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 this workshop is to explore trends in the use of and development of broadband applications and devices. The workshop will identify the technologies and packages of technology pieces that comprise the “killer app” trend-setting broadband applications driving broadband use. It will also identify these technologies’ requirements for broadband infrastructure and devices. Understanding both the trends and needs that facilitate growth in broadband applications and devices, the workshop will aid Commission efforts to identify metrics and data-gathering techniques to track and evaluate broadband infrastructure deployments, and develop key broadband policies to foster broadband application and device investment, development, and use.

The workshop will develop this background by answering crucial questions about how consumers use applications and devices, and the challenges to developing them. Workshop participants will discuss what innovative ways consumers are using broadband today. In what ways is consumers’ use of broadband changing? How are evolutions in devices facilitating what consumers can do with broadband? How will applications evolve in the next 5, 10, and 15 years? Examining the technical requirements of applications and devices, participants will discuss if advancements in broadband infrastructure could make possible applications currently limited by the present environment? What are the challenges to developing broadband applications for fixed and mobile broadband? What changes in broadband devices and development platforms could realize new growth in applications? What changes in applications or devices will drive changes to networks? What regulatory or legal barriers constrain the growth of broadband applications and devices?