FCC Names Internet/VoIP ExpertSchulzrinne as Agency CTO

Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowksi has named Internet expert Henning Schulzrinne as its chief technology officer.

Schulzrinne, a math, engineering and computer science professor at Columbia, will be based in the FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.

Schulzrinne helped develop key protocols for Voice over IP and other multimedia applications, the FCC points out, and will help guide the FCC's technology and engineering efforts and promote "technical excellence" in agency staff.

A legislative effort to allow commissioners to hire their own technology adviser was rebuffed when an amendment to that effect was not attached to the spetrum incentive auction bill before that, too, was not included in the end-or-year payroll tax holiday bill the House is expected to take up Monday afternoon (Dec. 19).

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.