Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) trial approved in Palo Alto

[Gene Hastings <hastings@info-ren.org>]

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>From Lightwave Magazine http://www.light-wave.com

http://pennwell.shore.net/lightwave/archives/news/news06992.html

News, June 1999

FTTH trial approved in Palo Alto

By KATHLEEN RICHARDS

Palo Alto, CA, may become one of the first cities in the nation to roll
out a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) trial in an already-developed residential
neighborhood. On April 5, the Palo Alto City Council voted 7 to 1 in
favor of a five-year FTTH trial, contingent upon participants repaying
the estimated $380,000 infrastructure costs by the end of the trial
period. The FTTH trial will be used to gain information about
residential high-speed Internet connections to the city's fiber-optic
backbone.

The FTTH trial was sought by a community grassroots organization, Palo
Alto Fiber Network, and the City of Palo Alto Utilities company, which
owns and leases dark fiber on a 29-mi fiber-optic ring, that circles the
city and connects to the locally based Digital Equipment Corp./Compaq
Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX). The Palo Alto Utilities' fiber
backbone was built in 1997 and completed in 1998. Dark fiber is
currently leased on a point-to-point basis to telecommunications and
commercial businesses (see Lightwave, April 1998, page 69). In parallel
to the FTTH trial, the City of Palo Alto Utilities company won approval
from the city council to develop a universal telecommunications services
RFP for a citywide build-out.

According to a residential survey conducted by the utility in August of
last year, 69 residents in one target area known as Community Center
indicated an interest in the FTTH trial and "a willingness to pay a
rather large up-front fee to get hooked up," says a City of Palo Alto
Utilities spokeswoman.

Exact connection and service fees will depend on the number of
participants, the line-rate speeds, and the selected services provided
by an as yet undetermined Internet service provider (ISP). It is
currently estimated that each resident will pay either $1200 or higher
for the initial high-speed Internet hookup with a $75 monthly connection
charge for a 10-Mbit/sec line rate or a $2400 initial hookup with a
$110-per-month connection charge for a 100-Mbit/sec line rate.

"Those are only estimated values. Once we progress with this and go
forward, we'll have a better feel for what the numbers will be," says
Mohammad M. Fattah, fiber-optic services manager, City of Palo Alto
Utilities.

"A contract is in development right now," says the utilities
spokeswoman. "The trial may be called off if these folks don't actually
sign on the lineóif the contracts don't come through, then there might
be a decision in the future that we wouldn't pursue it."

Although still in the initial planning stages, the city council's
approval of the FTTH trial proposal, and additional research, sets the
project in motion.

Based on preliminary designs, the data-only infrastructure will consist
of a "campus-style" Ethernet network with two multimode fibers tying
each home to a Gigabit Ethernet (1-Gbit/sec) switch site on the City of
Palo Alto Utilities' singlemode fiber backbone. Home users will have a
choice of Ethernet (10-Mbit/sec) or Fast Ethernet (100-Mbit/sec)
connections. The backbone will connect to an ISP at the downtown PAIX.
About 60 ISPs currently service the Palo Alto area. Only one ISP is
likely to participate in the FTTH trial.

"I don't think the technology that is being employed has ever been used
in quite this fashion before," says Tom Marshall, electrical engineering
manager at the City of Palo Alto Utilities company. "Ethernet LAN
[local-area network], which is more of a campus-style connectionóthey're
actually proposing to roll it out in a neighborhood."

Claimed advantages of Ethernet are low cost and scalability. "Cost is a
major issue," says Fattah. "For now, it is a data network."

How the fiber will enter the home and be terminated has been looked into
but not yet determined. "Some of the issues are the physical stringing
of the cablesóa lot of it is in backyardsóand some of the other details
about how we are going to attach, but we haven't worked any of those
things out yet," says Marshall.

The city is contracting to have the infrastructure built. "We haven't
selected any of the equipment vendors," says Marshall. "Right now we are
going back to council for funding approval. We'll begin the engineering
design process after that. We are shooting for going out on the street
for a construction bid in September."

If all goes according to plan, the FTTH trial is expected to start
operation in June 2000. Other cities are expected to closely monitor
developments in the FTTH trial in Palo Alto. At the same time, current
plans to proceed with the FTTH trial may cease at any time, depending on
the outcome of negotiations, says the City of Palo Alto Utilities
spokeswoman.