Spectrum Dashboard: a Visual Powerhouse

The recent flurry of FCC activity drummed up from the unveiling of the National Broadband plan, included the release of an innovative new tool aptly named the Spectrum Dashboard.  With the dashboard being the new industry buzz word, what better way to peg this visual powerhouse and spark interest and intrigue?  It sure is a new world here at the FCC.

As defined on the Spectrum Dashboard home page, the Spectrum Dashboard provides a public means of reviewing how spectrum bands are allocated and for what uses, and who holds licenses and in what areas. The beta version provides basic, plain language information about frequencies generally deemed appropriate for mobile broadband (225 MHz to 3700 MHz.).   In addition, the beta version of the Spectrum Dashboard contains more detailed information, mapping, and research capabilities for the bands where broadband service is either already available, or potentially could be provided.

Perhaps it could be thought of as the “favorite aunt” of the Broadband plan – there to lift the veil on information and display it through “cool” innovative features including a simulated spectrum band and interactive map.  It was even mentioned by name in the National Broadband Plan!

We are quite proud to put our stamp on this fine new tool.  We worked tirelessly with the FCC to gather, implement, and verify all requirements for the Dashboard.  The launch of the tool in conjunction with the plan was vital – resulting in many late nights and weekends up to March 16.  But the result could not be any better!  The tool gives a taste of what future initiatives at the FCC can resemble – clean designs, innovative features and state of the art technology.

But don’t just take our word for it, check out the tool and let us know your thoughts.  Trust us, you are bound to learn more about spectrum than you thought possible (and you just may have a little fun in the process)!!


Posted on Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 9:47 am and is filed under Data Driven Dashboards, Online Auctions.

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By: admin

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Organization Transformation through Dashboards

Dashboards enable the meaningful inspection of a complex system to support decision-making. A complex system can be a portfolio, a business unit, a government agency, or an industry. In this 5-min video, Rita Hadden talks about why dashboards are NOT just the new face of Business Intelligence, and HOW dashboards can deliver transformation in your organization. Rita has built many dashboards and has more than 35 yrs experience in IT management. Rita specializes in organization transformation.
Read the rest of this entry »


Posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Data Driven Dashboards.

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By: Computech

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The FCC’s new Spectrum Dashboard tool

We’re happy to announce the launch of the FCC’s Spectrum Dashboard tool — a part of the broadband plan unveiling. You can access this application from http://reboot.fcc.gov/ and select “Learn More” from the Spectrum Dashboard image.


Posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 9:33 am and is filed under News.

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By: Computech

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Top of the auction mornin’ to ya.

I’ll spare you the pictures of our Irish-clad staff in favor of this three minute look at Computech’s auction platform.  Built to increase transparency, improve allocation efficiency and encourage competition, we initially designed + developed our system to support spectrum auctions.  We’re finding that this multi-lingual bidding platform appeals to regulators around the world as they think about auctioning scarce goods and services. Read the rest of this entry »


Posted on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 10:08 am and is filed under Online Auctions.

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By: Computech

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Speed please

During my baseball playing days at W&L;, we had a rallying cry that was simple (yet oddly effective): “speed kills.”  While not personally the fleetest of foot, most athletes agree that speed confers a real competitive advantage.  Of course, speed counts in the business world too.  Case-in-point: the FCC today introduced two new testing tools for the country’s broadband and smartphone users.  Why?  To help them gauge real connectivity speeds — not just the numbers promised by the nations’ telecoms.

On Tuesday, I spent some time detailing how the data-driven dashboards we build aggregate data from heterogeneous systems (coupling business intelligence with change/transformation management wrapped around heavy UX).  So, it’s pretty cool to see these new testing tools unveiled on the broadband.gov dashboard we built for the Commission.  Bringing an even bigger smile to our faces, today’s issue of Wired acknowledged the genius for crowd-sourcing this data, writing:

“Broadband connection testing isn’t new, and is freely available online, but this might mark the first time that individual tests help to lead to informed policy making… Given that telecoms have long fought against telling federal regulators what areas they cover and at what speed, arguing that information will be used by competitors to poach their customers.  The data can also be used as a way to prevent telecoms from over-promising and under-delivering on upload and download speeds.”

Interested to learn more about dashboards, their value to an organization like FCC and what we’re doing in support of the country’s broadband rollout?  Checkout the FCC’s website, contact me by email or Linkedin, or visit www.computechinc.com for more info.


Posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 7:05 pm and is filed under Data Driven Dashboards.

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By: Computech

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