Colleagues, With apologies for cross-postings. Please feel free to direct any questions to me at rdt4@psu.edu. Prof. Richard Taylor Institute for Information Policy The Pennsylvania State University Call for Paper Proposals The End of the Phone System A by-invitation Experts' Workshop to be held at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, May 16-18, 2012 The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the collection of technologies known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) are the foundations of communications policy throughout the world. As traffic and industry activity migrate to Internet protocol-based communication, wireless networks, video, and other systems, however, the obsolescence of these infrastructures is in sight. The transition from the phone system to converged IP-based networks raises major regulatory, technical and economic questions. Legacy rules do not address the role of regulation in the coming all-IP marketplace. The Internet was never designed to serve the many roles that the traditional phone network plays and there is no plan in place for a managed transition as with digital television and number portability. The time has come to tackle these questions. The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University, The Mack Center for Technological Innovation at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Donald McGannon Communication Research Center at Fordham University are pleased to announce this call for paper proposals in which "The End of the Phone System" serves as the main theme. Authors of selected papers will be invited to present them during a two day (May 17th and 18th) by-invitation workshop designed to bring together up to a dozen American and international experts and to be held at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. The workshop will open with a reception on May 16th. This Workshop is one of a series of events on "Making Policy Research Accessible," organized by the IIP, with the support of the Ford Foundation. Presenters at the workshop will be invited to submit their completed papers for review by the Journal of Information Policy (www.jip-online.org). Invited topics include, but are not limited to: . The future of common carriage in an all-IP environment . The need for, and specifics of, a "date certain" sunset of the PSTN . Technical and marketplace dynamics of the transition . Impacts on universal service, disability access, emergency services (911), and public safety . Interconnection and interoperability issues . Interaction of technical standards and public policy . Network reliability, quality of service, and security in a post-PSTN world . Wireless as a "baseline" communications mechanism . International comparisons . Implications for the National Broadband Plan . Impacts on rural and other under-served areas . Treatment of carrier and non-carrier stranded assets . Consumer protection and device replacement considerations . Impacts on states and the state/federal regulatory balance . Transition from the inter-carrier compensation system Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be submitted to pennstateiip@psu.edu by February 15, 2012. Please write IIPWDMTWS: YOUR NAME in the subject line. Accepted presenters will be notified by March 10, 2012.