Start!Forum Meeting on June 12 Will Discuss Transition to an All-Internet Protocol Network — Event Co-Sponsored by BroadbandBreakfast.com

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2013 – BroadbandBreakfast.com will co-sponsor the first annual Start!Forum, along with co-hosts the Voice Communication Exchange Committee (VCXC), the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) and the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA).

The Forum will be held at the Wiley Rein Conference Center, 1776 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12, 2013.

Complimentary Tickets are available. Use promocode “BBBC” for free registration at http://vcxc.org/june12th

The Start!Forum will focus on the transition from internet protocol version 4 (IPv4), which includes increasingly outdated copper phone lines, to a system of all-internet protocol networks with high-definition core voice. This new network is called IPv6, or version 6 of these IP networks. IPv6 will serve an all-IP framework that includes IP services, IP devices, IP access and IP interconnecting.

VCXC, a nonprofit start-up working to speed the transition to all-IP networks, is the creator of the Start!Forum and hopes the yearly event will provide an significant opportunity for information technology and telecommunications organizations internationally to come together and discuss the many facets of the transition.

The event will begin with a keynote speech by Charlie Ergen, Chairman of DISH Network, with sessions focusing on the “The All New IP Communications Industry.” These will include: “The Seven Revolutions”, “Geostrategic Implications of IP Communications”, “Harnessing Moore’s Law to Drive 1000x IP Network Capacity”, “Policy Firewall versus Competition Policy and the Social Contract”, “No One Regulates Companies They Love” and “Knowledge and Power – The Information Theory of Capitalism” and a book signing and network reception with George Gilder, author of “Knowledge & Power.”

The Start!Forum is a program of the Start!Campaign, whose primary goal is to facilitate a complete transition to IPv6 by June 15, 2018.

VCXC plans to facilitate increasing industry collaboration and public engagement with a variety of Start!Campaign events over the next several years, including the Forum.

The Start!Campaign began with a kickoff event in June 2012, and the upcoming Start!Forum will assess what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done. The name Start!Campaign suggests the need for industry to take a fresh approach to the IP transition.

As Daniel Berninger, founder of VCXC, states “All the solutions we need are new solutions.”

The transition to IP from copper wire carries a number of major benefits, he said.  Operating expenses will be cheaper. Additionally, many companies are currently maintaining both telecommunications networks, creating unnecessary costs.

“It’s pretty inefficient for companies to operate two networks,” said Berninger.

Nonetheless, a number of challenges still exist for the IP transition. For one, it is important to ensure that crucial functions, such as emergency 911 services, are not interrupted during the transition.

Additionally, there are regulatory challenges. Under the old network, voice and information were two different industries with separate, unique regulations. Transitioning to IP will join them together, requiring reconciliation of different policies. Debate over policy questions, rather than over technological limitations, has been the greatest obstacle to the IP transitions thus far.