FiberFiber toto thethe HomeHome AtAt anan InflectionInflection PointPoint What happens when the first big fiber deployments are completed? Is this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?
By Masha Zager ■ Broadband Properties
t the FTTH Conference this month, the industry offerings suggest that the appeal of fiber is wider than ever. is contemplating life after FiOS. Of course, Veri- (There’s more, too – we didn’t have room in the print edition Azon isn’t done with FiOS – it still has another mil- for international news.) lion or more homes to pass with fiber, as well as 3 million Passing the baton to smaller providers may have benefits homes already passed (3.5 million for TV) that are waiting in terms of bridging the digital divide. Some of these orga- to be marketed – not to mention 9 million more potential nizations have the luxury of being able to consider the long- customers to woo in existing FiOS markets (or perhaps 8 term profits and the community benefits that fiber enables; million, after the spinoff to Frontier). Somewhere along the answering to a city council, a cooperative board or an own- line, it will probably also upgrade the network, or portions ing family is very different from having to meet analysts’ of it, to 10GPON and add new services. quarterly earnings targets. Municipalities, cooperatives and Still, the actual rollout of FiOS is largely complete, and privately owned companies can build fiber networks in areas nothing else on the horizon looks quite as big. Some other that Verizon and other public companies can’t touch. In still large fiber deployments, including SureWest’s, are also com- other areas, grants and subsidized loans are making it pos- ing to an end. The impressive charts that we’ve published sible to build out fiber. for the last several years showing the dramatic expansion of In addition, as new services are introduced, the econom- FTTH will now begin to flatten out. ics of FTTH will shift. Elsewhere in this issue, James Salter However, as Joe Savage, president of the Fiber-to-the- of Atlantic Engineering Group calls smart-grid applications Home Council, points out in this issue, the underlying a “revolutionary opportunity” for FTTH networks, and this drivers for FTTH haven’t gone away; if anything, they’re roundup includes several deployments in which the smart grid stronger than ever. As this very long deployment roundup was a primary instigator – including Opelika, Ala., which just demonstrates, many telcos, cable companies, municipali- held a successful referendum on community broadband. So ties, property owners and others are convinced that fiber is the key to meeting the bandwidth demands of consumers, there are many reasons to believe that the 2010 inflection businesses, cellular providers and utilities. All these reports point is only the end of the beginning. of new projects, expansions, upgrades and improved service – MZ
New Broadband Stimulus Awards The Departments of Agriculture and allocated by the statutory deadline. On did not even appear to meet the weak Commerce must award the entire broad- the same date, the USDA Rural Utili- National Broadband Plan goals of 4 band stimulus appropriation (now down ties Service announced awards to 126 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream. to $6.9 billion) by the end of September. last-mile projects totaling $1.2 billion However, nearly two-thirds of the Although both agencies have consis- in grant and loan funding. This batch $1.2 billion went to fund projects that tently been behind schedule, on August of awards included far more DSL and were based entirely or primarily on fiber- 4, they announced an ambitious time- wireless projects than previous batches to-the-home technology. These included line for getting all the remaining funds and included a few wireless projects that several very large awards: $124 million
22 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 to West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative, $66 million Recipients are mainly independent telephone companies to Highland Telephone Cooperative and $64 million to Mon- but also include an electric co-op, a public utilities district and tana Opticom. In addition, VTel Wireless will deploy some tribal authorities. More than half had prior experience with FTTH in its primarily 4G wireless project. deploying FTTH. See the list below for details.
RUS Broadband Initiatives Program Awards for FTTH Projects Loans and Grants Announced August 4, 2010
Applicant State Award Amount Potential Subscribers Previous (Millions; may be FTTH? supplemented by non-RUS funds) Allband Communications Cooperative MI $8.6 3,800 people, 95 businesses, x www.allband.org 9 community institutions Allband Communications Cooperative MI $1.1 500 people, 20 businesses x www.allband.org Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation NC $16 8,700 people, 270 businesses, x www.atmc.net 35 community institutions AtLink OK $8.5 4,000 people, 1,400 businesses, www.atlinkwifi.com 6 community institutions Baldwin Telecom WI $9.1 3,600 people, 30 businesses, x www.baldwin-telecom.net 2 community institutions Calaveras Telephone CA $4.1 1,000 people, several businesses x www.calaverastelephone.com Cascade Networks WA, OR $3.7 3,100 people, 200 businesses, x www.cascadenetworks.net 5 community institutions Castle Cable TV NY $7.2 5,500 people, 217 businesses, www.castlecabletv.com 12 community institutions Chequamegon Communications Cooperative WI $31.1 10,400 people, 959 businesses, www.cheqtel.com 35 community institutions Cimarron Telephone Company* OK $42.4 21,500 people, 933 local x www.cimtel.net businesses, 35 community institutions Clear Lake Independent Telephone IA $7.9 2000 people, 20 businesses x www.cltel.com Climax Telephone Company MI $3.2 1,800 people, 50 businesses, www.ctstelecom.com 9 community institutions Farmers Mutual Telephone Company MN $9.7 3,700 people, 165 businesses, x www.farmerstel.net 12 community institutions Farmers’ Mutual Telephone Company IA $8.6 3,700 people, 70 businesses, www.omnitel.biz 15 community institutions Federated Telephone Cooperative MN $3.0 950 people, 20 businesses x www.fedtel.net Foothills Rural Telephone Cooperative KY $21 6,000 people, 800 businesses, x www.foothills.net 8 community institutions Grand River Mutual Telephone MO $12.4 2,800 people, 750 businesses, x www.grm.net 20 community institutions Grand River Mutual Telephone MO $9.0 1,500 people, 350 businesses, x www.grm.net 8 community institutions Griggs County Telephone Company ND $22.1 4,000 people, 400 businesses, www.mlgc.com 15 community institutions Highland Telephone Cooperative TN, KY $66.5 52,000 people, 1,800 businesses, x www.highlandtel.net 100 community institutions Home Communications KS $2 500 people, 24 businesses, www.hometelco.net 10 community institutions Home Telephone Company SC $4 2,700 people, x www.hometelco.com 7 community institutions
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 23 Applicant State Award Amount Potential Subscribers Previous (Millions; may be FTTH? supplemented by non-RUS funds) Hospers Telephone Exchange IA $8.3 2,000 people, 150 businesses, www.hosperstel.com 10 community institutions Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska KS $.8 150 people, 12 businesses, http://ioway.nativeweb.org/iowayksne.htm 10 community institutions Litestream Holdings FL $5.1 1,300 people, 375 businesses, x www.litestream.net 15 community institutions Lumbee River Electric Membership Corp. NC $19.9 27,000 people, 1,600 businesses, www.lumbeeriver.com 100 community institutions Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative TX $2.8 670 people, 14 businesses x www.midplains.coop Monroe Telephone Company OR $5.7 2,300 people, 29 businesses, www.monroetel.com 7 community institutions Montana Opticom MT $64.1 18,500 people, 4,100 businesses, x www.mt-opticom.com 58 community institutions Myakka Communications FL $7.9 5,000 people, 2,000 businesses, www.myakka.com 15 community institutions Nemont Telephone Cooperative MT $26.0 7,250 people, 200 businesses, x www.nemont.net 40 community institutions Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative KY $25 11,000 people, 100 businesses, x www.prtcnet.org 30 community institutions People’s Telecommunications KS $7.8 1,800 people, 50 businesses, www.peoplestelecom.net 7 community institutions Public Utility District 1 of Chelan County WA $25 16,000 people, 135 businesses, x www.chelanpud.org 15 community institutions Slic Network Solutions NY $27.8 14,000 people, 112 businesses, x www.slic.com 30 community institutions Socket Telecom MO $23.7 6,500 people, 260 businesses, www.socket.net 36 community institutions South Central Utah Telephone Association* UT $9.2 7,200 people, 212 businesses, x www.southcentralcommunications.com 47 community institutions Southeast Nebraska Communications NE $11.3 3,000 people, 50 businesses, x www.sentco.net 20 community institutions Sycamore Telephone Company OH $4.1 4,200 people, 450 businesses, www.sycamoretelephone.net 14 community institutions Tohono O’Odham Utility Authority* AZ $10.3 6,500 people, 1,300 businesses, x www.toua.net 60 community institutions VTel Wireless* – VT, NY, $116.8 130,000 people, 3,750 businesses, x www.vermontel.com NH 700 community institutions Warm Springs Telecommunications* OR $5.4 1,800 people, 18 businesses, 22 community institutions West Kentucky Rural Telephone Cooperative – KY, TN $123.8 41,000 people, 3,500 businesses, www.wktelecom.coop 100 community institutions Wikstrom Telephone Company* MN $7.4 12,000 people, 1,500 businesses, www.wiktel.com 83 community institutions Wilkes Telecommunications NC $21.6 8,500 people, 3,300 businesses, x www.wilkes.net 45 community institutions Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association IA, MN $19.6 8,000 people x www.wctatel.com Woodstock Telephone Company MN $15.2 8,000 people, 180 businesses, x www.woodstocktel.com 50 community institutions XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative TX $2.1 500 people, 50 businesses x www.xit.net * Project includes other access technologies in addition to FTTH
24 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 INDEPENDENT TELCOS All Our Customers Need Higher-Speed Accesss Wabash Mutual Telephone, a sub- Internet,” says Phillip Wagschal, Slic’s that will make advanced FTTH services scriber-owned telephone exchange in CEO. “We are pleased to be part of a available in the neighboring Quad Cities western central Ohio, chose Occam project that bridges the digital divide area. In the Quad Cities, which offer a Networks’ BLC 6000 multiservice ac- with communications services that pro- high population density and more than cess platform (MSAP) to expand its mote growth and development in both 300,000 broadband-hungry consumers, broadband services. As part of a $4.3 the townships and the outlying areas.” Central Scott deployed GPON in the million broadband stimulus-funded fi- Slic has a long-standing reputation BLC 6000 MSAP and began delivering ber project, Wabash will provide digital for bringing advanced broadband ser- high-bandwidth services, effectively po- television, high-speed Internet and voice vices to the north country. Past deploy- sitioning itself against local competitors. services to Fort Recovery and the sur- ments have included constructing last- Central Scott also serves anchor in- rounding area. Work on the project has mile fiber networks to serve neighboring stitutions, such as schools and govern- already begun, and the first services will communities, particularly to deliver ment, and it networks several medical be turned up before the end of the year. high-speed access to anchor institutions facilities with connections as fast as 100 The project is expected to be completed that include hospitals, school districts Mbps. These new rings are connected to in less than three years. and government offices. This deploy- Iowa Network Services (INS), an orga- “In addition to our residential cus- ment will include dedicated fiber optic nization of 127 independent telephone tomers, Fort Recovery is home to several connections between hospitals and rural companies that operates a statewide fi- major businesses, including a worldwide clinics in Franklin County. ber optic network. distributor of farming equipment, one Slic has already begun working on of the top 10 egg production compa- the Franklin County project and expects Reducing Cost nies in the United States, an automotive the deployment to be fully under way by and Complexity parts manufacturer and a die cast facil- fall. It will deploy 136 miles of fiber op- LaWard Telephone Exchange in south- ity,” says Mike Boley, CEO of Wabash tic cable across five townships and the ern Texas selected ADTRAN’s Total Mutual Telephone. “What our custom- surrounding areas. Slic will use GPON Access 5000 MSAP and its 300 Series ers all have in common is the need for technology, including the BLC 6322 ONTs for fiber-based GPON business higher-speed access.” GPON OLT and the ON 2541 ONT. and residential services. LaWard plans A long-time Occam partner, Wabash Big Bend Telephone Company in to extend fiber services to rural resi- Mutual began rolling out triple-play ser- Alpine, Texas, has deployed Occam’s dents, reaching previously underserved vices in 2005 and has been working with BLC 6000 MSAP to transition from areas and also bringing next-generation Occam ever since to expand its service copper to fiber broadband services. Big services to existing customers. footprint and migrate to an all-IP net- Bend Telephone covers a territory larger Nick Strauss, plant manager for La- work. For this deployment, Wabash will than the state of Rhode Island, serving Ward Telephone, says, “ADTRAN’s use Ethernet technologies, including its customers with a mix of access net- unique technology allowed us to reach GigE and 10GigE-capable Ethernet op- work technologies, including GigE and all our customers without adding equip- tical line terminals (OLTs) and the ON GPON for anchor institutions such as ment cabinets in the field, significantly 2342 optical network terminal (ONT). rural health clinics, a local university reducing the cost and complexity of Slic Network Solutions, a subsid- and regional Homeland Security offices. our fiber-to-the-home deployment.” iary of Nicholville Telephone, also chose As part of a strategic shift to Ethernet ADTRAN’s GPON system has a reach Occam’s MSAP to serve more than and a fiber infrastructure, Big Bend of 30 km per PON with a full 32-way 700 households and 39 businesses and will use the BLC 6000 MSAP to de- split. anchor institutions in remote western liver voice, high-speed Internet and data WNM Communications, formerly Franklin County, N.Y. As part of a $5.2 backup services to residential and busi- Western New Mexico Telephone Com- million broadband stimulus fiber proj- ness customers. In less demanding areas, pany, also selected ADTRAN’s Total ect, Slic will offer triple-play services, the BLC 6000’s DSL technology will Access 5000 for enhanced broadband including three tiers of high-speed In- provide broadband coverage. deployment, Carrier Ethernet delivery ternet and IPTV. Central Scott Telephone, headquar- and next-generation services migration. “The local communities are both ex- tered in Eldridge, Iowa, deployed Oc- WNMC is an ILEC and CLEC service cited and surprised that we are bringing cam solutions in two significant upgrade provider that serves a 15,000-square- broadband into an area that has never projects: an upgrade of its existing DSL mile area of southwestern New Mexico. experienced the benefits of high-speed network and a competitive overbuild The ADTRAN solution will be used for
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 25 Calix Reaches 100-Customer Milestone for E7 Platform More than 100 service providers have now deployed the Active Ethernet on a Large Scale E7 Ethernet Service Access Platform that FTTH equip- A second scenario in which the E7 is gaining traction is ment vendor Calix began shipping in December 2009. large-scale deployment of active Ethernet services. “It Calix says this is the fastest deployment rate for any of takes a unique set of economic models and drivers to its service platforms; more than 20 percent of its fiber be able to deliver active Ethernet to tens of thousands of access customers are now using the new platform. users,” Burke comments. “But if you’re dropping 1 Gbps The E7, which was architected to address the chal- to every home in the community, the platform is well lenges of an all-video world, is focused entirely on fiber- suited to that – every port has symmetrical gigabit ser- based Ethernet services, both GPON and active Ethernet. vices, and you need that capacity to scale and manage Geoff Burke, marketing director at Calix, says the E7 sup- that demand and traffic.” ports “revolutionary” leaps to next-generation services, A good example of this scenario is South Slope Co- as opposed to the “evolutionary” approach enabled by operative Communications Company, Iowa’s largest Calix’ flagship C7 platform, which supports both legacy independent telco, which selected the E7 along with Ca- services and next-generation services. lix 700GX/700GE ONTs to bring active Ethernet services Independent telcos, municipalities, international car- to 14,000 homes and businesses. The company plans riers, cable operators and competitive local exchange to replace its aging copper infrastructure with a fiber carriers have all adopted the new E7 platform. Despite access network capable of delivering 1 Gbps to every their diversity, Calix says, they share a common goal of premises. This five-year, $60 million project will leverage bringing fiber-based services to market quickly while fiber to deliver IPTV, symmetrical residential and busi- managing the services efficiently and accommodating ness data services and reliable VoIP. J. R. Brumley, South Slope’s CEO, says, “We could already see on the horizon future capacity growth. a need for 50 to 100 Mbps per home, and realized that if Fiber on a Small Scale we didn’t aim higher, we’d be going through this same Burke explains that service providers have chosen the E7 exercise again in a few years’ time.” as a solution in four different scenarios: Urban and International Business Services First, the scalability of the E7 allows providers to de- A third common use for the E7 is to provide business liver advanced, fiber-based services in small areas. (The services in urban areas. “Even large MSOs look at it as building block of the E7 is a one-rack-unit, two-slot chas- an ideal vehicle for urban business services,” Burke says. sis.) Smaller providers choose the E7 for rural exchanges He adds, “In the traditional model of an ATM envion- in dire need of upgrading, in which a rip-and-replace ment with T1 lines, if you wanted more bandwidth, you strategy makes more sense than an evolutionary tran- placed an order for more T1 lines and another modem. sition. The broadband stimulus program has provided But if you are … a competitive exchange carrier address- funding for many buildouts of this type; nearly all the ing that need in an urban area, and you come in with Calix customers that have been awarded stimulus grants a less expensive model like Ethernet, you can emulate and loans have selected the E7 as their key platform. that same service but provide a full Gbps. Or you can One of these customers, Mike George, president and segment the bandwidth and [customers] can provision general manager of Northeast Louisiana Telephone it or turn the speeds up and down themselves, which Company, says, “As a broadband stimulus award winner, gives you an enormous economic advantage over the it was important for us to ensure that we were deploying incumbent.” a platform that was aligned with the long-term strategic Finally, a number of Latin American and Caribbean needs of our network. The E7 provides us with the peace service providers have selected the E7 because it is opti- of mind that we can utilize the right technology to ad- mized for international standards. Its form factor, its abil- dress emerging applications in our network, while pro- ity to allow access from the front and its support of E1 viding us an operational model that allows us to scale services are all appealing to international operators. after broadband stimulus projects are over.” Transtelco, an innovative operator serving busi- Although most larger providers, such as Tier 2 telcos, nesses throughout northern Mexico and cities along are not deploying the E7 widely because they are re- both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, is an example of taining their existing last-mile copper, nearly all of them an international provider’s selecting the E7 platform. have niche locations where they want to deploy high- Headquartered in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, end services, and the E7’s scalability allows them to do Transtelco sees wide fiber deployment as key to its fu- this on a pay-as-you-grow basis. ture. Targeting companies that do business across the
26 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 border, Transtelco will use both GPON and point-to-point telco to differentiate itself and deliver the most advanced Ethernet technologies on the E7 to support E1, T1, GigE services efficiently and effectively,” says Manuel Marin, and a variety of Metro Ethernet Forum services. vice president of engineering and development at Trans- “As a [communications service provider] competing telco. “Fiber to the premises provides us with the optimal against a large incumbent operator, it is crucial for Trans- delivery vehicle for addressing our customers’ demands.”
ADSL2+ residential services and Carrier to 779 subscribers and make improve- evaluated offerings from six vendors and Ethernet services for business custom- ments to its system. selected two. “Zhone’s autoprovisioning ers. In the future, WNMC will be able A Minnesota telco, Lismore Coop- is a key differentiator, and it becomes to transition to all-fiber services without erative Telephone Company, is wrap- increasingly valuable in a dispersed ge- a forklift upgrade. ping up the deployment of fiber to its ography,” says Karlin Kelley, general “ADTRAN’s Total Access 5000 320 subscribers with the help of an RUS manager of HunTel. enables us to service both business and loan, according to local press reports. Ohio independent phone company residential customers from a single The company began building its point- CT Communications is deploying the platform,” says Dom Bianco, general to-point fiber network in 2009. It plans Allied Telesis Intelligent Multiservice manager, WNMC. “This solution will to deliver voice and Internet services and Access Platform (iMAP) active Ether- allow us to significantly improve our is considering offering a video service in net product line for its next-generation operational efficiency, reduce costs and the future. network. “We chose the Allied Telesis gracefully transition to an all-Ethernet In another RUS-funded project, active Ethernet platform because we architecture without replacing existing KanOkla Networks selected Zhone’s were confident it could support our ATM-based customer modems or core MXK Terabit-Scale MSAPs and zNID network bandwidth needs, both today equipment as we begin our migration to ONTs for an extensive FTTH project and in the future,” says Tim Bolander, next-generation services.” that will provide the foundation for director of network operations for CT Oxford Networks, a telecommu- 1 Gbps active Ethernet service. Communications. “We recognized early nications company in Maine, selected KanOkla currently serves 20 ex- on the need for 100 Mbps symmetrical the Total Access 5000 to deliver a mix changes in a 1,400-square-mile region capabilities, and with Allied Telesis, we of voice, high-speed Internet access, that extends throughout Oklahoma and can improve service and deliver a strong FTTH and Carrier Ethernet services to Kansas. Many of its subscribers live 10 quality of experience to our customers. residential and business customers, in- miles or more from its central offices. We envision our implementation of the cluding key anchor institutions such as “We see FTTH as a transformative Allied Telesis solution as a model for the schools and libraries. Oxford Networks technology for our communities,” says FCC’s National Broadband Plan.” has one of the largest fiber investments Greg Aldridge, CEO of KanOkla. “For Initially, CT Communications will in northern New England and is aggres- example, broadband fiber is helping deploy active Ethernet FTTP to resi- sively modernizing its network to bring ranchers and farmers in our area com- dences and businesses in the Urbana, next-generation services to market, us- pete more effectively in the open market West Liberty and Bellefontaine, Ohio, ing the 10 Gigabit Ethernet transport of through online video auctions and up- areas. The company will migrate its the Total Access 5000. to-the minute intelligence on commod- customers from older BPON and DSL Reliance Connects, a telecom pro- ity pricing.” systems. vider in Oregon and Nevada, also se- “At a relatively early stage in the A core business requirement for CT lected ADTRAN’s Total Access 5000 technology, over-the-top video already Communications was a unified man- platform, along with the Total Access accounts for roughly 30 percent of agement system. The Allied Telesis 1124P Sealed DSLAMs and Total Ac- Internet bandwidth traffic, making cess 300 Series ONTs for future FTTH AlliedView unified network manage- deployments. 1 Gbps service inevitable,” says Ed Ber- ment system met CT Communications’ nard, plant supervisor and director of need, as it provides flow-through provi- A Transformative KanOkla’s FTTH project. “Scalability sioning that will lower the total cost of Technology and the flexibility to make changes and ownership. In addition to the stimulus program it provision new services remotely provide Canadian competitive provider oversees, RUS continues to operate its savings that will continue to compound Vianet Internet Solutions is using En- ongoing loan programs. In July, through for our subscribers over time.” ablence solutions to bring high-defini- its telecommunications program, RUS KanOkla employed the Nebraska tion television and fast Internet connec- awarded a $7.1 million loan to Swisher firm HunTel Engineering to assist with tivity to Greater Sudbury, Ontario. Over Telephone Company in North Liberty, RUS funding, network design and ven- the past 15 years, Vianet has expanded Iowa, to provide FTTP-based service dor selection. HunTel and KanOkla across Ontario to provide competitive
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 27 phone, Internet, data and hosting ser- essary and track all the components was Illinois. The C15, a VoIP softswitch, vices. Now it is moving to triple-play very important to us.” The M4 Solutions equips Hamilton to offer hosted busi- services over FTTH. software includes design and mapping ness solutions, SIP PBX trunking, IP Using a GPON solution on En- tools; integrated work order, fiber and Centrex services and SIP multimedia ablence’s MAGNM platform, Vianet central office management; and sup- applications to residential and small and will deliver IPTV with whole-home port applications such as CPR integra- medium-size business customers. GEN- DVR services and enough bandwidth tion, dispatch management and services BAND is also providing installation, to supply HDTV signals to three large management. commissioning, project management, televisions simultaneously. It will also ITS Telecommunications Systems training and technical support services. provide Internet access at speeds of up (ITS), headquartered in Indiantown, “Our goal is to enable rural Illinois to 45 Mbps. Fla., is deploying the Sorrento GigaMux subscribers to experience high-quality “We wanted a network that would 1600 and 3200 platforms in its new telecommunications services that you give us the increased bandwidth we RUS-funded FTTH network, which might typically only see in large metro- need now for HDTV and high-speed will make high-speed broadband services politan areas,” says Kevin Pyle, general Internet, with an easy and affordable available to every residence in its rural manager of Hamilton County Tele- upgrade path as the network and the service area. By implementing Sorrento’s phone Co-op, Hamilton County Com- demands upon it grow,” says Daniel Re- wavelength-division multiplexing plat- munications’ parent company. gaudie, Vianet’s Director of Broadcast forms within its FTTH network, ITS is GENBAND’s C15 integrates with Services. “MAGNM emerged as the expanding the scalability and flexibility existing TDM infrastructure, making it obvious choice due to the easy network of its metro optical infrastructure to of- affordable for small and medium-sized provisioning afforded by its Broadband fer more, higher-speed data services. ITS operators to bring VoIP to their cus- Access Manager [element management plans to complete its FTTH project by tomers. Carriers can reuse their existing system] and the future-proof benefits of the end of 2011. proprietary peripheral equipment rather its F-8200 series switch fabrics.” “With our FTTH initiative, we are than replacing the entire TDM office. The new switch fabrics provide able to offer our residential and busi- new customers for eti’s triad 10 Gbps redundant connections to ac- ness customers integrated voice and data ETI Software Solutions deployed its cess modules in the system, and they services, with video to be added in the Triad service delivery platform to a duo can be upgraded with no service inter- near future, as well as effectively pro- of fiber-to-the-home operators: ruptions. These features allow an easy vide those in our service area with the upgrade path in the future without a virtually unlimited communications • TCT, which offers triple-play services major investment in new equipment. capabilities they will want and need as in northern Wyoming, used Triad to Phase 1 of Vianet’s three-phase roll- technology advances in the future,” says integrate its telephone customer care out will be completed by the end of this Jeff Leslie, president and CEO of ITS. and billing system with the Cisco year. Vianet’s goal is to claim a substan- “We have dedicated the past four years IPTV interface, manage and assign tial share of the 65,000-home Greater to this project and see the addition of set-top boxes, activate IPTV services Sudbury market over the next three to Sorrento’s WDM products to our net- and support on-screen caller ID. four years. In addition, Vianet is also work as a critical piece of our new fiber • Cincinnati Bell used Triad for au- considering upgrading to FTTH some optic network architecture.” tomated, flow-through service acti- other Ontario markets that it serves. Sorrento Networks’ GigaMux plat- vation on its FTTH network. Using Using GIS to Track forms enable ITS to deliver high-speed Triad’s application programming a Fiber Rollout services with a minimal capital outlay interface, several BSS and OSS ap- Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Coop- and few management requirements. plications push data into the service delivery platform, which in turn erative, a telco based in Tulia, Texas, A protocol-independent design allows provides flow-through activation of recently selected Mapcom Systems’ M4 GigaMux platforms to transport and ex- voice, video, and data on the ONT Solutions as the GIS tool for its fiber-to- tend the traffic of SONET/SDH, layer ports. Cincinnati Bell also uses Triad the-premises rollout. 2/3 Ethernet and SAN simultaneously to control service activation on video “We are currently constructing and in their native format. This level of set-top boxes and video on demand. FTTP in several of our serving areas and flexibility and control allows ITS to add wanted a product that would allow us to or upgrade bandwidth incrementally Cincinnati Bell was recently named take full advantage of mapping the new based on traffic requirements. the exclusive provider of digital televi- construction,” explains Rick Hurt, OSP Hamilton County Communica- sion programming and high-speed In- Manager for Mid-Plains. “M4’s versatil- tions in Dahlgren, Ill., is using the ternet connectivity for Fountain Square, ity was a key component to its selection. GENBAND C15 Compact Softswitch a public space where Cincinnatians Having the capability to add as much to lay the groundwork for its rollout of gather, celebrate and connect. Cincin- detailed information as we deemed nec- FTTH to seven exchanges in southern nati Center City Development Corpora-
28 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 tion (3CDC), one of whose subsidiaries will ultimately serve the entire city. the-home customers can receive cable manages Fountain Square, entered into Texas Hill Country telco GVTC TV, Internet access, voice and security an agreement with Cincinnati Bell to achieved another milestone in its $35 monitoring services from GVTC, which provide these services via its new Fiop- million FTTH project. In July, GVTC currently offers the fastest Internet con- tics product line, which is now available made fiber to the home available to more nection in South Texas – 40 Mbps. to about 50,000 households. than 1,000 houses, with the capacity to When GVTC’s fiber expansion project “Cincinnati Bell is playing a pivotal immediately provide service to another is complete in 2013, it will make fiber to role in the successful revitalization of 900 lots. Nineteen subdivisions are part the home available to more than 18,500 downtown and Fountain Square, our of this latest expansion. New fiber-to- houses in the Hill Country. city’s premier civic space,” says Steve Leeper, president and CEO of 3CDC. Four Telcos Reach Milestones New at Clearfield: Competitive provider Velocity Tele- Clearview xPAK Advances small count fiber deployment. phone broke ground on the Eagan (Minn.) Community Fiber Network in April with what it calls the “first metro ring fiber network in the country.” Metro rings, in which fiber lines form interconnected circular networks, are ac- tually common; this type of redundant construction reduces deployment costs, increases network reliability and mini- People mizes repair costs. However, a typical metro ring connects large business loca- tions, while Velocity’s ring connects busi- WHERE FIBER MANAGEMENT COMES TOGETHER. nesses of all sizes as well as residences. “High-speed Internet is essential in Information today’s fast-paced, media-heavy world, which is why high-speed Internet access for all Eagan residents and businesses Technology is among the City Council’s top priori- ties,” says Eagan Mayor Mike Maguire, who participated in the groundbreaking. “We’re very excited that Velocity chose Eagan as the first community to extend this fiber optic offering to and that Veloc- ity is the first telecommunications pro- vider to capitalize on making this com- petitive step forward in our community.” “Having reliable, cost-effective Join the conversation with your network high-speed Internet is a necessity and a competitive advantage in today’s mar- peers at www.FiberPuzzle.com. ketplace,” says Todd Kerin, president of Machine Tool Supply, the first Eagan business to participate in the network. “I believe Velocity’s Eagan Community Fiber Network will enhance our ability to provide superior service to our diverse customer base and, as a result, improve our profitability.” Phase I of the Eagan network includes a 4-square-mile optical fiber ring in the northwest quadrant of the city that takes advantage of Velocity’s existing coloca- @ClearfieldFiber www.ClearfieldConnection.com 800.422.2537 tion facility. Additional phases will cre- ate more interconnected fiber rings that
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 29 optimum lightpath’s Business Customers Prosper With Fiber Services Competitive provider Optimum Lightpath, whose fiber Students Gain Better Access to Information network serves businesses in the New York metropolitan Brooklyn Law School, a 100-year-old graduate educa- area, announced new connections with CENX and Telx, tional institution, more than doubled its Internet band- operators of Carrier Ethernet exchange services. The width capacity and greatly improved voice service and CENX connection enables Optimum Lightpath to directly reliability while cutting costs. connect its customers to more than 10 million Ethernet “Access to information is at the heart of what allows service locations worldwide – a requirement for global our students and teachers to be successful every day, organizations looking to establish Ethernet-based, low- and in a 24/7 access environment, with bandwidth needs latency, high-bandwidth connections between the New increasing all the time, it’s important that we work with York metro area and other key locations. a service provider that can help us meet these growing Telx, an interconnection and colocation provider in network demands,” says Phil Allred, chief information of- strategic North American markets, serves some of the ficer, Brooklyn Law School. world’s most advanced algorithmic trading service pro- Brooklyn Law School increased its Internet capacity viders and financial exchanges. Many of these businesses from 45 Mbps to 100 Mbps and implemented an im- now have access to Optimum Lightpath’s services in New proved voice service that is more feature-rich and reli- York City and Northern New Jersey, which provide them able than its previous copper-based solution. The insti- with low-latency and route-diversity advantages. tution also has greater flexibility to employ new digital Optimum Lightpath also reports on several recent learning tools and methods in the classroom and across customer success stories: campus.
home health care provider expands care Fiber Services Attract Business Tenants Mack-Cali Realty Corporation, a commercial real estate with Secure Network leader in the Northeast, has brought Optimum Light- Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) is using path’s services into more than 70 buildings to meet the Optimum Lightpath services to cut costs by more than demands of its financial services, health care and enter- $150,000 per year while expanding patient care. VNSNY’s prise tenants. staff and clinicians use Web-based applications and also Mack-Cali, which operates primarily class-A office need to communicate securely with other health care and office/flex buildings, has buildings lit by Optimum providers from the office and the field. The organization Lightpath in Morris County, N.J.; Jersey City, N.J.; and wanted to expand access to more clinicians and staff, roll Westchester County, N.Y., where its clients are seeking out a teleworker initiative and support its 24/7 contact low latency, high bandwidth, disaster recovery, business center. continuity and other benefits. To meet these needs, VNSNY relocated its data center “Mack-Cali’s relationship with Optimum Lightpath and turned to Optimum Lightpath to double its Internet has emerged as a competitive differentiator, empow- bandwidth and improve circuits to support high-quality ering us to attract and retain business while assuring VoIP services. When Optimum Lightpath rolled out an our tenants that they will always have access to high- all-Ethernet, all-fiber telecommunications network that quality telecommunications services,” says Nicholas was scalable, stable and cost-effective, the clinicians, Mitarotonda Jr., vice president of information systems who access the Internet primarily via mobile devices for Mack-Cali. “Optimum Lightpath has successfully met from patients’ homes, felt the benefits immediately. the demand that our tenants have for cost-effective, VNSNY’s teleworker initiative also went into high gear, high-bandwidth services with fast turn-up times. allowing the organization to scale up its contact center “At Mack-Cali, we put strong emphasis on our ‘tenant without the expense of a dedicated physical location. first’ philosophy, which Optimum Lightpath shares and “We couldn’t be more pleased with how VNSNY has has demonstrated time and time again,” adds Mitaro- been able to grow and deliver an enhanced experience tonda. “Whether getting telecommunications services to patients, staff and clinicians as a result of rolling out to a tenant in a brand-new location within just 24 hours smarter telecommunications services,” says Randy Cleg- following a devastating tornado, or beating quoted turn- horne, VNSNY’s vice president of information technology up times when a customer needed to be up and running services and support. “We rely so heavily on this network, fast, we have always been able to count on Optimum and downtime isn’t an option. With Optimum Lightpath, Lightpath to be a true partner for us. The bottom line is we know the service is stable and problem calls have been that when Optimum Lightpath is involved, we know that virtually nonexistent. ” our tenants are in good hands.”
30 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 XFONE completed its buildout in FTTH deployment and is now focusing do not require further capital expendi- Levelland, Texas, adding 6,200 passings on using the network to market advanced tures to extend the network. We built to its overall FTTP footprint. Guy Nis- video and cellular backhaul services. In momentum in our core broadband seg- senson, XFONE’s president and CEO, June, the company introduced Online ment during the quarter, highlighted says that since beginning to sign up DVR Manager and Caller ID on TV at by Advanced Digital TV and wireless Levelland customers in August 2009, no additional cost to qualifying custom- carrier backhaul. Advanced Digital TV the company has seen a strong response ers. Online DVR Manager allows cus- triggered a sequential increase of 5,200 to its triple-play service offerings; he tomers to manage their DVRs remotely RGUs [revenue-generating units], our expects to reach 69 percent of the Lev- from Web-connected computers; Caller best results since 2008. Taking advan- elland market. The company says the ID on TV presents incoming caller in- tage of our ubiquitous fiber network, we Levelland project, which was financed formation on customers’ TV screens. are working with three major carriers to through a low-cost loan from RUS, will In his report on the company’s second- provide wireless backhaul service to over “serve as the blueprint for our future quarter financial results, SureWest presi- 200 cell sites and are in negotiations for projects in new markets.” dent and CEO Steve Oldham said, “Ex- 100 additional sites. These backhaul Fiber-to-the-home pioneer SureWest panding our fiber-to-the-home network projects set the stage for future growth Communications, which now serves over the last five years has provided us a on recurring revenue streams, and can not only its original Northern Califor- significant performance advantage over be delivered quickly and cost-efficiently nia territory but also parts of the greater our competitors. We have a large inven- due to our high-capacity networks and Kansas City area, has completed its tory of marketable homes and therefore proximity to cellular sites.”
RBOC Update AT&T Delivers U-Verse Services Over Fiber In Two New Communities AT&T, the Apartment Renovation sionals to seniors and, with AT&T’s FiOS Growth Slows Group and RPM Management will high-speed services, we’re able to meet in Second Quarter bring AT&T bulk services over FTTP the varying technology demands of our In the second quarter of 2010, Verizon at Campus Pointe in Fresno, Calif. – a residents and guests in an easy, turnkey Communications reported a slowdown multidwelling, cosmopolitan commu- way.” in its FiOS rollout as it approached the nity located at California State Uni- Another Connected Communities end of the deployment and prepared to versity, Fresno, that serves more than project is the Barclay at Dunwoody in sell a large part of its territory to Fron- 550 residents. Under a new agreement, Dunwoody, Ga., where AT&T is now tier Communications. Highlights of its report included the following: AT&T, through its Connected Commu- delivering U-verse TV, U-verse High nities program, will deliver U-verse TV, Speed Internet and U-verse Voice over • As of the end of 2Q10, the FiOS net- U-verse High Speed Internet and U- an all-IP, all-fiber network. In addition work passed 15.9 million premises, verse Voice over fiber to designated units to U-verse services, Dunwoody residents an increase of about 300,000 over in Campus Pointe. will have access to a dedicated AT&T the end of the first quarter. Campus Pointe offers residential liv- retail store. • Focusing on marketing rather than ing options for students, seniors and ev- Ken Wright, mayor of Dunwoody, building its fiber network, Verizon eryone in between. It also offers 30,000 added 196,000 net new FiOS Inter- says, “These investments bring the po- square feet of office space and plans to net customers and 174,000 net new tential to grow our economy and cre- add restaurants, specialty retail stores, an FiOS TV customers; by June 30, it ate new jobs in the area.” Adds Robin outdoor performance venue, a 14-screen had 3.8 million FiOS Internet and movie theater and loft condominiums. Johnson, community manager for the 3.2 million FiOS TV customers. The “This agreement with AT&T gives Barclay at Dunwoody, “Thanks to this increase in FiOS Internet connections us an advantage over other properties in agreement with AT&T, we’re able to of- during the quarter more than offset a the area, while also boosting the value fer the latest and greatest entertainment decrease in DSL-based connections. of the apartments we offer here at Cam- solutions directly to our residents, boost- • FiOS Internet penetration (custom- pus Pointe,” says Chris Duke, property ing the value of our property and mak- ers as a percentage of potential cus- manager, Campus Pointe. “Our clientele ing this an even more desirable place to tomers) reached 29.7 percent by the ranges from students to business profes- live in Dunwoody.” end of the quarter, when the product
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 31 was available to 12.9 million prem- fee. For customers who want two-year streamline production for the FiOS 1 ises. This compares with 28.1 per- price protection, Verizon expanded its channel, which offers hyper-local con- cent and 11.0 million, respectively, 30-day FiOS Worry-Free Guarantee. tent, including news, sports, traffic and at the end of 2Q09. In the past, prices for month-to-month weather. • FiOS TV penetration reached 25.9 FiOS bundles were $20 higher per In addition, Clearleap says it will help percent by the end of the quarter, month than contract term bundles. bolster FiOS1 on VoD across all FiOS when the product was available to “We’ve listened closely to the mar- TV markets. For example, Verizon is us- 12.4 million premises. This compares ket and heard potential customers say ing Clearleap to help professional sports with 24.6 percent and 10.3 million, that … they want time to consider their teams deliver VoD content directly to respectively, at the end of 2Q09. switch from cable,” says Mike Ritter, FiOS TV subscribers. Several teams are • FiOS broadband revenues grew 33.2 Verizon chief marketing officer for con- already using the Clearleap technology percent year over year. All FiOS- sumer wireline and business services. to produce, upload and deliver content based services, including narrow- “We want customers to know that the to their respective FiOS VoD channels. band voice, generated 43 percent of shift to FiOS is the best move they can In Long Island, N.Y., and Wash- consumer wireline revenues in 2Q10, make, that a two-year commitment ington, D.C., Verizon uses Clearleap’s compared with 33 percent in 2Q09. provides them with price protection for cloud-based processing and Web-based
• Average monthly revenue per user their home-entertainment needs, and management portal to help FiOS1 pro- (ARPU) for FiOS customers ex- that our month-to-month pricing op- ducers upload content from anywhere, ceeded $145, compared with $80.76 process it centrally and redistribute it tion and Worry-Free Guarantee help re- in consumer ARPU for all wireline back to targeted local markets within duce anxiety from their decision.” services. minutes. In a marketing departure, Verizon An Upgrade for FiOS1 “Clearleap’s platform allows us to made began offering month-to-month Verizon recently deployed Clearleap’s create more compelling local content FiOS bundles at the same prices it cloud-based content management, de- while dramatically increasing the speed charges for term contracts. Monthly livery and advertising platform into its and reducing costs for quickly getting customers receive price protection for FiOS TV infrastructure. Its initial de- that content into customers’ homes,” one year without an early-termination ployment of Clearleap is being used to says Tricia Lynch, director of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. Clearleap’s CEO, Braxton Jarratt, Vendor Spotlight adds, “Verizon has done a tremendous ADC...... www.adc.com job of pioneering new, more personal- ADTRAN...... www.adtran.com ized TV experiences in the home. Inte- Allied Telesis...... www.alliedtelesis.com gration of our platform will help them Amino Communications ...... www.aminocom.com offer more content and create huge ef- ARRIS...... www.arrisi.com ficiencies in workflow. This also gives Calix...... www.calix.com FiOS the potential to bring more inter- CCG Consulting...... www.c-c-g.com activity into the living room at a time Clearleap...... www.clearleap.com when demand for TV apps is starting to Design Nine ...... www.designnine.com flourish.” Enablence...... www.enablence.com Fiber to the Desk Ericsson ...... www.ericsson.com in Stony Brook ETI Software Solutions...... www.etisoftware.com At the Center of Excellence in Wireless GENBAND ...... www.genband.com/ and Information Technology at Stony HunTel Engineering...... www.htleng.com Brook University in New York, Verizon Intwine Energy...... www.intwineenergy.com Business teamed with Motorola and Mapcom Systems...... www.mapcom.com ADC to implement an all-fiber enter- Microsoft ...... www.microsoft.com prise LAN infrastructure solution that Momentum Telecom...... www.momentumtelecom.com it says provides a secure, energy-efficient Motorola ...... www.motorola.com and highly cost-effective alternative Occam Networks ...... www.occamnetworks.com compared with traditional enterprise S&C Electric Company...... www.sandc.com LAN architectures. Verizon Business Sorrento Networks...... www.sorrentonet.com provided integration services and sup- Tantalus...... www.tantalus.com port for the implementation, while ADC Tilgin...... www.tilgin.com provided all the fiber structured cabling Zhone...... www.zhone.com components.
32 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 Motorola’s Passive Optical LAN Bell Aliant’s competitive territory, by tal program. The province of Nova Scotia (POL) solution includes the AXS1800 the end of 2012. (Bell Aliant expects to is contributing $2 million to the project. enterprise aggregation switch, the pass 140,000 homes and businesses with In its second-quarter financial re- ONT1120GE intelligent POL work- FTTH by the end of 2010.) port, Bell Aliant said its FTTH expan- group terminal (WGT), the WT21004 Later in the month, Bell Aliant sion continues on plan with strong IPTV WGT with power over Ethernet and launched FibreOP for Business, an Inter- and Internet bundle performance. the AXSvision advanced management net service for small and medium-sized Manitoba Gets Fiber Rollout system for the enterprise. The solution businesses in New Brunswick that of- MTS Allstream in Manitoba will invest simplifies LAN management and allows fers speeds of 20 Mbps downstream and $125 million over the next five years to for the optimization of IT resources. 5 Mbps upstream. Kelly Duplisea, VP accelerate deployment of its FTTH net- Benefits of POL solutions include: for customer solutions at Bell Aliant, work, branded as FiON. By the end of • Rapid return on investment and low says, “Offering new services like 2015, MTS expects to deploy fiber to total cost of ownership at half the FibreOP for Business provides the foun- about 120,000 homes in 20 Manitoba cost of copper-based LANs dation for business growth and also communities, where it will provide its • Ease of installation and operation helps attract and retain new and existing MTS Ultimate TV service and very- • High security talent in the future – a key ingredient high-speed Internet services. • All-fiber reliability for business success.” • Reduced environmental impact. Together with the company’s exist- At the end of May, Bell Aliant ann- ing VDSL networks, this fiber deploy- Bell aliant: ftth in New nounced that it was bringing FibreOP ment should make advanced broadband Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Nova Scotia and would offer Internet and television available to about 65 per- May was a good month for Canada’s Bell speeds of 170 Mbps downstream and 30 cent of Manitoba homes. FiON custom- Aliant. At the beginning of the month, Mbps upstream on the new network. ers today have access to Internet services the company announced that it was ac- This is the first time such Internet speeds with speeds up to 25 Mbps, but MTS celerating its rollout of FTTH by raising will be available to residential custom- envisions offering future broadband its investment to $350 million over 2011 ers in the region. FibreOP services will speeds of more than 100 Mbps. and 2012. This accelerated investment, be available in Sydney, Nova Scotia, as MTS launched its FTTH network which will be internally funded, will early as this fall. this January in Winnipeg and an- add about $100 million annually to Bell Bell Aliant will invest $15 million in nounced in April that it would expand Aliant’s current capital program run rate the Sydney area to bring FibreOP ser- the initiative to include the city of Sel- and bring fiber-to-the-home services to vices to more than 30,000 homes and kirk and outskirts. The company plans more than 600,000 homes and busi- businesses. This investment is part of Bell to have the Selkirk network fully de- nesses, or approximately one-third of Aliant’s previously announced 2010 capi- ployed by 2011.
Municipal Fiber Smart-Grid Projects in the Tennessee Valley BVU, the municipal telecom and electric smooth evolution as time-of-use pricing, FTTH network] for additional cost and utility for Bristol, Va., and surrounding load shedding, customer signalling and energy savings will continue to pay off areas, will deploy a smart-grid system on advanced distribution automation appli- for years to come.” its FTTH network, using a communi- cations become more prevalent. EPB of Chattanooga, Tenn., has in- cations platform from Tantalus Systems. Broadband is credited for breathing creased the Internet access speeds on its BVU was the first municipal utility in new life into the region, according to FTTH network to 150 Mbps and is also the United States to offer triple-play ser- Wes Rosenbalm, BVU’s president and proceeding with its implementation of vices over fiber, and Tantalus says add- CEO, who says, “Here, triple play has smart-grid technology. Using funding ing smart-grid applications will give it a translated into high-paying jobs, in- from a Department of Energy stimulus “home-run” network. credible educational opportunities and grant, EPB will purchase IntelliRupter With the wireless Tantalus LAN, a local economy built to thrive during PulseClosers and the IntelliTEAM SG not every customer premises has to be tough times.” He adds, “Our sights are Automatic Restoration System from connected directly to fiber. Rather, each now set on implementing a smart grid S&C Electric Company. The Intelli- fiber connection can serve as a collection that will have the same positive impact Rupter PulseCloser verifies that the line point for the data from several smart on the way energy is distributed and is clear of faults before initiating closing. meters. This configuration ensures a managed. The ability to leverage [the PulseClosing reduces stress on system
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 33 components as well as voltage sags expe- and Internet training workshops. The Fibrant selected Momentum Telecom to rienced by customers upstream of a fault. commission will also provide free high- provide digital voice solutions and ETI This equipment, running on the FTTH speed Internet services for two years to Software Solutions to provide the én- network, will help EPB achieve the high- the Blackwater Volunteer Fire Depart- concert BSS/OSS software suite, which est level of electric service reliability and ment and has established a community supports customer care, work order, power quality in North America and website for Blackwater. billing and provisioning. Énconcert is reach its goal of a 40 percent reduction preintegrated to Fibrant’s FTTH and Muni Systems and Video in customer outage minutes. IPTV technologies as well as the city’s Morristown Utility Systems CDE Lightband, the broadband pro- enterprise utility billing system; it will (MUS) of Tennessee is adding smart- vider for the city of Clarksville, Tenn., allow the city to send out a single billing grid functionality to its network with chose Amino Communications as the statement for all services. technology from Tantalus Systems. The long-term provider of MPEG-4 set-top Fibrant will also deploy ETI’s TV boxes. CDE Lightband serves more utility will leverage its FTTH network Ticket to help market its services, than 59,000 customers via a 960-mile for advanced metering of electricity and whether self-activated, prepaid or com- FTTH network. The Amino STBs plimentary services. In addition, Fibrant water, as well as for energy management support CDE’s 200 channels of digital will deploy ETI’s SOLO Field Tech programs that will enable it to interact television, an interactive programming Assistant, which lets field technicians with customers in cost-saving and con- guide and VoD service. open and close work orders, manage servation initiatives. LUS Fiber in Lafayette, La., launched and assign devices and turn up services “Leveraging our fiber network for an IPTV offering powered by Microsoft independently without contacting a smart-grid applications gives us a head Mediaroom. The new service, available dispatcher. start on implementing the energy effi- on LUS Fiber’s FTTH network, fea- UTOPIA, the FTTH network op- ciency and demand-response programs tures whole-home DVR, instant chan- erator owned by a consortium of Utah proposed by the TVA,” says Jody Wig- nel changes, picture-in-picture browsing cities, announced that one of its mem- ington, Morristown’s general manager. and enhanced search capabilities. “Dur- ber cities, Brigham City, is now the “We’ve offered FTTH to our 15,000 ing the deployment of our LUS Fiber sys- fastest city in the state, according to the customers for five years. By deploying a tem, a number of our customers asked us NetIndex report released by broadband Tantalus system, we’re now in a position for more advanced video features,” says speed tester Ookla. Brigham’s average to build out the value of the network and Terry Huval, director of LUS and LUS download speed of 21.66 Mbps ap- set the stage for time-of-use pricing and Fiber. “Microsoft Mediaroom provides proaches three times the state average tightly coordinated load control. This the platform that will deliver the fea- of 8 Mbps and puts it on par with the will go a long way toward reducing con- tures our customers want and, because top five fastest countries in the world. sumption and keeping the valley clean it’s a Web-based system, it offers us end- Upload speeds in Brigham City are par- and green.” less possibilities for future applications ticularly impressive: UTOPIA custom- MUS is also deploying ETI Soft- and expansion.” To implement the new ers in Brigham City have average upload ware’s SOLO Field Tech Assistant for system, LUS must replace all the set-top speeds of 26.08 Mbps, far above the the maintenance of its FTTH network. boxes currently in use. second-place ranking of 4.18 Mbps and SOLO Field Tech Assistant supports In North Carolina, the latest of sev- the state average of 2.56 Mbps. As part of UTOPIA’s financial re- technicians in tasks such as closing work eral attempts to delay or prohibit mu- structuring, five of its cities have formed orders, assigning services and devices, nicipal broadband was defeated in July the new Utah Infrastructure Agency, refreshing STBs and swaping ONTs. during a late-night legislative session. which plans to borrow an additional The LENOWISCO Planning Dis- Broadband activists in the state orga- $60 million or more to continue build- trict Commission extended its FTTH nized to keep community broadband ing out the fiber network to new sub- network to the community of Black- options open, and apparently they made scribers. The agency’s plan anticipates water in southwestern Virginia, using their voices heard. One of the com- adding about 20,000 more customers funding from the Rural Utilities Service munities most pleased by this news is over the next several years. and the Virginia Tobacco Commission. Salisbury, which has named its FTTH This extension will make affordable, provider Fibrant Communications. New Municipal Projects high-speed Internet services available to Fibrant has completed its buildout in Starting Up 90 residents and businesses. one neighborhood and is close to fin- Danville Utilities in Virginia is propos- The funding also paid for a new pub- ished in about half of the city. As BBP ing a $2.5 million pilot project for the lic Internet access site at the Blackwater went to press, the company expected to final phase of its nDanville network, Post Office, equipped with 10 comput- launch services in August. residential FTTH deployment. A de- ers, where residents can access the In- In addition to its previously an- mographically diverse neighborhood of ternet without charge six days a week nounced selections of Zhone for FTTH about 1,200 homes in the Averett com- and avail themselves of free computer equipment and Ericsson for IPTV, munity has been identified as the first
34 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 targeted area. (A postcard survey of Averett showed about 85 The pilot project will provide a solid foundation for the percent were interested in obtaining service.) A second, simi- capital lease used to build out the rest of the network, which larly sized neighborhood will also be selected. nDanville is an will provide 100 percent coverage in 23 towns in east-central open-access network on which third-party providers may offer Vermont. Although the intent of the pilot project is to prove telecommunications, entertainment, and Internet services. that the larger project is viable, Nulty says, “It will be able to At the time BBP went to press, the Danville City Council stand on its own if we don’t raise another dime of capital.” The had scheduled a vote but had not yet voted on the pilot project. pilot project will be financed with privately raised funds. The Danville Utility Commission has already recommended WiredWest, a project inspired by EC Fiber, has been proceeding with the project, which would be funded from ex- launched by a consortium of 47 towns in western Massachu- isting nDanville revenues. setts that want to build an FTTH network. In June, the towns With its financing plans well under way, the 23-town EC took official action to set the project in motion. Dr. Andrew Fiber consortium in Vermont has decided to proceed with a pi- Cohill of consulting firm Design Nine is now working with lot project. “We have identified several unserved areas that will help to prove our concept,” says project director Tim Nulty. “Engineering crews started the preconstruction process the morning after the vote [by the governing board]. We’re very excited to get to work. This has been a long time coming.” Cable Billing “Delivering cost-effective, high-quality, reliable broadband to rural America is a challenge,” says Ron Cassel, coordinator Billing & Provisioning of the buildout. “We decided that we needed an innovative ap- Over 300 Satisfied Operators proach to that challenge. We have built a successful model in 800.882.7950 www.glds.com our labs, but there is no better test than a real-life deployment. Lowest Total Cost Solutions FTTH, Voice, Video & Data That’s when the rubber hits the road. We now have a solid roll- Digital • VOD • VoIP out plan in place and hope to be installing our first customers Data • Hotel PPV Friendly, Expert Support in a few months!”
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 35 the WiredWest committee on its governance, business model, financing, needs assessment, market survey and network plan- ning, financed by a grant from the Massachusetts Broadband Institute. In addition, the Berkshire Regional Planning Com- mission and the Franklin County Council of Governments are providing grants for preparatory legal work and GIS mapping. Eight Minnesota cities – seven in Sibley County plus the nearby city of Fairfax – have received grants from county gov- ernments and the Blandin Foundation to perform a feasibility study for an FTTH network. According to local press reports, the feasibility study will be carried out by CCG Consulting. Residents of Opelika, Ala., voted in a referendum to ap- prove building a community FTTH network throughout the city. According to the city’s website, “For many years now … numerous complaints were received from citizens about the high prices and poor service they were receiving, while oth- A sign on the city’s website thanks voters for their support. ers have complained that they can’t get any cable service in their neighborhoods at all. After years of trying to get other to offer competition ourselves.” The city plans to deliver phone, cable/Internet providers to come into Opelika and give Char- Internet and video services over fiber, possibly in partnership ter Communications competition – to no avail – we decided with cable provider Knology. The municipal electric utility will that the best way to give our citizens competitive services was use the network for smart-grid applications.
Cable Companies Cable Companies Turn to Fiber Trinity Communications, a cable op- vices to approximately 3,000 homes and return on investment is very attractive erator based in South Pittsburgh, Tenn., businesses. to us. Once the backbone is in place, we launched triple-play services over fiber in RFoG, which combines RF and can simply drop a fiber to the residential Marion and Sequatchie County, Tenn., PON technologies, enables cable opera- or small-business customer, install the using ARRIS FTTMax RFoG equip- tors to use their existing headend infra- RFoG ONU and they’re set.” ment. The major components include structure, current provisioning systems In a competitive overbuild, cable and CPE devices. “We selected the AR- ARRIS CORWave II multiwavelength company Merrimac Communications RIS CORWave and RFoG solutions be- forward transmitters, FTTMax RFoG cause of their proven reliability and to is installing fiber to the home in Prairie optical network units (ONUs) at the meet our capital and operational bud- du Sac, Wisc. According to local press, customer premises and the TransMax getary needs,” says James Gee, president the company expects to offer triple-play RFoG repeater for optical amplification of Trinity Communications. “In our services to every home in the village by of RFoG wavelengths. When completed, system, population density is low and December and to add another 350 cus- the deployment will offer triple-play ser- spread out, so the RFoG cost model and tomers by the end of the year.
Other deployers Connexion Partners With KDM Development Network operator Connexion Tech- net, and telephone for these communi- services from Connexion Technologies’ nologies announced a partnership with ties’ residents. service providers.” KDM Development, which manages 47 “Our relationship with Connexion Connexion recently placed a volume manufactured-home communities with Technologies has allowed us to simplify order for home gateway products from 7,500 rental sites. Connexion will create telecommunications arrangements,” says Swedish provider Tilgin – apparently a customized network solution for the Ken Burnham, founder of KDM. “We Tilgin’s first major sale of the gateways delivery of television, high-speed Inter- also look forward to offering enhanced in the U.S. market. According to Tilgin,
36 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010 Deployer Spotlight States with deployments referenced in this article
Alaska
North American Telcos SureWest Communications www.surewest.com (See list on p. 23 for new stimulus-funding awardees) Swisher Telephone Company www.swishertelephone.com TCT www.tctwest.net AT&T www.att.com Transtelco www.transtelco.com Bell Aliant www.bellaliant.ca Velocity Telephone www.velocitytelephone.com/ Big Bend Telephone Company www.bigbend.net Verizon Communications www.verizon.com Central Scott Telephone www.centralscott.com Vianet Internet Solutions www.vianet.ca Cincinnati Bell www.cincinnatibell.com Wabash Mutual Telephone www.wabashtelephone.com CT Communications www.ctcn.net WNM Communications www.gilanet.com GVTC www.gvtc.com XFONE www.xfone.com Hamilton County Communications www.hamiltoncom.net ITS Telecommunications Systems www.itstelecom.net Other North American Deployers KanOkla Networks www.kanokla.com BVU www.bvu-optinet.com LaWard Telephone Exchange www2.laward.net Case Western Reserve University www.case.edu Lismore Cooperative CDE Lightband www.clarksvillede.com Telephone Company www2.lismoretel.com Connexion Technologies www.connexiontechnologies.net Mid-Plains Rural Telephone Cooperative www.midplains.coop Danville Utilities www.ndanville.net MTS Allstream www.mts.ca EC Fiber www.ecfiber.ne Northeast Louisiana EPB www.epb.net Telephone Company www.northeasttel.com Fibrant Communications www.fibrant.com Optimum Lightpath www.optimumlightpath.com LENOWISCO Planning District Commission www.lenowisco.org Oxford Networks www.oxfordnetworks.com LUS Fiber www.lusfiber.com Reliance Connects www.relianceconnects.com Merrimac Communications www.merr.com Slic Network Solutions www.slic.com Morristown Utility Systems www.morristownutilities.org South Slope Cooperative Trinity Communications www.trinitycable.net Communications Company www.southslope.com UTOPIA www.utopianet.org this new order is intended for five of as well as a beta version of the Intwine bring 1 Gbps fiber to about 100 resi- Connexion’s student housing projects. Energy Wi-Fi Connected Whole-House dences near the university in an initia- Case Western Reserve University Power Monitor, which includes the Blue- tive to determine how high-speed Inter- in Cleveland, Ohio, has adopted Wi-Fi line Innovations sensor, and Smart Plug, net connectivity can be made relevant thermostat technology from Intwine En- have been successfully demonstrated to and useful in people’s everyday lives. ergy for its Case Connection Zone pilot researchers and will be installed into a Theproject will include Internet-enabled research project. The IECT220 and the beta community. services related to health care, neighbor- IECT 210 Intwine Wi-Fi Thermostat, The Case Connection Zone will hood and public safety, education and
August/September 2010 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 37 household energy management. “Delivering superfast connectivity is a global issue. The United The IECT220 Intwine Wi-Fi Thermostat will enable resi- States has exactly the same drivers as the United Kingdom and dents to remotely monitor and control all home energy usage. other countries that we are working in. American homes and It will display historical data and trends for individual devices businesses need access to high-speed broadband that supports and for the entire home, both locally and over the Web. The bandwidth-heavy applications such as HDTV, so that people result is expected to be lower energy usage and cost, as well the can communicate more effectively and access advanced infor- ability to integrate energy usage into personal lifestyles. mation and entertainment services. “We have developed a unique offering which allows us to Fiber Through the Sewers Coming to the US build fiber optic networks at a fraction of the cost of traditional The British fiber optic infrastructure firm i3 Group has set up methods and much faster. The way that we build our networks a U.S. subsidiary. Based in New York, i3 America will follow also means that a large part of the workforce is recruited from i3’s methods, including the use of ready-made ducts such as the the local area, providing a boost to the local economy.” sewer system. i3 Group is already operating in Australia, the Middle East Elfed Thomas, CEO of i3 Group and of i3 America, says: and South Africa, in addition to the United Kingdom. BBP
INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENTS
Fiber through the sewers in the UK ... Shared fiber network in Italy ... FTTH sent to Siberia ... First fiber optic service in Iraq ... China Telecom launches major FTTH initiative. Read all of these stories and more in the digital edition at www.bbpmag.com/bbponline.php
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38 | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | www.broadbandproperties.com | August/September 2010