Partnerships

Having written this blog for more than two years, I realize that I might be covering the same topics more than once.  I’m also learning what really gets attention in the “blogosphere” – pictures of dogs, particularly those of real cute ones like my dog Taylor. Therefore, for this blog, I will attempt to combine the two by focusing on the need for, and importance of, partnerships.  I will do this by juxtaposing the partnership evidenced between my dog Taylor and my other, much older dog Lily, with the partnerships among our trade-association brethren who have filed comments with us recently in two important Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dockets: one in opposition to allowing unlicensed users into the 6 GHz spectrum band and the other urging the FCC to encourage more collaboration between the communications carriers and utilities on storm restoration. Wish me luck!

Taylor is a stray who was found on the streets of Puerto Rico when she was a puppy.  She was brought up here by the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation of Arlington, VA., and we soon adopted her during one of their adoption days.  This month, we’re celebrating five years of having her in our family. We had her DNA tested recently and Taylor is 37.5% Staffordshire terrier; 12.5% boxer, 12.5% Swiss white shepherd; and 37.5% “other” (including the broad categories of sporting dogs, terriers, and Asian dogs). In other words, Taylor is a mutt par excellence.  The best of those breeds must have combined because she is good with kids and other dogs, is super healthy, athletic, obedient, and potty-trained to a fault.

We adopted Lily at the same time – my kids chose her because she looked a little bit like our Jack Russell terrier who had died a few months before.  Turns out Lily was nine or 10 when we adopted her which means she’s 14 or 15 now.  When we had Lily’s DNA tested, we were surprised that she is only two breeds – short-haired dachshund and American Eskimo.  There has apparently been some attempt to create a designer breed from these two (“Dachsimo”), which we’re not sure really worked with Lily.  She’s cute to us…but, still.  Lily was rescued from a kill shelter in North Carolina, and who knows how bad her life was before she came to us.  Lily is smaller than Taylor and now that she’s older, really relies on Tay to be her eyes and ears.

While from different backgrounds and breeds, Taylor and Lily hit it off instantly when we brought them home five years ago. Their backgrounds and breeding were vastly different, but they quickly became like sisters.  Taylor supported Lily and Lily followed Taylor unconditionally.  Since then, Lily has grown old and now has doggy dementia.  Some dogs apparently act aggressively towards dogs with dementia, but not Taylor.  She still loves Lily and continues to provide her support. Indeed, they are partners in every sense of the word.

Now, back to UTC and the partnerships we’ve joined in the two FCC proceedings mentioned above. The point is probably obvious: We need each other.  We need each other to help carry our important messages to the FCC and elsewhere.  To complement our memberships and arguments.  And to demonstrate the widespread, real life impact some of these FCC proposals will have on critical infrastructure.

In the case of the dockets mentioned above, UTC partnered with the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), the American Public Power Association (APPA), the American Petroleum Institute (API), and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) on the 6 GHz comments, and with EEI, NRECA, and GridWise Alliance on the resilience docket. These partners demonstrate to the FCC and others who are watching the breadth of the concerns/interest from critical infrastructure providers on these crucial issues.

As Taylor and Lily show every day, and as I believe our collective efforts will demonstrate to the FCC, the bottom line is that partnerships can be powerful.  Until we meet again…