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Big IT Vendors Mostly Mum On Commercial Drone Plans

Posted by Soulskill on from the playing-possum dept.

alphadogg writes: Word that the Federal Aviation Administration might take a very hard line on commercial drone use has those with designs on such activity nervous. But as for big enterprise IT vendors, it's really hard to tell what they think because they're keeping any plans in this field very hush-hush. More consumer oriented companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google are active, but companies like IBM and HP are quiet, while Microsoft affirms it has nothing doing. A former FAA lawyer says sitting on the sidelines even during this unsure regulatory period is probably not a great idea. "I have a hard time believing they don't have some sort of programs in place," attorney Mark Dombroff says.

12 of 22 comments (clear)

  1. Okay by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

    But what does Dad have to say about it?

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  2. Really? by s.petry · · Score: 1

    I don't think they are keeping "hush" as claimed, I think the reality is quite different.

    1. Drones are of limited value to the overwhelming majority of IT companies.
    2. Drones have a negative stigma attached to them and generate bad PR and suspicions.

    There are a couple companies that looked at floating WiFi for certain areas, and maybe they started thinking about the logistics and costs. Blimps are much cheaper than drones, reduced chances for hardware failure, etc...

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    1. Re:Really? by ishmaelflood · · Score: 1

      yes, that was pretty much my reaction. Pretty clueless article if you ask me. Which you didn't.

    2. Re:Really? by swb · · Score: 1

      The story almost reads like an Onion headline:

      "Local bowling alleys and morturaries mostly mum on drone strategies"

      Even for someone like Amazon, how likely is it they will be delivering via drone? Even if the FAA issued a greenlight for it tomorrow, how much could they actually deliver? Battery powered drones have extremely limited payloads and ranges and the existing physical delivery networks are huge and in place and relatively cheap compared to owning and maintaining a fleet of drones.

      And why would Microsoft have a drone strategy? Windows on drones? Drones to comunicate with Azure? I just don't see it.

    3. Re:Really? by number17 · · Score: 1

      Well duh, how do you think Microsoft got Azure into the cloud??

  3. In Other News... by sdguero · · Score: 1

    Ford and GMC are keeping their plans for organic egg-free mayonaise alternatives very hush hush. A lawyer representing the eggless mayonaise lobby recently stated that he suspects the transportation giants are up to something.

    /facepalm

  4. Probably just as planned. by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    They can spill the beans on their plans and have the FAA set new regulations to put the kibosh on them before they get off the ground (pun not intended), or they can can start their drone usage without mentioning it before hand and then have the business case of "we're already doing it/invested a bunch of money in this idea/you're stifling innovation/we'll have to put people out of work" as an argument why they shouldn't be able to restrict it then.

  5. Re:What do drones have to do with IT? by amber_of_luxor · · Score: 1

    The business case is that the drone will fly across campus, and manually restart a server that can't be RSSd into.

    Nobody sees a Roomba crossing a road, and hence they get destroyed when run over. Drones aren't seen, but since they are above ground level, don't get hit quite so often.

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  6. I am sure my boss is or will be a drone by gelfling · · Score: 1

    Resistance is futile

  7. Re:What do drones have to do with IT? by savuporo · · Score: 1

    In other news, Big Oil is suspiciously quiet on wearables. Big pharma completely ignores twitter hashtags. Conservative think thanks have not chimed in on the icebucket meme. Mainstream media headlines on systemd fiasco are eerily minimal.

    Is your pillow trying to quietly kill you ?

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  8. Easy answer... by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 1

    Commercial Planes are rated to fly through a certain amount of "debris", right? (including non-frozen poultry, of various sizes).

    So, the obvious answer is that any drone is OK, as long as it can get sucked thru a passenger plane engine without shutting it down.

    Win. Win.

    However, the liability of any incident will be on the operator of the drone for putting a brick of a Leica camera on the platform...

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    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  9. Another NetworkWold post by alphadogg by Art3x · · Score: 1

    So the "news" is that there is no news?

    Oh, this was another NetworkWorld post by alphadogg.