Netflix and Zayo's co-location business, zColo, partnered to expand Community IX Holdings' (CIX) peering platform by sponsoring a peering exchange in Atlanta, Zayo said in a news release Tuesday. The space, power and underlying network connectivity of the new exchange, named CIX-ATL, will be provided by zColo, while Netflix will provide the necessary switching equipment and associated technology to run the exchange, said Zayo. CIX serves the southeastern U.S. and Latin American markets and its new CIX-ATL platform will reside in zColo's facility in Atlanta, the release said.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s goal is to integrate drones into U.S. airspace while “maintaining the highest levels of safety,” a spokeswoman told us in response to a complaint filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center against the FAA for failing to establish privacy rules for commercial drones (see 1510050053). “Safely integrating UAS [unmanned aircraft systems] into the national airspace system is one of the biggest and most exciting challenges we face,” the FAA said. “We are finalizing our final rule for small unmanned aircraft and will have that out next year,” the FAA said. “Meanwhile, we’ve granted more than 1,700 exemptions to commercial operators through the Section 333 process,” as the agency has successfully done for decades, the spokeswoman said. “These operations are approved and authorized by the FAA so we can ensure the safety of the public,” the FAA said. It didn't respond to questions surrounding EPIC's privacy concerns.

AT&T detailed customer migration from legacy to IP services in two wire-center trials it's doing in Carbon Hill, Alabama, and West Del Ray Beach, Florida. In filings posted Monday in docket 13-5 on meetings with FCC officials, AT&T said the transition of targeted TDM-based customers in the trial centers through May 31, 2015, can be summarized as follows: "...in Carbon Hill, AL, consumer legacy accounts declined by 22% and IP accounts increased by 42%; in West Del Ray Beach, FL consumer legacy accounts declined by 20% and IP accounts increased by 20%; in Carbon Hill, AL simple business legacy accounts declined by 11% and IP accounts increased by 22%; and in West Del Ray Beach, FL simple business legacy accounts declined by 9% and IP accounts increased by 25%." Customers using AT&T's VoIP, mobile and legacy TDM networks "all experienced robust performance," the telco said, citing its own reports. AT&T said it's continuing to contact people in both communities to give them information on the IP transition. It also said it expects soon to begin offering an enhanced U-Verse service targeting small businesses.

The FCC named the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis the "independent measurement expert" responsible for establishing a schedule and methodology for AT&T to report on its performance in exchanging traffic at U.S. Internet interconnection points -- one of the commission's conditions for approving the telco's takeover of DirecTV (see 1507240055 and 1507280043). The center, a research group at the University of California-San Diego, is to work with AT&T to develop metrics on latency, packet losses and interconnection point utilization to help regulators monitor its interconnection performance through regular reports. AT&T and the FCC Office of General Counsel agreed on the choice of the center, an agency public notice said Thursday in docket 14-90.

North American Portability Management continues to negotiate with iconectiv on a local number portability administrator contact, NAPM's counsel said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 95-116 on the FCC-ordered transition to a new LNP administrator. NAPM had expected to deliver a new contract to the commission for review in September (see 1509030011), but the parties continue to "meet regularly, and conduct conference calls between meetings, in order to expedite negotiation of the terms and conditions," the NAPM monthly status report said. The FCC gave Ericsson's Telcordia (which does business as iconectiv) the conditional right to be the next LNP administrator, replacing incumbent Neustar. NAPM said it intends to begin negotiating a transition service agreement with Neustar in mid-October.

James Bell, former corporate president of Boeing, was elected to Apple's board, the company said in a news release Thursday. "James brings a wealth of global, financial and industrial experience from his successful career at Boeing as corporate president and CFO," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement. "I am thrilled to welcome him to Apple's board of directors and I look forward to working with him." Apple and Cook are to be commended for the decision to appoint Bell, who's African-American, said the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in a news release Thursday, and "their proven commitment to minority inclusion on their Board should encourage other companies in Silicon Valley to follow suit." Jesse Jackson, Rainbow PUSH president, met with Cook at an Apple shareholder meeting in March to encourage the company to commit to diversity and inclusion.

The FTC won't increase fees for telemarketers who access phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry in FY 2016, the agency said in a news release Tuesday. The fees are outlined in a Federal Register notice, it said. The vote to authorize the fees to be listed in the Federal Register was unanimous.

NTIA issued a broadband funding guide to help communities tap federal programs supporting high-speed Internet projects and related efforts. The guide "provides a roadmap on how to access federal funding to support broadband planning, public access, digital literacy, adoption, and deployment," said an NTIA blog Monday. The guide provides overviews of broadband programs at the Appalachian Regional Commission, Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service, Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, FCC and Institute of Museum and Library Services' Office of Library Services. NTIA released the guide as part of its BroadbandUSA initiative, which seeks to build on the experience the agency gained in overseeing more than $4 billion in grants under its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (see 1509280060).

The FCC Public Safety Bureau said it opened the Public Safety Support Center (PSSC), a “web-based, one-stop portal” for the use of public safety answering points and other public safety entities. “A principal goal of the Bureau is to ensure consistent and timely support to public safety stakeholders,” the bureau said in a public notice Monday. The new PSSC “will handle notifications of service outages, complaints related to carrier provision of location information, and register issues or submit inquiries regarding PSAP or Public Safety operations or FCC rules and regulations,” the bureau said.

AT&T and Verizon led an "investment heroes" list for U.S. capital spending in 2014 put out by the Progressive Policy Institute, said a news release Monday. AT&T topped the top 25 list for the fourth year in a row, with $21.2 billion in domestic capital spending, while Verizon was second with $16 billion, the group said. Google was fourth with $10.7 billion, Comcast was eighth with $7.4 billion, Intel was ninth with $6.5 billion, Amazon was 16th with $4.8 billion, Time Warner Cable was 19th with $4.1 billion, Apple was 20th with $4.1 billion and Microsoft was 25th with $3.1 billion.