FCC Appoints VeriSign to Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee
VeriSign, Inc. announced today (12 December 2006) that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has appointed the company to serve on its Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee. Anthony M. Rutkowski, Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Standards, will represent VeriSign on the Committee.
The FCC was directed by Congress to form the Committee as part of the recently-passed Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act (Title VI of Public Law 109-347). The committee will establish a national emergency alert system to warn the public in case of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other crisis. Over the next year, the Committee will develop and recommend technical standards and protocols to enable mobile service providers to transmit alerts to subscribers' mobile phones.
“VeriSign is honored to serve on this important FCC committee that will be working to ensure that the most advanced technologies are used to alert Americans about emergencies, no matter where they occur or how large-scale they are,” said Rutkowski. “VeriSign has unique insights to share as the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the networked world. Every day, VeriSign enables and protect billions of digital interactions around the globe. We look forward to participating actively and helping to bring such a valuable service to the nation.”
Rutkowski recently served as the industry keynote presenter, in October 2006, at the first international technical workshop on emergency messaging at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland. His 40-year career included more than 12 years at the FCC, as well as serving as a counselor to the Secretary-General at the ITU in Geneva.
VeriSign also assisted the FCC in the 04-296 proceedings, and has collaborated with industry leaders to develop workable solutions for emergency messaging at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) and the ITU.
VeriSign holds seats on a number of Federal and Presidential advisory bodies. VeriSign's Chief Executive Officer Stratton Sclavos holds one of 30 seats on the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) and is a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Membership of the CMSSA Committee at 12 December 2006 is as follows:
State & Local Government Representatives
- Art Botterell - Contra Costa County, CA
- Thomas (TJ) Lyon - International Association of Fire Chiefs
- Kevin McGinnis - National Association of State EMS Officials
- Richard Mirgon - Association of Public Safety Communications Officials
- Jonathan Werbell - City of New York, NY
Tribal Government Representatives
- R. Dale Gehman Poarch Band of Creek Indians
Representatives of Communications Service Providers
- Brian Daly - Cingular Wireless
- Gary K. Jones T - Mobile USA
- Jay Pabley - Sprint Nextel Corp.
- Doug Rutledge - Alltel
- Edward A. Salas - Verizon Wireless
Representatives of Vendors, Developers and Manufacturers
- Stephen Carter - Qualcomm, Incorporated
- Amar Deol - Nortel
- Stephen Hayes - Ericsson Inc.
- Dr. Rob Kubik - Motorola
- Gadi Mazor - Onset Technology
- Ilkka Juhani Niva - Nokia
- Billy Pitts - NTI Group, Inc.
Representatives of Third-Party Service Bureaus
- Robin Erkkila - Intrado
- Anthony M. Rutkowski - VeriSign, Inc.
- Paul Wilcock - Syniverse Technologies
Broadcaster Representatives with Technical Expertise
- Ann Arnold - Texas Association of Broadcasters
- Patrick Roberts - Florida Association of Broadcasters
- William Wertz - Michigan Association of Broadcasters
- Kelly Williams - National Association of Broadcasters
Representative of National Organization Representing Noncommercial Broadcast TV
- John Lawson - Association of Public Television Stations
Representatives of National Organizations Representing Individuals with Special Needs
- Hilary C. Styron - National Organization on Disability
- Marcia Brooks - WGBH National Center for Accessible Media
Other Technical Representatives
- Dr. Edward Czarnecki - SpectraRep
- Stephen Oshinsky - American Association of Paging Carriers
- Art Prest - Rural Cellular Association
- Maria Estefania - Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, Inc.
- Marion Dunn Tutor - Mississippi Council on Aging
- Cheryl Blum - Telecommunications Industry Association
- Leslie Chapman-Henderson - FLASH
Representatives of Other Qualified Stakeholders and Interested Parties
- Kevin Briggs - Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- Dale Barr - National Communications System, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Edward Fritts - Global Security Systems, LLC
- Christopher Guttman-McCabe - CTIA - The Wireless Association®
- Raymond Ban - The Weather Channel
|
