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FCC Unveils Beta Version of Updated Website

The commission has also invited comments on the changes

WASHINGTON�The Federal Communications Commission is asking for feedback on the agency�s�updated website, which comes on the heels of a big IT upgrade.�

On Friday the FCC launched a new beta version of the FCC website, said the agency�s Chief Information Officer David Bray, who wrote in a blog �Oct. 9 that the new test site has been designed to be more useful and accessible to FCC users.

One major goal of the new site, Bray wrote, is to optimize the display of information regardless of whether a user is on a PC, smartphone or tablet. The new site is based on Drupal, an open-source content management system.The two versions of the FCC website � both the old and new � are simultaneously up and running.�The goal is to fully launch the new FCC.gov website later in the fall of 2015, Bray said.

This newest update follows the Labor Day upgrade of the agency�s IT systems, which involved physically moving more than 200 different legacy servers out of FCC�s headquarters to a commercial service provider.

The agency is also improving the system�s notoriously unwieldy search features and relying increasingly on cloud-based storage, Bray said in his post. The beta test site connects to primary FCC document databases � including the Electronic Document Management System and Electronic Comment Filing System � via application programming interfaces known as APIs that allow real-time updates to be displayed.�

The FCC�is now asking forfeedback via�Web form�or�email.�

Already, the comments have begun to flow in, and users are questioning everything from the laborious steps one must take to open a document to the difficulties in accessing databases.�

A version of this story originally appeared on RadioWorld.com.�

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