solutions tailored primarily for middle-mile applications. Spire, Unite Private Networks, and numerous municipalities. Clients include municipalities, electric utilities, telephone BHC Rhodes recently expanded its geographic base by opening companies, electric cooperatives and government agencies. an Austin, Texas, ofce. Based in Overland Park, Kan., BHC Rhodes is privately owned and has more than 100 employees. Baller Herbst Stokes & Lide PC www.baller.com Black & Veatch 202-833-5300 www.bv.com 913-458-2000 Key Products: Legal services, public policy advocacy Key Products: Consulting, engineering, construction, Summary: Tis telecom law frm has a long, consistent record operations and program management services of support for the development of fber to the home through its representation of clients and through public policy advocacy. Summary: Founded in 1915, Black & Veatch is a global Te frm represents public and private entities on a broad range engineering, consulting and construction company that of communications matters, both nationally and in more specializes in telecommunications, energy, water and than 35 states. It is best known for representing the rights of government services. An employee-owned company, Black public entities to build and operate their own communications & Veatch has approximately 10,000 professionals working in networks. Baller Herbst served as a consultant to Google more than 110 ofces worldwide and has completed projects on its Fiber for Communities initiative and was involved in in more than 100 countries. Services include engineering, several Gig.U projects. As the founder and president of the US procurement, construction, design, management consulting, Broadband Coalition, a broad-based consortium, Baller Herbst asset management, environmental consulting and security. president Jim Baller was a major contributor to the development Black & Veatch has deployed more than 30,000 miles of of a national consensus on the need for a national broadband fber for commercial carriers, cities and utilities and was strategy. He is now a driving force behind the movement to recently selected by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as part use high-capacity broadband to foster economic development, of a consortium that will build a statewide fber backbone. Revenue in 2014 was $3.0 billion. and he was instrumental in the recent formation of CLIC, the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (www.localnetchoice.org), dedicated to protecting the rights of communities to determine their economic futures by choosing the best broadband Internet infrastructure for their businesses, institutions and residents. Founded in 1983, Baller Herbst is based in Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis and has six attorneys. Blandin Foundation www.blandinfoundation.org BHC Rhodes 877-882-2257 www.ibhc.com 913-663-1900 Key Products: Grant making, community leadership development and public policy programs Key Products: Planning, design and construction of FTTx Summary: Since 1941, the Blandin Foundation, a private projects foundation based in Grand Rapids, Minn., has been Summary: BHC Rhodes provides civil engineering services dedicated to strengthening rural Minnesota communities. Its to telecom frms that build and maintain fber networks across Broadband Initiative, launched in 2003, helps communities the United States. BHC Rhodes has designed and managed educate citizens about the need for ultra-high-speed thousands of miles of telecom network infrastructure for broadband and plan and execute broadband projects. Te clients that range from small communities and telcos to large foundation has published informational guides, sponsored international service providers. Its FTTx services include conferences and educational events, and supported many feasibility studies, cost estimating and budgeting; planning, feasibility studies for the development of robust, high-speed layout and network architecture; GIS and AutoCAD mapping; broadband networks. It has supported implementation of hut site development and construction; outside-plant design; broadband applications in schools, health care facilities and site surveys; right-of-way permitting and asset management. other institutions and for home-based users and has promoted BHC Rhodes customers include AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner broadband adoption in rural communities. In May 2015, Cable, Level 3 Communications, Cox Communications, C Blandin Foundation awarded 29 grants totaling $321,245 to JULY 2015 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 41 2015 Leaders and innovators in the fber-to-the-home arena for 2015 A BBC Staf Report ROADBAND COMMUNITIES’ annual DOCSIS 3.1 builds). As of press time, these FTTH Top 100 list celebrates projects were in the early stages, but they are Borganizations for their contributions to ambitious enough to qualify both companies “Building a Fiber-Connected World.” Tis has as FTTH leaders. Pavlov Media, a private been a good year for building a fber-connected cable operator, makes good use of its robust world, and that’s refected in the composition of fber backbone, content delivery network the 2015 list. and other advanced technologies to provide Among the trends the editorial staf took gigabit experiences for residents of student into account are the following: housing and other multifamily properties. • Several technology companies, following • Cable companies are joining the fber-to-the- Google’s lead, are branching out to build home parade. Comcast and Cox, leveraging fber-to-the-home networks. One such entity fber they had deployed to business customers with national ambitions is the domain-services and others, announced large-scale residential company Tucows, whose Ting subsidiary FTTH buildouts (along with future entered the FTTH market with a splash. • Delivering superior services requires more than just fber in the access network. Robust, reasonably priced backhaul is becoming increasingly necessary. Allied ORGANIZATIONS ADDED OR REINSTATED Fiber, which just completed the frst leg of TO THE FTTH TOP 100 LIST IN 2015 its planned nationwide long- and short-haul dark fber network, and OneCommunity, 3-GIS www.3-GIS.com a nonproft that operates a regional fber Allied Fiber www.alliedfber.com network in Northeast Ohio, are among the Comcast Cable www.comcast.com organizations using innovative methods to Cox Communications www.cox.com enable more economical Internet access. Fiberdyne Labs www.fberdyne.com As in previous years, the FTTH Top 100 Fujitsu Network Communications http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom list represents many niches in the complex OneCommunity www.onecommunity.org fber-to-the-home ecosystem. Optical fber and Pavlov Media www.pavlovmedia.com fber cables; passive equipment for connecting, Pulse Broadband www.pulsebroadband.net protecting and managing fber; and active Tucows/Ting www.ting.com/internet equipment for sending and receiving signals over fber are the most basic components of an 26 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | JULY 2015 companies, the list includes municipal TOP 100 AT A GLANCE providers, a telephone cooperative and several nonprofts, some of which Network Planning, Design, Engineering, include both public and private partners. Construction, Installation .......................................| 36 Although some organizations on Fiber and Fiber Cable ...............................................| 40 the list focus entirely on fiber to the Network Testing, Monitoring and Management Services 43 ..........| premises or other fber-based broadband Customer-Premises Equipment technologies, most deliver or support Other Than Network Interface Devices 44 ..........................| a mix of broadband technologies. For Network Management Solutions ...................................| 48 some, broadband represents only a Fiber-to-the-Home Electronics .....................................| 52 small part of their business. In making Test and Measurement Equipment .................................| 56 these selections, the editors considered Passive Components for FTTH Networks ...........................| 60 how important the organizations are to Optical LAN Solutions...............................................| 62 advancing fber broadband rather than Carrier Ethernet Solutions ..........................................| 64 how important broadband is to them. Distributors of Fiber Optic Products ................................| 66 Network Planning and Design Solutions ...........................| 69 Te FTTH Top 100 list was researched by Marianne Cotter, Rachel Ellner and Kassandra Kania and overseen by editor Masha Zager, with recommendations and advice from editor-at-large Steve Ross. FTTH network, along with software for planning, setting up and managing networks and for provisioning and billing To nominate an organization for next year’s FTTH Top fber services. Te list contains many companies that design, 100, email [email protected]. manufacture and distribute these essential products. To put all these pieces together requires frms that fnance, plan, design, engineer, construct and install fber optic networks as well as equipment for digging, pushing, pulling and attaching fber. Tese, too, are represented on the list. Te list also includes a variety of organizations that advocate for better broadband or create the conditions that make FTTH more proftable. Finally, there wouldn’t be any fber to the home if not for the network owners – large and small, private and public, incumbent and competitive – that