SPRINGFIELD, MA · of maintenance to future-proofing. Though most FTTH subscribers are delighted with their services (a finding confirmed year after year in research by RVA LLC),

Economic Development Conference Series

COMMUNITY FIBER NETWORKS

FOR MORE INFORMATION:www.TownsAndTech.com

FOR ASSISTANCE CONTACT:Email: [email protected]

877-588-1649

TO SPONSOR OR EXHIBIT:Email: [email protected]

505-867-3299

SPRINGFIELD, MASeptember 16–18, 2014City Planning Seminar and Pre-conference Workshops – Monday and Tuesday, September 15-16

www.bbcmag.com

Conference Site: Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel – 18 miles from Bradley International Airport

Broadband RevolutionTackling America’s 21st Century Infrastructure Challenges

Kate McMahon, APA – Tech Division

Jim Baller, Baller Herbst Law Group

Tuesday September 16: 6 Free Pre-conference Workshops – Value $1,500 Each

Special One-Day Seminar for Planners Sponsored by the American Planning Association Technology Division

Welcome reception and pre-seminar activities Monday the 15th

Registration Now Open Special Limited Time Rates Expire July 15, 2014

General Admission $95 | Vendors/Suppliers $195

Program Chair Seminar Leader

APRIL 14 – 16, 2015Renaissance Hotel – Austin

KNOWLEDGEABLE AND INFORMATIVE“Good clarification of options and recommendations for future considerations when planning infrastructures. All [panels] were good – information valuable! Speakers were very knowledgeable and informative.”

– Christine Taylor, Manager, Ancillary Services Forest City Residential Management

SUBSTANTIAL INFORMATION TO HELP OUR STRATEGY“Well planned and good updated information … substantial contact and information to help our strategy.”

– Rick Mervine, Vice President, Strategic Planning OnlIght Aurora

KEYNOTES WERE EXCELLENT“I appreciate the visionary forecasts of experts in the field of broadband. Keynotes were excellent. Lots of insights and great stories.”

– David Moore, Director Louisiana Broadband Initiative

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE BASED EVENT“Very useful, hands on, anecdotal, personal experience based event.”

– Michael Anderson, CIO Spiral Internet

VALUABLE INSIGHT“Summit always provides valuable insight into market trends.”

– Brian Pagnella, Senior Consultant Broadband Realty Advisors

PERTINENT TO COMMUNITIES“Very important, useful and impactful information pertinent to communities building and supporting networks.”

– Allen Meyer, Business Development Manager BHC Rhodes

CALENDARS

Here’s what attendees are saying about the 2014 Summit! Make plans to attend the 2015 Summit now.April 14–16, 2015 • Renaissance Hotel - Austin • www.bbcmag.com • To sponsor or exhibit: email [email protected] or call 505-867-3299

twitter.com/bbcmag

www.bbcmag.com

TO SPONSOR OR EXHIBIT:email: [email protected]

505-867-3299

APRIL 14-16, 2015 • GIGAFYAMERICA.COM MARK YOUR

2 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | MAY/JUNE 2014

EDITOR’S NOTE

Broadband Communities (ISSN 0745-8711) (USPS 679-050) (Publication Mail Agreement #1271091) is published 7 times a year at a rate of $24 per year by Broadband Properties LLC, 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471. Periodical postage paid at Rosenberg, TX, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Broadband Communities, PO Box 303, Congers, NY 10920-9852. CANADA POST: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Copyright © 2014 Broadband Properties LLC. All rights reserved.

CEO & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Scott DeGarmo / [email protected]

PUBLISHER

Nancy McCain / [email protected]

CORPORATE EDITOR, BBP LLC

Steven S. Ross / [email protected]

EDITOR

Masha Zager / [email protected]

ADVERTISING SALES ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Irene Prescott / [email protected]

ONLINE NEWS EDITOR

Marianne Cotter / [email protected]

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Karry Thomas

CONTRIBUTORS

Joe Bousquin

David Daugherty, Korcett Holdings Inc.

Joan Engebretson

Richard Holtz, InfiniSys

W. James MacNaughton, Esq.

Henry Pye, RealPage

Bryan Rader, Bandwidth Consulting LLC

Robert L. Vogelsang, Broadband Communities Magazine

BROADBAND PROPERTIES LLC

CEO

Scott DeGarmo

VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS & OPERATIONS

Nancy McCain

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Robert L. Vogelsang

VICE CHAIRMEN

The Hon. Hilda Gay Legg

Kyle Hollifield

BUSINESS & EDITORIAL OFFICE

BROADBAND PROPERTIES LLC

1909 Avenue G • Rosenberg, Tx 77471

281.342.9655 • Fax 281.342.1158

www.broadbandcommunities.com

[email protected]

Who knew what an impact the word “gigabit” would have?

“Fiber” doesn’t have quite the same cachet, apparently. For more than a decade, proponents of fiber to the home – including BroadBand Communities – have educated the public about all the benefits of fiber broadband, which range from reliability to ease of maintenance to future-proofing. Though most FTTH subscribers are delighted with their services (a finding confirmed year after year in research by RVA LLC), only 25 percent of the general U.S. population is familiar with the terms “FTTH,” “fiber to the home” or anything similar (again, per RVA).

Credit Google, which announced its plan for gigabit cities in February 2010, and the folks at Chattanooga EPB, who launched actual citywide gigabit services in September 2010, with getting people excited about the “gig.” A mere four years after Google’s announcement, there are already dozens of gigabit communities, and the term “gigabit Internet” is about as well known as “fiber to the home.”

PROVIDERS JUMP ON BOARDLarge providers are now catching gigabit fever. Until recently, although the number of FTTH builds grew steadily (see BroadBand Communities’ fiberville.com database), most deployers were relatively small companies. Verizon FiOS was the only large-scale, well-publicized residential fiber deployment in the United States. Many large operators, and even some small ones, avoided publicizing any FTTH networks they built or provided

essentially the same services over fiber that they provided over fiber-to-the-node or hybrid fiber-coaxial networks.

Now, CenturyLink, AT&T and Bright House Networks (see MDG and Bright House Networks Build ULTRAFi Communities in this issue) have publicly launched gigabit services over fiber, and Cox Communications just announced its intention to do so.

WHY DO CONSUMERS CARE?These responses are not just about competing with – or trying to derail – Google Fiber. Nor are they simply “fiber to the press release,” as some industry observers allege, although they do make for exciting press releases. My guess is that providers see the term “gigabit” has caught consumers’ imagination as “fiber” never did, and they are willing to invest a moderate amount to find out what its drawing power really is.

Why should “gigabit” spark the public imagination, given that the vast majority of consumers don’t yet need anything like gigabit speeds? Here are a few of many reasons:

• “Fiber” is about what’s needed for the future; “gigabit” is about what’s right here, right now.

• “Fiber” is about cables in the ground; “gigabit” is about the experience of freedom.

• No one is actually counting bits. To most consumers, “gigabit” simply means, “Don’t tell me how much I can or can’t use.” It means “No barriers.” v

Gigabit VisionIn 2010, not many people knew a gigabit from a drill bit. How fast things change!

Did you like this article? Subscribe here!Did you like this article? Subscribe here!

http://www.bbcmag.com/subscribe/

Experience the Gigabit DifferenceFision® is here!

We are committed to deliverying ultra-high speed Internet, amazing HD IPTV, crystal clear digital Voice service and more!

All services not available in all areas. Actual Internet speeds will vary based on a variety of factors. Speeds measured above 800 Mbps classified as gigabit. Speak to a Hotwire sales representative to learn more. Other restrictions may apply. ©Hotwire Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. 052014

Call 1-800-40-WIRED today. www.hotwirecommunications.com

Moving at the Speed of Life™

when you select Fision service from hotwire communications for your community we install a new fiber optic network at our cost. this serves as the backbone for all of the communications services delivered to each home.

Your residents will be wired for the future... more bandwidth options, advanced features, and superior quality! that’s what makes and keeps them happy.

HOME | WORK | STAY | U


TABLE OF CONTENTS

FTTH DEPLOYMENTS14 MDG and Bright House Networks Build ULTRAFi Communities /

By Masha Zager, Broadband Communities

WIRELESS DEPLOYMENTS18 A Great Reception for London’s Super Skyscraper / By Moti Shalev, Axell Wireless

22 Minneapolis Mart Gets a Wireless Makeover / By Masha Zager, Broadband Communities

COMMUNITY BROADBAND 42 Planning for the Best Case / By Craig Settles, Gigabit Nation

2014 BROADBAND COMMUNITIES SUMMIT46 Open for Business in the Global Economy / By Anthony Wilhelm, NTIA

50 Let’s Gigafy America / A BBC Staff Report

TECHNOLOGY60 Next Steps in Cable Broadband

Evolution / By John Richard “Ric” Johnsen, CommScope Inc.

64 Making Broadband Transparent / By Brian Larson, Clearfield Inc.

68 The Unique Test Challenges of PON Deployment: Part 2 / By Michael Scholten, AFL

71 Measuring Broadband Usage / By Mark Momerak, NISC

BROADBAND APPS 73 Consumer Experience in

Connected Homes / By Alan Messer, Clarke Stevens and Wouter van der Beek, UPnP Forum

SPECIAL SECTION

DEPARTMENTS

2 EDITOR’S NOTE

6 BANDWIDTH HAWK

75 MARKETPLACE ADS

76 ADVERTISER INDEX / CALENDAR

IN THIS ISSUEPROVIDER PERSPECTIVE 8 Don’t Sleep on Your Speed

Number / By Bryan J. Rader, Bandwidth Consulting LLC

However imperfect a metric, broadband speed is what customers know and care about.

PROPERTY OF THE MONTH10 The Brookwood, Atlanta:

‘Fastest Condo in the Community’ / By Masha Zager, Broadband Communities

The condo association at this upscale building installed its own high-speed, low-cost network.

25 FTTH CONFERENCE AND EXPO Broadband Communities’ guide to the show, held by the FTTH

Council from September 23 to 25 in Fort Lauderdale. The section includes an agenda, a map of the exhibit floor and information about featured exhibitors.

FEATURES

twitter.com/bbcmag

Visit www.bbcmag.com for up-to-the-minute news of broadband trends, technologies and deployments

New York artist Irving Grunbaum envisions the Gigabit Vision.

14

50

ABOUT THE COVER

Internet is the number one apartment amenity.* Provide the best and residents reward you with renewals.

*March 2, 2012 J Turner survey

Build your brand as a provider of high-end communications services.

Maximize popular video streaming with great connectivity.

Snappy Internet makes residents happy.

We take care of you with dedicated technicians and customer service representatives assigned to your network.

24/7 customer service and network monitoring.

#1

247

Pavlov Media’s fiber services...

We have years of experience designing, building and operating fiber optic networks for apartment communities. If you own a fiber optic network and would like a partner to specialize in MDU services, come see us at the Summit.

People love our fiber services with Tesseractiv® content

We’ll take you to Gigabit (1,000Mbps) speeds

TMSimply Exceptional Connections

Call 800.677.6812

Email [email protected]

Visit pavlovmedia.com


BANDWIDTH HAWK

Fast lane. Slow lane. Net neutrality. Megamergers. What, if anything, should people worry about?

We at BroadBand Communities tend to focus on one thing: bringing fiber-enabled ultrabroadband to as many people as possible. Reliable, ubiquitous bandwidth is important for the U.S. economy, lifestyle and well-being. An ever-increasing proportion of people’s activities is broadband-related – whether entertainment, shopping, health care or education.What’s the best way to get people the bandwidth they want at a price that does not crowd out other economic activity?

Broadband deployments are expensive, no matter what the technology. Interest rates are beginning to rise. How would smaller players such as Time Warner Cable and DIRECTV – each with about $20 billion in debt – raise funds for expansion when investors believe their debt is already too high? Large owners of business and residential property already complain about smaller providers’ not having the resources to improve service.

Is there a slow lane on Internet-connected private networks? There certainly is. Netflix, which right now is responsible for nearly one-third of all North American downstream Internet traffic – and, by some calculations, more – enjoyed average access speeds to Comcast consumers at a fairly steady 2 Mbps all last year. That speed dropped to 1.4 Mbps in January, and within a few months jumped to 2.6 Mbps after Netflix agreed to pay a toll.

Is that fair? Most economists will say, in guarded terms, that it is. Any users that consume enough of a scarce resource that the providers of that resource have to spend extra themselves, should help pay for the extra capacity. But this picture suffers from jitter. Netflix is today’s bandwidth hog. But Netflix also has long offered to place its own servers deep in providers’ networks to ease traffic congestion. And within the past decade, BitTorrent, YouTube, other Google divisions, and Facebook have all taken a run at the top of the nationwide bandwidth consumption list. Who’s next?

How could the FCC regulate? Though proponents of net neutrality have raised the specter of innovative startups’

collapsing under the weight of fast-lane tolls, startups are by definition small. The limit for megabytes moved can be set by the FCC at a fairly high level, before which the fast lane would be free. But what about regional data centers, which together form that “cloud thing” everyone is talking about? Does a regional data center run by Comcast or Google or Amazon or Microsoft get away without nationwide tolls? Without local tolls? By no-cost peering? By peering with cost differentials?

A network is only as fast as its slowest pinch point. The Internet, with multiple meshed switches, bypasses pinch points to some extent, but congestion has gotten worse. The FCC would rely on content providers to complain.

How would tolls be priced? The per-meg cost of transport has been falling. How does that square with the supposed scarcity of bandwidth? Simple: Congestion now is at the consumer end, the network edge. There isn’t enough fiber there. But consumers and businesses are uploading more and more to the cloud. That’s not historically been an edge activity.

What else do the FCC and bankers have to deal with? Consumers prefer to buy video à la carte – not by the channel but by the specific event or movie or series. The biggest carriers currently have access to content at a lower cost than smaller carriers, but that advantage erodes with the growth of à la carte – and the erosion scares off investment.

What should be done? Legislation to allow the FCC to structurally separate network operators from service providers would vastly increase revenue potential for network builders and guarantee that loans get repaid and capital earns a good return. It would stimulate network investments. It would also stimulate innovation by making any content or service quickly available nationwide. Every lane would soon be a fiber fast lane. Every carrier would have nationwide reach.

What are the chances of that happening in the United States? Absolutely zero. We’d much rather add legal and regulatory uncertainty to poor technology. v

Contact the Bandwidth Hawk at [email protected].

Every Lane Should Be A Fiber Fast LaneThe FCC needs new legislation to regulate the Internet’s merging fast lanes. That doesn’t appear politically possible.

By Steven S. Ross / Broadband Communities



MAKETHE

LEAP


PROVIDER PERSPECTIVE

Many years ago, a mattress manufacturer achieved success with a bed that could be set to a specific “sleep number.” A customer could pick any

number between 5 and 100. A sleep number of 30 meant a very soft bed; an 80 meant a very firm mattress.

The company recently told me that most of its customers choose sleep numbers in the middle range of 45 to 65. Users tend to brag about their numbers: “I’m a 45, but my wife is a 90. She likes to sleep like the Flintstones, on a bed of rock!”

Couldn’t this approach work in the broadband business, too? Wouldn’t it be great if every broadband subscriber could choose a “speed number”? That would make it much easier to build a mattress – I mean a broadband connection – to suit each customer’s needs and preferences.

A young apartment dweller moving into his first place might be a 30. An older empty-nester could be a 15. A retiree could be a 10. A college student might be a 50. All could set their speed numbers with a remote control just as mattress customers set their sleep numbers.

It’s a great idea, but the problem with speed numbers is that they change all the time. Unlike the mattress market, the broadband market is very dynamic and constantly changing. What was acceptable last year may no longer work today.

At the most recent BroadBand Communities conference, I enjoyed watching panelists debate speed numbers. One speaker noted that broadband quality should be measured by more than just one number. “Things like buffering, jittering and reliability should also matter.”

However, today’s typical broadband subscribers don’t consider all these factors when they choose their providers. They want their Internet connections to support their online lifestyles: streaming movies, using social media, gaming and doing schoolwork. They focus on speed numbers because it’s impossible to gauge buffering and jittering from a move-in brochure. That’s why the speed number has become a cocktail party bragging right: “I was a 75, but I’m now upgrading to 100 Mbps.”

The reality is that many consumers focus on speed only when they make buying decisions and then quickly forget what they signed up for. I contend that there are really only two speed levels anyway – fast enough and not fast enough.

In the MDU market, marketing is a key component of the broadband business because broadband is the most desired amenity for residents today. Speed numbers really do matter, whether a provider is marketing to an owner, a leasing agent or an end user.

Just watch how fast speed numbers are changing. Several years ago, Comcast touted 1.5 Mbps as its preferred speed. Today, that figure is about to jump to 50 Mbps. Charter, too, has increased its base broadband speeds from 15 Mbps to 20 Mbps, then to 30 Mbps last year. It has now begun introducing 60 Mbps as its base – even 100 Mbps in select areas.

Why does this matter? Comparing broadband services on the basis of jittering and buffering is very difficult for most consumers. Have you ever seen a leasing agent tell a prospective move-in that her property’s 15 Mbps is actually a better service than another property’s 100 Mbps connection? That’s a hard sell.

As much as private cable operators and Internet service providers may protest, the business has become all about speed numbers. And the market continues to evolve.

AT&T U-verse will launch its GigaPower service in 21 markets over the next two years, offering speeds between 300 Mbps and 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps). CenturyLink is doing the same. And Google Fiber – well, we know what it is doing: driving awareness of its speed number to the masses.

This is the world we live in today, a world in which MDU providers seek speed numbers that are faster than those of their competitors across the street.

Yes, I know consumers may not need it. But they want it. And they make buying decisions based on it. And so will MDU owners and property managers.

Face it: Speed numbers are important. Providers need to get to know what their customers’ speed numbers are and be sure to provide them if they want to sleep well at night. v

Bryan Rader is CEO of Bandwidth Consulting LLC, which assists providers in the multifamily market. You can reach Bryan at [email protected] or at 636-536-0011. Learn more at www.bandwidthconsultingllc.com.

Don’t Sleep on Your Speed NumberBroadband speed is only one measure of quality, but it’s the metric that providers are forced to compete on – customers can’t judge jitter and latency until they sign up.

By Bryan Rader / Bandwidth Consulting LLC



If only you hada crystal ball

to see thefuture

Find out how to Get Your Giga Going.2014 FTTH Conference & Expo, Booth 609

It’s hard to predict the future of network deployment.It’s better to prepare for the future with an adaptablenetwork.

The FutureLink™ Stackable Fiber Interface Terminal (SFIT)system is designed for ultimate � ber distribution � exibility in placement and con� guration. It’s ideal for SFU, MDU, or business applications, can be installed indoor or outdoor, and is suitable for wall, pole or pedestal mounting.

The SFIT system not only meets current � ber deployment challenges but it also prepares you for the future with stackable grow-as-you-go � exibility.

You don’t need a crystal ball to plan for the future, all you need is SFIT.

For more information visit: www.suttleonline.comOr call (800) 852-8662

© 2014 Suttle. All rights reserved.FutureLinkTM is a registered trademark of Suttle.


PROPERTY OF THE MONTH

The Brookwood, Atlanta: ‘Fastest Condo in the Community’In this issue, BroadBand Communities showcases The Brookwood, a high-rise condominium in Atlanta’s ultra-chic Buckhead neighborhood. The Brookwood’s condo association, with the help of tech-savvy residents and the consulting firm Broadband Planning, took a do-it-yourself approach to outfitting the building with world-class broadband. The result: an attractive, low-cost amenity for condo owners as well as cost savings for the management office. Thanks to The Brookwood Homeowners Association, Dick Price at Broadband Planning, Clara Sorrells at FirstService Residential and Greg Ritter at Ritecom for providing the information for this profile.

By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities

When the educated, tech-savvy homeowners at The Brookwood, a 219-unit high-rise condo in Atlanta,

took over management of the community from the developer, one of their top priorities was to improve broadband services and provide the fastest Internet speeds in Atlanta to all residents. And they succeeded: Today, every resident of The Brookwood can get 50 Mbps symmetrical Internet access for only $22 a month.

“Our directive was to find a way to provide residents with the fastest Internet speeds of any condominium community in the city,” says Mike Wright, president of The Brookwood Residential Condominium Association. “We also wanted a way to do it and control the price and the service levels.”

After reviewing proposals from several traditional providers of residential Internet services, the association decided to take matters into its own hands. At the recommendation of Clara Sorrells of FirstService Residential, the property’s management company, it

hired Broadband Planning, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that represents both owners and condominium associations in negotiating broadband services.

Richard Price, owner of Broadband Planning, explains, “Technology is rapidly changing, and property managers and community boards of directors need to know all the options available for their communities before getting locked into long contracts with cable providers. Communities with fast Internet speeds and the ability to have choice for cable providers are going to be more appealing to potential buyers.”

The Brookwood Residential Condominium Association created a committee, led by a resident and telecommunications professional, Karen Angellatta-Wheeler, to work with Broadband Planning and search out high-quality companies that could help the condo association accomplish its goal.

After a yearlong search for the perfect solution, the association made a bold move:

MAY/JUNE 2014 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 11

It decided to build an Ethernet data network in the building, using the telephone wires that already served each unit along with commercial-grade Ethernet electronics and a 10 Gbps network backbone.

The system is powered by a whopping 500 Mbps data circuit, which can be upgraded to 1 Gbps or more with only a week’s notice to keep the building on the cutting edge. The Brookwood’s bandwidth pipe is even larger than that of nearby Georgia Tech, and it serves a much smaller constituency. Because it was a modification of the existing infrastructure, the new system was implemented without major cost.

This solution gave all residents 50 Mbps upstream and downstream – a service that was not previously available to residential users in this area – at a cost of only $22 per month, which also covers access to a dedicated customer service line that dispatches technicians 24 hours a day.

The Ritecom Group, a well-established local commercial broadband and fiber optic contractor, provided the design, network equipment and commercial-grade customer service for an all-inclusive monthly fee. The Ritecom equipment and services and the separately contracted commercial-grade circuit are the association’s only two expenses.

In addition to the association-supplied Internet service, Brookwood

residents can choose Comcast or DirecPath for video service, and they have access to 30 Mbps Wi-Fi in the property common areas. The association uses the excess bandwidth for management office telephones and other low-voltage monitoring, cutting its management office monthly expense from more than $1,500 to $250.

VITAL STATISTICS Property Description: The Brookwood

is an energy-efficient, mixed-use building in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. It has 219 condominium units, 20,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants, and a 1-acre green deck. This classic 19-story building offers dramatic views of downtown, midtown and Buckhead, large open-floor plans with spacious terraces, floor-to-ceiling windows, a pool and an owner’s club, fitness facilities, a concierge and more.

The Brookwood is Atlanta’s only high-rise condominium community constructed with the environment in mind and built to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, the only building in Atlanta using the Energy Recovery Ventilator Air System and the building with the fastest Internet speeds in Atlanta.

Demographics: 30- to 60-year-old upper-income residents

Greenfield or retrofit? Retrofit

Number of units: 219

Style: High-rise

PROPERTY OF THE MONTH HIGHLIGHTS~ The Brookwood, Atlanta ~

• Condo association installed its own DIY Ethernet access network.• Fiber-to-the-floor network design minimized cost by using existing

telecom wiring to each unit.• Network provides the highest-quality Internet access at the lowest cost

in the Atlanta area.• Key vendors included Broadband Planning, Ritecom Group and Juniper.


PROPERTY OF THE MONTH

Time to deploy: 60 days, following a year of research

Date services delivered: October 2013

Special requirements: Enough bandwidth to provide 50 X 50 Mbps and serve all common-area bandwidth needs

SERVICES Services offered on the network: High-

speed Internet access with a top speed of 100 Mbps; common-area wireless

Provider choice: DirecPath and Comcast offer both video and Internet access.

Do the competing service providers operate separate broadband networks or deliver services over the network described? DirecPath and Comcast have cable distribution systems in

the building. Each company has its own riser, but they share the coax. Neither provides services over the network described here.

Technical support: 24/7 Internet tech support from Ritecom Group, a company hired by the condo association. When a resident calls The Brookwood Broadband number, a tech will call back within 30 minutes. If a visit is needed (which is rare), it is made the same day or, if the call is made after 6 p.m., the next day.

BUSINESS Which parts of the network are owned by

the service provider, and which parts are owned by the property owner? The property owns the system and leases the equipment through its telecom support company.

Is Internet access provided on a bulk basis? Yes, residents are charged $22 for 50 Mbps symmetrical Internet access as part of their monthly condominium fees. To upgrade to a higher tier of Internet access, a resident calls the service number and requests the additional speed. Residents with upgraded service are billed individually, and in most cases the upgrade can be done without reentering the unit.

Network benefits: The system increases condo property values because it is the fastest bulk building in the area.

TECHNOLOGY Broadband architecture: Fiber to the

floor with Cat 5 cable to each unit

Methods for running cables vertically within buildings: Simple fiber riser system through existing cores

Vendors/products used: Juniper equipment for fiber backbone

LESSONS LEARNEDWhat was the biggest challenge? Getting

existing providers to agree to our terms

What was the biggest success? Installation of the system was well-coordinated and easy, and transitioning all residents from 2 Mbps to 50 Mbps with no latency delighted residents.

What feedback does the leasing/sales office get from residents/guests? Residents are very happy to pay $22 for 50 x 50 Mbps, and they are satisfied with the customer service, whose response time is that of a business with a critical circuit.

What should other owners consider before they get started on a similar deployment? Learn your existing infrastructure and know what can be done with it to reduce costs. Find a reliable business-class telecom company that can install and service equipment. v

Masha Zager is the editor of BroadBand Communities. You can reach her at [email protected].

A 10 Gbps fiber backbone delivers Internet signals to Ethernet switches throughout the building.



» Custom Cabling» Data Centers» FTTx» Home Networking» MDUs» Outside Plant Construction» Wireless Networks

Visit www.ptsupply.com toLearn how we can help you.

The producTs You use To build And mAinTAin.

» Inventory management through our PTMI® program » Technical help in areas such as Video from our Applications Engineer team

Providing the ServiceS and ProductS that helP You MaxiMize revenue.

Your supplY chain partner | (800) 238-7514 | [email protected]


FTTH DEPLOYMENT

MDG and Bright House Networks Build ULTRAFi Communities A new partnership between a development group and a major cable company creates a path for a large-scale rollout of gigabit fiber to the home.


“At first, I didn’t understand,” says Greg Singleton, president of Metro Development Group (MDG), a

Florida-based land development and investment company. “What’s a gigabit, and why do I care? They would talk about EPON, and I’d think, this all sounds like the stuff that techy guys get excited about.”

MDG, which has been involved in 70 residential and commercial projects over the last decade, was preparing to develop six new master-planned communities in the Tampa area with a total capacity of about 30,000 homes. Its CEO, John Ryan, had commissioned The Broadband Group, a consulting firm focused on city- and communitywide integrated broadband planning, to create a technology master plan for the communities, and The Broadband Group recommended building out fiber to all the new homes – but Singleton and others in MDG’s leadership team were dubious.

“Then, one day, I walked into my home from work,” Singleton continues, “and my wife was streaming Pandora while she was making dinner, my 15-year-old son was on the Xbox, my 7-year-old daughter was watching ‘My Little Pony’ on Netflix, and I was about to remote in to my office through my desktop. We have three iPhones, a Mac, a printer, an iPad and a laptop all using the same pipeline. In just a few short years, just with what people are holding in their hands, the need for speed has become so much more relevant.

“That’s when I realized that technology is now an amenity, and that fiber to the home and superfast Wi-Fi are what people are going to demand for 4K TV and smart-home technology. Everyone else will be living in the Stone Age. We have to plan for it now because it’s really tough to do it later.”

“So that was my conversion,” Singleton says, explaining how he became the most enthusiastic proponent of the advanced-services package that MDG now brands as ULTRAFi. “I was a somewhat skeptical guy until I realized it’s such a win-win-win scenario. Some homeowners are going to love it from day one – those who live in the techy world. Then there are the people who don’t have eight or 10 devices now, but if you talk to them about it in five years, they’ll say, ‘Thank goodness my developer was proactive about this.’ This morning I saw 12 people in Starbucks with laptops, and I know they’re getting degradation of service and that spinning wheel of death. You won’t have that in ULTRAFi communities.”

PLANNING FOR THE FUTUREWith MDG executives on board, The Broadband Group designed a technology plan that would set the new communities apart from others being built in the region. Tom Reiman, president of The Broadband Group, notes, “The leadership of Metro understood the significance of a comprehensive technology master plan to define the requirements we needed to place in front


of potential broadband partners. It is critically important that technology innovation come from the customer in partnership with a motivated and experienced facilities provider.”

Once the plan was agreed to, MDG issued a request for proposals, asking service providers to install and operate future-proof broadband networks in the new communities and deliver services at attractive prices. The RFP covered about 6,000 single-family lots; if the project meets expectations, the networks could eventually be expanded to reach as many as 30,000 single-family and multifamily units.

The responses to the RFP were not overwhelmingly positive. “We got a lot of noes,” Singleton says ruefully. However, one response was exactly what the company hoped for: Bright House Networks, the sixth-largest U.S. cable provider, proposed to deliver broadband, video, Wi-Fi and smart-home services over EPON networks, operate a dedicated customer-care center for ULTRAFi subscribers, and help ensure that builders could construct the inside wiring required to distribute ULTRAFi services within homes.

Beyond the content of its proposal, Bright House Networks had a great deal to offer. MDG placed a high value on dealing with an established, experienced provider, and Bright House Networks has approximately 2.5 million customers and a major presence in Florida. It has also been the top-rated video provider for the last three years in the Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Over the months spent negotiating the contract and finalizing the plans, “Bright House was fantastic,” Singleton says. “Senior people were involved in the meetings. They were great partners, they had suggestions … they had their sleeves rolled up.”

With this contract, Bright House Networks becomes the first major MSO in the United States to make a large-scale investment in fiber to the home. Previously, MSOs deploying residential fiber have favored Radio

Frequency over Glass (RFoG), a cable-friendly fiber technology whose endpoints emulate HFC nodes and are easily integrated into DOCSIS-managed networks. The price of such easy integration is that RFoG networks are subject to the same bandwidth limitations as HFC networks. The ULTRAFi networks will be based on passive optical network (PON) technology and thus capable of much higher speeds than DOCSIS networks.

AN EVOLUTION FOR BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKSKimberly Maki, Bright House Networks VP for corporate communications, describes ULTRAFi as an evolution rather than a revolution for Bright House Networks. “Bright House has been deploying all-fiber solutions fueled by investment in EPON starting in 2006,” she notes. “Those solutions have been deployed to the enterprise business, including schools and health care facilities. We’ve also done testing of EPON for residential customers. So this build is an extension of that investment.”

Maki emphasizes that Bright House

Networks proposed the EPON solution specifically to accommodate MDG’s planned services and applications for the ULTRAFi communities and that it would need to reach similar agreements with developers before undertaking any other residential EPON projects.

She comments, “From our projections, it will take quite some time for the average consumer to need gigabit speeds. In some ways, we are ahead of the game, and by pursuing EPON in a focused area we can work more with the potential new use cases that MDG has planned.”

In general, cable companies have had difficulty building residential FTTH networks because their investors have been reluctant to finance them. (Unlike many telephone companies, cable providers can remain competitive or dominant in most localities by simply upgrading their HFC networks.) However, the real-estate revival and the development of new master-planned communities may offer more opportunities for cable companies and real estate developers to collaborate on FTTH. The economics of greenfield development favors fiber both because

ULTRAFi communities will be blanketed with fiber and Wi-Fi connections.


FTTH DEPLOYMENT

fiber’s cost premium is low in new builds and because fiber’s cachet helps sell houses faster and for higher prices.

Singleton reports that MDG’s investors – Wall Street executives and private equity firms – have uniformly been excited about the ULTRAFi communities. “They got it quicker than I got it – especially the younger analyst types,” he says. The investors’ optimism appears to be well founded; the first of the ULTRAFi communities just opened up for sale, and, Singleton says, “We’ve had four sales quickly, the numbers are better than what we anticipated and people have mentioned ULTRAFi as one of the drivers.”

A BUNDLE OF SERVICES Of course, home buyers aren’t attracted to infrastructure but to services – and the service package offered under

the ULTRAFi brand is impressive. First, there’s fast Internet access – not just fast enough to support such new entertainment formats as Ultra HD but also fast enough to support telecommuting, digital learning and more. All residents will be entitled to a “lifeline” 35 Mbps symmetrical speed, which they can upgrade at reasonable rates to symmetrical 1 Gbps. For the first six months, they will even receive free symmetrical 100 Mbps service – according to Singleton, “The thought is that they’ll like it so much, they’ll keep it.” Along with the initial 1 Gbps service, a roadmap to symmetrical 10 Gbps speeds for residents is in place for the future.

ULTRAFi video service will start out RF-based – not unusual for cable providers that offer services over fiber – but will switch to pure IPTV in a short

time. Smart-home services (also free for the first six months) will include Internet-enabled thermostats, security cameras, light controls and sensors. Beyond residents’ homes, shared gigabit Wi-Fi will be available on nature trails, in clubhouses and in playgrounds.

In addition to providing access to standard services, MDG hopes to use the networks to create cohesive communities, and it is developing RFPs to implement a private social network in each community. Singleton envisions that residents will use the application to schedule community events, advertise babysitting services and compare notes on local home-repair providers. Local points of interest – nature trails, for instance – could be tagged with QR codes so residents can easily call up information about them on their smartphones.

The Broadband Group, which has been deeply involved in developing all these service offerings, is now designing a telemedicine service for one of the ULTRAFi communities. The initial focus will be to set up a connection with a health care facility in Tampa to give residents access to specialists and regional providers without leaving their community. Reiman notes, “All the market research indicates that convenience drives [the demand for telemedicine], but we’ll anchor the service with a local primary care physician; otherwise it will lose the ‘human factor.’”

In the years to come, still more services will become available; Reiman says several application providers have already expressed interest in developing ULTRAFi services. One of MDG’s guiding principles – and part of its agreement with Bright House Networks – is to guarantee continual advancements in technology and applications so the communities remain at the cutting edge. That’s why it has adopted the tagline “Live life connected.” v


Union Park is one of the ULTRAFi communities under construction.

The ULTRAFi communities will open with 1 Gbps symmetrical Internet access and a roadmap to higher speeds in the future. A telemedicine service is also being planned.



Centrix™ Platform, Corning’s next-generation switch center solution,

combines extreme flexibility and simplicity with the ultimate in density.

With superior jumper management and an innovative fiber routing

system, Centrix Solutions is a cross-functional platform that meets the

requirements of multiple application spaces.

© 2014 Corning Optical Communications. CRR-308-AEN / May 2014

Visit Corning at the FTTH Conference Expo ‘14 to learn more about Centrix Solutions.

June 23-25, 2014Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center Fort Lauderdale, FLCorning Booth #501

CENTRIX™ PLATFORM

http://opcomm.corning.com/ CentrixBuzz


WIRELESS DEPLOYMENT

A Great Reception For London’s Super Skyscraper Bringing high-performance radio communications to London’s newest, tallest, most iconic skyscraper was a challenge.

By Moti Shalev / Axell Wireless

Until very recently, London was a defiantly low-rise city. That all changed in the first decade of the 21st century.

Starting with 30 St Mary Axe, popularly known as “The Gherkin,” London began belatedly to develop a taste for tall buildings, and a slew of bold new skyscrapers began sprouting up around the city. However, the unprecedented (for London) height of these buildings raised a new problem for their builders – how to ensure acceptable mobile reception in the upper reaches of these glass-and-steel behemoths.

The problem with providing wireless reception in modern skyscrapers is threefold. First, the height of the buildings militates against obtaining a good signal. Mobile networks are set up to provide signals to where people are. In London, this has traditionally been at ground level or not far from it. As the city built upward, the new floors of office space were increasingly out of range of ground-level antennas.

Second, modern building materials of glass and steel, coupled with environmentally friendly

methods of construction, are extremely effective at blocking out wireless reception. Finally, these skyscrapers, giant as they are, have little spare space for communications infrastructure. These challenges were foremost in the minds of those designing London’s newest, tallest, most iconic building – the Shard.

LONDON’S BIGGEST WIRELESS CHALLENGEThe Shard has changed the face of London. This 1,000-foot-high building on the south bank of the Thames is visible from across London and stands head and shoulders above any other building. The Shard’s designers were at pains to ensure that the building would be as impressive to its residents as it would be to those admiring it from outside. Vodafone, the multinational telecom firm chosen to provide connectivity at the Shard, therefore selected Axell Wireless to help provide a network that could provide high-performance indoor wireless coverage to each of the building’s 72 floors.

From the outset, the Shard posed a big challenge for indoor cellular and public safety communications. As in many modern tall buildings, the construction materials and methods used were designed to optimize strength and environmental friendliness. Unfortunately, the Shard’s triple-glazed glass, which includes a layer of sun-shielding glass sandwiched between the inner and outer sheets, is a highly effective insulator against wireless communications.

Mobile networks are set up to provide signals to where people are. As London built upward, new office space was out of reach of ground-level antennas.


Furthermore, the Shard is a mixed-use building that contains office space, luxury apartments, restaurants and a hotel. This means that the building experiences a number of traffic spikes throughout the day and also needs to support a wide range of communications technologies. It therefore required a future-proofed communications system that combined high capacity, uniform coverage and compatibility with a variety of wireless technologies.

The system needed to be multiband and have the ability to support a complete range of modern and legacy services running alongside one another. To minimize infrastructure costs, these technologies needed to be combined

into a single ecosystem that made the best possible use of available spectrum. Furthermore, network communications needed to be robust and reliable enough to meet the needs of emergency services – a key consideration in tall buildings such as the Shard.

BREAKING DOWN THE CHALLENGE Axell Wireless supplied a distributed antenna system (DAS) to provide full radio coverage within every level of the building and over a short coverage range on the outside of the building. Using DAS enables communications infrastructure providers to channel multiple mobile operators’ networks

into buildings and other inherently difficult locations.

DAS was selected because of its distinct advantages over other technologies. Unlike Wi-Fi, DAS can supply the whole spectrum of wireless communications services rather than just data, and it also provides much greater flexibility than small cells, which are limited to a single operator.

DAS brings wireless signals inside a building and distributes them to a variety of antennas that serve different sectors. The technology has continued to grow in sophistication, and now supports every major wireless technology, including GSM, WCDMA and LTE. It is now also capable of

Once a defiantly low-rise city, London is now sprouting skyscrapers.


WIRELESS DEPLOYMENT

providing IP backhaul infrastructure that serves, for example, small cells and devices such as surveillance cameras.

Inside the Shard, the DAS uses the existing backbone infrastructure, taking the signal from a local BTS (base

station) hotel located in the basement. An optical master unit converts RF signals and transmits them via fiber optic cables to 23 remote repeaters located on various levels of the building to provide the cellular signal. The remote repeaters use a network of antennas to distribute the radio signal across different sectors of the building.

To power the building service communications, the UHF base stations in the basement connect to a radio frequency (RF) combiner. This provides a point of interface for the Shard’s radio services to the optical master system and has the capability to be expanded to carry further UHF radio services, thus future-proofing the system.

One of the biggest considerations during the design phase was how to minimize interference (or “noise”) on the coverage network. To combat noise, Axell Wireless modeled a robust architecture plan that took into account the relative power of the remote optical units and the requirements of each coverage sector. This plan enabled the company to select the right mix of high-power and lower-power remotes and design the exact layout of the infrastructure to bring network noise down to a minimum.

ON TOP OF THE WORLDGiven the overall investment in the world’s most prestigious venues, the success of network implementations is not just expected – it is demanded.

Axell’s network needed to solve the twin problems of the Shard’s height and its construction materials, both of which weakened wireless signals from outside the building. The radio coverage in the Shard was checked as part of the commissioning process and was found to be perfectly in line with the system performance modeled by Axell and specified in its design.

As a multiband, multioperator system, Axell Wireless Fiber DAS works in any frequency combination required. This flexibility means that systems are able to cope with growth as and when it is required. Compared with other systems, Fiber DAS also needs less equipment to be deployed, which results in a smaller in-building footprint, significant cost savings (both operational and capital), and a much simpler, easier-to-manage network.

Those unfamiliar with the intricacies of mobile networks might easily imagine that the best place to get great mobile reception is at the top of a city’s tallest building. In fact, if the building does not have a modern, effective wireless infrastructure, this would be one of the worst places to make a call or send an email – which confused and frustrated people in the early days of mobile networks. Now, thanks to the Axell Wireless network, the Shard’s residents can enjoy perfect reception at 1,000 feet and feel on top of the world. v

Moti Shalev is director of product management at Axell Wireless, a leading worldwide developer and manufacturer of wireless coverage equipment and associated solutions. Axell Wireless has a strong heritage of providing wireless coverage for many types of in-building networks and for transport networks.

Top to bottom: Wireless signals are received by a rooftop antenna, fed to an optical master unit and distributed to repeaters via a fiber backbone; a base station hotel may be located in a basement or (in this case) outside a building; a remote base station unit at the tower feeds a base station hotel in the basement.



THE ONLY WAY TOADD NEW CABLES

IS BY DIGGING

If you think

then think again.

MAXCELL.US | 1.888.387.3828FOR A FREE MAXCELL SAMPLE

Add more cableswith MaxCell.• Install up to 300% more cables

• Reduce cost, labor, energy, waste & carbon emissions

• Maximize space,productivity & savings

Make space for more cables with MaxSpace.• Recovers up to 90%

of occupied conduit space

• Removes & recycles rigid innerduct

• Adds new cables, no digging

• Maximizes space,productivity & savings

REMOVE

RECOVER

RENEW

CONDUIT SPACE RECOVERY:A NO-DIG SOLUTION

JUNE 23RD | 10:45AMLEARN MORE ABOUT

MAXSPACE LIVE AT THE

FTTHCONFERENCE & EXPO


WIRELESS DEPLOYMENT

Minneapolis Mart Gets a Wireless MakeoverA heavily trafficked building outgrew its original Wi-Fi network. The solution: enterprise-grade Wi-Fi.


The Minneapolis Mart – located, despite its name, in the suburb of Minnetonka – is a vast wholesale showroom facility and

premier regional mart for the upper Midwest. Its 200,000 square feet house 140 showrooms in four separate galleries, featuring home décor, accessories, gifts, jewelry and apparel merchandise. The Mart hosts six major markets each year, each lasting three to five days. During those periods, the building is filled with retail store buyers, checking out the next season’s merchandise and continuously online with their tablets and smartphones. Because of poor cellular coverage in the area, Mart visitors depend on the building Wi-Fi for access.

Consumer-grade Wi-Fi equipment, installed in the building about nine years ago, served the Mart well for a long time. However, there was only one access point in each of the four galleries. By 2012, as buyers brought more devices to the Mart and used them more intensively, the system became overloaded, and access points were locking up on a regular basis. Large groups of buyers often move together through the showrooms, and when a “wave” of buyers hit a gallery, the system could grind to a halt.

Signal interference was another problem. Showroom tenants that used dedicated Internet connections for their internal systems installed separate Wi-Fi networks, and, because the number of channels available was limited, it was easy for tenant networks to interfere with

the building network. Signals even got crossed between different tenants’ networks.

Mart executives engaged Minneapolis IT specialist Line Syte Inc. to upgrade the wireless network and address the congestion and interference problems. They wanted a system that would support the Mart for years to come – and they wanted the project done within a limited budget.

Craig Moench, the president of Line Syte, knew he had to replace the existing Wi-Fi not just with a bigger system but also with a better one – enterprise-grade Wi-Fi that allowed sophisticated management and reporting, load balancing, flexible configuration and more wireless channels. After reviewing several solutions, the Line Syte team selected a wireless solution from ZyXEL.

The system includes ZyXEL’s NXC5200 WLAN controller system and its NWA5123 dual-band, dual-radio, 11n access points (APs). The APs were connected to the controller via ZyXEL’s gigabit PoE Ethernet switches. The NXC5200 WLAN controller is capable of managing up to 240 APs and has extensive management and monitoring capabilities, along with auto channel selection, distributed traffic forwarding and WPA/WPA2-Enterprise authentication to simplify deployment, boost throughput and secure the network.

Along with the new Wi-Fi system, Line Syte installed dual Internet connections for higher


throughput, reliability and backup options. The ZyXEL Unified Threat Management Gateway balances the loads over the two Internet connections.

“We started from the ground up. We used the ZyXEL app that enabled me to plan our entire system and install access points to provide the greatest coverage,” says Moench. “We wired everything from scratch, including new CAT 5e cables throughout the entire building.”

REDUCING CONGESTION AND INTERFERENCE To handle congestion, Moench increased the number of access points to 30. To address the specific problem of visitors traveling in herds, he configured the system so that after 25 devices are connected to any access point, requests from additional devices are shifted to another, nearby access point. The shift is nearly invisible to users, who might, at most, experience “a possible hiccup for a fraction of a second,” Moench says.

By using the content filtering capability of the Unified Threat Management Gateway, the Mart can shut down certain applications (Netflix and Dropbox, for example) during

trade show hours. This eliminates most continuous data streams and reserves access for more typical on-and-off users – for example, visitors emailing photos of merchandise to colleagues back in the office.

For a short-term solution to the problem of signal interference, Moench used dynamic channel selection, which helps use radio frequencies more efficiently, and he reserved several

channels specifically for tenant Wi-Fi systems to keep them separate from the general building Wi-Fi.

In the longer term, Moench is encouraging tenants to use the 5 GHz channel Wi-Fi band, which would give them many more channel options for their networks. The 5 GHz band is less useful for the buildingwide network because in that channel range, signals do not travel well through metal shielding.

The ZyXEL Wi-Fi solution used in the Minneapolis Mart includes a WLAN controller, a unified threat management system, Ethernet switches and 802.11n access points.

The Minneapolis Mart is one of the premier wholesale showroom facilities in the Midwest.


WIRELESS DEPLOYMENT

etisoftware.com

ETI has built more than software for broadband

service providers – for over 20 years, we’ve

built a reputation for taking on our customers’

challenges head-on and delivering innovative

solutions that work without fail. In a world where

profitability and operational efficiency go hand-

in-hand, ETI’s Overture suite of software solutions

capture Business Intelligence and enhance

Service Assurance to create top-tier serviceability.

Innovation. Action. Results.

ETI half pg ad 051514.indd 2 5/19/14 2:49 PM

STRESS TESTOne of the Mart’s most popular shows took place a few weeks after the network installation. The Line Syte team tested the wireless networks extensively for three weeks prior to the show. They set up reporting features to collect usage data during the show and content filtering for the firewall to block pornography, video streaming

and peer-to-peer sites. Everything worked well during the

event. The wireless network held up well, and the reporting system provided a wealth of information about network usage in real time. This helped the Line Syte team manage and monitor the network for issues and network bottlenecks – which, fortunately, the network didn’t have. At one point, nearly 400 devices were connected, yet the network was still able to deliver between 30 Mbps and 50 Mbps. “That was stellar,” Moench says.

From Moench’s point of view, a great advantage of the new system is that he can manage and tweak it centrally – in fact, he can manage it from anywhere in the world. In addition, the managed wireless solution gives him the ability to review traffic patterns for the entire system.

The system is also largely future proof. In its current configuration,

the network is expected to meet the Mart’s needs for several years, assuming the annual increase in the number of devices accessing the system is between 5 percent and 15 percent. Going forward, the network can be expanded and upgraded as needed without being entirely replaced. The wireless controller can easily support many more access points, and the Internet connections can be upgraded to higher bandwidth or replaced with fiber. The gateway can also be upgraded to support higher throughput. Finally, the 5 GHz bandwidth channels are still largely unexplored territory. Having several different levers to adjust makes the system extremely flexible. “We’re just scratching the surface,” Moench says. v


The new Wi-Fi access points are unobtrusive but powerful.



OUR SPECIAL GUIDE TO THE SHOWFTTH 2014

26 FIBER IS ON FIRE by Heather Burnett Gold / President, FTTH Council Americas

28 EXHIBITOR BOOTH GUIDE

30 SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

33 FEATURED COMPANIES AT THE FTTH CONFERENCE & EXPO

36 NEWS FROM FEATURED EXHIBITORS

FTTH CONFERENCE & EXPO COVERAGE

Economic Development Conference SeriesCommunity Fiber Networks – Springfield

Springfield, MASeptember 16–18, 2014

www.bbcmag.com/springfield

Broadband Communities SummitAustin, TX

April 14-16, 2015www.bbcmag.com

PLEASE VISIT BROADBAND COMMUNITIES MAGAZINE AT BOOTH #226 AND ASK ABOUT SPECIAL OFFERS FOR OUR UPCOMING EVENTS:

For more information on both events, please call 877-588-1649.


FTTH CONFERENCE & EXPO

Fiber Is on Fire Fan the flames at the FTTH Conference & Expo, June 23–25 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

By Heather Burnett Gold / President, Fiber to the Home Council Americas

For years, companies, advocates and community leaders have worked to extol the benefits of fiber-fed, next-generation

networks for communities, businesses and economic competitiveness. The more than 800 fiber-to-the-home providers in North America have built business cases, established unique partnerships and funding strategies, planned networks and then literally laid the groundwork for the digital future in communities throughout the country. Now, interest in and enthusiasm for fiber-to-the-home networks is at an all-time high, and fiber is on fire.

Though it may seem that an unseen spark lit the idea of ultra-fast broadband supported by fiber, the spark never would have happened without the prior work and preparation by those early adopters and visionaries.

Now, communities are clamoring for world-leading bandwidth to support economic development, create jobs and maintain global competitiveness in the 21st century. The most visible expression of this phenomenon was the 1,100 communities that responded to Google’s initial offer of its fiber product. Since then, strategies have differed, but communities and companies are standing up and taking notice of the necessity of fiber networks – from Los Angeles to Chicago, Seattle to Omaha, Raleigh to Quitman, Miss.

More fiber is still needed. In too many places, people worry whether they have enough bandwidth to power the devices they connect to the Internet at home. A TV in one room with a gaming console, a few laptops running online video or chat programs, a home office where someone might actually be trying to

work – it adds up. Slow connections and aging infrastructure leave people unable to take advantage of broadband benefits.

There are reasons to be positive about the possibility of communities’ taking charge of their bandwidth destinies. And just as fiber is on fire, so is the FTTH Council. Last summer, the FTTH Council proposed the Gigabit Communities Race to the Top – a plan for the FCC to fund experiments to bring cost-effective, next-generation fiber to unserved and underserved rural areas. And the FCC agreed: In January, the Commission announced a program that will offer grants to communities or providers that develop the best ways of delivering connectivity in unserved or underserved areas, providing world-leading bandwidth at affordable rates, increasing adoption and connecting public facilities.

Approximately 20 states have laws that prohibit or limit municipalities’ creating their own broadband infrastructures to compete against private companies. At the Fiber to the Home Council, we’ve long counseled against and fought against such restrictions. We want all entities to be able to participate in building leading-edge networks throughout the country – ILECs, CLECs, utilities and municipalities.

Just a few weeks ago, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, “Removing legal restrictions on municipal broadband could enhance Internet access competition.” He has committed to look for ways to use the Commission’s authority to do away with those rules. Though the private sector has undertaken the vast majority of all-fiber deployments, communities need to be able to get this essential infrastructure where the private sector is unable to deploy.


Helping communities go from gigabit envy to gigabit deployed has been a central mission of the Fiber to the Home Council for more than a year, beginning with the release of our online community toolkit and conference last summer in Kansas City and regional events in Austin and Lafayette earlier this year.

We’re proud to work with companies like Google Fiber in this effort. Building on the work of the Fiber to the Home Council, Gig.U, the U.S. Conference of Mayors and other industry experts, Google Fiber recently announced a project to compile best practices into a practical, actionable roadmap that makes getting bigger bandwidth easier, faster and less disruptive. It has released a checklist for cities to use based on some of the work produced by the Council and others.

Fiber is on fire, and this year’s annual FTTH Conference & Expo,

held from June 23 – 25 in Fort Lauderdale, will show why. Join keynote speakers Guru Pai, senior vice president and chief production officer of Verizon, and James Feger, vice president for network strategy and development of CenturyLink, to learn how leadership strategizes for future trends in FTTH. Hear from Gigi Sohn, special counsel for external affairs for FCC Chairman Thomas Wheeler, and Jonathan Chambers, chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, FCC, how fiber fits into federal plans

for the digital future. Come hear about the companies and people who make the news and keep the fire burning for fiber to the home. v

Heather Burnett Gold is president of the FTTH Council Americas, a nonprofit association of organizations that deliver services over FTTH networks, companies that manufacture FTTH products and others involved in planning and building FTTH networks. She can be reached at [email protected].

Though the vast majority of all-fiber deployments are private, communities need to be able to get this infrastructure where the private sector is unable to deploy.





204

207

208 209

210 211

212

214 215

217

220 221

222 223

310

314

316

320

322 321

511

621

623

717

720 721

723

801

803

805

808

810

815

816 817

820 821

822 823

900

902

904

908

907

910911

914

916 917

WORLD OFAPPLICATIONS

307 609

224

513

206

226

826

828

830

313 615

200 201

216

225

228

230

301

306

329

331

401

402

407

428 429

430 431

501

528 529

530 531

603

610

628 629

630 631

701

709

715

809

903

913

921

203

300

302

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5

Exhibitor Booth GuideFeatured Exhibitors in Blue – Floorplan Subject to Change


204

207

208 209

210 211

212

214 215

217

220 221

222 223

310

314

316

320

322 321

511

621

623

717

720 721

723

801

803

805

808

810

815

816 817

820 821

822 823

900

902

904

908

907

910911

914

916 917

WORLD OFAPPLICATIONS

307 609

224

513

206

226

826

828

830

313 615

200 201

216

225

228

230

301

306

329

331

401

402

407

428 429

430 431

501

528 529

530 531

603

610

628 629

630 631

701

709

715

809

903

913

921

203

300

302

T1 T2 T3 T4 T5

3-GIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9083M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .615ADTRAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .407Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. . . . . . . . . . .903Alpha Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301America Ilsintech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .821Anritsu Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .900AOC Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .720Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. . . . .216Aurora Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307BHC Rhodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .723BroadBand Communities . . . . . . . 226BroadbandVision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T3Calix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603Camozzi Pneumatics . . . . . . . . . . . . .206Canovate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222CCI Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .910Channell Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . .225Cisco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .823Clearfield, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709Condux International . . . . . . . . . . . .828Corning Cable Systems . . . . . . 501Crownduit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214Cyient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223Dasan Networks USA, Inc. . . . . . . . .817Denal Telecom Solutions/

Team ITS, LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T6Ditch Witch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300Dura-Line Corporation . . . . . . . . . . .808Dycom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .511Electric Motion Company, Inc. . . .220Enghouse Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . .721Esri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .621ETA International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210ETI Software Solutions . . . . . . 809EXFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T7FIBERPRO, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T5Finley Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321FTTH Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .921G4S Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . 717GE, Comsof & iToolsOnline . . . . . . .914Genexis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .911GiSmartware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .322Great Lakes Data Systems . . . 314GM Plast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T1General Machine Products . . . . . . .810Go!Foton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .623Graybar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .402Greenlee Communications . . . . . .207

Henkels & McCoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .904Hubbell Power Systems . . . . . . . . . .313Infinity Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208INNO Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .815JDSU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211KGP Logistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .803KNET Co. Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .916Light Brigade, Inc. (The) . . . . . . . . . .212Lightwave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .529Lode Data Corporation . . . . . . . . . .204MasTec North America, Inc. . . 203MaxCell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310Michels Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . .917Momentum Telecom . . . . . . . . . . . .830Multicom Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .801Multilink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .528NEPTCO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .822OFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .401Opterna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200Opti-Com Manufacturing

Network DBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .302Pelusa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .826Power & Tel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610Preformed Line Products . . . . 715Primex Telecommunications . . . . .306ProLabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .316Rainbow Technology . . . . . . . . . . . .820S & N Communications . . . . . . . . . .221Schneider Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .320Senko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209SiFi Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .628Stirling Lloyd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .429Sumitomo Electric Lightwave . . . .513Sunsea Telecommunications . . . . .201Suttle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609Synchronoss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .907TE Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .701Teraspan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215Thayer Power & Communication

Line C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .816Thermo Bond Buildings, LLC . . . . .805Underground Construction . . . . . . . T4Vantage Point Solutions . . . . . . . . .228Viamedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .913Vissem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217ZCorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T2Zhone Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . .629ZTE USA Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .902

EXHIBITOR NAME BOOTH EXHIBITOR NAME BOOTHCome visit

Broadband Communities in Booth 226!





2014 FTTH Conference ScheduleFeatured speakers in red – sessions, speakers, and timing subject to change.

Heather Burnett GoldFTTH Council Americas

Jim BallerBaller Herbst Law Group

Michael CurriStrategic Networks Group

FIBER TO THE HOME DEPLOYMENT TECHNIQUESFTTH COSTS: HOW TO MANAGE

OPERATIONAL EXPENSES

FTTH NEWORKS FROM A TO ZTHE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSFTTH AROUND THE GLOBE

Key to Track Sessions:

MONDAY, JUNE 237:00 am – 5:30 pm Registration Open

7:45 am – 8:45 am Birds of a Feather Breakfast for Network Operators (Open to network operators only. Registration required.)

9:00 am – 10:30 am OPENING GENERAL SESSION: THE FUTURE IS NOW!FTTH Council Americas Awards PresentationFTTxcellence Award PresentationCarrier “Genius Bar” Panel

Moderator: Heather Burnett Gold – President, FTTH Council Americas– Christopher Levendos – Vice President, National Operations,

Verizon– Ben Lovins – Senior Vice President, Telecommunications,

Jackson Energy Authority– George O’Neal – Vice President, Network Services, GVTC

10:30 am – 10:45 am Networking and Refreshment Break

10:45 am – 11:45 am FTTH DEPLOYMENT TECHNIQUESHow to Improve Fiber Network Installation and Deployment Operational Efficiency with an End-to-End Physical Layer Management SystemSession Number: 25 / Room: 301/302

– Damon DeBenedictis - Business Development Manager, TE Connectivity

FTTH COSTS: HOW TO MANAGE OPERATIONAL EXPENSESConduit Space Recovery: A No-Dig SolutionSession Number: 6 / Room: 317/318

– Jerry Lee Allen – Vice President, MaxCell

FTTH NETWORKS FROM A TO ZOwning the Customer ExperienceSession Number: 32 / Room: 305

– Keith Russell – Staff Marketing Manager, Fixed Network Division, Alcatel-Lucent

FTTH NETWORKS FROM A TO ZUtilizing FTTH PON Architecture for Small-Cell DeploymentsSession Number: 44 / Room: 315

– Roger Vaughn – Product Technology Manager, AFL Global

THE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSFTTH Basics and Network DesignSession Number: 24 / Room: 316

– Mark Boxer – Applications Engineer Manager, OFS– Jeff Bush – Professional Services Manager, OFS

FTTH AROUND THE GLOBEFTTH Progress and Impact Around the WorldSession Number: 45 / Room: Floridian Ballroom

– Michael Render – President, RVA, LLC

12:00 pm – 1:15 pm Lunch on Your Own

12:00 pm – 1:15 pm Women in Fiber Panel Discussion and Luncheon: The Path to Success

1:30 pm – 2:15 pm GENERAL SESSION: ARMCHAIR DISCUSSION WITH FTTH NEWSMAKERS

Moderator: Tom Cohen – Partner, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP– Jonathan Chambers – Chief, Office of Strategic Planning

and Policy Analysis, FCC– Gigi B. Sohn – Special Counsel for External Affairs for FCC

Chairman Thomas Wheeler

2:30 pm – 3:15 pm FTTH DEPLOYMENT TECHNIQUESAbsorbing the Network Impact of VideoSession Number: 39 / Room: 301/302

– Kevin Morgan - Director of Marketing & Communications, ADTRAN Inc.


Michael RenderRVA, LLC

Michael WestonVerizon Enhanced Communities

Max KipferHotwire Communications

Jonathan ChambersFCC

Catherine McNaughtCorning Inc.

Mark BoxerOFS

FTTH COSTS: HOW TO MANAGE OPERATIONAL EXPENSESDSL to FTTH: Upgrade Strategies for Lower Equipment and ConstructionSession Number: 21 / Room: 317/318

– Todd Loeffelholz – Senior Marketing Manager, TE Connectivity

FTTH NETWORKS FROM A TO ZCable Operator FTTH Migration Strategies with EPoC TechnologySession Number: 18 / Room: 305

– Curtis Knittle – Director of Optical Technologies, CableLabs

THE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSDeploying Fiber Optic Telecommunications Services at Pembroke Falls from Vision to InstallsSession Number: 19 / Room: 316

– Max Kipfer – Vice President of Business Development, Hotwire Communications

– Carl Lender – Executive Vice President of Sales, Hotwire Communications

– Jim Slattery – Director Network Operations, Hotwire Communications

– Jeff Lawson – Director of Engineering, Hotwire Communications

FTTH AROUND THE GLOBEFTTH Worldwide with the FTTH Council Global AllianceSession Number: 46 / Room: Floridian Ballroom

– Heather Burnett Gold – President, FTTH Council Americas

3:15 pm – 3:30 pm Networking and Refreshment Break

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm GENERAL SESSION: DAY ONE RECAP, GIMME FIBER DAY AWARD AND KEYNOTE PresentationGimme Fiber Day Award Presentation

Opening KeynoteGuru Pai – Senior Vice President and Chief Production Officer, Verizon

4:30 pm – 7:30 pm Opening Expo Hall Reception

6:45 pm – 7:30 pm Women in Fiber Reception

TUESDAY, JUNE 247:30 am – 5:00 pm Registration Open

7:45 am – 8:15 am Continental Breakfast

8:15 am – 9:15 am GENERAL SESSION: DAY TWO KICKOFF AND KEYNOTE PRESENTATION

KeynoteJames M. Feger – Senior Vice President, Network Strategy and Development, CenturyLink


10:00 am – 10:45 am FTTH DEPLOYMENT TECHNIQUESGetting Gigabits from the Street to the Subscriber – A Survey of the Latest and Next-Generation OptionsSession Number: 28 / Room: 301/302

– John George – Director, Technical Marketing and Professional Services, OFS

FTTH COSTS: HOW TO MANAGE OPERATIONAL EXPENSESLeverage Your OSS Data to Better Monitor and Monetize Your NetworkSession Number: 12 / Room: 304

– Will Aycock – General Manager, Greenlight Communications

FTTH NETWORKS FROM A TO ZOptimizing Your FTTH OSP Design Decisions Based on FactsSession Number: 17 / Room: 305

– Luc De Heyn – Business Development Engineer for FibreplanIT, COMSOF

FTTH NETWORKS FROM A TO ZCost-Effectively Positioning Your Network for 4G/LTE with Fiber and Wi-Fi OffloadSession Number: 42 / Room: 317/318

– Kevin Morgan – Director of Marketing and Communications, ADTRAN Inc.

THE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSEconomic Development – The Killer App for FTTH SystemsSession Number: 8 / Room: 315

– Jim Baller – President, Baller Herbst Law Group– Bruce Abraham – President, Connect Northern Georgia– Michael Curri – President, Strategic Networks Group– Marci Harris – CEO and Co-Founder, POPVOX.com

THE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSDeveloping Public Policy to Support Startup Communities: Why Traditional Economic Development Doesn’t Work and Examples of Initiatives Local and State Government Can ImplementSession Number: 33 / Room: 316

– Joe Reardon – Attorney, McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips Law Firm


FTTH CONFERENCE & EXPOFTTH AROUND THE GLOBEInternational Keynote PresentationSession Number: 48 / Room: Floridian Ballroom

– José Luis Novoa Lozano – Manager for Fixed Access Network Technologies, Telefónica España


11:00 am – 11:45 am FTTH COSTS: HOW TO MANAGE OPERATIONAL EXPENSESReducing the Cost of Gigabit Broadband – All the Way to the Last MileSession Number: 14 / Room: 304

– Scot Bohaychyk - Manager of Product Marketing, Clearfield

FTTH NETWORKS FROM A TO ZPerfecting FTTH: Cost-Effective Design with the End in MindSession Number: 37 / Room: 305

– Catherine McNaught – Market Development, Corning Inc.

FTTH NETWORKS FROM A TO ZUnderstanding How Integrated Software Solutions Can Maximize Your ROI Over the Entire Network LifecycleSession Number: 11 / Room: 317/318

– Chad Smith – Communications Segment Lead – Americas, GE Digital Energy

THE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSMaking the Utility Business Case Work for Rural BroadbandSession Number: 35 / Room: 301/302

– Mark Madden – Regional Vice President, Utilities North America, Alcatel-Lucent

THE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSFrom Preparing to Performing InstallsSession Number: 7 / Room: 315

– Monte Hill – Chief Operating Officer, OnTrac Inc.

THE COMMUNITY TOOLKIT: FROM VISION TO INSTALLSRegulatory Considerations in FTTH DeploymentsSession Number: 47 / Room: 316

– Tom Cohen – Partner, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP

TRACK: FTTH AROUND THE GLOBEPresentations from the FTTH Council LATAM Chapter

– Speaker TBA

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Connect with Exhibitors! Luncheon in Expo Hall

1:45 pm – 3:00 pm LATAM Panel

3:15 pm – 3:30 pm Networking and Refreshment Break

3:45 pm – 4:30 pm MDU PanelModerator:Walt Donovan – Vice President, Business Development, Dycom Industries, Inc.Panelists:– Michael Weston, Senior Executive, Verizon Enhanced

Communities, Verizon

4:30 pm – 7:30 pm International-Themed Reception in Expo Hall

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 258:00 am – 12:00 pm Registration Open

7:30 am – 9:00 am Fierce Telecom Executive Breakfast: Building a Successful Middle-Mile

Moderator: Sean Buckley – Editor, Fierce Telecom– Joe Calzone – President, Independent Optical

Networks (ION)– Curt Frankenfeld – Director, Access Strategy and

Development, CenturyLink– Brian Lippold – Advisor, Massachusetts Broadband

Institute– Scott Mispagel – Vice President, Network Planning and

Engineering, Frontier Communications


9:15 am – 12:15 pm FTTH Summits: Faster, Better, NowThe Cloud Summit

9:15 am – 10:30 am Session 1: How The Cloud will Transform Network Management– Luc Absillis – Wireline CTO, Alcatel-Lucent– Adam Dunstan – President and CEO, Active Broadband

Networks (ABN)– Mark Simon – CEO, iToolsOnline

10:45 am – 12:15 pm Session 2: Providing Consumers with the Cloud Services They Need and Want

– Joti Balani – Vice President, Marketing, Lumos Networks– Sam Gopal – Director, Product Management,

Iron Mountain– Van Murray – Director, Cloud Services, NeoNova– Ringing up the Cash Register – Marketing Tactics to

Generate Revenue

9:15 am – 10:30 am Session 1: Using Video to Build Brand Awareness and TrustModerator: Jack Olson – Vice President, Business Development, Viamedia– Lori McDaniel – Vice President, Marketing and Public

Relations, Dalton Utilities/Optilink

10:45 am – 12:15 pm Session 2: Marketing 101: Back to BasicsModerator: Katie Espeseth – Vice President of New Products, EPB– Amy Broussard – Sales and Marketing Analyst, Lafayette

Utilities System– Gary Evans – Former President and CEO, Hiawatha

Broadband Communications– Tim Morrison – Executive Vice President, Infinity Marketing– Jon Moss – Principal, Moss Media Labs

12:15 pm Conference Concludes

Katie EspesethEPB

Joe ReardonMcAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips

Law Firm

Gary EvansHiawatha Broadband

Communications




Featured Companies At the FTTH Conference

Exhibitors at the FTTH Conference and Expo include longtime industry leaders.

CalixBooth #603www.calix.com

Calix is a global leader in access innovation and North America’s leading provider of fiber access systems and software. Leverage our fiber access expertise to become the broadband service provider of choice to subscribers. Visit Calix at Booth #603 at the Fiber to the Home Conference and Expo. You can also visit www.calix.com for more information.

ClearfieldBooth #709www.clearfieldconnection.com

Clearfield Inc. sets the standard for fiber performance while lowering the cost of broadband deployment with its FieldSmart fiber management products, CraftSmart OSP fiber enclosures and FieldShield microduct and pushable fiber platform, now available for the hardened connector environment through the FieldShield Mulitport SmarTerminal. FieldSmart is the industry’s only fiber management platform designed around a single architecture – the Clearview Cassette and xPAK – that supports a wide range of panel and cabinet configurations and pushable fiber technologies that integrate with Clearfield’s Clearview Cassette and xPAK. Passive optical components are integrated within the FieldSmart architecture for user-defined split ratios and optimal resolution of fiber exhaust. CraftSmart is the industry’s only field enclosure system optimized for fiber deployment. Clearfield’s FiberDeep fiber patch cords guarantee performance at .2dB insertion loss. NASDAQ: CLFD

Corning Inc. Booth #501www.corning.com/opcomm

Corning is a leading manufacturer of fiber optic communications system solutions for voice, data and video network applications worldwide. Corning’s solutions for fiber-to-the-x networks constitute a comprehensive offering of tip-to-tip products and services, including the most advanced suite of optical fiber technologies, photonic components and optical

networking devices available. Backed by award-winning customer service, engineering services and technical support, Corning solutions enable network service providers to quickly and cost-effectively deploy fiber to the home and business.

ETI Software SolutionsBooth #809www.etisoftware.com

A global leader in communications technology and services for over 20 years, ETI Software Solutions provides next-gen software for broadband service providers to manage


http://www.calix.com

http://www.calix.com

http://www.clearfieldconnection.com

http://www.corning.com/opcomm


FTTH CONFERENCE & EXPOservice fulfillment and revenue assurance. ETI’s modular, fully integrated solution gives providers the power to work smarter and support the network at every stage, from design and construction to activation, billing, monitoring and management. Delivering the tools needed to manage complex systems more efficiently, reduce operating costs and ensure optimal quality of service, ETI is based in Norcross, Ga. Visit ETI in Booth #809.

G4S TechnologyBooth #717www.g4s.us/en-US/

G4S Technology is a systems integrator that brings innovative, flexible and cost-efficient thinking to the design, construction and maintenance of stand-alone or integrated communication networks and electronic security systems. For nearly two decades, G4S Technology has offered commercial, industrial and governmental clients an efficient single point of contact for all their project issues. A trusted partner to customers and suppliers around the world, G4S Technology takes great pride in delivering outstanding technology and superior service. G4S Technology has deployed over 2 million fiber miles in more than 200 metropolitan and rural areas and completed over 1,500 electronic security systems in the United States, Europe, Asia, Central America and the Middle East.

GLDSBooth #314www.glds.com

A BroadBand Communities Top 100 Company, GLDS sets a new standard for cable billing and subscriber management software. WinCable’s client/server architecture, attractive Windows design and robust SQL database provide optimal features, benefits and value.

FTTH, IPTV, digital and analog set-top boxes, conditional-access satellite receivers, cable modems, VoD and VoIP can all be managed directly from the WinCable billing system. GLDS also offers a mobile app for field-based workforce management as well as telephone and Web-based customer self-care.

• Designed for the requirements of private, franchised and municipal broadband

• Exclusive “address based” features• Full support for Interdiction, FTTH, digital, IPTV, VoIP

and more• Landlord/tenant billing options• Low-cost stand-alone or cloud-based solutions.

Serving small and mid-sized operators, GLDS has implemented its solutions for over 400 broadband systems in 49 U.S. states and 44 countries. For more information, contact GLDS Sales at 800-882-7950 or visit www.glds.com.

MasTecBooth #203www.mastec.com

Communication and its infrastructure are constantly evolving, and MasTec is not only keeping pace with that evolution – we’re driving it. Our engineering, design, construction and maintenance services support the world’s most advanced fiber optic, copper, wireless and satellite networks. Our work spans large geographic areas all across the country, and we’re able to supply crews and equipment 24/7. We combine cutting-edge technology, innovative solutions, skilled professionals and an unfailing commitment to safety to ensure that our customers are able to meet their customers’ communications needs with the highest levels of reliability and quality.

MaxCellBooth #310www.maxcell.us

MaxCell is the only flexible fabric innerduct system designed specifically for the network construction industry. The unique fabric construction allows MaxCell to conform to the shape of cables placed within, greatly reducing the wasted space associated with rigid innerduct. Network operators that use MaxCell can increase their cable densities by as much as 300 percent.

MaxSpace is a new, patent-pending, no-dig technology and construction method that safely removes existing innerduct from around active fiber optic cables with virtually no load on the cables and no interruption of service. As the innerducts are removed, cables migrate to bottom of the outer conduit. Once all innerducts are removed, up to 90 percent of conduit space is recovered, allowing up to nine more cables to be placed with MaxCell in the reclaimed space of a conduit that was once considered full.

MaxCell and MaxSpace will be in Booth #310 at the FTTH Conference and Expo. Visit www.maxcell.us for more information.

Power & TelBooth #610www.ptsupply.com

Whether you are building or maintaining a network, having the right material at the right time is critical to your success. Power & Tel offers a reliable source for the products and technologies needed to provide broadband services. As a partner to the communications industry for over half a century, Power & Tel understands commitment to customers and the business factors that allow for long-term success in an ever-changing marketplace. By utilizing our expertise in moving and managing products within the supply chain, you can place even greater focus on serving customers and meeting your profit objectives.

http://www.glds.com

http://www.mastec.com/


Preformed Line ProductsBooth #715www.preformed.com

Products that are engineered to perform reliably last longer and are easier to install. You can count on Preformed Line Products (PLP) to provide high-quality solutions that meet the rigorous demands of today’s communications networks.

We serve all segments of the communications industry, including telecommunications network operators, video and broadband service providers, enterprise networks, government agencies and educational institutions.

PLP was founded in 1947 with the invention of helical wire technology and has set new standards in the communications and power industries ever since. It is currently the only supplier offering the industry a full line of formed wire helical products and fiber optic helical devices for ADSS/OPGW applications.

Innovative product solutions, reliability, excellent technical support and customer service make Preformed Line Products “The Connection You Can Count On.” Visit us at the FTTH Conference at Booth #715.

SuttleBooth #609www.suttleonline.com

Suttle is a global manufacturer of innovative solutions designed for reliable and grow-as-you-go connectivity from the central office to the premises. Suttle products incorporate the best available technology and are built to high-quality standards under practices certified to ISO 9001 and TL 9000. Our solutions, which are customized to leverage service providers’ existing network infrastructure, are cost-effective and expandable to accommodate future growth and customer needs.

Suttle designs solutions for FTTx deployment challenges with our robust FutureLink family of products, including the new FutureLink Stackable Fiber Interface Terminal (SFIT) system. This product platform provides ultimate flexibility in FTTH configuration and placement for MDU, SFU or business application. The SFITS intuitive fiber routing allows for quick and reliable installation and provides a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for service providers deploying in greenfield or brownfield environments.

Suttle, founded in 1910, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Communications Systems Inc., NASDAQ-GM: JCS. v





News From Featured ExhibitorsCalix Makes the Gig Leap

MAKETHE

LEAPPETALUMA, CA – Ever since Google Fiber announced a national competition to bring symmetrical gigabit speeds to an American community, a “gig” has captured people’s imaginations. Fast forward to today, and gigabit networks are spreading like wildfire. Many innovations introduced by Google are being implemented across the country. These include 1) aggressive pricing of symmetrical gigabit services at less than $80 per month, 2) reduction of the number of service tiers so each tier is highly differentiated in consumers’ eyes and 3) the use of fiberhoods to determine which neighborhoods get built out based on the level of preregistrations for the offered service.

Since Google made its original announcement, it has begun deployments in both Kansas Cities and their suburbs; in Austin, Texas; and in Provo, Utah. Another 34 communities are working with Google for the opportunity to become the next Google Fiber city.

Google’s biggest impact, however, has been getting other service providers to act. Since the FCC announced the goal of having a gigabit community in every state by the end of 2015, gigabit communities have started to be built in more than 25 states. These announcements are accelerating, and, in some cases, such as Austin, multiple service providers have announced a gig – with Grande Communications, a Calix customer, the first to launch.

Most important, service providers rolling out gigabit networks are seeing positive results, including higher market share and higher ARPU. Offering gigabit services changes the perception of consumers toward gigabit providers. They are viewed much more positively, recognized as technology leaders. This “halo effect” is particularly important for service providers that may have struggled in the past with outdated infrastructure or declining market share. Burlington Telecom, for example, in Burlington, Vt., used gigabit service to reinvigorate its fiber network offering. The city of Highland, Ill., has seen its installations increase dramatically since introducing a 100 Mbps service last fall and, more recently, a gigabit service.

Calix customers have been at the forefront of “making the gig leap.” Today, Calix customers in more than 20 states and one Canadian province are rolling out gigabit residential services. Calix has partnered with these service providers to assist them in marketing gigabit service and has developed tools to analyze the business benefits of introducing more highly differentiated service tiers.

Offering gigabit service is merely part of a larger effort toward offering a highly differentiated broadband experience. What does it mean to be a differentiated broadband experience provider? It means offering a product mix that consumers find compelling, with strong loyalty to your brand. It means becoming an essential part of customers’ daily lives. It means having the analytical tools to understand what customers are doing with their gig.

In the compelling marketing campaign tied to its gigabit rollout in Omaha, CenturyLink asks consumers, “What would you do with your Gig?” Through the use of Compass software, Calix customers can gain insight into the broadband behavior of their subscribers. Compass tools create intelligence that can be used by customer service, engineering and operations to create a better user experience. These same tools can be used by marketing to identify consumers who are interested in upgrading to a higher-tier service or who might be open to utilizing a new smart-home service.

Ultimately, successful operators that make the gig leap are not those introducing a higher service tier. A gigabit is not just another tier of service with a bigger number. A successful gigabit service provider changes the dynamics of broadband service provision, creating a customer-centric model with new revenue streams. For more information on how Calix is helping service providers make the gig leap, visit www.calix.com/gigabit.

Clearfield Continues to Reduce The Cost of Broadband Deployment With SmartRoute Technology

SmartRoute Panel pays out exact fiber lengths without preengineering or site survey.

Dual SmartRoute spool design integrates ISP and OSP fiber in single 1RU panel.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Clearfield’s new SmartRoute spooling technology is an innovative fiber management design that houses connectors, cable assembly and slack storage in a single unit. The SmartRoute Panel, with dual SmartRoute spools deployed, integrates ISP and OSP cable assemblies in a single 1RU high panel.

Clearfield’s SmartRoute Panel combines micro distribution cable, spooling technology and MPO connectorization in a single panel, relieving cable congestion, simplifying ordering and eliminating incorrect cable length of ISP/OSP cable assemblies. Site engineering and installation costs are greatly reduced or even eliminated due to the ability to deploy multiple fiber types at lengths of up to 200 feet. Effective in any environment where a fiber panel and cable

http://www.calix.com/gigabit

http://www.calix.com/gigabit


assembly are deployed separately, the SmartRoute Panel is ideal for use in central offices, data centers, colocation, customer premises or MDU environments requiring ISP cabling. Used with FieldShield optical cable for the OSP, the SmartRoute Panel is perfect at cell sites, cell towers and other applications where fiber is exposed to the elements. Used in connection with FieldShield ruggedized microduct, the SmartRoute Panel is the perfect support to any task, no matter the elements or conditions.

Preterminated with a choice of SC, LC or MPO connector, each SmartRoute spool can hold up to 200 feet of 3mm 12-fiber microdistribution or 12-fiber FieldShield cable. For higher-fiber-count environments, each spool can hold up to 125 feet of 4mm 24-fiber FieldShield cable. Preconnectorized options eliminate splice labor and speed network construction. Each SmartRoute spool can be pulled independently; one spool can be deployed in one direction while the other spool can be deployed with cable in the opposite direction, providing ultimate flexibility for the network design.

The SmartRoute Panel is the first in a series of enclosure designs that will leverage the SmartRoute spooling technology. User-defined cable lengths with integrated slack storage for unused cable is the inherent advantage of this fiber protection method.

Corning Introduces Centrix Platform

CORNING, NY – Corning’s Centrix Platform is a high-density fiber management system that provides a balance of industry-leading density with innovative jumper routing. The Centrix platform supports up to 4,320 LC or 2,880 SC connector ports per standard 7-foot (2200 mm) frame. The frame design provides optimized routing paths for jumpers, reducing the risk of pileup or entanglement. A single jumper length for an in-frame, cross-connect network design reduces jumper inventory.

At the foundation of the Centrix platform is a single modular cassette that can be tailored to include a variety of optical devices. The modular cassette provides flexibility and functionality within a single frame without sacrificing density. Each cassette contains up to either 24 SC or 36 LC connector adapters. Easy port access is possible due to a sliding cassette with drop-down handle. Housings are available empty, preloaded with cassettes for on-frame splicing or as stubbed assemblies to reduce installation time and risk. This system

can be deployed in multiple applications, including central office, headend, FTTx, FTTCS and data center.

ETI Software Announces Its Next-Gen Product Line, Overture

ETI’s Overture software suite is designed to enhance service assurance, improve subscriber loyalty and reduce churn.

NORCROSS, GA – Enhanced Telecommunications Inc. (dba ETI Software Solutions, www.etisoftware.com) is proud to announce the Overture Suite – a next-gen solution that translates real-time data into integrated software modules that empower service providers to offer unparalleled customer service.

“Subscriber loyalty and operational efficiency are the cornerstones of success for service providers today,” said Pete Pifer, founder and CEO of ETI Software. “Overture harnesses real-time data that yields actionable business intelligence for CSRs, field technicians and network operations personnel. With these powerful tools, our customers will be able to proactively remedy an issue before their subscribers report a problem,” he said. “It’s all about serving customers to the highest possible degree to retain and grow business ... it’s our creed here at ETI.”

The Overture Suite incorporates key functionality of ETI’s flagship B/OSS product, Triad, and introduces new modules designed to enhance service management – all on a single platform. Built with leading-edge technologies such as Java, Google Web Toolkit and Esri, the modules are all preintegrated and give customers the ability to “mix and match” to meet individual needs, rather than mandating a cookie-cutter, “one size fits all” approach.

“The birthplace of Overture is truly with our customers – ETI has always developed software based their evolving needs,” explained Chris Beisner, ETI’s vice president of product management. “Together we realized the power of our real-time data, and began to find new ways to use subscriber and device data to improve service assurance and revenue assurance. The goal? To keep our customers competitive in an ever-changing industry.”

For more information, visit www.etisoftware.com

http://www.etisoftware.com


FTTH CONFERENCE & EXPOGreat Lakes Data Systems and Fleetmatics Team Up to Provide Workforce Management Integration Capabilities for Independent Cable Operators

DUBLIN and BOSTON – Fleetmatics Group PLC (NYSE: FLTX), a leading global provider of mobile workforce solutions for service-based businesses of all sizes delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS), and Great Lakes Data Systems Inc. (GLDS), a leading provider of billing, subscriber management and provisioning systems for small to medium-sized global broadband providers, have teamed up to provide workforce management integration capabilities for independent cable operators.

Businesses worldwide depend on Fleetmatics’ fleet management to improve the overall effectiveness of their mobile workforces. The company’s mobile workforce solution goes a step further by having the ability to integrate with leading back-office software, providing an even clearer look into fleet operations.

“GLDS teamed up with Fleetmatics to provide a powerful solution that complements WinCable and enhances overall operational effectiveness,” said Garrick Russell, GLDS president. “The insight gained allows for more effective dispatching and strategic planning.”

Recently announced, Fleetmatics REVEAL is a powerful yet simple-to-use fleet management solution designed to drive savings and improve productivity for virtually any mobile workforce. Fleetmatics REVEAL+ extends Fleetmatics REVEAL and provides the additional tools necessary to address the complex requirements of a large fleet and mobile workforce. Fleetmatics REVEAL+ enables larger customers to manage complex organizational structures and large numbers of users as well as to produce executive-level reporting across an entire enterprise. It also offers an open API for straightforward integration with existing back-office systems.

“Combining work order data with real-time vehicle activity in the field provides an objective view into a company’s field operation and quickly highlights opportunities for improved efficiency,” said Karl Weber, vice president of enterprise for Fleetmatics. “The added layer of insight allows a cable operator to be more effective on a daily basis and better understand where operational efficiencies can be gained.” Both companies believe the ultimate goal is to provide useful and powerful information that can help with real-time decision making that works alongside independent cable operators’ existing systems.

MaxCell Solution Increases Space and Capacity

WADSWORTH, OH – Since the early 1980s and the first deployments of fiber optic cables, rigid HDPE innerducts have been installed in conduits. This ensures that one cable is never pulled over another cable, potentially causing damage to both cable jackets.

Today, many of these original conduit systems and innerducts are at full capacity with operating cables. The only

construction choice previously was to dig additional trenches and install new conduits with rigid or textile innerduct.

Placing new conduit infrastructure and constructing innerduct is very time-consuming and expensive. It requires additional engineering costs, permitting and EPA review and approval. Construction can also be disruptive to local traffic, homeowners and merchants.

MaxSpace is a new, patent-pending, no-dig technology and construction method that safely removes existing innerduct from around active fiber optic cables with virtually no load on the cables and no interruption of service. As the innerducts are removed, cables migrate to bottom of the outer conduit. Once all innerducts are removed, up to 90 percent of conduit space is recovered, allowing up to nine more cables to be placed with MaxCell in the reclaimed space of a conduit that was once considered full.

Trenching and placing new conduit and innerduct in cities can cost from $300 to $700 per foot, and placement of new conduit runs can be as slow as 6 inches per hour. With MaxSpace, the cost of recovering conduit is a small fraction of the traditional cost and placement is 100 to 1,000 times faster – up to 10 feet per minute for removing ducts and placing textile innerducts.

As an added benefit, the MaxSpace solution is environmentally friendly: No soil is disrupted, and no carbon emissions are generated that would have occurred by new conduit construction. Additionally, less equipment and smaller crews are required, and the innerducts that are removed are easily recycled.

MaxSpace construction technology will allow deployment of new services at a significantly lower cost and much greater speed than new construction, helping providers meet the growing data demands of their end users.

Power & Tel and NewBasis Announce Reseller Agreement

Providing customers’ premier pads and below-ground enclosures with renowned distribution and logistics services

MEMPHIS, TN – Power & Telephone Supply Co. (Power & Tel) and NewBasis announced a nonexclusive reseller


agent agreement for the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Mexico. This agreement allows Power & Tel to sell and distribute NewBasis pads and below-ground enclosures for telecommunications, electrical, cable, water, traffic, lighting and industrial applications. The partnership will utilize both companies’ strengths to efficiently supply the largest selection of composites in the infrastructure market, which includes polymer, concrete and fiberglass.

“We feel this partnership will bring value to NewBasis, Power & Tel and, more importantly, to the infrastructure marketplace,” stated Chris Sanford, VP of sales for NewBasis. “Power & Tel has successfully been serving communication customers for over 50 years, and its proven inventory management capabilities and marketplace leadership enhance our ability to distribute our products.”

Preformed Line Products Reintroduces COYOTE ACE

Wall plate addresses a multitude of home and office network connection options.

MAYFIELD VILLAGE, OH – Preformed Line Products Company (PLP), a leader in the energy industry since 1947, is reintroducing the patented COYOTE ACE (Adaptable Connection Enclosure). First introduced in 2011, this fiber connection wall plate was designed to offer maximum flexibility when addressing the connection options required to support home and office networks. Continuous improvement, a PLP tradition, resulted in the following added features:

• Shutter covers designed to prevent laser light from escaping the unit

• A CAT6 – copper jack• A new faceplate option with two keystone jacks and one

fiber adapter.

The white, flame-retardant COYOTE ACE enclosure measures 4” wide x 6” long x 1” deep. It features interchangeable inserts that allow the enclosure to be configured to support fiber/coax, fiber/CAT6, coax/CAT6, coax-only and fiber only applications. The design offers support for splice/patch applications and multiple connection

types. The COYOTE ACE accepts industry-standard adapter and coax splitters, and for surface-mount applications using raceway, fiber entrance slots on the side and top of the base are available. The enclosure can be used below a COYOTE Fiber Wall Plate to support additional fiber slack storage or applications requiring 1x4 coax splitters. Splice tray kits are available to support internal splicing if required.

SUTTLE’S FUTURELINK SFIT SYSTEM ALLOWS ULTIMATE FTTH DEPLOYMENT FLEXIBILITY

HECTOR, MN – As the future of network infrastructure planning is often uncertain, service providers look for a flexible yet robust solution for FTTH deployments. In response to this need, Suttle – a wholly owned subsidiary of Communications Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ-GM: JCS) – developed an innovative platform solution adding to the FutureLink fiber connectivity family.

The FutureLink Stackable Fiber Interface Terminal (SFIT) system is designed for ultimate fiber distribution flexibility for configuration and placement. The SFIT platform is designed for indoor, outdoor, SFU, MDU and business applications, and it is mountable on a wall, pole, strand or pedestal. Featuring intuitive cable and fiber routing for craft friendliness, integrated bend controls and strain reliefs to ensure fiber performance, and horizontally positioned terminal adapters to prevent moisture ingress, the SFIT system contributes to lower total cost of ownership for service providers. Additionally, lightweight, flame-retardant, UV-resistant and weather-resistant materials are used to create a durable enclosure that protects typical preconnectorized cable plug-and-play configurations. Extremely flexible enclosures are stackable and provide the ability to combine additional functions, such as splicing or slack storage for bare cable deployment or increased capacity for future growth.

Whether you are planning a greenfield or brownfield application, the SFIT system can meet your FTTx deployment challenge.

For more information, visit www.suttleonline.com or call 800-852-8662. v

Come visit Broadband Communities in Booth 226!


http://www.suttleonline.com


FTTH 2014 CONFERENCE &EXPOJune 23–25, 2014 Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention CenterFort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

Gain a Competitive Edge at the 2014 FTTH Conference & ExpoParticipate in three days of networking, education, and exhibits when you join more than 1,300 attendees to gain techniques, applications, and network management best practices.

Access the specific information you need to grow as a leader and expand your business with our targeted education tracks:• The Community Toolkit: From Vision

to Installs

• FTTH Around the Globe

• Fiber to the Home Deployment Techniques

• Managing Operational Costs

• FTTH Networks from A to Z

Explore innovative apps made possible with all fiber networksMeet with suppliers and vendors featuring the latest state-of-the-art innovations, and find the new ideas you’re looking for to take your business to the next level.

Make key connections and expand your reachTo become a partner, advertiser, and/or exhibitor, contact Sara Kolovitz at +1-312-673-4779 or [email protected].

Register now at www.ftthannual.org



Gain a Competitive Edge at the 2014 FTTH Conference & ExpoParticipate in three days of networking, education, and exhibits when you join more than 1,300 attendees to gain techniques, applications, and network management best practices.

Access the specific information you need to grow as a leader and expand your business with our targeted education tracks:• The Community Toolkit: From Vision

to Installs

• FTTH Around the Globe

• Fiber to the Home Deployment Techniques

• Managing Operational Costs

• FTTH Networks from A to Z

Explore innovative apps made possible with all fiber networksMeet with suppliers and vendors featuring the latest state-of-the-art innovations, and find the new ideas you’re looking for to take your business to the next level.

Make key connections and expand your reachTo become a partner, advertiser, and/or exhibitor, contact Sara Kolovitz at +1-312-673-4779 or [email protected].

Register now at www.ftthannual.org



COMMUNITY BROADBAND

Planning for the Best CaseWhen a community builds a gigabit broadband network, it must be prepared for an enthusiastic response. Longmont, Colo., shows how to plan for high take rates.

By Craig Settles / Gigabit Nation

When Longmont, Colo., created its pilot broadband deployment, community leaders tried to

anticipate the many things that possibly could go wrong: Contractors might fall behind schedule, permitting processes might take longer than expected and, of course, in the worst-case scenario, take rates might fall way short of projections. Unlike some communities, Longmont also tried to plan for what might go right.

Longmont, a community of 87,000 people northeast of Denver, launched its pilot FTTH program to homes and businesses beginning in 2013, leading a surge of gigabit city announcements. In September of that year, the city received the Community Broadband Fiber Network of the Year award from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, an association of government officials who manage communications and technology; in November, citizens voted to approve $44 million in bonds for a citywide buildout, and the city began the process of expanding the network.

As Longmont’s successes multiply and the network’s popularity skyrockets, the importance of planning for the halo effect – the best-case scenario in which everything that could go right does go right and take rates far exceed expectations – becomes increasingly clear. Because, yes, there definitely can be too much of a good thing.

“Our network is being built to sustain a 100 percent take rate by the entire city,” states

Vince Jordan, telecom manager for Longmont Power and Communications, the municipal utility that is deploying the network. “Our residential pilot had a 60 percent take rate with just one round of promotion for the service. If we marketed with direct mail or additional outreach to the remainder of homes in that area, the take rate would probably go to 75–80 percent. But if we actually got 100 percent, we’d be severely strained financially.”

Other community-based projects have experienced higher-than-expected take rates. For example, the Greenlight community network in Wilson, N.C., quickly exceeded its take-rate projections soon after launch in 2008. Co-Mo Electric Cooperative in Missouri expected its pilot to have a take rate of about 25 percent, but 30 percent of homes subscribed to the service during the pilot. Demand from homes outside the Co-Mo pilot area also is exceeding expectations as those residents learn about the project. Communities joining the gigabit ranks of the newly wired, particularly in rural areas, continue to report strong early subscriber numbers.

Calix, the FTTH equipment vendor involved in many gigabit deployments, believes that gigabit speed has proven to have a powerful appeal to consumers. As explained by David Russell, solutions marketing director, “Gigabit is very clearly defined in consumers’ minds in a way that FTTH alone was not. Because it is so highly differentiated from other service offerings, offering a gigabit distinguishes market leaders. We call it the halo effect. Consumers


view the operator offering the gigabit more favorably, even if they can’t get a gigabit where they live yet.”

MEET CONSUMER EXPECTATIONSIn venture capital circles, a “hockey stick” is the common label for the obligatory slide in startup presentations that forecasts low sales in the first months after a product launches and meteoric growth in the following months. Even if community broadband stakeholders don’t forecast hockey-stick sales, they need to consider what they will do if the hockey stick materializes.

Longmont’s Jordan says, “Too much success can hurt you just as much as too little. The hockey stick looks good on paper, but with a broadband network, the people, time and equipment required to respond to a flood of sales could be very challenging. The big struggle would be with cash flow, especially for those communities that are not charging installation fees to subscribers.”

Ongoing cash flow can be further strained if residential take rates are high compared with business take rates. “I’ve been in this business for a lot of years,” says Jordan, “and I find that customer service and tech support costs are almost always higher per residential subscriber than for each business customer, while monthly revenue is lower.”

A steady linear growth rate is easier to handle than an accelerating hockey stick, and communities may plan for it by educating residents that the network will be rolled out in phases or that neighborhoods will be selected by lottery. If pent-up demand is great, however, extended delays in hooking up subscribers could create animosity from the people not yet served, leaving an opening to competitors. Jordan and other stakeholders have structured a buildout schedule that reduces the chances of hockey-stick growth in favor of managed growth.

Hockey-stick growth can negatively impact more than broadband operations. Some areas have a delicate balance between population size and the capabilities of infrastructure such as water treatment plants, electric grids

and roads. If a broadband network fuels an economic boom that increases population and business activity, the community’s infrastructure could literally collapse beneath the onslaught.

Another potential problem is that a rapid change in broadband speeds can widen rather than close the existing digital divide as those who cannot afford broadband or who don’t have basic technology such as computers will fall further behind the rest of the community. Communities need to be aware of and prepared for these possibilities.

In a small, rural community there may be opposition to a network due to the fear of a sudden cultural divide in the face of rapid broadband adoption, though this fear isn’t supported by research. Many news reports about Kansas City’s Google Fiber deployment highlight the surge of young people, entrepreneurs and information workers moving into the parts of town Google has built out.

Though Kansas City is large enough that a sudden demographic shift wouldn’t be noticeable right away, in smaller communities with many traditional workers or senior citizens unaccustomed to change, concern about this shift can lead to clashes.

PLAN FOR THE BEST …The needs assessment, planning and pilot project stages for a gigabit network should include a “What if we’re wildly successful?” analysis. All stakeholders should be involved in this analysis, and they should look for answers in a wider context than the broadband network and its operations. Broadband affects many aspects of a community – local government, businesses, education

and more – so a hyper-successful network will cause ripples in all these areas. Project leaders in Longmont, Chattanooga, Kansas City and other towns hold frequent meetings with regular citizens and community leaders that enable them to explore “what if” scenarios.

If a primary goal for broadband is to impact economic development, the project team should have meetings with business leaders and IT managers from a cross-section of local companies. For example, Seattle public officials conducted a widely publicized drive to bring faster Internet speeds to Pike Place Market and to get most of the retail businesses there to sign up for access. Many subscribed, but officials were embarrassed when they discovered that the older business owners weren’t using the Internet because they didn’t know what to do when they gained access to it.

Casting a wide net for participants in the “what if” planning process allows everyone involved with deploying the network, as well as those using broadband services, to prepare for success. “If your broadband network is not incorporated into your regional planning process and economic development plans, you cannot manage the broadband results and may just set yourself up for failure,” states Chuck Sherwood, senior associate at the consulting firm TeleDimensions.

Institutions such as schools, colleges, libraries and medical facilities also should be included in this planning because their early adoption of broadband and related specialized technology can create a hockey-stick effect. School districts are giving students leading-edge technology tools and increasing schools’ broadband

Strong consumer demand for network connections can cause cash-flow problems for a new network and generate resentment on the part of the consumers who have to wait.


COMMUNITY BROADBAND

speeds. Parents line up to subscribe to community networks, so engineering design must consider their demands when planning infrastructure location and capacity. Hospitals and clinics will see a network as their vehicle for offering new telemedicine services, and this in turn should drive residential take rates.

Moving from the planning stage to the pilot project is the next opportunity to plan for success. A pilot project that establishes and analyzes benchmarks helps anticipate demand. The pilot’s fiber build and participants are selected to enable the team to test assumptions resulting from the needs assessment. Longmont’s pilot project helped its team determine that a 60 percent take rate would strain the utility’s human resources because it might have to triple the number of people installing infrastructure at customer premises.

The engineering design stage presents another chance to prepare for success. Longmont’s design firm, Uptown Services, carved the citywide buildout into six phases, each with about 5,000 passings of homes and businesses. “The area we designated for the first phase has conduit already going past 1,100 homes, so we can get in, build out quickly and start up service,” reports Jordan. “We get a fast win, prove ourselves and drive up demand in the rest of town when people see what’s going on here. We prioritized the other phases based on where we can build out quickly with a good mix of homes and businesses.”

This issue of balancing home and business customers is very important because communities want to generate high revenues from business subscribers to offset the costs of building laterals

deep into neighborhoods. Google has done a great job of showing how to build a successful residential business. “However, when you do the math, you need business subs,” states Jordan. “The ratio of businesses to residences in Longmont is about 1:8. Google can ignore businesses [in the short term] because they have deep pockets, plus they’re not expecting a network to pay for itself for a long time. For others, over the long haul, businesses always generate the bulk of revenue.”

Probably the greatest insurance for positive outcomes from the halo effect is to masterfully manage stakeholders’ and constituents’ expectations. If everyone expects to get service at once, lots of people will be unhappy. Jordan and his team constantly and consistently remind people that the network will take three years to complete and somebody’s going to have to be last. Project teams must overcommunicate to constituents the realities of broadband and deployments.

… AND PREPARE FOR THE WORSTLongmont learned through experience that preparing for overwhelming success can help prepare for unexpected negative events as well. The city’s buildout was well underway in fall 2013 when a natural disaster tested the network in ways not foreseen. The city found that the robustness of its capacity was key to passing the test with flying colors.

A massive September flood hit Longmont’s portion of the state, causing at least $1 billion in damage as it wiped out homes, businesses, highways and interstates. In addition to causing property damage and loss of life, the flooding made travel and communication within the area difficult, if not impossible, for several days.

Longmont’s network enabled an enormous impromptu crisis communication and crisis survival operation. The city’s videographer went airborne in the local skydiving club’s airplane several times daily to video damaged structures, rivers and waterways, road conditions and stranded survivors throughout the region. The city loaded massive video files to YouTube. A team of round-the-clock webmasters and volunteers kept the city’s servers and Web pages pumping out videos, Facebook posts, Twitter messages and other communications to residents, the Army Corps of Engineers and people outside the area.

Jordan observes, “Without the network, there is no way we could have done this, particularly on such a massive scale. We had the only comprehensive and up-to-date news coming from these areas.” The major network and cable news outlets placed cameras mainly in one or two areas that kept showing the same scenes repeatedly.

Though no one could have foreseen such a use for the network, the city is revising its emergency response plans to incorporate its ability to move massive amounts of data.

Another fortunate outcome of the city’s planning was the decision to build durable underground vaults to house network cabinets. Despite the deep water and heavy mud deposits, the cabinets and electronics were completely undamaged. Using typical street-level cabinets could have resulted in catastrophic damage to the network.

It is early in the gigabit game and there are few rules, for better or worse. However, gigabit networks clearly produce great interest and excitement that drive subscriptions. It is incumbent upon communities to plan well for the best of times yet be well prepared for the occasional storm. v

Craig Settles is a community broadband industry analyst, a strategy consultant and the host of the Gigabit Nation radio talk show. Reach him at [email protected].

In addition to managing the phased installation of their networks, operators must manage constituents’ expectations to avoid creating disappointment.



Vision. Clarity. Clearfield.

Making fiber work — with a unified fiber management and protection platform, is

the vision that drives Clearfield. Centered around the Clearview Cassette, these solutions

scale to your subscriber take-rates. FieldSmart™ – a series of fiber panels, cabinets and

enclosures, teamed with FieldShield™, an innovative pushable fiber delivery method –

protects your fiber investment along every point of the broadband network.

Looking to Reduce the Cost of Gigabit Broadband? See Clearfield.

ClearfieldConnection.com • 800-422-2537

FieldShield™SmarTerminal

FieldShield™Pushable Fiber

FieldSmart™Inside Plant

FieldSmart™Outside Plant

CF_AD_2014_FINAL_BBC.indd 1 1/16/14 2:29 PM


SUMMIT COVERAGE

Today, I am pleased to address the topic of broadband, economic development and global competitiveness. This is an incredibly important

issue for the Commerce Department, and it is something we have been working on tirelessly since the passage of the Recovery Act in early 2009. Over the past six months, we have attacked the challenge with renewed vigor under the leadership of our new Commerce secretary, Penny Pritzker, who has a laser-like focus on promoting the digital economy. In November, Secretary Pritzker launched our Open for Business agenda. That was followed just last month with the release of a strategic plan that, among other things, promotes pro-growth, pro-innovation policies that strengthen the digital economy. At Commerce, we understand that high-speed Internet access is a necessary engine for economic development and global competitiveness. The Internet accounts for 21 percent of GDP growth in advanced economies and facilitates $8 trillion each year in e-commerce. Broadband expansion equals economic development.

A BEFORE AND AFTER BROADBAND SUCCESS STORYInvesting in broadband is investing in your community’s economic future. Let me give you just one example. Five years ago, local officials in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in North Georgia were worried about what the future might bring in light of the economic crisis the country faced at the time, as well as the broader, long-term decline of the industrial economy. So when the BTOP program was announced in 2009, local leaders including Bruce Abraham brought together the local college, economic development agencies and

Open for Business In the Global EconomyBTOP project successes show that broadband fuels the U.S. economy – but the job of wiring the country is far from finished.

By Anthony Wilhelm / NTIA

Anthony Wilhelm

electric cooperatives to apply for funds to build the North Georgia Network (NGN). And in December 2009, Bruce was the first grant recipient I personally called to tell him that they had received a grant to build the fiber optic network. Later that month, Vice President Biden paid a visit to Dawsonville, Ga., to announce that BTOP award along with a handful of others.

Dawsonville is a tiny rural town nestled in the Appalachian foothills. It is


only 60 miles north of bustling Atlanta, but it is a world apart. Dawsonville is the kind of place that was in danger of being left behind in today’s knowledge-based economy. Local jobs were drying up as traditional industries such as textile mills, auto-parts factories and construction trades contracted or disappeared, and civic leaders in the region were worried about how the region would remain competitive.

Vice President Biden visited a company called Impulse Manufacturing, a metal fabrication shop that produces customized metal machine components for Fortune 500 companies. High-speed Internet access is essential for Impulse to be successful because it must be able to exchange massive data files with customers located across the globe. Before it got a fiber optic connection from NGN, Impulse was forced to make do with slow, spotty DSL service that sometimes could not even hold a connection.

Ron Baysden, Impulse’s president at the time, told us that the lack of reliable high-speed Internet became an impediment to doing business. His employees were spending too much time just dealing with network problems. Customers even resorted to delivering data files on thumb drives. At the time the vice president visited, Impulse was desperate for better Internet service.

In anticipation of my visit to Austin, I checked in with Bruce and the NGN team to find out how things are going four and a half years later. Bruce told me he still has the piece of paper where he jotted down my name and telephone number four and half years ago. And he proceeded to tell me about how the 12 counties comprising the new network are being transformed. Now that the 1,100-mile network is built and delivering high-speed Internet connections to more than 300 businesses, 42 schools, five college campuses, six libraries and dozens of other community anchor institutions, the region is more economically vibrant and more globally competitive. Let me make three observations based on my conversation with Bruce.

First, high-speed broadband is making local business, including manufacturers, more competitive. Impulse Manufacturing, for example, is thrilled with its broadband service. Now that it is connected to the NGN network, Baysden says, “[We just] press a button and it’s here.” Impulse Manufacturing landed a major contract to supply parts for a 1.4-million-square-foot manufacturing facility that Caterpillar is building in Athens, Ga. And Baysden says the new fiber optic connection is one key reason Impulse can handle the contract. The company is adding 150 employees to its employee base of 220 over the next few years. Impulse has even acquired smaller companies of late and is “tunneling” with them to share IT systems using the high-speed connections.

Second, the NGN network is fostering entrepreneurship and innovation. A local WISP, Appalachian Broadband Technologies, is doubling in size by infilling where the North Georgia Network couldn’t reach. A “Gig Village” is also coming online in Dawsonville, delivering [1 Gbps] service to each of 20 tenants in a local business park – attracting companies and encouraging innovation.

NGN has also been entrepreneurial in attracting other public dollars, securing state money to extend its network to neighboring communities and bringing high-speed fiber optic service to the Rabun Business Park. This business park is an innovative, adaptive reuse of a former Fruit of the Loom textile manufacturing plant. It is attracting data centers and call centers, and bringing high-paying jobs.

Third, NGN is transforming education and building workforce skills. In White County, Internet speeds

delivered to the school district went from 45 Mbps shared across seven schools to a gigabit – allowing teachers to integrate online video and online testing into the curriculum. At the local middle school, every teacher now walks around class with a wireless iPad connected to a desktop computer and to a projector screen through an Apple TV box. The NGN network also supports a new 10-gigabit education network that connects 24 school districts and 200 schools. This enables dual enrollment with the area’s community college so that high school seniors can navigate college-level courses over the network to prepare for college and work.

NGN is a microcosm of the transformation happening across the country in communities that have seized an opportunity to deploy high-capacity broadband and integrate it into economic development and education strategies. Growth and innovation happen when communities link technology investments with human-capital development as key pillars of regional economic growth.

So with all the strategic planning and foresight of the leaders in North Georgia, Bruce made me smile when he said they are doing things with the network today that he could not have even contemplated or imagined four and a half years ago.

INVESTING IN BROADBAND EQUALS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTFor every North Georgia that has successfully deployed broadband, thousands of communities remain at risk of being left behind in the digital economy. Though trend lines are moving in the right direction, 43 percent of the population in 2013 still

The North Georgia Network, a BTOP project, is helping local businesses become more competitive as well as fostering innovation and building workforce skills.


SUMMIT COVERAGE

had access to only two or fewer wired broadband providers, according to the National Broadband Map.

The gap between rural and urban is not only in choice of providers. There is also a widening gap in the broadband speed tiers available in these communities. Though two of three people in suburban communities and central cities have access to 50 Mbps service, the figure is only one of three people living in small towns and one of seven for folks in very rural areas. What’s more, NTIA’s Digital Nation report shows a 14 percentage-point difference in household adoption rates between urban and rural residents. Low-income, rural, African American households have the lowest adoption rate, with roughly one of four subscribing to broadband.

There is too much at stake to allow these gaps to remain. If we zoom out from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains to the national and global level for a minute, we get a good perspective on why broadband is so critical for communities to participate in the digital economy.

First, getting better, faster, cheaper and more ubiquitous broadband is good for employment. More than a half-million jobs have been created by apps since the iPhone debuted in 2007. Eighty-three percent of information-sector jobs in 2010 were located in areas where broadband with download speeds of 50 Mbps or greater was available. In short, communities need high-speed Internet to retain and attract jobs.

Consider Utah’s UTOPIA network, the result of a partnership among 16 municipalities in the Great Salt Lake region. The network has enabled these communities to attract a number of well-paying businesses, including the

Danish firm FLSmidth, which supplies equipment and services to the minerals and cement industries, with an average salary of $90,000. Because of the influx of new businesses, Midvale City reports an upswing in average household income, as employees are choosing to live in new housing in the Bingham Junction area.

Second, broadband is good for businesses. Earlier this year, the Commerce Department released data showing that 60 percent of the services the U.S. exported in 2011 (more than $357 billion dollars) were “digitally deliverable.” This number is growing, as is the percentage of imported services that are digitally deliverable.

This underscores two points. First, if your community does not have high-speed access – and you are not part of the digital economy – you are increasingly less likely to be a part of the overall economy. Second, if your community is producing these services, then it is likely that increased competition in a global digital environment will put pressure on business to continue to out-innovate and out-compete looming rivals.

Third, broadband is good for economic development in general. Broadband availability, adoption and speed are all correlated with economic development. A 10-percentage-point increase in broadband subscribership translates into a growth dividend that ranges from a .8- to 1.2-percentage-point increase in GDP. Doubling broadband speed will contribute to .3 percentage point growth over base year.

When you contemplate these statistics and look at the before and after story in North Georgia, you can see that we can’t wait to make smart broadband investments in our communities and

key institutions. Communities can’t wait as the global economy goes digital. Other countries are not waiting to make significant investments in broadband infrastructure; nor should we. The stakes are too high. It’s a question of will; it’s a question of priorities; it’s a question of values.

KEEPING THE MOMENTUM GOING As NTIA successfully winds down the BTOP program, we are examining strategies to build on the $4 billion in BTOP investments across the country and help communities drive further economic development through the use of broadband.

BTOP and SBI team members are using their combined 500-plus years of experience in broadband deployment and adoption to evaluate BTOP’s successes and challenges and are working to document best practices and lessons learned. NTIA is building on its popular Broadband Adoption Toolkit, aimed at sharing best practices developed from its broadband adoption and digital literacy projects. The toolkit leverages the experience of about 100 BTOP communities, providing practical ideas and useful examples for overcoming barriers to adoption and getting more Americans online.

NTIA also maintains an online library of the more than two dozen “how to” webinars it offers grantees. We are exploring what additional technical assistance might be helpful for communities that want to expand broadband in their regions and improve their broadband preparedness. What resources might local leaders find useful? And how can we assist communities to be Open for Business so they are more attractive to potential private investment? I welcome your thoughts on these ideas. v

Anthony Wilhelm is acting chief of staff of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. This article was excerpted from his remarks at the 2014 BroadBand Communities Summit.

A community that does not have high-speed access – and is not part of the digital economy – is increasingly less likely to be part of the overall economy.



Planning Your Gigabit Network?Prove your business case with real-time customer demand

Take the guesswork out of your fiber deployment

Service ZonesTM

Delivering successful network deployments

www.cossystems.com/service-zones© 2014 COS Systems


SUMMIT COVERAGE

Let’s Gigafy America: The 2014 Broadband Communities SummitHow do you get a gigabit network? How do you make it work? How do you make it financially sustainable? And what do you do with it once you’ve got it? Speakers at the 2014 BroadBand Communities Summit addressed all these questions and more.

A BBC Staff Report

Austin’s designation as a Google Fiber city was a major reason that BroadBand Communities moved its

Summit there in 2014. Google is now deep into the permitting, design and engineering process in Austin and plans to launch services by the end of this year. Few project details have been released, and a scheduled Summit keynote by the head of Google Fiber in Austin was canceled because of illness, so we can’t bring you up to date on Google service offerings, technology or rollout plans in Austin.

However, the ripple effects of Google Fiber in Austin are in some ways even more interesting than the project itself – and those ripples made waves at the Summit. First, Google’s announcement of gigabit service in Austin prompted Austin’s two telecom providers, AT&T and Grande Communications, to announce that they, too, would offer gigabit service – and, because they already had infrastructure in the city, they were able to ramp up more quickly than Google. AT&T’s announcement proved to be the first step of a larger initiative, GigaPower, which is being rolled out in multiple cities.

Second, the local government and nonprofits in Austin, following the lead of those in Kansas City, are determined to use the city’s broadband

wealth to best advantage. The city’s contract with Google Fiber included 10 years of free Internet service for 100 organizations; those organizations, as well as large players such as the University of Texas, are now preparing to become gigabit institutions in a gigabit city.

AT&T GIGAPOWERDahna Hull, vice president and general manager of Austin for AT&T Services, said

Gigabit Vision in Austin

Dahna Hull, AT&T


that AT&T turned up GigaPower service in December 2013 – though it actually launched with 300 Mbps, the maximum speed its available customer-premises equipment supports. AT&T will upgrade speeds to gigabit levels later in 2014, with no action required by customers. GigaPower launched first in areas that were already wired with fiber to the home, but AT&T is now overbuilding some of its fiber-to-the-node neighborhoods with FTTH, using GPON technology.

“Sales are going great,” Hull said. “The initial feedback is very positive.”

GigaPower customers can choose between $70 per month and $100 per month Internet service plans. The higher-priced plan buys more privacy; customers with the lower-priced plan agree to let AT&T monitor their Web activities and present them with targeted advertisements. The company is testing customers’ ability to opt in or out of the monitoring on the online sales site.

Though AT&T marketing focuses on such easy-to-understand metrics as the speed of downloading songs and movies, Hull believes home telepresence and other work-from-home applications will prove to be critically important. Later this year, AT&T will open a Center for Innovation in Austin, where it will work with technology companies, gamers, filmmakers, telecommuters and others to develop applications that will take advantage of gigabit speeds, Hull said. In addition, the company is experimenting with solutions for delivering gigabit speeds to multiple-dwelling-unit (MDU) properties that do not have fiber cabling to each unit.

To decide where to expand GigaPower, AT&T operates an online portal through which customers can register their demand. Population density, fast permitting times and reduced franchise fees also factor into these decisions.

GRANDE COMMUNICATIONSA Texas-based CLEC, Grande Communications serves about 150,000

customers – one-third of them in multiple dwelling units. It uses a variety of technologies, most involving fiber-rich or fiber-to-the-home networks. After the company rolled out 110 Mbps service using DOCSIS 3.0, “We felt pretty good about ourselves – until last year,” said Matt Murphy, Grande’s president.

Seeing the demand for gigabit service in Austin, Grande upgraded its West Austin network from BPON (an early fiber-to-the-home technology) to GPON and began selling 1 Gbps symmetrical service early in 2014. “We’ve had a fantastic response,” Murphy said. “The speeds

are unbelievable, there’s no latency and we’re not stressing the network yet. There hasn’t been much change in usage. Wireless devices aren’t up to gigabit speeds yet; people are asking for wiring upgrades for their homes.”

Grande offers its gigabit service for $65 with no contracts, bandwidth caps or privacy impairments. One of its goals was to gauge customer demand for high speeds. Its 110 Mbps service never achieved a take rate above 5 percent because, Murphy said, it was priced too high. Take rates for the low-priced gigabit service, by contrast, passed 5 percent within two months.

“It was important for us as a provider to roll this out as soon as possible,” Murphy said. “Video service is on the decline because of content prices and bundling. … Pricing is getting worse and worse, leading people to get their video from other sources, which offer better prices and à la carte programming. We partnered with TiVO for a programming guide, and now we bring online content to the TV and other screens. We just don’t have that much interest in being a video provider anymore, so we need to replace that with other revenue sources. … We’re changing how we think about what products we want to sell.” Murphy added that the top differentiator for a provider is superior customer service.

Murphy said Grande intends to

Deborah Acosta, Chief Innovation Officer, San Leandro, Calif.: The first phase of the community fiber network Lit San Leandro was financed by a local business owner. Now the U.S. Economic Development Administration is funding the second phase of the network, which will connect 120 businesses. A 500,000-square-foot technology campus was recently approved by the city. We transformed an old Dodge plant to a 3D advanced

manufacturing plant with 10 new companies. San Leandro is attracting the maker community and working with US Ignite. Our goal is to build a technology and innovation ecosystem. Entrepreneurs, artists and schools all need to learn how to use the network. San Leandro has more development now than it’s had in decades!

Matt Murphy, Grande Communications


SUMMIT COVERAGE

expand its gigabit service within its existing footprint in Austin and in San Antonio. Like AT&T, it considers neighborhood density, demographics and interest to decide where to build. “We have finite capital,” Murphy pointed out. In terms of technology, Grande can easily upgrade BPON to GPON and (like AT&T) can upgrade FTTN to GPON with some work. The feasibility of upgrading its hybrid fiber-cable areas to fiber to the home still hasn’t been determined.

How can a provider keep its residential gigabit service from cannibalizing commercial service offerings? Both AT&T and Grande said they had different pricing and service level agreements for commercial establishments, though small or home-based businesses whose usage patterns were similar to residential usage could use residential gigabit packages.

AUSTINITES GET READY FOR A GIGRondella Hawkins, Austin’s telecommunications and regulatory affairs officer, moderated a panel on how Austin expects to use its gigabit connections.

Q: How were the 100 Community Connection sites selected? These are the public and nonprofit sites the city designated to receive free gigabit connections for 10 years.

Laura Morrison, Council Member, City of Austin: We looked for

organizations that would enhance public participation, promote digital inclusion, serve the underserved, develop innovative applications and remain in their existing facilities for the next 10 years. We had more than 300 applications for 100 spots – and there were lots of good ones. We included all the Austin high schools, at least one other school in each district and all libraries. Girl Scouts were included because of their STEM program and the Texas Folk Life Museum because it is planning new kinds of exhibits. Meals on Wheels was chosen so it can do remote check-ins with clients. These types of social service applications may demonstrate to people in underserved neighborhoods why they need to sign up for broadband.

Q: (To the representatives of the Community Connection sites) What does a gigabit mean to your organization and community?

Rebecca Campbell, Executive Director, Austin Film Society: Film production and culture can thrive, from financing to casting, production and distribution.

Leigh Christie, Program Director, Entrepreneurs Foundation: We’re hoping to attract more startups and to hold meetups, hackathons and charitable activities. We’d like to attract startups developing

high-bandwidth applications and distance education.

Rebecca Frost Davis, Director of Instruction and Emerging Technology, St. Edwards University: The gigabit connection will help students with everything from distance education to calling home, preparing for jobs and collaborating on projects. We can expand classrooms with Google Hangout or Skype. Students will bring their own devices to class.

Paul Padilla, VP of Information Technology, Goodwill Industries of Central Texas: We will be able to do better distance learning (Austin is our network hub), and we’ll put video surveillance in our stores. We will have unified communications for our mobile workforce. We can also partner more with other organizations and improve our backup and disaster recovery.

Q: What challenges do you face?Campbell: We have to invest in new

infrastructure to be ready for Google Fiber. We’re remodeling an old armory for film production and adding wireless technology so we can provide free wireless for visitors.

Christie: We’re trying to figure out what the fiberhoods will look like and make sure we get fiber. [The Community Connection sites will be connected only if their neighborhoods have sufficiently high registration rates.]

Austin city leaders and nonprofits discuss the gigafication of the city.


Davis: Preparing the students and faculty to envision new uses for broadband and getting students to teach digital literacy to others.

Padilla: Identifying the applications that will connect our sites.

Morrison: Promoting collaboration and learning among the Community Connection sites.

Q: How will Austin address low-income areas?

Morrison: The city has a digital inclusion strategic plan. The residential survey is being updated – we’re asking about access to hardware, software, Internet and training. We found that the small fee required to show interest in Google Fiber was a barrier to sign-ups in low-income communities, so a not-for-profit provided cash cards to those who wanted to sign up.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AND SETON HEALTHCARE FAMILYThe report on this session was contributed by Rollie Cole, senior fellow of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, who moderated the panel.

Two of Austin’s major institutions, the University of Texas at Austin and the Seton Healthcare Family, have had years of experience with their own high-speed broadband and share data with peer institutions that have similar capabilities. However, the entrance of Google Fiber and the new activity by AT&T and others means that suppliers, employees and many more students or patients will now have access to a gig outside the boundaries of these institutions.

Currently, even the use of digital course materials poses difficulties for some students, as Sherri Greenberg, director of the Center for Politics and Governance at UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, pointed out. Each of these institutions thus faces new opportunities and challenges in a soon-to-be-gigafied Austin.

Greenberg, along with William C. Green, director of networking and telecommunications at UT Austin,

and Michael Minks, CIO of Seton Healthcare, discussed several lessons for the internal operations of those about to become gigabit institutions:

• Equipment, especially routers, may need to be upgraded. A fat pipe with a narrow nozzle causes problems.

• No amount of bandwidth is ever enough for long (if at all), although the focus of the most intense demand may shift. Both UT Austin and Seton are seeing growth in the number of wireless devices and in the places that people want to use them.

• High speed and mobility require rethinking approaches to security. Techniques such as encryption increase in importance relative to those such as limiting authorized users or uses.

• Big pipes call attention to problems that might have been overlooked previously. Connecting to peer institutions with comparable speeds highlights gaps in the

chain of connectivity that may not have been obvious or problematic before. The same is likely to happen when connecting with employees, suppliers, students, or patients at the new higher speeds.

• Being a gigabit institution has been used to attract employees, suppliers and patients or students. Now a location in a city where employees, suppliers, students, patients and others can also reasonably hope to have a gig themselves will be another feature used for recruitment.

Gigafication will undoubtedly proceed unevenly, the panelists agreed, and because some students, patients, suppliers or others may never become gigafied themselves, the gaps between haves and have-nots could increase. Large institutions could address this through training, education and supporting backhaul for wireless hotspots to extend free or low-cost access to the have-nots.

Austin designated 100 institutions to receive free gigabit connections from Google Fiber for 10 years. The list includes schools, libraries and nonprofits such as the Austin Film Society.

Robert Wack, City Council President, Westminster, Md.: Westminster has few economic development opportunities – we’re landlocked, with no transportation and few tourist attractions. Broadband is our only card to play, and no one is going to do it for us. The economic and regulatory challenges are so significant that the only viable strategy is for the city to control it. We’re thinking of a fiber network as another water system – we build

it, we own it, we control the pipes and we get someone else to run it and provide services. Fiber is a durable asset that generates revenue over a long time frame. It doesn’t need to break even in five years; it can take 20 or 30 years. We established a vision of a community network, which made it an easier sell politically.


SUMMIT COVERAGE

Why does bandwidth matter for application development, and what new kinds of applications will gigabit networks make possible?

William Wallace, executive director of the public-private US Ignite project, which is promoting the development of new applications, said that currently, developers assume that users will have available bandwidth of 5 Mbps to 10 Mbps, and they design around that constraint. With higher speeds, they could build more powerful applications.

Applications built for high-speed networks deliver what appear to be instantaneous responses. They have very low latency and no hiccups. They will be useful for cyberphysical interactions (embedded systems controlling physical objects), big data analysis, visual data exploration (fly-throughs) and real-time collaboration.

A “sandbox” for testing applications can help customers understand what they can do with very-high-speed municipal broadband, said Ermis Sfakiyanudis, chairman of the Center for Broadband Innovation in Maryland.

Ira Levy, CEO of Torrential Systems, gave an example of an application that works better on high-speed networks. His company develops e-commerce systems that

feed customer inventories to Ebay, Amazon and other online platforms. “Bandwidth constrains the feed,” he explained. “With more bandwidth, you can have more accurate information. Transactions don’t get canceled, and prices end up being lower.” However, he said, ramping up an existing application to take advantage of higher speeds adds layers of complexity.

Developing an application for gigabit speeds in the first place is far simpler.

EXAMPLES OF APPLICATIONS Of the 40-plus developers that US Ignite has supported, one already sold its application to a larger company and another launched a business. Many of the applications, Wallace said, have life-and-death implications: reviewing medical images, mitigating natural disasters and “figuring out where the chlorine plume will go” to develop evacuation plans.

Sensor applications, health care, education, public safety, cybersecurity and storm water management were among the other verticals that panelists cited as possible uses for gigabit applications. Government applications include video analytics for policing and online learning resources.

Some applications that US Ignite supports include

• Cizzle, a browser-based simulation environment

• A software lending library at the Kansas City Public Library

• Engage 3D, a browser-based 3D

Gigabit Applications

As networks become faster, new types of network applications become feasible.

An expert panel discussed the applications of tomorrow.


Gigabit to the MDUThere are many approaches to delivering gigabit speeds to residents of multiple-dwelling-unit (MDU) housing, said participants in the “Gigabit to the MDU” workshop – and not all of them involve fiber to the unit. Representatives of CampusConnect, Pavlov Media, CondoInternet and even Google Fiber talked about bringing fiber to intermediate distribution frames inside buildings and using in-building copper cabling to connect individual units. Matthew Fitzgerald of Ruckus Wireless said delivering very high speeds over Wi-Fi was possible as long as a user was close enough to an access point – though most mobile devices don’t yet support the advanced wireless connectivity features that enable gigabit speeds.

Getting bandwidth to a building may be the biggest barrier to delivering gigabit speeds to users, panelists said. In markets where providers owned

their own metro-area fiber, they were able to provision as much bandwidth as building owners were willing to pay for. However, in markets where they bought bandwidth from others, they sometimes had difficulty provisioning enough bandwidth. Mark Scifres, CEO of Pavlov Media, said his company took a “layered approach,” using labor-intensive strategies such as peering and hosting to ensure good user experiences even when adequate bandwidth to a building was not available. Pavlov is also continuing to build out its national fiber backbone and is filing permits to build fiber in third-tier cities, where bandwidth shortages often exist.

John van Oppen, CEO of CondoInternet, said Internet providers that serve MDUs could minimize bandwidth cost by building their own fiber networks, except in cities where competition existed among fiber providers. He added that there were

opportunities for property owners to partner directly with private fiber network owners; they could contract to connect their buildings and share transit costs with the fiber owners.

GIGABIT TO WHOM AND FOR WHAT?Does “gigabit service” mean a gigabit per user or a gigabit per device? To the bedroom, said Scifres, whose company specializes in student housing. To the device, said Rob Paver of CampusConnect, adding, “Most devices can’t handle a gigabit.” Catie McNaught of Corning stressed that MDU networks should be set up to address future needs – even if those needs aren’t entirely predictable.

John Hoover of Tellabs questioned what “gigabit service” actually meant, commenting, “Everyone can burst to a gig, but the committed information rate might be much lower.” Ruckus’s

Richard Holtz (not shown) led a two-hour “Gigabit to the MDU” workshop with a panel of ISPs and equipment vendors.

videoconferencing application • A distributed, virtual community

supercomputer • Medical and public health analysis

of big data• Remote radiology• Remote surgery• Personal sensor networks • Reliable process control for

manufacturing • Collaborative design for

manufacturing • The CASA radar network for

weather forecasting• The SimCenter, a center for research

into next-generation technologies in computational modeling, simulation and design

• PlanIT Impact, an interactive application that helps designers, planners and constituents visualize future development scenarios.

In answer to audience questions, panelists said applications were developed for the devices that developers thought their target demographic was most likely to use – whether that was a desktop computer or a smartphone. Surprisingly, there did not seem to be much development going on for the Google Glass, a device Levy called a “gadget in search of a solution.”


SUMMIT COVERAGE

To be financially sustainable, a fiber network must aggregate demand from multiple sources. That’s why network builders today are designing unified infrastructures that can serve all types of customers instead of designing the siloed networks of the past. This trend is taking place at local, regional and state levels, said Joanne Hovis of CTC Technology & Energy at the “Aggregating Network Demand” workshop.

A unified infrastructure can be operated either as a single network or as multiple networks, explained Michael Smeltzer, the retired founder of the UC2B network in Urbana-Champaign, Ill. Demand aggregation possibilities are different for the two approaches.

With a single network, an operator can aggregate demand by keeping as much traffic as possible inside the network and minimizing the number of connections to the public Internet. Because intranet communications incur no marginal cost and because serving more customers via a single Internet connection allows for higher oversubscription rates (based on statistical multiplexing), this approach can significantly reduce transport costs, Smeltzer said.

Copper networks, because of their distance limitations, must be oversubscribed in each neighborhood (that’s why DSL and cable can’t always deliver their advertised

speeds). However, fiber doesn’t have the same distance limitations, so oversubscription in fiber networks can be managed at a much higher level. With an all-fiber network, traffic for a community of 150,000 can be aggregated at just one or two core locations and still deliver gigabit speeds reliably to each customer.

Operating multiple networks over the same infrastructure – which is the approach UC2B took – requires more fiber strands and more network engineers than operating a single network. However, with multiple networks, connected organizations can operate independently, in effect serving as their own ISPs. Though this approach reduces the possibilities for demand aggregation in network operation, it enables demand aggregation during the network planning stage. UC2B financed its network build by selling 11 IRUs (long-term fiber leases), and the proceeds from the IRUs served as the matching funds UC2B needed to obtain a BTOP award. Each IRU owner now operates a separate network, and UC2B’s only responsibility to those owners is to keep the fiber operational.

Hovis explained that an IRU, which usually involves a 20-year commitment, is a bankable investment for a network builder. IRU agreements may cover either fiber strands or wavelengths –

Craig Settles, Gigabit Nation: Every year, I survey economic developers and ask whether they have plans that involve broadband. Every year, a third of them say they don’t understand why that’s important. That limits an area’s economic success. If your economic developers don’t understand why broadband is important, you’re in trouble.

Economic developers can market a broadband network as a proof of a community’s commitment to

its future. They can also train businesses to use the new technology. Finally, setting up hacker spaces is an inexpensive way to sell the vision and to create entrepreneurs. Be sure to publicize successes!

Fitzgerald agreed, pointing out that wireless channels became saturated as more devices were added. “It’s a challenge to provide gigabit across the spectrum,” he said. “You need every tool in the toolbag.”

The moderator, Richard Holtz of InfiniSys, asked whether speed was users’ only criterion for broadband quality or whether characteristics such as latency and jitter affected user experiences. Panelists agreed these qualities were important, especially for applications such as VoIP and gaming (networks with long latency “don’t have that gigabit feel,” said van Oppen). They noted that data compression

and distance from a server could add significantly to latency.

Locating content closer to users could reduce latency and thus improve user experiences, Scifres said. “I think we’ll end up with regional content delivery networks. There’s great latency in cities with big peering points. Now we’re moving content closer to the edge. We’re going to see a larger difference in quality between the big guys and the small guys.” Van Oppen agreed, saying, “You can’t be at scale unless you’re in a lot of places. You can’t achieve scale at the building level. There’s an optimal tradeoff between the number of people and the distance to the server.”

Scifres added, “Jitter is the bigger technical problem; it can cause an application to disconnect you. It’s like chasing gremlins!”

Why do college students, in particular, need gigabit speeds? Many don’t subscribe to traditional pay-TV services and rely for entertainment on high-definition, over-the-top video, panelists said. In addition, students take online classes and participate in video chats. They store data in the cloud. However, more exciting uses of bandwidth are still to emerge. As van Oppen said, “There won’t be a gigabit learning application until all students have a gigabit.”

Aggregating Network Demand


though network builders generally prefer to lease fiber strands, which involves lower risk and responsibility than leasing wavelengths. (Better to be “fiber rich and electronics simple,” in Smeltzer’s words.)

Leasing conduit space is also possible and is sometimes the only option when network builders face legal or political obstacles to leasing fiber or wavelengths – though Hovis called sharing conduit a “maintenance and operations nightmare.” However, an audience member from a municipal network said his organization had mitigated this problem by using

separate manholes.Will Aycock, manager of Greenlight

Community Broadband in Wilson, N.C., spoke about Greenlight’s approach to demand aggregation – which might be best described as organic growth. Greenlight began by connecting public facilities, both occupied (town offices) and unoccupied (electric utility equipment, industrial electric meters, surveillance cameras and so forth). Once public agencies realized the benefits of the network, he said, they quickly added more endpoints. “Public safety folks love cameras,” he said.

Schools, libraries, community colleges and nonprofit agencies were next on Greenlight’s list. “Then others see what you’re doing and ask, ‘When can I have it?’ Major employers decided they needed diverse connections for redundancy, and so did health care providers. Then people started asking us, ‘Hey, do you have rack space available in your facility?’” (Greenlight didn’t, but it’s now expanding its headend to accommodate colocation.) By this time, residents began asking for connections, and Greenlight’s biggest problem became how to prioritize all the requests.

Public-Private Partnerships for Gigabit FiberBusinesses in College Station, Texas, had difficulty recruiting technical workers because they lacked broadband capacity, said James Benham, president and CEO of JB Knowledge Technologies. However, the city municipal utility had many assets that were potentially valuable to broadband providers. It owned poles and conduits and had empty conduits, dark fiber and splice points available. The city decided it wanted a private partner to build and operate a network and was willing to offer incentives.

College Station raised $125,000, joined Gig.U and issued an RFP for a

vendor to provide better broadband. It received responses from several vendors, the best of which, Benham said, were local ISPs that were already serving parts of the community. The business community and chamber of commerce jumped on board, as did economic development officials. “We can get 100 Mbps to everyone pretty fast on copper,” Benham said. “Then we’ll go to fiber.”

Project funding will be in the form of economic development rebates and credits. “It’s still cheaper than their cost of capital or debt,” Benham added.

C SPIRE FIBER In Mississippi, the initiative in public-private ventures is coming not from the public sector but from a private company – C Spire Fiber. Gregg Logan, senior vice president of C Spire, said his company began building fiber to cell towers in 1999 and developed a backbone fiber infrastructure as a result. Then it started targeting nearby businesses that it could serve with fiber and sold them services such as VoIP; it even built out a few small rural towns with residential FTTH.

In December 2013, Logan said,

Duncan Ramage, Macquarie Gregg Logan, C Spire Fiber James Benham, JB Knowledge Technologies


SUMMIT COVERAGE

“We decided to turn it up a notch to 1 Gbps.” C Spire issued an RFI and received 33 responses, which it narrowed down to “nine towns that really got what we were trying to do.” Construction was scheduled to begin in late April. According to Logan, the key elements of the C Spire approach – in addition to leveraging its fiber backbone – are a fast-track (15-day) permitting process, preregistration by neighborhood (Logan stressed the importance of defining fiberhoods in ways that make sociological sense) and requiring municipalities to have

a single point of contact responsible for informing residents about the project and driving sign-ups through neighborhood broadband champions. “It’s exciting to see cities get engaged and get behind these projects,” Logan said. “Now we’re moving at the speed of light!”

Logan confirmed that C Spire expected to profit from the fiber project “even if it takes a long time.” He also said the company was trying to find ways to build FTTH in low-income neighborhoods.

UTOPIA AND MACQUARIE CAPITALA decade ago, a group of Utah cities launched UTOPIA as an multicity broadband network. UTOPIA has always had financial difficulties – due in part to legal and political restrictions on its activities – and has never met its ambitious goals. Now a possible private partner has emerged: Macquarie Capital, an Australian firm that finances and operates infrastructure globally. UTOPIA and Macquarie are currently in negotiations for Macquarie to take over building and operating UTOPIA in an unusual public-private arrangement.

Duncan Ramage, senior vice president of Macquarie, explained that the parties were introduced by a third company that dealt with both of them and got into a conversation about how to “fix” UTOPIA. “The options were to make it go dark, to sell it, to continue operating it without any new funding or to bring in private capital but retain ownership.” Macquarie is now conducting a feasibility study of the fourth option, using a model it has developed for other asset classes.

The preliminary plan is for Macquarie to raise the remaining capital to build UTOPIA out fully to every household in the participating cities. Every household would be charged a monthly utility fee of between $15 and $25, for which it would receive basic service. The utility fees would be used to pay Macquarie. Households could upgrade to higher-level services, which would be available from retail service providers.

The arrangement could be a winning solution for all concerned, Ramage said. The UTOPIA cities could stop pouring money into the network. Residents of the cities would all have access to a gigabit network – or to basic broadband service for a very low fee. Macquarie could make a reasonable return at a low risk. (“Lenders have little appetite for volume risk,” Ramage said.) And the retail service providers currently serving the network would have a larger pool of customers to compete for. v

Corinne Hill, Executive Director, Chattanooga Public Library: With the library’s gigabit connection, we can offer the community access to technology that it’s not possible for them to have at home. It may be digital literacy training, access to Wi-Fi or public PCs, or access to information about jobs or health or government services. In addition, we created a maker space where people can come and collaborate and make stuff. It has gigabit wireless, and we’re beta

testing new services there. We’ve ordered our first drone!There are also three 3D printers – but that’s old news. 3D printing is a

basic service now. On the second floor we have a wonderland for kids where they can

learn to make videos. The facility is stratified not by age but by type of service.

One of our small branches is turning into an Apple shop with a focus on youth. It has button makers and 3D printers.

Things are happening so fast that we have to go by instinct – there just isn’t enough data!

Attendees at the Broadband Communities Summit



g4stechnology.com

G4S Technology – unmatched industry experience.Integrating broadband solutions for middle mile and last mile projects

Advancing economic development and employment opportunities

Improving healthcare by connecting rural hospitals and clinics

Supporting public safety initiatives via interoperability for fi rst responders

Linking educational institutions to extend learning opportunities

CONNECTING COMMUNITIESto the Gigabit World.

1200 Landmark Center | Omaha, NE 68102 | 855-G4S-USA1


TECHNOLOGY

Next Steps in Cable Broadband Evolution Increasing demands for broadband – especially upstream broadband – will require cable operators to continue upgrading their networks and ultimately migrate their hybrid fiber-coaxial networks to fiber.

By John Richard “Ric” Johnsen / CommScope Inc.

Today, most multiple system operators (MSOs), as well as other broadband operators that began as video providers,

rely predominantly on hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) infrastructure that consists of 6 MHz video and data quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) channels operating in the frequency spectrum between 5 MHz and 750 or 860 MHz. These operators also provide Ethernet business and wireless backhaul services through Metro Ethernet point-to-point (P2P) or passive optical network (PON) solutions that use separate fibers from HFC networks.

Over the past several years, operators have effectively reclaimed available spectrum by converting to all-digital video lineups and using switched digital video (SDV). SDV allows operators to share QAM channels among long-tail programs based on demand.

Despite these changes, consumers’ growing appetite for bandwidth is starting to stress the operators’ networks beyond their current capabilities. The emergence of over-the-top (OTT) video services such as YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, combined with the proliferation of connected mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, PCs), is creating a surge in data demand. Operators understand that they must meet this demand and that the only way to provide the necessary bandwidth is by evolving their networks.

Current networks still have substantial bandwidth headroom; however, if operators plan to stay competitive and support future growth, they must devise plans to evolve their networks to converged optical platforms that deliver Ethernet/IP-based services. Unlike twisted-pair access networks, coaxial infrastructure can support long-term evolution to converged optical networks with technology changes that grow capacity in line with customer demand.

HOW CABLE NETWORKS MUST CHANGENetwork evolution will vary from operator to operator based on available capex, competition and the current state of the network; however, at least four key network changes will be needed over the next five years.

Fiber will migrate deeper into networks. Today, operators normally serve between 250 and 1,000 homes per HFC node. This creates congestion and oversubscription during peak demand periods. To improve speed and capacity during peak periods, operators must continue to split nodes and create smaller service groups that range from 64 to 250 homes. Node splitting will be based on actual usage, especially by those subscribers who generate higher bandwidth consumption.

Headends will converge. Operators must make their networks and network management


systems more efficient. One way to do this is to eliminate duplicate network engineering efforts. Today’s lack of convergence between video and DOCSIS (data) engineering teams results in duplicate networks over the same infrastructure.

Operators must merge and align service group sizes to fully maximize the benefits of node splits. By eliminating service group separation, operators can simplify their headends. A universal platform capable of supporting carrier channels for both video and DOCSIS maximizes available spectrum and eliminates the need for a large portion of the combiner function in the headend (see Figure 1). Instead of engineering a network with 24 to 32 video QAM channels and a second network with 16 to 32 DOCSIS QAM channels, engineering a single platform that integrates and uses a combined 80- to 120-QAM channel format to support both types of services allows downstream bandwidth to grow to more than 1 Gbps of data services and support a full breadth of video features (video on demand, SDV or IPTV). A single platform also saves significant space and power.

Though many in the industry assume this universal platform will be a Converged Cable Access Platform (CCAP), the platform should not be a large CMTS box. Converging internally generated video over the same data channel as Internet-routed traffic creates additional costs. It also eliminates the ability to differentiate the operator-generated video offering from the OTT-generated video through Internet portals.

Upstream bandwidth will increase. The biggest limitation of current network architecture is the potential for upstream bandwidth capacity. With the mid-split (the frequency division scheme that allows bidirectional traffic on a coaxial cable) currently locked in at 50 MHz for North America and much of Central and South America, upstream channel capacity is constrained. Deep-fiber architectures and unity gain drop amplifiers support the use of four-channel

configurations by overcoming the noise floor challenge; however, demand requirements will quickly outstrip total upstream bandwidth capacity, whose theoretical limit is 160 Mbps.

The bottom line is that the mid-split needs to move to free up more upstream capacity to accommodate subscriber demand. The decision to move the mid-split is not easy and will require significant network investment – product costs alone will likely range between $85 and $140 per home as network taps and drop amplifiers will need to be replaced and nodes modified to support the change. Although this requires a substantial investment, it is a cost-effective way to accommodate a steep change in available upstream capacity.

One issue is where to make the new mid-split. The near-term challenges of supporting a wide array of customer-premises equipment makes 85 MHz a popular choice. Though an 85 MHz split will double the upstream capacity of the network, it leaves a substantial gap between downstream and upstream capacities. It also creates a new complexity in evaluating future technologies and the cost of deployment. If operators want to maximize the capabilities of DOCSIS 3.1 in the future, they must plan in 200 MHz increments rather than 6 MHz channels.

A mid-split at 200 MHz accommodates one orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulated upstream channel capable of supporting 2 Gbps or 30 256 QAM channels delivering more than 1 Gbps of bandwidth. If operators choose to pursue a smaller first step by expanding the mid-split, the value and cost of converting to DOCSIS 3.1 becomes an issue. Does 320 Mbps of upstream capacity really support a 6 Gbps downstream capability, or is a DOCSIS 3.0 platform with 1 to 2 Gbps of downstream data with less investment and less complex technology management (mixed modulations schemes) more suitable for the demands of the targeted consumer base?

Video formats will evolve. Operators are already starting the evolution from analog and digital MPEG formats to IPTV-based formats capable of supporting multiscreen device and time-shifted viewing. Though IP video formats can run over DOCSIS channels, operators can also insert additional IP video channels directly into the universal edge QAM or carrier rather than using more costly CMTS ports to alleviate network congestion. Maintaining separate video channels for operator-inserted content also maintains the value of that content by

Figure 1: A universal headend platform can maximize available spectrum and eliminate functions.


TECHNOLOGY

allowing the operator to enhance the consumer experience.

EVOLVING TO ALL-FIBER NETWORKS Though these network changes will extend the lives of current infrastructures and allow operators to maximize their return on infrastructure investment, bandwidth requirements will continue to grow beyond the capabilities of current infrastructure. Given the known limitations of current HFC infrastructure, the time is rapidly approaching for operators to start evolving new (greenfield) networks toward the future by deploying converged, all-optical, IP service–based platforms. Three key technologies will form the basis of this transition.

Metro Ethernet. Most cable operators are already deploying Metro Ethernet capabilities over fiber. To compete for and win large business opportunities, operators started deploying 10GbE systems capable of synchronous capacity to support the requirements of this growth segment. With dedicated fiber already in place to support businesses, operators have the capability to increase bandwidth capacity through a migration of 10 to 40 to 100GbE as demand increases. As most broadband operators are constrained by fiber availability, they will need to find faster, more cost-effective means of connecting businesses with fiber.

PON. A point-to-multipoint optical network is the most cost-effective method of enhancing IP infrastructure and is capable of addressing residential subscribers and small to medium enterprises that require less than 10 Gbps bandwidth. DOCSIS Provisioning over EPON allows a simple migration of existing back-office functions to a PON network that delivers Ethernet/

IP services. The recent developments of turbo mode and 10G EPON upgrades at an EPON optical line terminal created a cost-effective upgrade path for future service and bandwidth expansions.

Though an EPON solution provides adequate financial returns for expanding networks into 200- to 300-home new builds, Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG or RF PON) cost-effectively integrates smaller new builds into existing HFC infrastructure. By using an RFoG solution, an operator can built out PON fiber infrastructure without incurring the headend costs associated with the conversion to PON. RFoG has the same upstream bandwidth limitations as HFC, but using it eliminates the need for future infrastructure investment when the time comes to convert to a converged Ethernet/IP platform over an optical infrastructure. If demand supports a bandwidth increase to critical customers, an EPON overlay can be added to the RFoG network to eliminate upstream limitations.

Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM). Fiber can support other networks beyond Metro Ethernet for enterprises and PON for residents and small businesses. Once they install fiber, MSO operators possess the three critical elements for wireless backhaul capacity – power source, real estate access and bandwidth potential – and their networks can expand into hosting wireless small-cell access points.

With 4G/LTE coverage the next challenge for wireless carriers, operators see the opportunity to harvest additional revenue from their networks. Digital conversion of wireless traffic may allow effective backhaul over existing and proposed network deployments, but universal or multicarrier access points could easily strip the available capacity of the

network, and dedicating additional fiber from the existing network limits future expansion, if it is even available.

Using WDM systems, which carry separate streams of information over multiple wavelengths, to route and support wireless traffic over their optical networks would allow operators to establish small-cell infrastructures to support wireless carriers. With the HFC, Metro Ethernet and PON wavelengths already defined, additional wavelengths could be identified to create remote connectivity to wireless cell structures.

NETWORKS OF TOMORROWTomorrow’s networks will look different and operate differently from the networks deployed today. Convergence to Ethernet/IP-based services will be required to effectively address bandwidth demand over an ever-expanding number of devices.

Infrastructure Challenges.HFC outside-plant (OSP) network architecture continues to evolve as service requirements change and bandwidth demands increase. Though physical plant configuration remains relatively fixed, the evolutionary change has been and continues to be pushing fiber deeper into networks. Fiber first augmented and is now replacing coaxial cables to subscribers. The rate of fiber conversion will continue to accelerate.

The challenge in supporting and planning for ongoing fiber demand is the cost of building or reconstructing an operator’s OSP. Recognizing that construction costs will continue to rise, CommScope worked with major operators to develop a product offering that enables them to deploy fiber faster and cheaper today or in the future.

The Electrical-to-Optical (E2O) product family was designed to enable electrical-to-optical conversion in a way that minimizes construction and cost. This customer-defined solution incorporates a combination of coaxial cables, fiber cables, conduit and microducts as a single element.

The cables and microducts are combined either as cable-in-conduit with cables and microducts preinstalled or in an overjacket configuration.

Network operators can take steps today to reduce the costs of their eventual upgrades to the networks of tomorrow.


Types and sizes of cables and number of microducts are set by network requirements and OSP evolution plans. Installation costs are minimized as single-sheath construction eliminates multiple conduit and cable pulls. For service areas where subscriber growth, node splits or migration to serve commercial services are forecast, installing a microduct as part of an E2O OSP upgrade allows for blowing of microfiber cables later. Small-format microfibers, in configurations up to 144 fibers, can be air-blown into microducts at speeds exceeding 250 feet per minute and at lengths of thousands of feet. This is a rapid, cost-effective way to push fiber deeper to a node or to a subscriber without the incremental cost of aerial or underground construction.

An E2O coaxial drop cable incorporates single-mode fibers within an otherwise standard 75-ohm coaxial drop. Tap housings and network termination enclosures have been modified to allow for fiber storage and quick upgrade from RF to optical service as needed. The E2O drop is terminated using industry-standard connectors for RF service. To migrate the network from coaxial to optical cable, an installer places a fiber access connector rather than an RF connector using standard compression-type tooling. E2O’s connector contains a capture nut to secure the cable and a fiber access tube in place of the center conductor port. The fiber is then routed and terminated in a tap and optical network terminal. When E2O access products are installed, moving from RF service to optical service is a simple evolution and not a full replacement of the drop plant.

Headend Network Convergence. To converge video and data networks to a single transport platform, CommScope enhanced the LiquidxStream platform, which it recently acquired, by adding features and functionality that allow the LxS solution to be the critical bridge to a common transport platform for both video and DOCSIS-based services.

Expansion of Upstream Bandwidth. Operators continue to expand the

number of DOCSIS channels used to support data services. DOCSIS 2.0 helped increase the capacity per channel by allowing higher symbol rates and modulation orders. DOCSIS 3.0 helped increase the maximum bandwidth available to a single user and improved efficiency with channel bonding. Both these enhancements kept the 6 MHz channel format of the original DOCSIS protocol and largely maintained QAM as the modulation format.

DOCSIS 3.1 introduces an OFDM approach, which enables a much wider DOCSIS channel. Instead of a single or multiple 6 MHz channel, DOCSIS 3.1 supports a set of OFDM channels with a total bandwidth of up to ~200 MHz. Such a large channel is incompatible with the current upstream spectrum allocation, which supports only 37 MHz of spectrum (5 to 42 MHz). DOCSIS 3.1 allows that upstream spectrum to be expanded from 5 to 42 MHz to 5 to 85 MHz or even 5 to 204 MHz.

This expanded upstream bandwidth affects the active elements in the network that use filters to separate and process (amplify) the upstream and downstream signals because the filters are currently designed to support 5 to 42 MHz. Expanded reverse-path amplifiers will have new filters that will accommodate the desired upstream and downstream bandwidth split. In addition, the upstream gain block will be optimized to handle the additional channel loading and resultant power of an expanded upstream bandwidth.

CONCLUSIONCommScope believes this roadmap aligns with the migration path its strategic customers are preparing to undertake. The roadmap includes logical progressions that take into account the need to migrate technologies and maximize return on existing investment while rapidly expanding bandwidth to meet demand. v

John Richard “Ric” Johnsen is senior vice president for broadband at CommScope Inc., a leader in broadband networking for more than 40 years. You can reach him at [email protected].




TECHNOLOGY

Making Broadband TransparentCustomers want the benefits of fiber to the home, but they don’t want damaged lawns or unsightly equipment on their property. New installation equipment and techniques make fiber deployment close to invisible.

By Brian Larson / Clearfield Inc.

It should be no surprise that modern communications technology has profoundly changed people’s lives. However, the

sheer magnitude of that change surprised me when I recently counted up how many devices (computers, phones, tablets) were running in my five-person household at any time, how much data we used monthly on our collective plans and how slowly everything works on my copper-based provider network when everybody in my house is online and competing for bandwidth.

Now, I’m not unique in this regard, so I can understand why there is an increasing consumer demand for fiber to the home and its promise of higher transmission speeds and greater bandwidth. Most people I know want a higher level of service than what is currently available to them.

That said, upgrading to better service levels presents a challenge to installers and is a concern to customers living in finished developments. Everybody wants bigger, better and faster service, but they don’t want their landscaping torn up by heavy equipment during installations or maintenance or more green boxes taking up space in their yards. Future applications will need to ensure that consumers can get access to higher levels of service using physical infrastructure and installation methods that are minimally intrusive.

RUGGED MICRODUCT AND PUSHABLE FIBER SOLUTIONSA relatively new advancement in the telecom world is the development of microducts or,

as some call them, microconduits. These are smaller versions of the larger high-density polyethylene conduits that have been used in power and telecom installations for many years. These ducts can be made small in diameter yet strong, flexible and resistant to crushing and kinking. They are designed for easy installation and for compatibility with new installation methods and equipment such as microtrenching, small vibratory plows and directional boring. Most important, they can take a great deal of abuse while protecting the fiber inside them.

This brings me to pushable fiber cable, another relatively new development. This cable is made of ruggedized, high-column-strength, low-friction jacket materials and bend-insensitive glass fiber. It is designed specifically to be pushed (by hand or with machine assist) or pulled through a prepositioned duct for a long distance between an access point and a home. This allows for very rapid installation of fiber.

Used together, microduct and pushable fiber allow installers and network designers considerably more latitude in installation methods and equipment used, require less ground preparation and dislocation, and allow for faster installation times than traditional methods. All this adds up to a less intrusive experience for customers.

A case in point: A recent residential install in a suburban location had very tight space restrictions. Between the access point (a


pedestal) and the optical network terminal (ONT) at the home were a small backyard with a privacy fence,

a pool and a deck. Bringing a large trencher or other heavy equipment into this environment was not feasible, and

selling the homeowner on digging up half the backyard to place traditional conduit or direct bury a fiber drop was out of the question.

However, this was a perfect opportunity to lay microduct and run pushable fiber. After measuring the required drop length, the technician cut the required duct to length. Using a walk-behind, 24” vibratory lawn plow (Line-Ward L2 Line Layer) with an appropriate feed blade, the installer quickly and easily buried the duct while negotiating a path around all the obstacles and drawing up tightly to the ONT at the home.

Once the duct was in place and ready to go, the installer pushed the fiber assembly chosen by the customer, preterminated with a pushable standard connector (SC) on one end and a hardened fiber optic connector (HFOC) on the other, from the pedestal (HFOC end) to the ONT (SC end). After a little slack storage work, the connection was ready to turn up.

The elapsed time of the installation (and of the technicians’ presence in the yard) was less than 45 minutes, and the entire install caused minimal disruption to the customer’s landscaping. (Figure 2 shows the

Figure 1: A technician buries microduct close to a customer’s house.

Figure 2: Grass and sand surfaces after vibratory plow installation of microduct


TECHNOLOGY

landscaping post installation.) Another significant benefit of using

microduct and pushable fiber solutions concerns repair and maintenance. With traditional direct-bury fiber applications, a break in a line would require a technician to visit the site, dig out the entire length of broken fiber and then return to retrench and rebury a new segment. With microduct and pushable fiber, repairing a broken line is much less intrusive. A technician pulls fiber from the damaged segment, locates the break by measuring the damaged fiber segment or by locating where the signal from the tone wire indicates damage, digs up the duct only at the location of the break, repairs the duct with a snap-on coupler, reburies the duct and pushes in a new fiber segment. A quicker and less costly procedure and much easier on the ol’ turf!

MULTIPORT SERVICE TERMINALS AND HARDENED CONNECTORSMicroduct and pushable fiber make installation faster and less disruptive, but they don’t address the common complaints about conspicuous access points, whether cabinets or pedestals, on customer property. These enclosures take up space and are generally not aesthetically pleasing, especially as the effects of weathering take hold. Unfortunately, access points are a necessary evil. How can deployers make them less visible without sacrificing function?

One solution is to place the access point below grade and thus eliminate it from view. That sounds simple enough, but any device used for below-grade applications has to meet some stiff design challenges. A multiport

service terminal chosen for such a purpose must be sealed sufficiently to be waterproof against prolonged immersions; it must be impervious to chemicals such as road salt, lawn chemicals and cleaning solutions; and it must protect equipment against dust, insects and other hazards normal to outside applications. This protection cannot be limited to the terminal vessel itself but must be extended via hardened connector housings to ensure that any drop cable assembly connections connected plug-and-play to the terminal are likewise made impervious to water and other contaminants.

Luckily, such units do exist with footprints no larger than common sprinkler system junction boxes (which I misplace in my yard all the time!). They can be used in a variety of network applications and can be made practically invisible to customers if required.

In summary, microducts, pushable fiber and multiport service terminals, used separately or together, give network designers and installers more options to meet space requirements, save time in installation and repair (thus reducing costs), add durability and flexibility to networks and reduce visual impacts to customer landscapes in the short and long term. Now, if we could only find a way to make large-count cabinets smaller and place them below grade! v

Brian Larson is a director of product management for Clearfield. Brian has an extensive background in quality systems, having audited manufacturing systems around the world, including in India, Japan, and China. He can be contacted at [email protected]. www.clearfieldconnection.com.

New types of hardened multiport terminals can be located below ground to avoid placing unsightly equipment on customer lawns.


mailto:[email protected]


Subscribe today.FREE to those who qualify.

Broadband Communities continues to be the leading

source of information on digital and broadband technologies

for buildings and communities.

www.bbcmag.com/subscribe • 877.588.1649

In every issue, we offer in-depth news, expert insights, and practical know-how on all aspects of outfitting properties and communities with broadband solutions. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment to Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises while keeping readers up

to date on the available solutions capable of serving their practical needs.

Original Research • Trusted ReportsLatest Trends • Industry News

Every issue is filled with valuable articles on

Technology • Finance • Law • Marketing


FIBER TESTING

The Unique Test Challenges Of PON DeploymentPart 2 of a two-part article details troubleshooting procedures for a passive optical network in operation. Part 1 described testing procedures at the time a passive optical network is installed.

By Michael Scholten / AFL

Most fiber optic networks are deployed as point-to-point connections. When a fault occurs in the point-to-point

fiber, all traffic through that fiber is disrupted. Traffic is typically rerouted to a spare fiber, and the failed fiber may be tested using the same tools and techniques as for out-of-service fibers.

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) passive optical networks (PONs) are deployed with point-to-multipoint connections. An optical line terminal (OLT) in a central office transmits downstream traffic at 1490 nm or 1550 nm. This traffic is passively split, and identical copies are delivered to 32, 64 or even 128 subscribers connected to the PON. Upstream communications at 1310 nm from each subscriber are recombined in the optical splitter and transmitted back to the OLT over the same fiber.

Unlike a point-to-point network, a PON may have one or only a few subscribers experiencing loss of service while others remain in service. Troubleshooting at the failed subscriber locations must not interfere with communications to existing in-service subscribers. Additionally, troubleshooting equipment must be able to perform its function in the presence of live traffic signals. This creates unique requirements for optical time-domain reflectometers (OTDRs) used to troubleshoot live (in-service) PONs.

When one or only a few subscribers lose service while other subscribers on the same PON continue to receive service, there are several possible causes:

• Equipment or connection problem inside the customer premises

• Failed optical network terminal (ONT) at the customer premises

• Fault in the distribution or drop fiber from the splitter to the subscriber

• Fault introduced at the splitter connection to the subscriber’s distribution or drop fiber (for example, a macrobend introduced while adding another subscriber or inadvertently disconnecting the distribution or drop fiber to an active subscriber).

If some but not all subscribers are affected in an FTTx PON built using distributed splitter architecture, it is possible that all affected customers are served from a single secondary splitter. In this case, likely causes include

• Fault in the distribution fiber serving the secondary splitter

• Fault in the secondary splitter itself.

In either case, a fault in the feeder fiber or a failure within the OLT at the central office is not likely, as subscribers who are still receiving service also share the feeder fiber and OLT.

Troubleshooting normally requires a visit to the subscriber premises. A recommended


troubleshooting process is illustrated in Fig. 1.

TEST PROCEDURE FOR TROUBLESHOOTING A LIVE PON1 Use an active ONT identifier to

determine whether the ONT at the subscriber premises is responding to downstream signals from the OLT.

The active ONT identifier clamps onto 900 µm buffered fiber or 2 mm or 3 mm jacketed fiber and senses and reports the presence or

absence of the 1310 nm upstream response from an active ONT.

2 If an active ONT is detected, the fault is either an equipment problem or a connection problem inside the customer premises (most likely) or the ONT itself (less likely). Optical tests at the ONT are unlikely to resolve the problem.

3 If an active ONT is not detected, the fault may be a failed ONT or a fault in the splitter, distribution or drop fiber connecting the feeder fiber to the subscriber.

4 In this case, disconnect the drop fiber from the ONT and inspect and clean the optical connectors on the drop fiber and the ONT. If a damaged optical connector is found on the drop fiber, replace, clean and inspect the new connector before proceeding. If a damaged optical connector is found on the ONT, the ONT likely will have to be swapped out.

5 If connectors are clean and undamaged, use a PON power meter to check the downstream power level at the ONT. Some OTDRs, such as AFL’s FLX380 FlexTester, include a PON power meter integrated into the OTDR port, enabling immediate detection and measurement of downstream power levels at both 1490 and 1550 nm.

6 If the measured downstream power levels are acceptable, the problem is likely a failed ONT. Swap out the ONT, clean and reconnect the drop fiber and verify that the ONT is synchronized to the upstream OLT.

7 If the measured downstream power levels are not acceptable, the problem is likely a fault in the distribution or drop fiber or a fault introduced at the splitter in the fiber distribution hub. In this case, connect a live PON OTDR to the drop fiber and initiate an upstream OTDR test using the out-of-band 1625 nm or 1650 nm wavelength. To prevent disrupting service on the live PON, select an OTDR that prevents the user from initiating 1310 nm, 1490 nm or 1550 nm OTDR tests when live traffic is present but allows a test at 1625 nm or 1650 nm. The live PON OTDR must also include a filter to prevent downstream traffic at 1490 nm or 1550 nm from interfering with OTDR operation.

8 Some OTDRs also allow the operator to test only the customer fiber (distribution and drop) or to test through the splitter. Unless multiple customers are affected, the problem is most likely in the distribution and drop fiber, so

Fig. 1: Troubleshooting a Live PON


FIBER TESTINGtesting only the distribution and drop fiber is a good bet.

9 Review the 1625 nm trace and event table to determine if there is a break or any excess losses or reflections in the distribution and drop fibers. If so, locate the problem, repair the fault and verify the fix by

rescanning the fiber using the same 1625 nm test.

To precisely pinpoint macrobends or breaks within a splice enclosure or an access point, disconnect the OTDR and connect a visual fault locator (VFL, a visible red laser). Enable the VFL and look

for the point where the fault causes red light to escape from the fiber.

10 If no excess losses or reflections were identified in the OTDR trace, rescan the FTTx PON from the same location at 1625 nm using the “Test through Splitter” setup. This will provide a trace of the distribution and drop fibers with sufficient dynamic range to see through the splitter and measure the splitter loss. As other probable causes have been eliminated, likely problems are a break or macrobend at the splitter or a disconnection of the splitter from the distribution fiber. These problems will manifest themselves either as excess loss at the splitter or as the fiber end being detected at the splitter. Repair the fault and verify the fix by rescanning the fiber using the same setup.

11 Once fiber restoration is complete, verify that the proper downstream power levels are available at the end of the drop fiber, clean and reconnect the drop fiber to the ONT and verify that the ONT is synchronized to the upstream OLT.

In summary, FTTx PONs present unique installation verification and maintenance troubleshooting challenges. These challenges are effectively overcome when technicians understand FTTx PON architecture and are equipped with tools designed to address the unique test requirements of FTTx PONs. v

Michael Scholten is senior product marketing manager at AFL, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fiber optic cable. The company’s product portfolio includes fiber optic cable, transmission and substation accessories, outside-plant equipment, connectors, fusion splicers, test equipment and training. Its service portfolio includes market-leading positions with the foremost communications companies, supporting inside-plant, central office, EF&I, outside-plant, enterprise and wireless areas. www.AFLglobal.com




Measuring Broadband Usage Educating consumers about the value of broadband service to connected homes helps service providers manage their networks and retain customers.

By Mark Momerak / NISC

Research shows a steady upward trend of connected homes in North America. Fueling that trend is the push toward

home automation, energy management, home security and, most important, video streaming over a multitude of IP-connected devices.

Home automation can range from a touchscreen panel for managing video cameras to electronic door locks, smart appliance controls, door and window sensors, motion detectors and temperature control. In addition, most vendors support the ability to manage and control these devices from a Web browser, smartphone or tablet.

Home energy management allows consumers to set their smart thermostats for different temperatures at different times of day, thus better managing their energy expenditures. Energy-efficient light bulbs also reduce energy spend, as do controls for turning lights or other small appliances on and off remotely or on a timer.

Home security management ranges from window and door sensors to remote key fobs, glass-break detectors, motion detectors, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. All these devices provide a sense of security and peace

of mind along with 24/7 monitoring of all devices. The devices communicate seamlessly in connected homes, and they all require a broadband Internet connection.

THE FIRE HOSE: OTTToday’s biggest bandwidth user is over-the-top (OTT) entertainment, which includes the delivery of audio, video and other media over the Internet. OTT is a hot trend in the media market – and is expected only to increase. It includes streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime as well as TV Everywhere subscriber-authenticated services offered by pay-TV providers.

Consumers access these OTT services through a variety of IP-connected devices, including computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones and gaming consoles within connected homes. Third-party set-top boxes, such as Roku and Apple TV, enable consumers to view OTT services on their TVs.

As people add more IP-connected devices to their connected homes, they consume more OTT services. On average, there are five IP-connected devices within today’s connected home. Depending on family size and dynamics, that number can easily grow to 15 devices. Streaming all this data is equivalent to leaving a fire hose wide open.

On the horizon is higher-resolution content in 4K HD. Netflix recently launched the second season of its hit series, “House of Cards,” along with some nature documentaries, in 4K HD. This service is available to 4K TVs with Netflix and HEVC/H.265 decoding capabilities built in.

As people add more IP-connected devices to their connected homes, they consume more over-the-top entertainment.

TECHNOLOGY


TECHNOLOGYJoris Evers, Netflix spokesperson,

said that streaming in Ultra HD 4K will require a broadband connection that delivers consistent speeds of 20 Mbps or higher. “We are using HEVC H.265 to encode and deliver the new format. As a result, we can stream at a bitrate around 15 Mbps,” he said. “We will continue our efforts to partner with ISPs to deliver the best possible Netflix experience.”

YouTube is also positioning itself to deliver Ultra 4K HD using Google’s new VP9 video format, which can stream 4K HD at half the bandwidth other formats require. In August 2013, Google released Chrome 29.0.1547 with VP9 support.

OTT is changing the way content is viewed, especially because of TV Everywhere. In this year’s March Madness NCAA playoffs, viewership on television dropped 10 percent for the championship game, but live video streams were up 30 percent compared with last year’s championship game, reaching 2 million live streams.

According to a 2012 OPASTCO study, broadband users now consume 5 to 20 GB per month on average, and heavy users consume 70 to 100 GB per month, with 10 percent of users consuming 90 percent of the bandwidth. Usage has increased eightfold in the last five years and is predicted to increase threefold again by 2016.

With the advent of Ultra 4K HD services, consumers who opt to purchase devices capable of supporting higher-resolution content will pay a premium for the higher bandwidth to keep the customer experience high. The high price point for Ultra 4K HD TVs will make for a slow adoption rate and therefore a slow impact on current ISP networks. However, as television prices become more affordable, the demand on ISP networks will increase rapidly.

What does that mean in terms of predicted network traffic? With Netflix currently accounting for nearly 30 percent of all Internet traffic at peak hours, Cisco predicts that, by 2017, OTT services will account for 85 to 90 percent of all Internet traffic.

MEASURING THE FLOODNow is the time for providers to begin educating their customers about how they are utilizing their broadband service. Begin by capturing statistics related to individual consumer behavior. Help customers understand how much information they consume hourly, both upload and download, and the trend over a 24-hour period. Consumption statistics are especially important in prime time (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.), when IP-connected devices are most active.

Providing tools for consumers to view their usage statistics summarized by month, along with drill-down capabilities to view their usage patterns on any given day, is imperative. Consumers may be surprised by what is happening on their networks: They may discover unexpected network traffic late in the evening or early morning, which could mean that little Johnny is gaming online instead of sleeping. Those who have unsecured wireless networks may find that their neighbors, or even people parked outside, are enjoying streaming videos on their dime!

Consumers who have too many connected devices vying for bandwidth capacity on a limited pipe to the Internet could experience poor quality of service. They’re likely to assume the problem is with the network provider – not with their usage. When they call to discuss their network challenges, providers who can respond by showing them hourly usage graphs can illustrate their problems and help sell the value of increasing their broadband plans to meet the demands of their connected homes.

Summarizing month-to-date usage and displaying it on bills is another way to educate consumers about how they are using broadband services. ISPs considering charging a premium for the heaviest users might first print usage statistics on bills for three to six months to educate all consumers. Plan a communication strategy to inform consumers about their current month’s usage relative to the new plan; this will also ease the minds of the majority of customers, who will not be affected by the new broadband plan structure. Proper planning and execution will

drastically reduce the number of customer calls inquiring about the new broadband plans.

Providers can also inform customers before they exceed their capacity limits. Capturing and accumulating hourly usage allows providers to send customers notifications when they reach 60 percent, 70 percent or 100 percent of their plans and inform them that they will begin incurring overage charges. This is not about setting limits with overages – it’s about providing a better customer experience. It’s about notifying customers when they are nearing their plan limits and providing tools for increasing their level of service.

Accumulating granular usage data by customer can also be useful to providers. Mining overall network data and displaying the total Internet traffic by hour provides a comprehensive view of the entire network traffic. Drilling deeper to allow segmentation of information to the central office or a specific node – and ultimately to an optical network terminal for monitoring and tracking heavy users – becomes a reality.

Granular information may help determine whether a customer has a virus that is causing the heavy bandwidth demand or reveal that a business customer is using the Internet for backup during the peak hours of 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. By suggesting that the customer reschedule the backup process outside peak hours, the provider can begin to flatten Internet demand over the course of the day.

Finally, as they accumulate information over 24 to 36 months, providers gain the ability to perform trend analysis for predicting growth in specific network segments – a great help in planning future capital expenditures. v

Mark Momerak is executive product line manager at NISC, an information technology company that develops software and hardware solutions for telecommunications companies and utilities. Contact Mark at 866-999-6472 or learn more about NISC’s broadband measured service offering at www.nisc.coop.




The connected home has the potential to dramatically change many aspects of daily life as next-generation services

continue to proliferate and home networking evolves. However, the fact that new networked consumer electronic devices operate on diverse networks carries a high risk of consumer confusion. The connected home needs to be developed as a fully integrated platform, with all industry constituents working together, for people to continue to access digital content and enjoy new digital services.

At the center of the connected home lies the home network, which makes services and devices interoperable. However, because home networks use a number of different technologies, designing and configuring a home network is beyond most people’s capabilities. Many consumers don’t even realize the true potential of their devices.

Today’s connected world demands reliable, secure solutions that are easy to use and control, that accept devices made by multiple vendors and that balance comfort, convenience and cost. Consumers expect a clear proposition of what a device is, how it will benefit them, how

it will fit into their lifestyles and how they will use it. They don’t want to be limited to buying connected devices all of the same brand, nor are they willing to live with technology islands that cannot communicate with one another.

HOW UPNP CAN ENHANCE CONSUMER EXPERIENCESDevices in home networks that are based on UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) technology provide easy access to one another and to sources of content. UPnP technologies provide the foundation to complement a variety of management gateways and device control scenarios, incorporating well-vetted mechanisms for security, discovery and service advertisement.

UPnP enables digital products from multiple brands to interoperate and share digital content, making it easier for consumers to connect and enjoy their music, video and photos. That being said, UPnP is not a single solution but rather an enabler that empowers audiovisual devices or any other IP-based devices to communicate with anything on an IP network. Within a home, UPnP acts as the enabling machine-to-machine language between set-top boxes and gateways, communicating with retail devices such as TVs, tablets and mobile phones to ensure the successful delivery of entertainment content.

UPnP Forum provides a standard that enables UPnP-certified products to be compatible with one another in a home network environment even if they are manufactured by

Many consumers don’t even realize the true potential of their connected devices.

Consumer Experience In Connected HomesIf devices don’t play, consumers will unplug them. Service providers and manufacturers must work together to create seamless plug-and-play experiences for consumers.

By Alan Messer, Clarke Stevens and Wouter van der Beek / UPnP Forum

BROADBAND APPS


BROADBAND APPSdifferent companies. UPnP-certified devices on existing home networks provide a platform for interoperable communication and can easily bridge networks, allowing utilities and service providers to communicate via a private IP backbone with their customers.

The UPnP Certification program is beneficial to all technology companies, from chipset vendors and consumer electronics manufacturers to application providers and service operators. Consumer electronics manufacturers and application providers benefit from UPnP Certification as consumers increasingly look to purchase devices and software with the UPnP Certification mark and logo.

The UPnP Device Control Protocol (DCP) standards provide a suite of protocols for home network devices to automatically discover one another, retrieve operational parameters, configure themselves and host a service that other control points can use. This means that applications such as Skype have the ability to open ports in a residential gateway to allow the successful delivery of high-quality video and content among homes.

UPnP technology has standardized the way devices in a network can talk to one another. For instance, via UPnP, a display can find a media server, present a movie overview and play back a selected movie. This is essential, but there is still more to be done.

The proliferation of next-generation services leaves some users flipping among a multitude of isolated applications or frustrated at the lack of support. Consumers expect a level of service that includes reliable delivery of content. The lack of certified standards makes it difficult, if not impossible, for manufacturers and service providers to innovate around the user experience and provide seamless services. Plug and play means exactly that: If a device does not play, then the consumer will unplug.

THE ROLE OF SERVICE PROVIDERS AND MANUFACTURERSThe connected home has become somewhat of a battleground for device manufacturers, network suppliers and

service providers, all of whom want a piece of the market. However, to ensure device-to-device communication and simplified network implementation, they must all work together to create an interoperable ecosystem.

For service providers, the connected home platform provides an opportunity to offer new services in digital homes. The growing demand to view content on multiple devices, as well as the growth in home-produced media, presents competitive challenges as well as growth opportunities. By exploiting their existing strengths, such as an established presence in homes, a trusted billing relationship and customer support functions, service providers look to UPnP Certification to ensure that their customers can maximize the accessibility and portability of their services throughout their homes.

Consumer electronics manufacturers focus on consumer needs and expectations and are leading the way in UPnP Certification adoption. Most manufacturers understand that, in this heterogeneous and increasingly densely connected environment, UPnP Certification and compliance give users and retailers confidence in the interoperability capabilities of their products.

Most major vendors have already invested in UPnP technologies as a core component of their products, taking advantage of UPnP Forum resources that include development tools, ecosystem, testing and certification. Vendors like the fact that processes for interoperability testing and certification are well‐established and that UPnP protocols provide a neutral platform for facilitating interoperability.

Such a platform enables applications such as energy management, energy data communication and device discovery to operate across different networks of home devices. These features ease the transition of existing or proprietary energy networks to the newer, IP‐based, smart-grid networks of the future. Expanding on UPnP technologies’ capabilities to bridge to other ecosystems, recent extensions to the Power System series of Device Control Protocols (a rich

set of power systems interfaces) are now also available for vendors and manufacturers.

SUMMARYConsumers have more options available than ever to interconnect and enjoy digital content throughout their homes without boundaries. This trend will continue as more products become fully connected. Standards level the playing field. However, all industry members need to work together to ensure reliable interoperability and enhance the consumer experience as never before. Consumers expect a set of standards to be in place. They also want information to help guide them through the buying process. This will encourage the industry to view the connected home as a single market entity.

UPnP Forum continues to pave the way for UPnP devices and services within connected homes, driving the technologies and standards for device interoperability and simplified implementation. Through its specifications and certification program, UPnP Forum brings players together to achieve cross-industry cooperation to facilitate advances in connected digital homes. Recently, the Forum expanded its efforts with the creation of its UPnP+ initiative. UPnP+ is aimed at delivering new technical capabilities to enhance networked functionality and meet the increasing need for always-on services. v

Alan Messer is vice president of UPnP Forum; Clarke Stevens is a board director, technical committee chair and task force chair of UPnP Forum; and Wouter van der Beek is a UPnP Forum board director and compliance committee chair. UPnP Forum is the global standards body that has paved the way for seamless connectivity among billions of devices. Established in 1999, the Forum has more than 1,000 member companies and organizations, including market leaders in computing, printing and networking, consumer electronics, home appliances, automation, control and security, and mobile products.




BROADBAND COMMUNITIES MARKETPLACE

Verizon FiOS:Top-rated broadband service in America.Period.

Find out if FiOS is available for your multifamily community.

Contact Verizon Enhanced Communities866.638.6066

www.verizon.com/communities

Verizon FiOS services not available in all areas. ©2009 Verizon.

To reserve space in this section and LEVERAGE the power of your advertising via print, digital, and multimedia exposure in the global market, contact Irene G. Prescott at 505-867-3299 or email [email protected].

FieldShield HardenedConnector

Vision. Clarity. Clearfield.

Industry’s most cost-effective and

easy to deploy environmentally

sealed fiber delivery system

Replacing the bulkiness of flat drop

cables with the ease of use & cost reductions associated associated

with pushable fiber

FieldShield Multiport

SmarTerminal

800-422-2537www.ClearfieldConnection.com

It’s one of those win-win situationsyou hear so much about.

AT&T Connected Communities has something for everyone. Learn more at att.com/communities.

© 2012 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.

®


ADVERTISER INDEX / CALENDARJUNE18 – 21NAA Education Conference & ExpositionColorado Convention CenterDenver, CO866-470-7778 • www.naahq.org

23 – 25FTTH Conference & ExpoGreater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center • Fort Lauderdale, FL202-367-1173 • www.ftthcouncil.org

JULY22 – 24 mHealth + Telehealth WorldHyatt Regency • Boston, MA800-767-9499www.worldcongress.com/mHealth

SEPTEMBER16 –18Community Fiber NetworksBBC Magazine Economic Development Conference SeriesSheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel • Springfield, MA866-588-1649www.TownsAndTech.com

22 – 24 ECOC Exhibition 2014Palais des Festivals • Cannes, France+ 33 (0) 169 81 6574www.ecoc2014.org

OCTOBER30 – October 2NMHC Student Housing Conference & ExpositionPalmer House Hilton • Chicago, IL202-974-2300 • www.nmhc.org

NOVEMBER17 – 19 NMHC OpTechHilton Orlando Bonnet Creek202-974-2300 • www.nmhc.org

APRIL 201514 – 16BroadBand Communities SummitRenaissance HotelAustin, TX877-588-1649www.bbcmag.com

Broadband Communities (ISSN 0745-8711) (USPS 679-050) (Publication Mail Agreement #1271091) is published 7 times a year at a rate of $24 per year by Broadband Properties LLC, 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471. Periodical postage paid at Rosenberg, TX, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Broadband Communities, PO Box 303, Congers, NY 10920-9852. CANADA POST: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Copyright © 2014 Broadband Properties LLC. All rights reserved.

ADVERTISER PAGE WEBSITE

AT&T 75 www.att.com/communities

BroadBand Communities Magazine 67 www.bbcmag.com

BroadBand Communities Summit Inside Cover Flap – 1 www.bbcmag.com

Calix 7, 33 www.calix.com

Charles Industries 63 www.charlesindustries.com

Clearfield 33, 45, 75 www.Clearfield

Connection.com

Corning 17, 33 cablesystems.corning.com/

CentrixBuzz

COS Systems 49 www.cossystems.com

DrayTEK Corp 66 www.draytek.com

ETI Software 24, 33 www.etisoftware.com

G4S Technology 34, 59 www.g4stechnology.com

Great Lakes Data 33, 34 www.glds.com

Hotwire Communications 3 www.hotwire

communications.com

MasTec 27, 34 www.MasTec.com

Maxcell 21, 34 www.maxcell.us

Multicom, Inc 75 www.multicominc.com

National Information

Solutions Cooperative (NiSC) Inside Back Cover www.NISC.coop

Pavlov Media 5 www.pavlovmedia.com

Power & Tel Supply 13, 34, 75 www.ptsupply.com

Preformed Line Products 35, 75 www.preformed.com

Suttle 9, 35 www.suttleonline.com

Taitronics 70 www.taitronics.org

The Mesh Networks Back Cover www.themeshnetworks.com

Verizon Enhanced Communities 75 www.verizon.com/

communities

APRIL 14 – 16, 2015Renaissance Hotel – Austin

KNOWLEDGEABLE AND INFORMATIVE“Good clarification of options and recommendations for future considerations when planning infrastructures. All [panels] were good – information valuable! Speakers were very knowledgeable and informative.”

– Christine Taylor, Manager, Ancillary Services Forest City Residential Management

SUBSTANTIAL INFORMATION TO HELP OUR STRATEGY“Well planned and good updated information … substantial contact and information to help our strategy.”

– Rick Mervine, Vice President, Strategic Planning OnlIght Aurora

KEYNOTES WERE EXCELLENT“I appreciate the visionary forecasts of experts in the field of broadband. Keynotes were excellent. Lots of insights and great stories.”

– David Moore, Director Louisiana Broadband Initiative

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE BASED EVENT“Very useful, hands on, anecdotal, personal experience based event.”

– Michael Anderson, CIO Spiral Internet

VALUABLE INSIGHT“Summit always provides valuable insight into market trends.”

– Brian Pagnella, Senior Consultant Broadband Realty Advisors

PERTINENT TO COMMUNITIES“Very important, useful and impactful information pertinent to communities building and supporting networks.”

– Allen Meyer, Business Development Manager BHC Rhodes

CALENDARS

Here’s what attendees are saying about the 2014 Summit! Make plans to attend the 2015 Summit now.April 14–16, 2015 • Renaissance Hotel - Austin • www.bbcmag.com • To sponsor or exhibit: email [email protected] or call 505-867-3299

facebook.com/bbcmag twitter.com/bbcmag

www.bbcmag.com

TO SPONSOR OR EXHIBIT:email: [email protected]

505-867-3299

APRIL 14-16, 2015 • GIGAFYAMERICA.COM MARK YOUR

What the HomeNet router does for your customer:• Real-time bandwidth management & optimization• Provides powerful parental controls• Promotes home business productivity• Eliminates bu�ering on streaming video• and much more

What the HomeNet router does for you:• Increases your revenue options• Reduces provisioning costs• Provides new self branded product line• Reduces owner/mgmt. frustration• and much more

855.855.MESH • themeshnetworks.com • [email protected] us today for more !

®

Student HousingApartments

Condos

HotelsRetirement

Vacation Communities

Single & Multi FamilyHome Business

Business Strip Mall Executive Suite

HealthcareGovernment

THE WORLD’S FIRST TRULY INTELLIGENT ROUTER

BANDWIDTH WHERE YOU WANT IT, WHEN YOU WANT IT!more control • more power • more pro�t

more surprises in 2014!

, LLC

Documents

SPRINGFIELD, MA · of maintenance to future-proofing. Though most FTTH subscribers are delighted with their services (a finding confirmed year after year in research by RVA LLC),