The goal of the workshops will be to promote an open dialogue between the FCC and key constituents on matters important to the National Broadband Plan. Key constituents will include service providers, equipment providers, applications providers, community groups, and other groups that have a stake in the future of broadband. Workshops will consist of meetings held at the FCC. The public will have the opportunity to suggest meeting topics and questions for the workshops. All meetings will be broadcast over the Internet when possible, and archived for viewing at a later time to ensure that everyone has access to the content.

The goal of the workshop is twofold. First, to present a view on future broadband evolution: What are our future bandwidth needs? What type of services will need to be supported? What types of devices? What network capabilities will be needed to support this range of service needs? In addition to outlining some possible future requirements, some discussion of future network evolution will be included. There is an historical view associated with the evolution of the Internet. Does this evolution continue into the future? How do constructs such as overlay networks and cloud computing effect this historical view? Do some architectures promote competition and allow consumers more choice? What effect do specific architectures have on competition and innovation? Is broadband more than just about the Internet or is the Internet the defining vision for broadband?