Everything to Know About President Donald Trump’s New Drone Program

President Donald Trump has introduced a plan that may let companies like Google and Amazon move more quickly to use drones for delivering diapers, tangerines, and shampoo to your doorstep.

The Trump Administration said Wednesday that unspecified local and state agencies as well as tribal authorities would help the federal government to create a set of drone regulations for commercial flights.

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversee drones in the national airspace, released rules in Aug. 2016 for how businesses can use drones for tasks like aerial photography or to monitor farms. However, many states and local governments have enacted their own drone rules that in many cases conflict with current FAA regulations.

Although the FAA has approved some companies to use drones to photograph property damage, for example, doing so could potentially violate local privacy laws if drones take pictures of nearby homes without their owners’ consent.

This mishmash of local and federal drone rules in addition to the hurdles to businesses of obtaining FAA approval for commercial drone flights has caused some companies like Amazon amzn and Google goog to move their test flights to countries like United Kingdom and Australia where laws are more lax.

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The Trump Administration’s drone program is intended to make it easier for companies to test drones by having local authorities, tribal government, companies, and the federal government work together. It’s also designed to give businesses more flexibility to fly drones at night, beyond the sight of human operators, and over people’s heads—things that are currently banned without approval but important to making drone deliveries a reality.

“Overall this is a hugely important step forward,” said attorney Lisa Ellman, who helps run the drone advocacy group Commercial Drone Alliance. “The intent is to open up the skies to commercial drones. It will help us gather data to inform future rule making.”

Still, the Trump Administration revealed limited details about how the new drone program, planned for the next three years, would work. For example, the administration said in a statement, “Prospective local government participants should partner with the private sector to develop pilot proposals,” but it did not say how those partnerships would function.

The DOT said it would evaluate at least five applications in which local authorities and companies will jointly propose plans for potential drone projects in certain municipalities. But, the DOT did reveal how it is determining the appropriate projects or its criteria for how it is selecting participants, likely to be many considering it will include numerous local governments as well as companies with competing interests.

The department also did not say how much the federal program would cost, but it added that the cost would be revealed in the coming days.

Nevertheless, several organizations and companies that are interested in drones are pleased about the Trump Administration’s initiative.

“The beauty of this program is that the White House is allowing everyone from cities to states to tribal authorities to apply,” Greg McNeal, co-founder of drone startup AirMap told Fortune in an email. “States and cities will apply to open the airspace for operations that they’re most interested in, that are the best fit for local conditions and complexities, and that allow them to welcome drone operations that can kickstart their drone economy.”

Drone advocacy group Small UAV Coalition, which represents companies like Google’s parent, Alphabet, and Amazon, also commended the program.

“As the pilot program gets underway, the Coalition looks forward to continuing to work with Congress, the FAA, and all stakeholders to advance long-term FAA reauthorization legislation that will help ensure that the United States fully embraces the immense economic potential and consumer benefits of UAS [drones] technology in the near-term,” the group said in a statement.

But just because the new drone program debuted, doesn’t mean that local authorities, the federal government, and corporate interests won’t butt heads. States are still free to enact their own drone law regardless of Trump’s proposal.

Supporters of Trump’s plan like the Small UAV Coalition, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, and the Academy of Model Aeronautics praised how the new drone program still designates the FAA as the ultimate authority over drones, trumping local governments. One reason these groups like this is because local laws often impede corporate interests especially surrounding privacy laws, thus limiting the ability of companies to launch commercial drone projects.

“We are encouraged that this new program appears to preserve the FAA’s authority over the nation’s airspace,” said Academy of Model Aeronautics spokesperson Chad Budreau.

About why it’s taken so long for such a framework to be developed, Ellman explained that’s just the way Washington D.C. politics works.

“I think when you’re dealing with any major federal government policy, there’s just a lot of ‘I’s’ to be dotted and ‘T’s’ to be crossed,” Ellman said.

Tech

NetDepot.com Revamps Dedicated Server Reseller Program


Houston, TX (PRWEB) June 11, 2015

Operating the same successful program over the last decade has brought substantial operating results for NetDepot.com and its valued reseller base. Today NetDepot.com announces a brand new Dedicated Server Reseller Program, which aims to give its existing and new resellers the best discounts, resources and tools available to allow its reseller the greatest success possible. Discounts up to 25% are available to resellers that quality.

“We are in a great position in our business to focus on what matters most to our high valued customers. Discounts and exclusive perks are something we work very hard to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. We are focused on providing our resellers with unique tools and resources which no other provider includes,” says Rodney Giles, President of NetDepot.com.

NetDepot.com has been in overdrive mode in recent weeks having just announced a freemium CDN offering as well as the opening of its New York City location in April.

“We have been working on a complete renaissance of NetDepot.com in the last 6 months and we are finally starting to see a lot of that work come to light. We are excited about some very exciting changes in the next few weeks we cannot wait to share with everyone,” says Giles.

About NetDepot.com

NetDepot provides leading-edge dedicated servers and cloud servers to a wide variety of corporate and enterprise clients. NetDepot utilizes robust, redundant datacenters in New York, Atlanta and Dallas giving the best performance and redundancy to its valued clients. NetDepot is net income profitable and carries no debt and has a 20-year history. With this solid financial management and long history it is the stable place for your IT needs. For more information, please visit NetDepot.com.







More Cloud Server Press Releases

Rapidscale Adds Top 10 Master Agent, Telarus, To Its Channel Program


Irvine, CA (PRWEB) June 04, 2015

RapidScale, a leader in Cloud Services, has established one of the most expansive and comprehensive cloud solution sets in the market today. Telarus, a top 10 Master Agent specializing in the channel distribution of Carrier and Cloud Services, has built a company and community of sales professionals that have been highly successful.

RapidScale (https://rapidscale.net/) has established an advanced Cloud Services Platform that combines simplicity with ingenuity. Its products include CloudDesktop, an advanced virtual desktop solution, CloudServer, virtualization of servers, CloudRecovery, backup and failover for businesses of all sizes, CloudMail, Hosted Microsoft Exchange, and the all-in-one CloudOffice solution, which is a full suite of the RapidScale products in one convenient package.

“We’re incredibly excited to add Telarus as a Master Agent to RapidScale’s channel program,” says Randy Jeter, CEO of RapidScale. “Their team has built a successful and professional community of selling professionals, one that is respected throughout the channel both by the carriers and agents. This partnership is the start of something great in a converging industry focused on Carrier and Cloud Services sales and support.”

“RapidScale is a great addition to the Telarus cloud portfolio. Their ability to not only provide managed cloud solutions for enterprise customers, but to also educate our partners through their CloudUniversity will be a huge asset to our agent program,” stated Paula McKinnon, Vice President of Supplier Management. “We are excited to work with the fantastic channel team they have to support our Telarus growth.”

RapidScale https://rapidscale.net/ not only focuses on tailoring every client’s cloud services solution to the applications they run, but also follows a “We Care” philosophy that is seen in every aspect of the business. The sales professionals at Telarus will be able to utilize RapidScale’s Cloud Sales Engineering Team for simple and complex cloud quotes and roadmaps.

About RapidScale:

RapidScale, a cloud services innovator, delivers world-class, secure, and reliable cloud computing solutions to companies of all sizes across the globe. Its state-of-the-art CloudOffice platform and market-leading cloud solutions are the reasons why RapidScale is the provider of choice for leading telecommunications providers, VARs, MSPs, and agents throughout the United States. RapidScale is not only delivering a service but also innovating advanced solutions and applications for the cloud computing space. RapidScale’s market-leading solutions include CloudServer, CloudDesktop, CloudOffice, CloudMail, CloudRecovery, CloudApps, and more. For more information on RapidScale, visit http://www.rapidscale.net.

About Telarus:

Telarus, Inc. is a national master agent that holds contracts with the world’s leading commercial telecommunication carriers, makes it easier and more profitable for solution providers, VARs, and MSPs to sell and source voice and data WAN solutions. Our patented GeoQuote platform combines real-time carrier pricing with advanced research features and branded proposals. Telarus’ experienced Sales staff is strategically focused on enterprise WAN and high-capacity bandwidth solutions, making it easier to find the best offer, every time. For its part, Telarus has been named the top Master Agent by the members of the Telecom Association in each of the past three years, the first and only company in the carrier channel to accomplish this feat. Whether you are a top producer or a voice-and-data expert just starting out on your own, there is a place for you in the Telarus community. For more information on the Telarus partner program, please visit http://www.telarus.com or call the new partner hotline at 877-346-3232.

Media Contact:

Stefanie Ryan, Marketing Director

Stefanie.ryan(at)rapidscale.net







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