The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced its panels of speakers for the February 28 Field Hearing on Network Resilience and Reliability at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California, from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Among the speakers will be Senator Alex Padilla, Chair of the California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, in addition to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and FCC Commissioners Robert McDowell, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel.
After opening remarks from 1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m., the first panel will focus on "innovative network technologies and smart power solutions to improve communications networks resiliency in times of disaster." On the panel will be Hitohito Noda, NTT DOCOMO USA Inc.; Nayeem Islam, Vice President and Head of Qualcomm Research Silicon Valley; Haresh Kamath, Program Manager for Energy Storage, Electric Power Research Institute; and Thomas Nagel, Comcast Senior Vice President, Business Development and Strategy, Communications and Data Services.
A second panel starting at 2:35 PM will be on "employing innovative social media, open data and geo-location apps to enhance communications during emergencies." The speakers will be Alicia Johnson, Residence and Recovery Manager, City of San Francisco’s Dept. of Emergency Management; Fred Wolens, Facebook Public Policy Team Member; Art Gesher, Sr. Software Engineer and Engineering Ambassador, Plantir Technologies; George Chamales, Principal, Rogue Genius, LLC.
"I applaud the FCC for holding this hearing here in California," said Senator Padilla, in a written statement. "The innovations of California-based entrepreneurs are changing every aspect of modern life and will surely transform public safety communications as well. We consider California the ‘epicenter’ of the global Internet economy and the new ’app economy’. Unfortunately we are also the epicenter of seismic activity."
More information may be obtained from Gene Fullano, Associate Bureau Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, at genaro.fullano@fcc.gov, or 202-418-0492.
