TECNA NOTES

Ready for a flood of data? Our broadband infrastucture needs to be ready

The Internet Innovation Alliance advises that Internet content is currently growing at more than 40% each year, while broadband infrastructure investment and growth lags far behind at only 19%. Industry analyst Deloitte Telecommunications estimates that Internet traffic is now doubling every 12 to 15 months, with YouTube alone accounting for nearly 100 million downloads a day. In addition to social media sources like YouTube, the explosion of content on the web originates from other places. The medical industry with remote diagnoses, video camera systems for crime and traffic control, and many other similar uses are growing at lightning speed, yet our ability to handle this escalating load is not increasing at comparable rates.

What is an Exabyte? 
• The Library of Congress holds about 20 million big books

• Each book is about 1 megabyte

• The Library of Congress is thus 20 terabytes

• One exabyte is 50,000 Libraries of Congress

Request for Proposals from TECNA MEMBERS

Because everyone is busy, your submission is limited to a one page proposal

TECNA has received a grant from AT&T to host seven (7) or more EXAFLOOD-2008 events in regions and states associated with TECNA members. This easy-to-complete RFP is being developed and released so the TECNA Public Policy Committee can award at least seven (7) $4,000 Exaflood Grants.  Participating TECNA members shall agree to abide by the basic deliverables listed below.  While this initial grant is focused on regions and states in northeast and eastern USA, we are accepting proposals from all TECNA members as we are highly confident additional fundraising for the Exaflood-2008 Series shall permit the awarding of additional $4,000 Exaflood grants to interested TECNA members.  The Exaflood-2008 Series and each Exaflood-2008 Event is being designed to become a fundraising opportunity for TECNA and each participating TECNA member. 

The RFP submission deadline is 5:00 pm EST, December 31, 2008,

415 Market Street, Suite 201,
Harrisburg, PA  17101

or via electronic submission, [email protected] 

The TECNA Public Policy Committee is accepting one page proposals from TECNA members to host an Exaflood-2008 event in their region or state.  By submitting a one-page proposal the TECNA member is affirming, they are a dues-paying member of TECNA.  In the one-page proposal the member shall identify their main point of contact, their contact information, a summary description of their experience hosting events and their ideas for hosting an Exaflood-2008 event.

THE IDEAL EXAFLOOD EVENT:  The ideal 120 minute Exaflood event shall attract more than 65 technology leaders, shall receive positive pre-event and post-event press and media coverage, shall have 2 to 4 interesting speakers, shall be continuously listed on the member’s website and calendar system, and shall foster the placement of one or two positive Op-Eds on Exaflood; while permitting an opportunity for the participating member to raise monies above and beyond the initial $4,000 Exaflood Grant.  It is hoped participating members can use the Exaflood -2008 event to raise in excess of $10,000, net.

The number of $4,000 grant awards is specifically limited by Exaflood-2008 Series fundraising success.

The TECNA Exaflood-2008 Team – Kelly Lewis, President & CEO, Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, Maxine Ballen, President & CEO, New Jersey Technology Council, and GSP Consulting.

EXPECTED EXAFLOOD-2008 EVENT DELIVERABLES:
1. Working with the Exaflood team, identify and help qualify one or two potential presenters that can present a positive message on Exaflood, as a provider or user of advanced-communication technology.

2. Identifying and inviting a targeted group of technology leaders to attend the Exaflood-2008 event

3. Targeting attendance of 50-65 technology leaders.

4. Working with the Exaflood team, identifying media outlets for event promotion and Op-Ed placements

5. Working with the Exaflood team, identifying potential TV, Web and other video transmission opportunities.

6. The host RITA shall coordinate all details relating to the renting of room, food and refreshments, technology needs, projector, PowerPoint presentations, presenter details and presenter bios.

7.  The Host RITA shall pay for all costs associated with their specific event including but not limited to: room rental, food, refreshments, technology, marketing, flyers, and projector for their specific event.

8. The host RITA shall handle all registration and calendar system activities for the event.

8. The host RITA shall handle all day-of-event logistics.

9. Working with the TECNA Exaflood team, the host RITA shall identify potential financial sponsors for the Exaflood Series and Exaflood event to help TECNA and each RITA raise additional funding.   The goal and hope is the Exaflood event and the Series can be a good fundraiser for each RITA and TECNA

EXAFLOOD GRANT AWARD: $4,000

Reminder:  The host RITA shall coordinate all details relating to the renting of room, food and refreshments, technology needs, projector, collection and display of PowerPoint presentations, presenter details and presenter logistics.  And, the Host RITA shall pay for all costs associated with their specific event including but not limited to: room rental, food, refreshments, technology, marketing, flyers, and projector for their specific event.   For perspective, last year, no Exaflood-2007 event cost exceeded $750.

EXAFLOOD-2007 EVENT KIT:

1.       Participating members shall be provided marketing materials to help them raise additional sponsorship dollars.

2.      Participating members shall be provided marketing and promotional materials to help drive attendance.

3.      Participating members shall be provided sample PR, Media Advisories and Op-Ed pieces.

4.      The TECNA EXAFLOOD TEAM shall be readily available to support all Exaflood 2008 events and the Exaflood 2008 Series.

EXAFLOOD BACKGROUND:
An Exabyte is 1 quintrillion bytes. (1018)  Exaflood is the phenomena known as the exponential growth of the internet.  In 2005 the entire world-wide internet transmitted one (1) Exabyte of data. In early 2008 the growth of data transmission on the world-wide-web has risen to seven (7) exabytes per month.  The Exaflood-2008 Series is designed to raise awareness on the Exaflood, the exponential growth of the internet, and how regions and states are preparing for the Exaflood.

“While it is still a new subject for many citizens, the Exaflood is real, it’s happening fast, and it will likely impact everybody,” said Kelly Lewis, President of Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania.  “The Exaflood does present opportunities for our organizations to raise awareness.  Every community in the world is going to be facing the same issues, and those taking steps to improve their broadband capabilities by encouraging greater investment in their communications infrastructure are going to be much better positioned for future economic success.  Those who don’t; are going to fall far behind, and fast.  So Exaflood-2008 is an effort for regions and states to prepare for the Exaflood.”

‘Exaflood’ is a term used to describe the overwhelming growth of Internet content: “The Internet Innovation Alliance advises that Internet content is currently growing at more than 40% each year, while broadband infrastructure investment and growth lags far behind at only 19%.  Industry analyst Deloitte Telecommunications estimates that Internet traffic is now doubling every 12 to 15 months, with YouTube alone accounting for nearly 100 million downloads a day.”

Growing broadband demand, from such sources as YouTube-type social media, the medical industry with remote diagnoses, video camera systems for crime and traffic control, and many other similar uses are growing at lightning speed, yet our ability to handle this ever-increasing load is not increasing at the same rates.  Lewis noted that industry experts estimate as much as $137 billion in new investment needs to occur in broadband “backbone”, such as storage, server farms and transmission lines, or trouble could begin as early as 2010.

EXAFLOOD-2007, started as a demonstration project in Pennsylvania which eventually led to participation by more than 500 business and academic leaders, which became one of the building blocks for the creation of the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Group, the Infrastructure Agenda for Pennsylvania, and the first-ever Pennsylvania Infrastructure Summit, which brought together infrastructure leaders to focus attention on public policy and funding issues relative to infrastructure. 

Pennsylvania’s state budget, adopted in July 2008, increased infrastructure investment by more than $1.4 billion above the original proposed state budget.

“Exaflood presents an opportunity for communities to make themselves more attractive to private investment in their broadband and communications systems,” said Lewis, “Raising awareness on the need-for-speed, removing obstacles such as state and local regulatory controls, and providing targeted incentives, in the form of tax credits or other assistive legislation, all can help to promote private broadband investment in regions and states.”

GENERAL TERMS and CONDITIONS:
1.      For the TECNA EXAFLOOD GRANT PROGRAM, Kelly Lewis is the main point of contact, 717.635.2114, prefer email: [email protected]. 
2.      At all times relevant, participating TECNA members shall abide by the deliverables and expectations promulgated by TECNA, and coordinated by GSP Consulting.

3.      Payment to the TECNA member shall be 50% payable upon acceptance of the grant and 50% within 30 days following the event. 
4.      This RFP, agreement and/or contract does not and will not create a term of employment, or expectation of the same.  At all times, the legal status shall remain "independent contractor."

RFP NEEDED ATTACHMENTS:
1.     Provide a one page Executive Summary detailing your main point of contact, your contact information, your experiences with hosting events, like EXAFLOOD, and some ideas you have for hosting an Exaflood-2007 event.  Your pitch. 
 
 All awards and grants are under and subject to available funding. 

Questions may be directed to:
Kelly Lewis
717.635.2114
[email protected]

RFP SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:  One Page Proposal.  No more, no less!
 

THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE is 5:00 pm EST, December 31, 2008, at:  [email protected].   
 
 
 

TECNA continues to reach out to its members to raise awareness on Exaflood. TECNA has received a grant from AT&T to host seven or more Exaflood-2008 events. The goal of these events is to raise awareness on the continually growing Exaflood by hearing from industry leaders on the matter and garnering as much attention as possible through traditional and new media sources as well as fostering a dialogue between business and technology organizations. It is also the goal to raise monies from these events that will allow more events to commence, thus elevating the profile to an even higher level.

Industry experts currently estimate as much as $137 billion in new investment is needed in broadband modernization, such as storage, server farms and transmission lines, or trouble could begin as early as 2010. In order for the Exaflood crisis to be remedied, the business, technology and consumer communities need to be well-informed on the ongoing situation, the speed at which the situation has deteriorated and what steps need to be taken to solve the problem. Having an informed constituency ready to tackle this crisis head-on will greatly facilitate the role we desperately need our elected officials to fill.

National issues that have regional and state impacts

National Innovation Act

In June, 2008, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the National Innovation and Job Creation Act of 2008, a bill that establishes a National Innovation Council, to improve the coordination of innovation activities among industries in the United States, and for other purposes. This act:

Establishes a National Innovation Council in the Executive Office of the President to be responsible for formulating and advocating for the federal government's innovation policy.
Requires the Council to collaborate with major statistical agencies, collect data concerning the impact on productivity of the Council's programs, and annually report to Congress on national innovation and productivity.
Places the Council under the direction of a National Innovation Council Board.
Transfers to the Council specified research and innovation programs of the National Institute of Standards of Technology, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Labor.
Establishes within the Council the CLUSTER Information Center to promote the collection, development, and dissemination of data and analysis on industry clusters (geographic concentrations of interconnected businesses and associated institutions in a particular field).
Requires the Council to award grants for: (1) operation of CLUSTER Initiatives (formal efforts to promote cluster growth and competitiveness through collaborative activities); (2) research partnerships between academic institutions and industry research alliances; (3) early-stage research, by academic institutions and joint ventures, into methods of increasing productivity and innovation; (4) state innovation-based economic development partnerships; and (5) diffusion of technological innovations by manufacturing extension partnership centers.
This bill was introduced in the Senate and has been referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
 

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Patent Reform Update

The Patent Reform Act of 2007 is a landmark piece of legislation that works to amend federal patent law to establish a first-inventor-to file system and to add/ revise provisions governing patent review proceedings and patent infringement litigation. Specifically, the bill would limit damages for infringement so that better resemble the actual value of the damage to the patent owner. Introduced by Representative Howard Berman (D-CA) in April, 2007, the bill was passed out of the House in September, 2007. However, issues arose as the bill went onto the Senate after Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled the bill from the floor schedule.

The Wall Street Journal reported that negotiations between Senate Judiciary Committee members stalled over changes in the way damage awards would be made in patent infringement suits. Intellectual Property Watch also suggests that a political fight over the confirmation of federal judges may have played a role in the postponement. The controversy surrounded a proposed change to the award of damages under the provision for Reasonable Royalty Damages. Currently, courts generally consider the value of the entire product when any part of it infringes a patent. The proposed changes would allow judges to base damages only on the “economic value properly attributable to patent’s specific contributions over the prior art.” Opponents of the legislation say it would enable large companies to infringe the patents of small companies or individual inventors.

Currently, there is no specific date on when the bill will be re-energized, but it is expected to return in the new administration. Most sources believe that this bill will return, as Committee Chairman Senator Leahy expressed strong words of support for the impact that this bill would have.
 
 

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R&D Tax Credits

In early October, 2008, the research and development tax credit was extended by two years as part of The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (commonly referred to as the $700 billion bailout bill). This bill included a retroactive two year extension of the R&D tax credit from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009. The bill also includes tax credits for solar, wind and other renewable energy resources, along with write-offs for purchasing electric cars. Additionally, the Alternative Simplified Credit rate was increased to to14% for 2009.

Fear that that Congressional leaders in both the House and Senate would be unable to reach a compromise in late September had many technology firms worried. The Information Technology Association of America estimated that more than 106,000 jobs would have either been lost or not created and almost $14 billion in potential revenue lost due to the Congressional failure to reinstate the credit for 2008. More than half of the companies that claimed the credit in 2005 had total assets of less than $5 million, the trade group said, adding that 40 percent of its small business members used the credit last year.

However, the tax credit was extended, giving breathing room to the hundreds of thousands of high tech firms and companies that have waiting. "In today's challenging economic environment, R&D is a critical catalyst for American innovation, economic growth, and job creation," said the R&D Tax Coalition in a statement to IDG News. "The R&D tax credit motivates U.S.-based companies to keep cutting-edge research projects in the United States while funding high wage and high skilled jobs for American R&D workers across diverse industries such as manufacturing, information technology, biotech, agriculture, aerospace and others.”
 
 

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H-1B Visa Update

The outlook for H-1B visa progress is looking discouraging in our current Congress. In May, the Immigration Reform bill failed, as did the provision to raise the cap on H-1B visas. After the democratic take-over of the House, the technology industry was hopeful that better legislation would be introduced and changes would be made. These hopes have hit a wall of reality, as many law-makers are pushing back harder than ever in defense of American jobs.

On April 2, 2008, the U.S Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced legislation to crack down on employers who abuse H-1B visas and to make American workers a priority. The Durbin-Grassley bill would require employers to attempt to hire American workers first. Employers would also have to show that the H-1B worker would not displace an American worker. 

This piece of legislation also calls for employers to advertise job openings on a Department of Labor Web site before submitting an H-1B application. Additionally, the Department of Labor would be mandated to conduct random audits of any company that uses the H-1B program and would require annual audits of companies with more than 100 employees that have 15 percent or more of those workers on H-1B visas. 

The climate surrounding HB-1 visas was darkened after September 11th; since then, little to no progress has been made. In the current 110th Congress, the expectation for reform is particularly low since jobs and the U.S. economy are key topics on the campaign trail.

In April, the Department of Homeland Security announced an extension of the 12-month Optional Practical Training period to 29 months for qualified F-1 non-immigrant students.  Students with degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics and are employed by businesses enrolled in the E-Verify program qualify for this extension, as do students whose status and work authorization expire before he/she can begin employment in the H-1B visa program.  Students will also now be allowed to apply for OPT within 60 days of graduation, a programmatic change that will also help with time constraints. 

However, shortly after the DHS announced these interim changes, a lawsuit was filed by the Immigration Reform Institute, Programmer’s Guild and other groups who challenged these new provisions on behalf of American student opportunities.  The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J, but the Bush administration has made official statements declaring the lawsuit’s claims to be unfounded.
 
 

Something news...our first post

Welcome Message

The Technology Association of North America (“TECNA”) was created with one mission in mind: to build strong technology associations that help drive the innovation economy. Already in 2008, TECNA has embarked on some exciting projects and activities! Most importantly, we are very pleased to introduce our first monthly eNewsletter in order to update our colleagues and friends on federal issues and happenings in Washington DC that affect our members. Our goal is to share with you the status of current federal legislation and offer a glimpse of what you can expect in the months ahead. As the grass roots of the technology industry in North America, our eNewsletter will frequently provide interesting and innovative updates from technology councils across North America.

  In March 2008, TECNA successfully hosted its first-ever Federal Fly-In, to raise awareness on the public policy needs of the technology industry, our “Technology Agenda for North America.” Working with the Information Technology Association of America, (“ITAA”), our national partner, we met with dozens of leaders from Congress and the Administration. Without question, The TECNA Federal Fly-In provided a strong forum by the grass-roots of the technology industry in Washington. The speakers were inspiring, the many conversations were educational and the relationship-building was unprecedented. Additionally, the sponsors of the TECNA Federal Fly-In helped finance a winning business model for future Fly-In events and successes. Kudos to every participant and sponsor!

Also recently, TECNA was awarded a $75,000 EXAFLOOD grant to host regional and statewide EXAFLOOD events and meetings to raise awareness on the exponential growth of the internet. TECNA is excited to lead efforts to raise awareness on the Exaflood while demonstrating best practices in how regions and states are making themselves more attractive to investments from the communications industry. We believe leading efforts to improve regional and statewide communications infrastructure is mission-critical to the technology industry and our citizens.

In August 2008, TECNA leaders travelled to Chicago, Illinois for an excellent summer conference. Hosted by Fred Hoch, President of the Illinois Technology Association, TECNA leaders were overwhelmed with interesting innovations, services and ideas occurring across the nation to improve innovation, R&D, technology leadership, and technology business development. Our next major TECNA meeting is scheduled for February, 2009 in Washington DC. We hope you can join us.

Working together, we look forward to furthering our relationships with you while continuing to explore ways in which we can enhance our positive impacts.