. See my previous post about the NCSL annual conference where it was a major topic of discussion. To help policy makers and anyone who's interested, Dell recently updated the Economic Stimulus Learning Center. The site allows users to access specific topics such as Education or Health Care. Visit the site and let us know what you think.