NRIC VI Focus Group 4 - Broadband

1. NRIC VIFocus Group 4 - Broadband Doug Davis - FG4 Chairman September 15, 2003 - Status Update

2. FG4 Participants b

3. Doug Davis, Allegiance Telecom, FG4 Chairman Charles Cerino, Comcast John Chapa, SBC John Columbo, Verizon James Crandall, ATIS Paul Crann, Avici Victor DeVito, AT&T Doug Dillon, Hughes Network Systems Michael Edl, McLeod USA Eugene Edmon, SBC Leo Fitzsimon, Nokia Jeff Hubbard, Qwest Jim Lankford, SBC Steve Mace, NCTA Chris MacFarland, Allegiance Telecom Dick Mueller, Cox Communications Tolga Ors, Intelsat Leo Palumbo, AT&T Mark Petrovic, Earthlink Jeff Piroga, Allegiance Telecom Gil Read, McLeod USA Roberta Rentko, Telcordia David Rosenstein, Covad Jim Runyon, Lucent Art Reilly, Cisco Randy Sharpe, Alcatel Chris Stengrim, PanAmSat John Treece, Comcast Tim Walden, Century Telephone David Waring, Telcordia Heather Wyson, BITS David Young, Verizon Jack Zinman, NTIA Focus Group 4 Participants

4. Issues of FG4 The Broadband Charter was ostensibly “Too Broad” in the beginning, and specifically covered the scope of technical standards concerning broadband deployment. Changes have occurred in: the regulatory landscape, the marketplace, and in the Focus Group 4 membership.

5. Original Charter The Committee will make recommendations concerning the need for technical standards to ensure the compatibility and deployment of broadband technologies and services, and will evaluate the need for improvements in the reliability of broadband technologies and services.

6. Modified Charter The Committee will make recommendations to ensure the compatibility and deployment of broadband technologies and services, and will evaluate the need for improvements in the reliability of broadband technologies and services.

7. Other Sources of Change The marketplace has evolved with the advent of new broadband deployments (Wi-Fi, powerlines). There have been policy and regulatory changes impacting the broadband marketplace. Several original members have been absorbed, merged, retired, or have gone out of business.

8. What is Broadband? Since the formation of the FG4, multiple organizations have “announced” new definitions of broadband. Many groups have tried (and continue to attempt) to emphasize “speed” metrics as the primary description of “what is broadband”.

9. FG4 Sub-Teams In order to accomplish our tasks, the FG4 group broke into subgroups each concerning themselves with specific areas. • Concepts of Broadband • Traffic Management • Service Transparency • Access / “Broadband Onramp”

10. Concepts of Broadband Sub-Team • Team Originally Chartered To Develop Working Definition Of Broadband For FG4 Report Usage • Research of Existing Documentation • Initial Team Effort Attempted “Defining” Broadband Exclusive Of Transmission Speeds • Review And Approved By Sub-team • Initial Definition Direction Modified After Larger FG4 Review and FCC Input • Revised Explanation of Broadband “Concept” Developed In Terms Of Satisfactory User Perception For Application Needs • Review and General Acceptance By Larger FG4 Team • Requires Another Group Session for Editing (9/12/03) • Requires Final Review/Recommendation/Acceptance by the Larger FG4 Team (post 9/12/03)

11. Traffic Management Sub-Team • Issue • Traffic Loads Vary at Broadband Interfaces • User – Network Interface – Multiple and time-varying applications • Network – Network Interface – Varying number of users and varying types of user applications • Peak Traffic Loads Could Exceed Service Agreements and Cause Network Congestion that Degrades the Quality of Service to Others (Packet Delay; Packet Loss) • Description of Solutions to Promote Broadband Compatibility and Deployment • Engineer Link and Network Capacities to Handle Some Excess Peak Traffic • Design Equipment (e.g Buffers) to Accommodate Time-Varying Traffic Loads Gracefully • Quality of Service Protocols that support Multiple Classes of Services with Different QoS Requirements • Traffic Management Mechanisms – Committed Service Rates; Traffic Shaping and Policing; Marked and Dropped Packets • Draft Recommendations to Promote Broadband Compatibility and Deployment • Consider Use of Technical Solutions (Suppliers and Service Providers) • Participate in Standards Development • Make available Traffic Policy Information to End Users to Facilitate Their Planning and Use of Broadband (Service Providers)

12. Service Transparency Sub-Team • Identify potential disrupters of end-to-end service transparency and propose recommendations for minimizing problems • Macro Ideas • Accelerate transition to IPv6 to mitigate NAT and Firewall issues • Service Provider Considerations (recommendation potentials) • Internally establish controls to administer network policy associated with blocking and filtering • Make available meaningful information about blocking and filtering policies • Make available meaningful information about expected performance with respect to upstream and downstream through-put and any limitations of the service (i.e., throughput caps, etc.)

13. Access/Onramp Sub-team • Team Originally Chartered To Develop Working Description of Access/Onramp availability of Broadband to subscribers in the US. • Descriptions of drivers that determine end user broadband availability. • Explore broadband technology trends looking toward future potential Broadband access solutions. • Look to future architectural issues concerning newer technologies for Broadband access. • Address current Broadband distribution and availability.

14. Focus Group 4 Deliverables To fulfill FG4’s revised charter, the group will deliver the following: • First Draft of the Full FG4 Report - September 30, 2003 • Including 2nd and 3rd drafts of sub-team reports • Final FG4 Report - November 19, 2003 • Including final sub-team reports