By Jeff Bratcher, FirstNet Acting Chief Technology Officer
The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 that created FirstNet places a heavy emphasis on the use of existing commercial standards in the FirstNet network. The intended benefits of using commercially open standards are:
- Interoperability
- Speed to market
- Economies of scale/cost efficiency
- Enhanced competition
- Transparent technology evolution roadmaps
In Section 6001 of the Act, the definition of “Commercial Standards” incorporates the technical standards followed by the commercial mobile service and commercial mobile data service industries for network, device, and Internet Protocol connectivity. The bodies referenced are the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Section 6206(c)(7) of the Act also specifies that FirstNet, in consultation with NIST, the FCC, and the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC), shall represent the interests of public safety users of the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN) in the development of interoperability standards.
To spearhead FirstNet’s efforts in standards development, the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) has recently hired a Director of Standards. His name is Dean Prochaska, and he will be based out of the Boulder, Colorado FirstNet technical headquarters, but will spend a considerable amount of time traveling to the different standards bodies meetings worldwide.
Dean will lead FirstNet’s standards-development effort impacting the proposed nationwide network, most notably, public-safety specific initiatives being developed within 3GPP, which is the official standards development organization for Long Term Evolution (LTE), the fourth-generation wireless technology that has been chosen for the FirstNet nationwide network. To date, the FirstNet standards development efforts have been very capably led by Andrew Thiessen of the Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program. Dean will collaborate closely with Andrew and continue to draw support from the FirstNet-funded PSCR Standards Team going forward.
Dean brings over 20 years of wireless telecommunications experience to the team. Most recently, Dean was responsible for managing the Smart Grid Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. There he collaborated closely with federal and state agencies and the private sector to accelerate the modernization of our nation’s electric power grid.
Prior to joining NIST in 2009, Dean served as the Director of Global Technology Standards for Sprint’s wireless and wire line business. In this role, his department was instrumental in supporting the technology direction for Sprint. He also held a variety of other executive level positions in Field Engineering and Operations at Sprint, including responsibility for initial design, construction, deployment and operations of wireless markets during Sprint’s nationwide buildout.
FirstNet is pleased to welcome Dean to our expanding technical team.
Thanks
-Jeff
