april 5 – 7, 2016 - Broadband Communities Magazine

Transcription

MARK YOUR
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APRIL 5 – 7, 2016
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LEXINGTON, KY
Economic Development
Conference Series
Community
Toolkit Program
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Two Powerful Programs
Why Lexington, Kentucky?
FTTH Council Community Toolkit | Economic Development
Kentucky’s new fiber ring will set off
a boom in broadband construction.
Registration Now Open
Attendees from the region and around the country will
benefit from the extensive experience of this massive project.
Lexington set to become the next gigabit city.
September 15 – 18, 2015
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TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 15
THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER 17
Preconference Day Main Event Sessions
Workshops • Seminars
Breakfast • Breaks
Evening Reception
• Luncheon
WEDNESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 16
FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 18
Main Event Sessions
Breakfast • Breaks
• Luncheon
Evening Reception
Post-Conference
Events
CLIC Program
Non-Stop Flights
to Lexington
The Hon. Hilda Legg
Former RUS Administrator
and Vice Chair,
Broadband Communities
Economic
Development
Chairman
Heather Burnett Gold
President & CEO,
FTTH Council Americas
What You Will Learn:
How to successfully plan for, monetize, and manage an
all fiber-based broadband investment.
Explore best practices for developing broadband strategies for the knowledge economy.
Learn the strategies necessary to foster collaboration with economic development agencies.
Differentiate your community with advanced broadband connectivity.
Discover how your community can become a magnet for the tech industry.
Jim Baller
President
The Baller Herbst
Law Group, PC
Community
Toolkit
Chairman
Who You Will Meet:
Local, State & Federal Officials
Economic Development Professionals
Investors
Public and Private Network Operators
Business Leaders & Entrepreneurs
Financial Institutions
Community Anchor Institutions – Education, Medical, Public Safety &
Security
Broadband Champions
How To Write A Winning RFP
What will attract providers to build FTTH in your community?
Joseph Jones
Executive Director
On Trac, Inc.
How To Leverage Your Fiber
For Economic Development
Once you have your network, how do you get business to make the most of it?
EDITOR’S NOTE
Catching Up
With the News
CEO & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Scott DeGarmo / [email protected]
PUBLISHER
Nancy McCain / [email protected]
EDITOR
Masha Zager / [email protected]
EDITOR-AT-L ARGE
Steven S. Ross / [email protected]
ADVERTISING SALES ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
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I thought I was up to date with all the FTTH news –
until I started compiling the FTTH Top 100 list.
COMMUNIT Y 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
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O
ne thing I enjoy about
compiling the FTTH Top
100 list is catching up with
the news of the past year. Despite
spending nearly all day, every day,
reading and writing about fiber to the
home, I still miss some interesting
stories. Keeping up with the fiber-tothe-home industry has become more
than a full-time job.
Here are just a few things I learned
about this year’s Top 100 winners (in
alphabetical order):
• Responding to the need for
middle-mile fiber, Atlantic
Engineering Group, a design and
engineering firm, established a new
subsidiary, Atlantic Fiber Networks,
to construct middle-mile and dark
fiber networks on a build-to-own
basis.
• To accommodate networks in
transition, Charles Industries
introduced a line of universal
enclosures for distributing fiber,
copper and coaxial cables.
• Even though some large telcos
are selling wireline assets to focus on
their wireless networks, Cincinnati
Bell made the opposite decision: It
sold its wireless spectrum licenses
to focus its efforts on the efficient
deployment of FTTH.
• For customers who just can’t wait
an extra millisecond for a Web page
to load, Pavlov Media introduced
WebSnap – a set of traffic
2 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | JULY 2015
management techniques that enable
fast Web page loading through
superfast blasts of service – and
hosted a root domain name server
on its network.
• Sonic, the ISP that pioneered
low-cost gigabit service, has now
reduced its gigabit tier to $40 per
month – which must be one of the
best deals anywhere.
• City dwellers hoping for FTTH in
their neighborhoods will be glad to
hear about Vermeer’s new D23x30
S3 Navigator horizontal directional
drill, which was designed for
congested areas and is one of the
quietest drills on the market.
The FTTH Top 100 feature in
this month’s issue (p. 26) is packed
full of useful information about the
key players in the fiber-to-the-home
ecosystem, from service providers to
vendors, distributors and consultants –
as well as the nonprofits that do so
much to raise awareness about fiber to
the home and about the need for better
bandwidth. They’ve all been busy in the
last year moving the industry forward.
Take a look at the list for yourself and
find out what you’ve missed.
Congratulations to all the 2015 Top
100! v
[email protected]
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER STORY
26
IN THIS ISSUE
FTTH Top 100 List /
PROVIDER
PERSPECTIVE
A BBC Staff Report
Leaders and innovators in the fiber-to-thehome arena for 2015
8
By Bryan J. Rader,
Bandwidth Consulting LLC
FEATURES
Paying attention to what
customers want is more
productive than playing
catch-up with competitors.
COMMUNITY
BROADBAND
22
Lexington Goes for a Gig /
METRICS
By Masha Zager,
10
Mayor Jim Gray’s fiber optic initiative
puts Lexington, Ky., on a forwardlooking path.
Next-Generation
Internet / By David Daugherty,
Legacy cable and telco
infrastructure was designed
for the pre-Internet world.
Next-generation Internet
needs a new approach.
Korcett Holdings
FIBER AND WIRELESS
DEPLOYMENT
76
Holy Cross High School
Graduates to a New Network /
PROPERTY OF
THE MONTH
By Masha Zager,
14
A new network infrastructure
in a private high school yields
educational benefits.
22
OPINION
BROADBAND APPS
78
Connecting Cambridge /
84
Cambridge Broadband Task Force
Why doesn’t Cambridge, Mass.,
have a next-generation network?
By Saul Tannenbaum,
FCC Connect America
Fund Advances Broadband
Deployment /
By Douglas Jarrett, Keller and Heckman
Competitive providers get ready
to bid on CAF funds for the
underserved areas that the price-cap
carriers turn down.
Visit www.bbcmag.com for
up-to-the-minute news of
broadband trends, technologies
and deployments
Distributed Work Centers /
TECHNOLOGY
90
Optical Fiber in the
Living Unit / By Anurag Jain and
John George, OFS
A new solution for installing fiber
invisibly with no disruption to
residents.
ABOUT THE COVER
New York artist Irving
Grunbaum is seeing
stars – fiber-to-the-home
stars, that is.
t witter.com/bbcmag
$25 Gigabit Wows
Residents: Park
Square at Seven Oaks,
Bakersfield, Calif. /
By Masha Zager, Broadband
Communities
The developer of these new
luxury apartments installed its
own fiber-to-the-unit network
and provides Internet service
to residents.
By Michael B. Shear,
Strategic Office Networks
Beyond telecommuting:
Broadband infrastructure offers
the opportunity to redesign the
concept of the worksite.
THE LAW
80
We Can Run Away
With This Market /
THE GIGABIT
HIGHWAY
96
FTTH Boosts
Home Values /
By Heather Burnett Gold,
Fiber-delivered Internet
increases home values by up
to 3.1 percent, according to a
new study.
DEPARTMENTS
2
6
94
95
EDITOR’S NOTE
BANDWIDTH HAWK
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OUR FIBER network brings the world
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BANDWIDTH HAWK
New Broadband Thinking
States are starting to fund broadband deployments in rural and other disadvantaged
areas. Providers can benefit from this development – as long as they’re open-minded.
By Steven S. Ross / Broadband Communities
O
ver the past year, states have
earmarked serious money for
broadband deployments as they
seek to provide 21st-century infrastructure in
support of job creation, schools, health care,
emergency response and other services. My
ongoing studies, published in this magazine,
have shown that this is vitally necessary to stem
rural population losses.
Each state that has raised significant funds
for broadband has chosen a different approach.
Kentucky will contract with Macquarie
Capital to raise around $300 million –
maybe more –for a middle-mile build
that should make local fiber-to-the-home
builds more economically viable, and it will
supplement that private investment with $30
million in state bonds and $15 to $20 million
in federal grants. Massachusetts is providing
$40 million to help 45 of the state’s towns
build their own broadband. New York put
$500 million on the table and hopes deployers
in underserved or unserved areas can match
that to generate $1 billion in new broadband
network building.
Some community broadband activists
worry that these funds will go to large network
deployers to subsidize construction of networks
they might have built anyway. Major Internet
service providers may indeed receive subsidies
because they already have infrastructure in
underserved areas. They may have wired small
communities’ cores but ignored outlying areas.
A new competitor might have to start from
scratch and spend more.
Community Toolkit Program
& Economic Development
Conference Series
Tuesday, September 15:
Steve Ross will lead a hands-on
workshop on rural broadband
financial models.
Co-ops and other locally owned providers
tend to be more egalitarian in rural areas, but
their business plans are brittle, and many have
already suffered as the Universal Service Fund
is repurposed by the Federal Communications
Commission for broadband access and away
from voice service.
This conflict was highlighted in a panel
chaired by Joanne Hovis of CLIC and CTC
Technology & Energy at the New York State
Broadband Summit in June. Charlie Williams,
VP for government relations at Time Warner
Cable, complained about the possibility of the
state’s subsidizing the company’s competitors.
Brian Ford, regulatory counsel at the National
Telephone Cooperative Association, cited
several examples of rural telcos hurt by
changing rules for subsidies.
When government policies, customer
Sharing access networks is a largely untapped
source of profit for service providers.
needs or deployment technologies
change, providers may indeed get
hurt. However, all rural providers can
benefit if they agree to share the new
infrastructure. Studies have shown
that sharing generates the most profit
to carriers and the most benefit to
customers and communities.
Under current business thinking,
this will not happen. When I asked
Williams and Ford about the possibility
of telcos and cable companies sharing
infrastructure, they both replied that
the policy is not to share.
New broadband thinking is called
for. Open-access technology is easy.
A single fiber can share dozens of
providers’ signals, and modern fiber
networks have amazing real-time
diagnostic and maintenance tools that
make sharing realistic.
An incumbent provider limits its
revenues by selling poor service at a
high price, with a low take rate, to
a small number of customers in one
corner of a rural county. Often, it
would do better by taking advantage
of a new, faster, more versatile network
that reaches far more customers –
a network it could rent rather than
pay for up front. Providers would
gain by splitting their marketing
costs and local overhead among
more potential customers even while
enduring competitors.
Rather than offer an overpriced
product to 500 dissatisfied customers,
a provider could offer multiple services,
aggregating to a higher average
monthly bill, to three or four times the
number of customers and get half the
JULY 2015 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 7
overall take rate – one likely to be 70 or
80 percent or more.
Of course, the exact recipe for an
open-access business plan varies with
every community. But the cookbook
already exists. Many flavors of open
access have been baked into network
deployments around the country and
around the world.
Time for a taste. The idea that
infrastructure can’t be shared is just
too bitter. Unserved and underserved
communities should not continue to
go hungry. v
Contact the Hawk at [email protected].
PROVIDER PERSPECTIVE
We Can Run Away
With This Market
If you spend all your time looking over your shoulder at the competition, you can’t see
your customers.
By Bryan Rader / Bandwidth Consulting LLC
S
ometimes companies fail to adapt to the changing
competitive landscape. They become so focused on the
market leader as their primary competition that they
miss seeing the rest of the market. This kind of thinking
never ends well. It leads to apathy, staleness and eventually
lost market share.
Take Adidas, for instance. In the 1980s and early 1990s,
this German shoe manufacturer had its eyes on Nike. “How
can we sell more shoes than Nike does? How do we capture
the hearts and minds of young basketball and soccer players
in the United States? How can we stay relevant for young
athletes who want to be hip and cool?”
At one time, Adidas and Nike competed for world
dominance in the sports shoe and apparel industry. They were
like Coke and Pepsi, Colgate and Crest, big cable and big telco.
Over the years, Adidas stopped understanding its own
market. It missed out on major endorsements that would
have helped grow its shoe business (see Michael Jordan). It
made ill-timed acquisitions of tired shoe brands (see Reebok
in 2005). And it kept looking over its shoulder at just one
competitor, which took market share from it year after year
(see Nike).
All that time, Adidas focused on the market it knew:
soccer shoes, soccer apparel, running shoes and so forth. It
didn’t ever consider which other areas of the fast-growing
U.S. sports apparel industry it could address.
However, others did consider those areas. In 1995, Kevin
Plank founded a startup in Baltimore with less than $40,000.
Plank was the special teams captain for the University of
Maryland football team, and he was unhappy with the cotton
shirts his football players wore. During practice, the shirts
were always soaked and heavy with sweat.
Working in his grandmother’s basement, Plank designed
a superior T-shirt that kept athletes dry and light. His players
loved the shirts, so he sent samples to NFL teams, college
programs and such famous athletes as Deion Sanders. Soon,
Under Armour was selling product to teams across the country.
Fast forward to 2014. According to the Wall Street
Journal, Under Armour had become a $3 billion a year
business and surpassed Adidas as the No. 2 supplier in the
sports apparel industry. Adidas sales fell around 23 percent;
Under Armour grew 20 percent in the same time.
MISSING THE OPPORTUNITY
How did Adidas let this happen? Why didn’t it see its
customers’ need for better athletic wear? Adidas was so
focused on keeping up with Nike that it fell out of touch with
customers and missed out on areas of opportunity.
You might be asking, “When did private cable operators
start selling T-shirts and athletic shoes?”
Aha. That’s what makes this the perfect parallel to the
PCO industry. Think of Adidas as big cable (the long-time
market leader), Nike as big telco (the very successful, wellheeled, well-funded competitor) and Under Armour as PCOs
that deliver solutions and fix the problems Adidas is missing.
Think about it. Adidas watched only Nike, as Comcast
monitors FiOS. But PCOs are on the ground, in the
market, talking to property managers every day about
their needs. PCOs can design the next-gen athletic wear
(broadband products for multifamily residents) based on these
conversations. Adidas executives aren’t talking to property
managers. They are sitting in their German offices missing
out on these opportunities.
PCOs are not. They are the upstart sports apparel
company that Adidas is not paying attention to. It is time for
them to build customer solutions and sneak up behind the
market leader.
What are you waiting for? Just do it. 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.
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METRICS
Next-Generation Internet
Legacy cable and telco infrastructure was designed for the pre-Internet world.
As the Internet evolves, the old infrastructure will fall increasingly short of consumer
expectations.
By David Daugherty / Korcett Holdings
R
oughly 319 million people live in the
United States, and 84 percent of them,
or about 270 million people, use the
Internet daily. Given the vast array of people
and equipment required to keep the Internet
up and running, it’s a wonder it works at all.
To compound this problem, the rate of change
for underlying technology and customer
expectations is increasing. The result is a very
complex ecosystem that often translates into
a frustrating experience for subscribers and a
nearly impossible mission for ISPs.
Two things are needed: a standardsbased, future-proof approach to the design,
construction and support of Internet services
and a common, nontechnical way of quickly
ascertaining operational health.
INTERNET HEALTH
An intuitive, commonly used indicator of
network health is a bandwidth utilization
& Economic Development Conference Series
Tuesday, September 15:
David Daugherty will moderate a session for
electric co-ops on the challenges of building and
running a broadband business.
report. IT professionals use this as a first-glance
diagnostic tool the same way a cardiologist
uses an electrocardiogram. It has a predictable
sinus rhythm that is indicative of the health
and performance of Internet service. Figure 1
shows a typical bandwidth utilization chart in
a bulk service multifamily environment where
subscribers have unrestricted or “uncapped”
access to the Internet. (Of course, all Internet
access is limited by network capacity, but in the
example shown here, network capacity exceeds
user demand, and the service provider is not
artificially limiting access.)
However, most subscribers don’t have
unrestricted access. ISPs typically configure (or
cap) subscribers’ Internet service so they can’t
use more than their service plans stipulate. Most
commercially available Internet service packages
limit available bandwidth to, for example,
5Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream;
these packages have been designed to help drive
the sale of additional bandwidth.
When an ISP or, in the case of multifamily
properties, an owner, elects to limit the amount
of available bandwidth, the report may look
quite different. Figure 2 shows an environment
in which access to bandwidth has been capped.
In this environment, everything works well
as long as subscriber devices and applications
have ready access to the Internet before hitting
the cap. As aggregate bandwidth demand
approaches the bandwidth cap, network jitter
and latency begin to increase, and things
Figure 1: Bandwidth utilization report for network with uncapped Internet access
slow down. This is called bandwidth
flatlining.
Unlike flatlining in living systems,
network bandwidth flatlining is not
a critical problem. If left unattended,
however, it will most likely result in
damage to the reputation of the service
provider and the property owner (if this
is a multifamily property). The good
news is that this problem typically
develops over time and can be easily
detected and corrected – hence the
importance of monitoring bandwidth
utilization charts.
NEXT-GENERATION,
STANDARDS-BASED SERVICES
Over the years, although subscriber
expectations have matured, legacy
infrastructure has remained fixed.
Typically it delivers a limited
(capped) amount of bandwidth. These
inflexible limitations on the delivery
of bandwidth are quickly becoming
unacceptable. Traditional capped
Internet services are increasingly
unpopular and are not future-friendly.
Another important aspect of
evolving Internet service is quick,
competent customer support.
Customers now expect the same kind
of support from ISPs as they do from
any other service provider. Whether
they have problems with their bank,
house cleaner or Internet service,
they expect prompt, professional,
courteous attention. This includes the
rapid identification and resolution
of problems – otherwise known as
customer support.
An important element of ISP
customer support is time to repair.
The more dependent subscribers
become on ready, reliable access to the
Internet, the less tolerant they become
of poor performance and downtime.
Translation: subscribers become more
vocal (via social networking) as service
deteriorates.
What is becoming painfully obvious
to service providers and subscribers
is that the delivery of stable Internet
service is not optional. Consumer
demand for reliable service is already
fueling market evolution, and only
the fittest will survive. This, in turn,
is driving the adoption of mature,
Figure 2: Bandwidth utilization report for network with capped Internet access
METRICS
Demand for managed Internet services is
outpacing demand for unmanaged services.
standards-based, modular network
design and installation and superior
customer support. Regardless of what
some ISPs might believe (and tell their
customers), legacy infrastructure and
support models will not satisfy current,
much less future, customer expectations.
Legacy infrastructure used by
ISPs to deliver Internet services is the
byproduct of an evolution in network
equipment. The underlying business
motivation for the development and
evolution of the current batch of ISPs
was the sale of telephony and video
services, not Internet access.
The rapidly growing demand for
ubiquitous Internet access has resulted
in an unprecedented growth in the
number of Internet-connected devices –
Cisco estimates that the number
of devices was double the global
population in 2014 and will be triple
the global population by 2019. This
device proliferation fundamentally
changes service delivery requirements
and, more than any other aspect of
Internet usage, will drive the formation
and evolution of next-generation ISPs.
Next-generation ISPs will not only need
to provide access to the Internet but also
need to manage those connections. This
is called “managed services.” With the
rapidly growing number of connected
devices, the demand for managed
Internet services is quickly outpacing
the demand for unmanaged services.
Another mission-critical aspect of
next-generation Internet services is the
ability for intelligent systems to control
service delivery. Internet-based service
delivery systems must have the ability
to communicate with customers and
their devices and decide when and how
services are delivered. This must be
done without human intervention.
For example, if a customer who
frequents Marriott hotels owns a
half-dozen Internet-connected devices,
the hotel’s Internet service delivery
system must recognize each device,
authenticate the customer and the
device upon entry into any Marriott
property and enable the correct level of
service for that customer. The system
must also be able to determine whether
the device is properly authenticated – in
other words, is it still in the possession
of the correct customer? This kind
of service and support automation
is beyond the capability of legacy
infrastructure and will become a staple
of next-generation (managed) service.
CONCLUSION
Even this simplistic snapshot of
evolving requirements for Internetbased services illustrates the need for
a radical new approach to network
design, deployment and support. This
problem is compounded by rapidly
changing customer expectations and
the lack of suitable alternatives – which
is why Google Fiber and other fiber
overbuilders can gain a foothold.
Mounting demand for managed
services has scrambled the current
marketplace and is driving rapid
evolution. In the next few years, market
evolution will continue to drive rapid
convergence within the cable and
telecommunications industries. But no
one, not even Google, has cracked the
managed-service model. v
David Daugherty is the CEO and
founder of Korcett Holdings Inc.
Korcett Holdings is dedicated to the
development and marketing of nextgeneration service solutions. For more
information about Korcett Holdings,
visit www.korcett.com.
A Furukawa Company
PROPERTY OF THE MONTH
$25 Gigabit Wows Residents:
Park Square at Seven Oaks,
Bakersfield, Calif.
This month, Broadband Communities showcases Park Square at Seven Oaks, an upscale
apartment community whose developer built its own fiber-to-the-unit network. Now
every resident receives gigabit Internet service for an unbeatable price – an attractive
amenity for high-tech professionals in the Bakersfield area. Thanks to Andrew Fuller,
president of Fuller Apartment Homes and principal at Presidio Capital Partners, and
Sharon Johnston, TE Connectivity account manager and sales engineer, for gathering
the information for this profile.
By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities
B
akersfield, Calif., halfway between
Los Angeles and Fresno, is home to
many successful business professionals,
from high-tech hipsters to oil executives.
Telecommuting is popular there, not least
because it reduces the need for high-priced
office space. For telecommuters, the basic
prerequisites are a strong cell phone signal and a
broadband connection – preferably a gigabit.
Park Square at Seven Oaks in Bakersfield
was designed with precisely this demographic
in mind. Andrew Fuller, president of Fuller
Apartment Homes, knew he needed a firstclass technology amenity to appeal to his target
audience.
In the past, Fuller had done many bulk
service deals with cable companies, obtaining
bandwidth at one-third the street price and
using cheap and plentiful Internet access as a
marketing tool. By the time Park Square was
being designed, bulk wasn’t such a good deal
anymore. “It would have cost 80 percent of
market price, and people resent having to buy
that,” he says.
Instead, he decided to bring fiber to the
property, build a traditional Ethernet LAN and
provide Internet services directly – an approach
he had used once before at the Roundhouse
Place Apartments in San Luis Obispo. There
was only one problem: Park Square is a 14-acre
site, and cable lengths would far exceed the
limits of Ethernet over copper.
“So I contacted Sharon Johnston, our TE
Connectivity rep,” Fuller says. “I called her
with some basic cabling questions, and she
said, ‘This is really interesting – I’m going to
propose something totally different.’” TE’s
proposed solution was a passive optical LAN,
an increasingly popular solution for MDU and
enterprise customers that need to distribute fiber
to multiple users. Installing the LAN cost the
developer considerably less than it would have
Park Square at Seven Oaks has first-class amenities, including gigabit Internet access.
paid a service provider to install it, and
the costs of operation, maintenance and
future expansion are also lower.
With integrator Qypsys designing
the network and, in Fuller’s words,
“comforting the contractors” – who
were unused to installing fiber – the
project was a great success. Fuller plans
to use the same do-it-yourself approach
in future projects. For the moment, at
least, the economics make sense, and,
as he puts it, “We have to deliver super
broadband at a really compelling price.”
VITAL STATISTICS
Property Description: Park
Square at Seven Oaks (www.
parksquareatsevenoaks.com) in
Bakersfield, Calif., is an upscale
development with one-bedroom,
two-bedroom and loft apartment
units. It is located in the third
and final phase of the prestigious
master-planned Seven Oaks
community, whose 3,700 acres
contains exclusive residential
neighborhoods, parks, tree-lined
streets, a country club with a 27hole championship golf course, and
thriving retail areas integrated with
growing employment centers.
Demographics: High-tech professionals
and oil executives – all tech-savvy
residents yearning to be free from
beige carpets and low bandwidth.
Greenfield or retrofit? Greenfield
Number of units: 224
Style: Mid-rise
Time to deploy: Fiber was deployed
during construction of the property,
which took one year.
SERVICES
Services offered or planned on the
network: High-speed Internet access
with a top speed of 1 Gbps
Provider choice: None. The property
owner provides gigabit Internet
access to every resident and charges
$25 per month as part of the rent.
Technical support: Network operations
and technical support are
outsourced to a local service provider
with a network operations center.
BUSINESS
Who owns the network? The property
owner owns the entire network
and provides Internet service to
residents. It has a commercial
contract with AT&T for bandwidth
to the property.
What are the benefits of this network?
The low cost and convenience
of broadband is part of the sales
pitch to attract residents. As the
development has just recently
opened, it is still too early for hard
evidence.
TECHNOLOGY
Broadband architecture: Fiber to the
unit with Cat 6a cable to the
network jack connection
Where are ONTs placed? At the backs of
the clothes closets
PROPERTY OF THE MONTH
The passive optical LAN distributes bandwidth to Park Square at Seven Oaks’s 224 units.
Technology used:
GPON (passive optical LAN)
Method for running fiber to the unit:
AT&T fiber terminates at a
fiber switch in the Park Square
clubhouse. Fiber is home-run to
each of the 16 buildings, and a fiber
patch panel on the side of each
building distributes the fiber to each
unit. See diagram for details.
Vendors and strategic partners: TE
Connectivity supplied its Optical
LAN solution together with
active electronics from Zhone
Technologies. Qypsys was the
infrastructure integrator.
LESSONS LEARNED
What was the biggest challenge?
Andrew Fuller: There were moments
when the field subcontractors
began to doubt whether they
could actually pull off all the
terminations, switching gear and
network installation. They knew
mostly electrical and standard
copper communications cabling,
but installing an optical fiber
network was something many had
never been involved with before.
Surprisingly, with the help of a
local network cabling expert, they
discovered that it was really pretty
straightforward. In fact, we didn’t
PROPERTY OF THE MONTH HIGHLIGHTS
~ Park Square at Seven Oaks, Bakersfield, Calif. ~
• New, upscale apartment complex in a prestigious planned community.
• Fuller Apartment Homes, the property owner, built fiber to the unit and
acts as ISP.
• Every resident pays $25 for gigabit Internet access as part of the rent.
• Vendors include TE Connectivity, Zhone Technologies and Qypsys.
experience any major show-stoppers
– there were actually more hiccups
in other areas.”
What was the biggest success? A
combination of cost savings and
implementing a new business
model that helps lease apartment
homes and reduce turnover. In this
case, the traditional model would
be to spend as much as $250,000
to allow a service provider to set
up and install its basic network
infrastructure in the apartment
home community. Then the
residents would have to sign up
individually for services and pay for
their monthly subscriptions.
What Fuller Apartment
Homes has done is to build the
network itself, paying instead only
about $100,000 for the cabling
infrastructure. Network operations
and support are outsourced.
Residents are charged only $25 per
Fuller Apartment Homes saved up to $150,000
by building the network itself.
month for their gigabit connections,
which are simply incorporated into
their monthly rental bills.
What feedback does the leasing office
get from residents? Residents love
that they can pay $25 per month
for gigabit service (which is about
10 times faster than the fastest
broadband service offered in the
area) without having to sign a
contract with a service provider.
What should other owners consider
before they get started on a similar
deployment? Dig deep to find the
true ROI. In this case, the ROI
came from multiple sources:
• Network power consumption was
reduced by 50 percent.
• The space normally allocated for a
telecom closet on each floor is now
usable, revenue-producing space.
Multiple buildings are served by one
main telecom closet.
• Future expansion costs are lower.
The life cycle of a fiber network is
10 years, compared with five years
in a traditional copper structured
cabling environment. v
Masha Zager is the editor of Broadband
Communities. You can reach her at
[email protected].
Innovation. Action. Results.
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for over 20 years, we’ve built a reputation for taking on our
customers’ challenges head-on and delivering innovative solutions
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MARK YOUR
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AU S T I N
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APRIL 5 – 7, 2016
Renaissance Hotel – Austin, Texas
TO SPONSOR OR EXHIBIT:
email: [email protected] | phone: 505-867-3299
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www.bbcmag.com
877-588-1649
AS A FIRST TIME
PARTICIPANT, THE EVENT
WAS VERY IMPRESSIVE
“Each speaker described their
individual origins within their
deployment, key positives and
negatives. As a first time participant,
the event was very impressive.”
– Mayor William Wescott, Mayor
City of Rock Falls, IL
WAS MY FIRST TIME HERE BUT NOT MY LAST
“The sessions gave great examples and covered all types of financing.
Overall, this was a great conference. Was my first time here but not
my last.”
– Terrie Salinas, Economic Development Director
Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council (TX)
EXPERIENCES TO HELP MAKE
MY CASE BACK HOME
“The sessions were very useful – real life experiences,
ideas to help make my case back home.”
– Richard Wilson, IT Director, Special Projects
Walton County BCC (FL)
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
A P R I L 5-7, 2016 •
REAL WORLD
EXPERIENCES
“Real world experiences and
the associated consequences –
found value in all of the panelist’s
commentary.”
– David Hopkins, 911 Director
Southern Tier Network
BEST CONFERENCE AND FRIENDLIEST
I’VE BEEN TO IN YEARS
“All the session including the actual muni broadband case
studies were very useful. Best conference and friendliest I’ve
been to in years.”
– Saul Tannenbaum, Community Member
Cambridge Broadband Task Force (MA)
EVENT WAS PERFECT AND ENERGY
WAS GREATER THAN EVER
“The BBC team once again batted a homer over
the fence, the event was perfect and the energy
was greater than ever. The unanimous popular
opinion among all participants is that BBC is by far
the best organization in our field!”
– William Vallee, State Broadband Policy
Coordinator
State of Connecticut
PRESENTATIONS WERE
VERY USEFUL IN CASTING
KEY BROADBAND ISSUES
“The keynote presentations were
very useful in casting key broadband
issues in a very important global
light.”
– Andrea Brown, Attorney
Lexington-Fayette Urban County
Government (KY)
Here’s what attendees are saying about the 2015 Summit!
AUS T I N S U MM I T
THE SCHEDULE OF GUEST SPEAKERS
WAS FANTASTIC
“The Broadband Communities Summit was a fantastic event.
We met with lots of people interested in what SiFi Networks
has to offer. The schedule of guest speakers was fantastic
and the workshops very useful, we look forward to hopefully
attending again next year.”
– Sara Pickstock, Marketing and Communications Director
SiFi Networks
ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING AND
REWARDING EVENTS I HAVE EVER
ATTENDED
Hilda Legg
and Vice Chair, Broadband
Communities
Tom Wheeler
Chairman, Federal
Communications
Commission
“I am back from attending the Broadband Community
Summit and will tell you it was one of the most exciting
and rewarding events I have ever attended. I have so
much to learn and attending this event has helped me
tremendously in this journey. The level of education and
expertise along with the common sense approach of the
three track program was more than I had thought possible.
I plan to ask our Governor to send someone to next year’s
Summit as it is a very valuable experience.”
– Mayor Eddie Fulton, Mayor
City of Quitman, MS
NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
WERE SECOND TO NONE
“A very professional effort put forth by
every one of the BBC staff. The conference
was outstanding, and it was extremely
professional and the networking
opportunities were second to none.”
– Gordon Caverly, RCDD
Regional Vice President
Mid-State Consultants
Eric Free
Vice President, The Internet of
Things Group, Intel Corp.
Make plans to attend the 2016 Summit now.
COMMUNITY BROADBAND
Lexington Goes for a Gig
Mayor Jim Gray’s fiber optic initiative puts Lexington, Ky., on a forward-looking path.
T
he city of Lexington, Ky., is famous for
its beautiful horse farms and historic
bourbon distilleries but not for its
broadband. Internet service there could fairly
be described as mediocre – the Internet metrics
company Ookla recently measured the average
download speed in Lexington at 16.2 Mbps,
well below the U.S. average of 37.1 Mbps.
On the other hand, unlike some other
cities that have launched FTTH initiatives,
Lexington isn’t precisely underserved. There is
no groundswell of community outrage about
broadband. But Jim Gray, the city’s mayor,
believes better broadband will give the city a
better future, and he vowed to make Lexington a
gigabit city. “Every city is in a competitive chase
for talent and investment and jobs,” he explains.
“This is essential just to stay competitive.”
LEXINGTON’S ADVANTAGES
Gray thinks Lexington offers advantages for
Internet service providers that the existing
providers do not take account of. For one thing,
the city is very dense – about 300,000 residents
in 90 square miles – and it’s growing denser.
Land beyond the inner core is protected by
Lexington offers advantages for
broadband providers, including high
density, a major research university and
access to a middle-mile network.
Conference Series
Find out more about the
Lexington story at the
Economic Development
Conference in September.
zoning and by purchase of development rights
to protect the horse farms. Thus, infrastructure
within the urban service boundary will become
increasingly valuable as the population rises.
Another asset is the presence of a major
research university, the University of
Kentucky. The university brings with it a
knowledge economy built around research
and development; a highly educated, affluent
population; and a vibrant cultural scene. The
businesses and households associated with
the university are all desirable customers for
providers of advanced Internet services. Already,
Lexington has the highest concentration of
e-book readers in the country, according to The
Atlantic, and is the top city in the United States
for using the Roku online streaming receiver,
according to Roku. As Gray says, “Lexington
is a university city, with a highly educated
workforce that can leverage greater bandwidth
Credits: David Cronin
Lexington locals and visitors enjoy live music at the Thursday Night Live Block Party.
speeds to create new technologies, new
ideas and new markets.”
A third important asset that will
soon be available is KentuckyWired, a
middle-mile fiber network that the state
is about to begin building. The network
will pass through Lexington and
connect educational and other anchor
institutions there; it will also lower the
cost of Internet transport for potential
last-mile providers.
To get Lexington the broadband
infrastructure that will equip it for the
future, Gray realized he would have to
encourage competition by marketing
the city’s assets to potential providers.
The first step was for city staffers to
begin working on the Google Fiber
City Checklist, which helps cities assess
their capabilities and infrastructure. The
checklist, originally created for cities
to apply for Google Fiber rollouts, has
become a national standard for cities to
prepare for any fiber optic builds.
Though completing the checklist
took a lot of work, Lexington was
one step ahead of the game because
it had already made a great deal of
data available through its open data
initiative. The checklist proved to be
a “powerful organizing framework,”
in the words of Scott Shapiro, senior
adviser to Mayor Gray.
Shapiro says the exercise uncovered
a “healthy chunk of fiber” already
existing in the city, including traffic
system fiber as well as commercially
owned fiber, and prompted the city to
work on streamlining its permitting
processes. The most important effect
of completing the checklist, he adds,
is that it pushed the city out of the
reactive mode of issuing franchises
upon request and into a proactive
mode of deciding what infrastructure
it needs and determining how to
work with companies to obtain that
infrastructure.
SEEKING A PROVIDER
In March 2015, Lexington was ready
to take the next major step: issuing a
request for information from companies
interested in building and operating
a fiber optic network in the city. The
RFI gave respondents the option of
proposing a public-private venture or a
purely commercial solution. It set the
following requirements for a network:
• High-speed connectivity to
business and residential customers
on a highly reliable and available
network
• Services and network performance
that are a significant improvement
over what is currently provided by
existing networks
• Excellent customer service
• Competitive cost for customer
services and flexible plans for pricesensitive customers
• Capability to extend the network as
Lexington grows.
The initiative is generating
excitement locally. Several thousand
residents are following the events on
the “GigforLex” page on Facebook. The
COMMUNITY BROADBAND
Lexington received
11 responses to
its request for
information and
is now exploring
a range of
possible avenues
to becoming a
gigabit city.
University of Kentucky – a founding
member of Gig.U, which popularized
the idea of university communities
soliciting proposals from the private
sector to build fiber optic networks – has
been helping and advising the city. The
local chamber of commerce and the
business community in general are also
strongly supportive, according to Gray.
Eleven responses to the RFI
were received from a wide variety of
companies, some of which proposed
multiple solutions. The city is currently
exploring a range of possibilities
– including whether to commit to
building out all neighborhoods or use
a “fiberhood” approach and whether
to select a public-private or fully
private solution.
It’s also exploring how to leverage a
fiber optic network to promote growth
in the high-tech sector and to deliver
government services more efficiently.
Staffers have been studying the Kansas
City Playbook that helped the two
Kansas Cities take advantage of the
Google Fiber network, and they plan to
assemble a playbook of their own.
As Gray says, “If we’re a beacon on
the map for fast access, then we are
going to have a competitive advantage.”
v
[email protected].
KENTUCKYWIRED –
A STATEWIDE FIBER RING
One factor that makes Lexington’s gigabit initiative possible is
KentuckyWired, a unique statewide project that aims to develop a robust,
reliable, fiber backbone infrastructure to bring high-speed Internet
connectivity to every part of Kentucky. Gov. Steve Beshear and U.S. Rep.
Hal Rogers announced in December 2014 that the project would be built
as a public-private initiative with the Australian financial giant Macquarie
Capital and its consortium partners, which include First Solutions, Fujitsu
Network Communications, Black & Veatch and Bowlin Group.
Gov. Beshear said at the time, “Kentucky’s Internet speed and
accessibility have lagged behind the rest of the nation far too long. This
partnership puts us on the path to propel the commonwealth forward
in education, economic development, health care, public safety and
much more.”
KentuckyWired will be paid for primarily by leveraging private capital.
“If we were to rely solely on state government funding to get this project
off the ground, it would take years, if not decades. Those kinds of tax
dollars just aren’t available,” said Gov. Beshear. “In this technologydependent economy, we can’t afford to wait another minute. That’s why
this partnership is so valuable – it ramps up this project to the speed of the
private sector without any additional burden on our taxpayers.”
THE MIDDLE MILE
The first stage of the project is to build 3,000 miles of main broadband
fiber lines, or middle-mile network, across the state. Fiber will be available
in all 120 counties, and the underserved eastern Kentucky region will be
the first priority area. Once this backbone is complete, Internet service
providers, cities, partnerships or other groups may tap into it to complete
the last mile to homes or businesses. The project will take advantage of
existing infrastructure to deliver the network more quickly and reduce
construction costs.
Improved cell phone coverage is anticipated as part of the initiative.
Cell phone companies may use the middle-mile fiber network to add
capacity and broaden coverage areas that have traditionally had poor
cell phone reception.
The push for reliable, accessible high-speed broadband emerged from
the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) initiative, which aims to help
Kentucky’s economy adapt to the restructuring in the coal industry. “This
new Super I-Way is the cornerstone of SOAR’s mission to diversify the
economy in eastern Kentucky with improvements in business recruitment,
fast-tracking telemedicine in the mountains and adding high-tech
advancements in education,” said Congressman Rogers.
The project is estimated to cost between $250 million to $350 million
and will be supported by approximately $30 million in state bonds and $15
to $20 million in federal grants.
The network will be open access, meaning that many Internet and cell
phone service providers can lease portions of it. Because those leases will
not be limited to one provider per county or community, consumers will
have broadband choices. By partnering with the network, providers will be
able to reduce their costs when building out last-mile services – and that
competition should result in lower consumer costs.
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2015
Leaders and innovators in the fiber-to-the-home arena for 2015
A BBC Staff Report
B
Communities’ annual
FTTH Top 100 list celebrates
organizations for their contributions to
“Building a Fiber-Connected World.” This has
been a good year for building a fiber-connected
world, and that’s reflected in the composition of
the 2015 list.
Among the trends the editorial staff took
into account are the following:
roadband
• Cable companies are joining the fiber-to-thehome parade. Comcast and Cox, leveraging
fiber they had deployed to business customers
and others, announced large-scale residential
FTTH buildouts (along with future
ORGANIZATIONS ADDED OR REINSTATED
TO THE FTTH TOP 100 LIST IN 2015
3-GISwww.3-GIS.com
Allied Fiber
www.alliedfiber.com
Comcast Cable
www.comcast.com
Cox Communications
www.cox.com
Fiberdyne Labs
www.fiberdyne.com
Fujitsu Network Communications
http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom
OneCommunitywww.onecommunity.org
Pavlov Media
www.pavlovmedia.com
Pulse Broadband
www.pulsebroadband.net
Tucows/Tingwww.ting.com/internet
DOCSIS 3.1 builds). As of press time, these
projects were in the early stages, but they are
ambitious enough to qualify both companies
as FTTH leaders. Pavlov Media, a private
cable operator, makes good use of its robust
fiber backbone, content delivery network
and other advanced technologies to provide
gigabit experiences for residents of student
housing and other multifamily properties.
• Several technology companies, following
Google’s lead, are branching out to build
fiber-to-the-home networks. One such entity
with national ambitions is the domain-services
company Tucows, whose Ting subsidiary
entered the FTTH market with a splash.
• Delivering superior services requires more
than just fiber in the access network.
Robust, reasonably priced backhaul is
becoming increasingly necessary. Allied
Fiber, which just completed the first leg of
its planned nationwide long- and short-haul
dark fiber network, and OneCommunity,
a nonprofit that operates a regional fiber
network in Northeast Ohio, are among the
organizations using innovative methods to
enable more economical Internet access.
As in previous years, the FTTH Top 100
list represents many niches in the complex
fiber-to-the-home ecosystem. Optical fiber and
fiber cables; passive equipment for connecting,
protecting and managing fiber; and active
equipment for sending and receiving signals
over fiber are the most basic components of an
TOP 100 AT A GLANCE
Network Planning, Design, Engineering,
Construction, Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 36
Fiber and Fiber Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 40
Network Testing, Monitoring and Management Services . . . . . . . . . . . | 43
Customer-Premises Equipment
Other Than Network Interface Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 44
Network Management Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 48
Fiber-to-the-Home Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 52
Test and Measurement Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 56
Passive Components for FTTH Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 60
Optical LAN Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 62
Carrier Ethernet Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 64
Distributors of Fiber Optic Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 66
Network Planning and Design Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 69
FTTH network, along with software for planning, setting
up and managing networks and for provisioning and billing
fiber services. The list contains many companies that design,
manufacture and distribute these essential products.
To put all these pieces together requires firms that finance,
plan, design, engineer, construct and install fiber optic
networks as well as equipment for digging, pushing, pulling
and attaching fiber. These, too, are represented on the list. The
list also includes a variety of organizations that advocate for
better broadband or create the conditions that make FTTH
more profitable.
Finally, there wouldn’t be any fiber to the home if not for
the network owners – large and small, private and public,
incumbent and competitive – that invest in networks, decide
what and where to build, operate networks and deliver services.
companies, the list includes municipal
providers, a telephone cooperative
and several nonprofits, some of which
include both public and private partners.
Although some organizations on
the list focus entirely on fiber to the
premises or other fiber-based broadband
technologies, most deliver or support
a mix of broadband technologies. For
some, broadband represents only a
small part of their business. In making
these selections, the editors considered
how important the organizations are to
advancing fiber broadband rather than
how important broadband is to them.
The FTTH Top 100 list was researched
by Marianne Cotter, Rachel Ellner and
Kassandra Kania and overseen by editor
Masha Zager, with recommendations and
advice from editor-at-large Steve Ross.
To nominate an organization for next year’s FTTH Top
100, email [email protected].
SELECTION CRITERIA
In selecting the FTTH Top 100, the editors looked
for organizations that advance the cause of fiber-based
broadband by
• Deploying networks that are large or ambitious, have
innovative business plans or are intended to transform
local economies or improve communities’ quality of life
• Supplying key hardware, software or services to deployers
• Introducing innovative technologies with game-changing
potential, even if they have not yet been commercially
deployed
• Providing key conditions for fiber builds, such as earlystage support or demand aggregation.
To be listed among the FTTH Top 100, an organization
may be based anywhere in the world but must do business
in North America. Except for broadband service providers,
which are inherently local, we give preference to organizations
that serve national rather than local markets. Overall size is
unimportant, as is corporate form – in addition to for-profit
FIBER-TO-THE-HOME TOP 100 LIST
COMPANY
3-GIS
3M Company /
Communication Markets
Division
Actiontec Electronics
ADTRAN
Advanced Media
Technologies
AFL
Alcatel-Lucent
WEBSITE
www.3-GIS.com
PHONE
KEY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
256-560-0744 Fiber network design and mapping software
www.3M.com/telecom
800-426-8688 Interconnection, connection protection,
fiber management and facilities protection
products for broadband networks
www.actiontec.com
408-752-7700 Broadband customer-premises equipment
www.adtran.com
256-963-8000 Solutions for FTTH, Carrier Ethernet, packet
optical transport, mobile backhaul, service
migration and service management
www.amt.com
954-427-5711; Distributor of fiber optic transmission
888-293-5856 equipment, headends, IP and QAM set-top
boxes, cable modems
www.AFLglobal.com
864-433-0333; Fiber optic cable, fiber and copper
800-235-3423 interconnect products, optical connectivity,
outside-plant hardware, fusion splicers, test
equipment, training, systems integration
www.alcatel-lucent.com
908-582-3000 Broadband access equipment, IP routing
platforms, optical switching and transport
solutions, next-generation network and IMS
solutions, network management, service
integration, right-of-way solutions
Allied Fiber
www.alliedfiber.com
Allied Telesis
www.alliedtelesis.com
212-920-8300 Long-haul and short-haul dark fiber,
network-neutral co-location space
800-424-4284 GPON, EPON and wireless network
solutions and services for service providers,
enterprises and home networks
Alpha Technologies
www.alpha.com
800-322-5742; Power systems for broadband
360-647-2360 communications
Anritsu Company
www.anritsu.com
800-ANRITSU
(267-4878)
ARRIS
www.arris.com
AT&T / AT&T Connected
Communities
www.att.com/
communities
Atlantic Engineering Group
www.aeg.cc, www.
atlanticfibernetworks.com
Network test and measurement
instruments; microwave, optical and RF
components; service assurance solutions
678-473-2000; Optical and RF equipment, including RFoG,
866-362-7747 for HFC and fiber networks; modems and
gateways; software for remote workforce
management and network management
Broadband Internet, TV and voice services
706-654-2298 Design and field engineering, aerial and
underground construction and professional
services for FTTH and smart-grid networks
Baller Herbst Stokes &
Lide PC
www.baller.com
202-833-5300 Legal services, public policy advocacy
BHC Rhodes
www.ibhc.com
913-663-1900 Planning, design and construction of FTTx
projects
Black & Veatch
Blandin Foundation
C Spire / C Spire Fiber
www.bv.com
913-458-2000 Consulting, engineering, construction,
operations and program management
services
www.blandin
foundation.org
877-882-2257 Grant making, community leadership
development and public policy programs
www.cspire.com/
fiberhome
855-277-4734 Voice, video and Internet access delivered
over a fiber-to-the-home network
COMPANY
WEBSITE
PHONE
Calix
www.calix.com
CCG
www.ccgcomm.com
202-255-7689 Regulatory, engineering, marketing, strategy
and planning services
CenturyLink
www.centurylink.com
318-388-9000 Data, voice, video, managed services, cloud
and hosted IT solutions
www.charles
industries.com
847-806-6300 Fiber optic distribution enclosures and
cabinets, fiber aggregation and demarcation
interconnects and hubs, fiber cross-connects
Charles Industries
707-766-3000; Fiber access solutions for residential and
877-766-3500 business services, network and services
management software, value-added
software as a service
513-397-9900 Telephone, data, video, wireless and
information technology solutions
Cincinnati Bell
www.cincinnatibell.com,
www.cincinnatibell.com/
Fioptics
Cisco Systems
www.cisco.com
800-553-6387 FTTH hardware, set-top boxes, cable
modems, headends, network management
systems
www.seeclearfield.com
763-476-6866; Fiber distribution systems for inside plant,
800-422-2537 outside plant and access networks
Clearfield
Comcast Cable
CommScope
Corning / Corning Optical
Communications
COS Systems
www.comcast.com
www.commscope.com
828-324-2200; FTTH electronics, cable and connectivity
800-982-1708 products
www.corning.com/
opcomm
828-901-5000 Optical fiber, optical fiber cable, fiber
cabinets and splitters, fiber connectors,
terminals, MDU products
www.cossystems.com
Cox Communications
www.cox.com
CTC Technology & Energy
www.ctcnet.us
Dasan Networks USA
High-speed Internet, video and voice
services over cable and FTTH networks
www.dasan
networksus.com
800-562-1730 Demand aggregation software, BSS/OSS for
managing open-access fiber networks
High-speed Internet, video, voice and home
security services
301-933-1488 Fiber and wireless broadband network
design, engineering, assessment and
implementation
770-674-0302 Access network equipment, Carrier Ethernet
Design Nine
www.designnine.com
540-951-4400 Broadband planning, design and project
management; network operations
Ditch Witch
www.ditchwitch.com
800-654-6481 Construction equipment for laying fiber
Dura-Line
www.duraline.com
Dycom Industries
www.dycomind.com
EPB Fiber Optics
www.epbfi.com
ETI Software Solutions
www.etisoftware.com
800-847-7661 Conduit, cable-in-conduit, microducts and
accessories
561-627-7171 Engineering, construction, maintenance and
installation services for telecommunications
providers
423-648-1372 Voice, video, data and smart-grid services
provided over a fiber optic network
770-242-3620; Software products that manage broadband
800-332-1078 service fulfillment, activation and revenue
assurance
COMPANY
EXFO
Fiberdyne Labs
WEBSITE
www.exfo.com
PHONE
418-683-0211; Telecom test and service assurance solutions
800-663-3936
www.fiberdyne.com
315-895-8470 Fiber optic splitters, pedestals, cabinets,
fiber cable and fiber cable assemblies, test
equipment; fiber installation, splicing and
testing services
Finley Engineering
www.fecinc.com
417-682-5531 Network design and engineering services
Fujitsu Network
Communications
http://us.fujitsu.com/
telecom
888-362-7763 Multivendor core, access and wireless
network equipment; network management
software solutions; end-to-end multivendor
network project integration; other
professional services
www.g4s.us
402-233-7700; Design, construction and maintenance of
855-447-8721 stand-alone and integrated communications
networks and security systems
G4S Secure Integration
Genexis
GLDS
www.genexis.eu
www.glds.com
443-602-4510; Customer-premises equipment for FTTH
+31 40 747 service providers, service-provisioning
0233
software
800-882-7950 Subscriber management, billing, provisioning
and workforce management software
Google / Google Fiber
www.google.com
650-253-0000 Video and gigabit Internet services
delivered over FTTH networks
Graybar
www.graybar.com
800-GRAYBAR PON electronics, optical transport, fiber
(472-9227)
cabinets/enclosures, single-mode fiber optic
cable, fiber splice closures and pedestals, DC
power, outdoor fiber terminals, FTTx drop
cable, hardened MSTs
www.gvtc.com
800-367-4882 Video, high-speed Internet, security
monitoring, local and long-distance
telephone and advanced data services, Wi-Fi,
Ethernet backhaul
www.henkels.com
215-283-7600 Planning, design, engineering, project
management, construction and installation
of wireline and wireless communications
networks
www.hbci.com
888-474-9995 Voice, video, data and wireless services over
high-speed networks
GVTC Communications
Henkels & McCoy
Hiawatha Broadband
Communications
Hotwire Communications
InfiniSys Electronic
Architects
www.hotwire
communications.com
800-409-4733 Data, voice and video services delivered
over fiber-to-the-home networks
www.electronic
architect.com
386-236-1500 Telecommunications network design for
multifamily buildings, technology amenity
engineering
Institute for Local SelfReliance
www.ilsr.org;
www.MuniNetworks.org
612-276-3456 Broadband policy research and municipal
broadband advocacy
Inteleconnect
www.inteleconnect.com
734-944-6694 Telecommunications strategies for
municipalities, campuses, developments
and businesses
iPhotonix
www.iphotonix.com
214-575-9300 Optical network terminals, residential
gateways
MAKE
THE
LEAP
COMPANY
JDSU
KGP Logistics
WEBSITE
PHONE
www.jdsu.com
408-546-5000 Fiber optic communications components,
network optimization and test equipment
www.kgplogistics.com
800-755-1950 Products for FTTH, including outside
plant, central office, DAS, transmission
and customer premises; supply-chain and
distribution services
Leviton Manufacturing
www.leviton.com
718-229-4040 Premises wiring, outside plant, central-office
solutions and home automation products
LUS Fiber
www.lusfiber.com
337-993-4237 Voice, video and data services delivered
over an FTTH network
m2fx
Macquarie Group /
Macquarie Capital
www.m2fx.com
www.macquarie.com
847-325-5454 Armored polymer microduct and fiber
cables for FTTH and MDU markets
604-605-1779 Project development and equity investment,
financial advisory, debt arranging, lending
and funds management services
Magellan Advisors
www.magellanadvisors.com
Mapcom Systems
www.mapcom.com
804-743-1860 Visual operations system software, database
administration, workforce management
tools, training and consulting
MasTec
www.mastec.com
218-785-3030 FTTx deployment, outside-plant cabling,
inside-plant construction and installation,
joint trench systems, splicing and testing,
systems integration, ongoing maintenance
MaxCell
www.maxcell
innerduct.com/
888-387-3828 Fabric innerduct, conduit technology
Michels Corporation
www.michels.us
920-583-3132 Fiber optic network construction, including
outside-plant construction, structured
cabling and fiber splicing and testing
www.mscon.com
435-623-8601 Communications engineering services
Millennium
Communications Group
www.millenniuminc.com,
www.matrixdg.com
888-488-1767 Broadband and telecom planning,
deployment and management services
800-677-1919 Planning, design, permitting, project
management, IT services and solutions,
physical security and related services for
fiber optic networks
Multicom
www.multicominc.com
800-423-2594 Distributor of fiber optic products for endto-end communications solutions; VoIP
services
Multilink
www.gomultilink.com
440-366-6966 Fiber distribution and cable management
solutions; network power supplies,
enclosures and cabinets; MDU enclosures;
raceways and pathways
NEO Fiber
www.NEOfiber.net
970-309-3500 Consulting, feasibility analysis, business
planning, RFP writing and vendor
management, project management, design
and engineering
OFS
www.ofsoptics.com
770-798-5555; Optical fiber, optical cable, fiber
888-342-3743 management and connectivity products
for homes, businesses and MDUs; splicers;
network design services
COMPANY
On Trac
WEBSITE
www.ontracinc.net
PHONE
423-317-0009 FTTx consulting, design, installation and
splicing services
OneCommunity
www.onecommunity.org
216-923-2200 Fiber optic connectivity for anchor
institutions and enterprises
Pace / Aurora Networks
www.pace.com/americas,
www.aurora.com
561-995-6000 FTTH and cable network equipment, home
media servers, set-top boxes, and customerpremises equipment for fiber, Ethernet,
xDSL and cable networks
Pacific Broadband
Networks
Pavlov Media
Power & Tel
www.pbnglobal.com/
www.pavlovmedia.com
www.ptsupply.com
703-579-6777 FTTH electronics, software for network
management and provisioning
800-677-6812 Internet, video and voice services; secure
home networking for apartment units
800-238-7514 Fiber optic products and cable, optical
networking electronics, test gear, IPTV,
home networking solutions
Preformed Line Products
www.preformed.com
440-461-5200 Cable anchoring and control hardware
and systems, fiber optic and copper splice
closures, high-speed cross-connect devices
Prysmian Group
www.prysmian.com
803-951-4800; Optical fiber and telecommunications
800-713-5312 cables
Pulse Broadband
314-324-7347 Fiber network and FTTH planning, design,
construction management, provisioning,
billing, customer care, video programming
services and operations management
SDT
www.sdt-1.com
601-823-9440 Telecommunications infrastructure services,
including structured cabling; engineer,
furnish and install services; design and
engineering
SENKO Advanced
Components
www.senko.com
508-481-9999 Fiber distribution and connectivity
equipment, fiber optic components
Smithville Communications /
Smithville Telecom /
Smithville Fiber
Sonic
www.smithville.net
www.sonic.net
812-876-2211; Residential broadband services and fiber
800-742-4084 connectivity for businesses and government
agencies
888-766-4233 Gigabit fiber and DSL Internet access,
residential and business voice service, colocation, business networking
Superior Essex
www.SuperiorEssex.com
770-657-6000 Premises and outside-plant fiber and copper
cable products, FTTH closures
Suttle
www.suttlesolutions.com
800-852-8662 Fiber enclosure systems, home networking
solutions; structured wiring media panel
enclosures and modules, high-speed panels
and frames
www.te.com
610-893-9800 Fiber optic cabling and connectivity products
www.teamfishel.com
614-274-8100; Network design, engineering, construction,
800-347-4351 installation and maintenance services
TE Connectivity
Team Fishel
Telect
www.telect.com
509-926-6000; Fiber optic and copper connectivity
800-551-4567 solutions, network power management,
equipment racks and cabinets, cable
management systems
COMPANY
Tellabs
Tucows / Ting
US Ignite
Vantage Point Solutions
WEBSITE
www.tellabs.com
www.ting.com/internet
www.us-ignite.org
www.vantagepnt.com
Verizon Communications /
Verizon Enhanced
Communities
www.verizon.com;
www.verizon.com/
communities
Vermeer Corporation
www.vermeer.com
Walker and Associates
www.walkerfirst.com
Zhone Technologies
ZyXEL Communications
PHONE
630-798-8800 Optical LAN, GPON optical line terminals
and optical network terminals, outside plant
and network management
855-846-4389 Gigabit Internet access
202-365-9219 Coordinating development and testing of
next-generation broadband services
605-995-1777 Telecom engineering and consulting services
Internet, TV and digital voice services
641-628-3141; Horizontal directional drilling equipment,
888-837-6337 utility and pedestrian trenchers and plows
800-925-5371 Products and services for deploying
communications networks
www.zhone.com
510-777-7000; Equipment for all-IP multiservice broadband
877-946-6320 access, including integration of FTTx,
Ethernet in the First Mile and wireless access
technologies
www.us.zyxel.com
714-632-0882; Customer-premises equipment and Ethernet
800-255-4101 switches for FTTH and FTTN networks
“Fiber networks not only provide the greatest broadband capability
but are typically the least expensive to deploy as well. Without the best
broadband network, a landline provider will quickly become irrelevant.”
– Larry Thompson, CEO, Vantage Point Solutions
3-GIS
256-560-0744
www.3-GIS.com
Key Products: Web-based fiber network design and
mapping software
Summary: 3-GIS is the developer of popular Web-based
software for planning, designing and managing fiber
networks. The software suite, which uses ESRI’s ArcGIS
platform, includes browser-based, mobile and admin
applications and can be configured to cover a range of needs
and use cases. It can be deployed either on premises or in a
cloud-based SAAS model. The mobile application can be used
by technicians to collect, correct and view asset information
in the field with a variety of devices. 3-GIS clients include
Level 3 Communications, Atlantic Engineering Group,
NewCom, Allo Communications, Southern Light and
BHC Rhodes. The company has about 50 employees. It was
founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Decatur, Ala.
3M Company /
Communication Markets Division
www.3M.com/telecom
800-426-8688
Key Products: Interconnection, connection protection,
fiber management, facilities protection products for
broadband networks
Summary: 3M offers a full-fiber MDU broadband solution
for both inside and outside living units. For quick, easy
deployment of fiber broadband in existing residences,
the 3M Fiber Pathway for inside the living unit can be
combined with the 3M One Pass Fiber Pathway hallway
solution via simple, field-installable 3M fiber connectors.
For more than 50 years, products from 3M have formed the
backbone of the telecommunications industry, and network
operators worldwide rely on 3M to connect and protect
their infrastructures. From FTTx to xDSL to wireless, 3M’s
network of networks connects smart grids to smartphones,
wind farms to server farms, greenfield to brownfield, wireline
to wireless and customers to their goals.
Actiontec Electronics
www.actiontec.com
408-752-7700
Key Products: Broadband customer-premises equipment,
wireless and video networking solutions
Summary: Actiontec Electronics is a leader in broadband
delivery solutions for the entire home, with more than 40
million connected home devices sold to date. Its products
include whole-home wireless networking solutions, wireless
video and display devices, gigabit Ethernet fiber routers and
high-speed VDSL gateways that are deployed by some of
the largest global broadband providers and available in retail
and online stores. In January 2015, Actiontec announced the
launch of 802.11ac wireless network extenders that provide
the fastest Wi-Fi speeds for high-bandwidth activities such
as streaming HD video and games. The wireless network
extenders offer a cost-effective way to add next-generation
speeds to home networks and extend Wi-Fi signals to hardto-reach parts of homes. Actiontec is headquartered in Silicon
Valley and has offices worldwide.
NETWORK PLANNING, DESIGN, ENGINEERING,
CONSTRUCTION, INSTALLATION
(Excludes companies that provide these services only for networks they will own or manage.)
In this and subsequent tables, FTTH Top 100 companies are in bold.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
AFLwww.AFLglobal.com
Alcatel-Lucentwww.alcatel-lucent.com
Allied Telesis
Alpha Techologies
www.alpha.com
www.aeg.cc
BHC Rhodes
www.ibhc.com/
Black and Veatch
www.bv.com
BVU Authority
www.bvu-optinet.com
CCI Systems
www.ccisystems.com/
CCGwww.ccgcomm.com/
CHR Solutions
www.chrsolutions.com
Communications Test Design Inc. (CTDI) www.ctdi.com
Corning Optical
Communicationswww.corning.com/opcomm
Crestino Telecom Solutions
www.crestino.com
www.ctcnet.us
Design Nine
www.designnine.com
Dycomwww.dycomind.com
Ervin Cable Construction
www.ervincable.com/
eX2 technology
www.ex2technology.com
Fiber-Tel Contractors
www.fibertelcontractors.com
Finley Engineering
www.fecinc.com
Fujitsu Network Communications http://us.fujitsu.
com/telecom
www.g4s.us
GTSwww.gts-yes.com
Henkels & McCoy www.henkels.com
HunTel Engineering
www.htleng.com
InfiniSys Electronic
Architectswww.electronicarchitect.com
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Inteleconnectwww.inteleconnect.com
J&R Underground
www.jrundergroundllc.com
KGP Logistics
Ledcor Group
www.ledcor.com
Magellan Advisors
www.magellan-advisors.com
MasTecwww.mastec.com
Michels Communications
www.michels.us
www.mscon.com
Millennium Communications
Groupwww.millenniuminc.com
MP Nexlevel
www.mpnexlevel.com
Multicomwww.multicominc.com
NEO Fiber
www.neofiber.net
OFSwww.ofsoptics.com
On Trac
www.ontracinc.net
Pace International
www.paceintl.com
Pinpoint Services
www.pinpointservices.com/
Pulse Broadband
S&N Communications
www.sncomm.com
SDTwww.sdt-1.com
Spectrum Engineering Corp. www.spectrumeng.com
Team Fishel
www.teamfishel.com
Tellabswww.tellabs.com
Tellus Venture Associates
www.tellusventure.com
Turnkey Network Solutions
www.tkns.net
Uptown Services
www.uptownservices.com
U-reka Broadband
Ventureswww.u-rekabroadband.com
www.vantagepnt.com
www.walkerfirst.com
“For communications service providers, upgrading to fiber networks
and adding NFV elements are crucial today when trends such as mobility,
big data, social networks and cloud computing are increasingly demanded
by customers.”
– Amir Elbaz, CEO, iPhotonix
ADTRAN
www.adtran.com
256-963-8000
Key Products: Solutions for FTTH, Carrier Ethernet, packet
optical transport, mobile backhaul, service migration and
service management
Summary: ADTRAN is one of the fastest growing FTTH
vendors globally. Its solutions enable broadband expansion,
IPTV video deployment, business Ethernet service delivery,
cell site and small-cell backhaul and converged network
services. The advanced packet network infrastructure of the
company’s flagship Total Access 5000 platform delivers fiber
and copper access services across a pure Ethernet core, allowing
mixed deployments of GPON (including NG-PON2), active
Ethernet, vectored VDSL2 and traditional T1 services. For
services that require strict service-level agreements, the Total
Access 5000 also provides MEF-based Carrier Ethernet services
over wavelength, OTN, fiber, copper and TDM. In April
2015, ADTRAN announced that Troy Cable had selected its
advanced FTTH portfolio to deliver gigabit Internet service
to residential customers in more than 20 communities across
Alabama. In May 2015, ADTRAN announced a breakthrough
in the economics of delivering FTTP service based on NGPON2 architecture. ADTRAN’s implementation of this 10
Gbps, symmetric, standards-based technology allows for
simultaneous delivery of residential, business and backhaul
applications on the same infrastructure using different optical
transceivers. ADTRAN is based in Huntsville, Ala., and had
2014 sales of approximately $630 million.
Advanced Media Technologies
www.amt.com
954-427-5711; 888-293-5856
added reseller of high-performance broadband products,
offers a complete line of FTTH, IPTV, data and CATV
products. AMT specializes in prebuilt headends and data
over DOCSIS solutions. It offers products from such leading
manufacturers as Adtec, Alcatel-Lucent, Amino, ARRIS,
ATX Networks, Blonder Tongue, Casa, Drake, EGT,
Emcore, Harmonic, Olson Technology, RGB/Imagine
Communications and ZeeVee. Customers include major cable
companies in the United States and Latin America, telcos,
private cable operators and entertainment and multimedia
content delivery companies around the world. Located in
Deerfield Beach, Fla., AMT is a subsidiary of ITOCHU
International, the North American subsidiary of ITOCHU
Corporation of Japan.
AFL
www.AFLglobal.com
864-433-0333; 800-235-3423
Key Products: Fiber optic cable, fiber and copper
interconnect products, optical connectivity, outside-plant
hardware, fusion splicers, test equipment, training, design,
engineering, integration
Summary: AFL products, services and engineering expertise
help customers improve their infrastructures and enable
delivery of voice, video and high-speed data communications.
AFL’s product line includes fiber optic cable, connectivity,
fiber management, outside-plant closures, demarcation
devices, fusion splicers, test equipment and Light Brigade
training and education. AFL plans, designs, implements
and maintains communications networks, offering solutions
for MDU and master-planned community networks as well
as for telephone, cable TV and wireless providers; utilities;
hospitality companies and enterprises. Founded in 1984, AFL
is headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C., and is a division of
Fujikura Ltd. The company has more than 4,300 associates
around the world with operations in the United States,
Mexico, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Key Products: Fiber optic transmission equipment, cable
modem termination systems, headends, IP and QAM settop boxes, cable modems
Summary: Advanced Media Technologies (AMT), a valueJULY 2015 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 37
“The FTTH industry has changed dramatically. Every operator, whether
it is a cable operator, a telco or a new entrant, now understands that its
end network will be all fiber. This was not true two or three years ago,
when many operators were still fighting the concept of going fiber to the
home. The success of innovative operators in launching gigabit services
has pushed the conversation from a debate about whether to fiber to one
of when to fiber. G.fast and DOCSIS 3.1 technologies will help traditional
operators extend their time frames with support for copper infrastructure,
but even the largest advocates of these technologies are capitulating to an
all-fiber future. That is a major shift in the market psychology.”
– Dave Russell, Solutions Marketing Director, Calix
Alcatel-Lucent
www.alcatel-lucent.com
908-582-3000
Allied Fiber
www.alliedfiber.com
212-920-8300
Key Products: Wireline and wireless broadband access
equipment, IP routing platforms, optical switching and
transport solutions, next-generation network and IMS
solutions, IMS applications, IPTV and IP video solutions,
network management, service integration
Key Products: Long-haul and short-haul dark fiber,
network-neutral co-location space
Summary: One-third of fixed broadband subscribers
worldwide are served by access networks that use AlcatelLucent technology, including EPON, GPON and DSL. The
company is ranked third in fiber-to-the-home deployments
globally with a 23 percent market share. Alcatel-Lucent
continues to introduce innovative broadband technologies
with the technical help and scientific expertise of Bell Labs,
the largest innovation powerhouse in the communications
industry. In 2011, it was first to commercialize vectored
VDSL2, which boosts FTTN bandwidth by eliminating
crosstalk. By 2015, it had shipped 10 million vectored VDSL2
lines and is ranked first in market share for VDSL2. It has
also made major new announcements in G.fast, TWDMPON, cloud services and software-defined networking.
Incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris, AlcatelLucent had revenue of $15 billion in 2014. In April 2015,
Nokia announced the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. The
acquisition is expected to close in 2016; the combined
company will be called Nokia Corporation, with headquarters
in Finland and a strong presence in France.
Summary: Allied Fiber owns, builds and operates a networkneutral, fiber optic cable system that connects subsea landing
points, wireless towers, data centers, carrier hotels, co-location
facilities, enterprise buildings, schools and governments with
long-haul and short-haul dark fiber. Its goal is to build and
provide access to an abundant supply of dark fiber in areas
where it is most needed. Allied Fiber recently completed
construction of the network segment between Miami and
Atlanta and is currently planning its next route segment.
Carriers along Allied Fiber’s route are already using the
network to expand last-mile service. For example, Joytel
Networks, a Florida ISP, entered into a 10-year agreement
with Allied Fiber that will enable it to provide Internet access
and fiber-based network services to underserved areas on the
east coast of Florida, and municipal operator Palm Coast
FiberNET connected its open-access network to Allied Fiber’s
network to help drive job growth and give business customers
access to additional service providers.
Allied Telesis
800-424-4284
Key Products: Access network equipment that delivers
services to 40 Gigabit Ethernet; IP/Ethernet switching
and routing equipment; home networking solutions;
deployment and operation of IP networks
Summary: Allied Telesis is a global provider of IP/Ethernet
network equipment and a deployer and an operator of IP tripleplay networks. With its recent introduction of an OpenFlowcompliant platform that also supports traditional intelligent
Layer 3 switching, it is a pioneer in carrier-grade, softwaredefined network architecture. It provides multimedia solutions
for video, voice and data networking for service providers,
civilian and military government clients, health care providers,
and the education, retail and hospitality markets. Through the
Allied Telesis Support and Professional Services organization, it
offers a comprehensive suite of network management services.
Allied Telesis powers the Grant County Public Utility District’s
gigabit build in Washington state. In March, Wisconsin’s
Vernon Telephone Cooperative selected Allied Telesis for its
new gigabit build. Headquartered in Tokyo, with its main U.S.
office in Bothell, Wash., Allied Telesis operates in 60 countries
and maintains global R&D operations and vertically integrated
manufacturing centers. Allied Telesis Holdings reported
worldwide sales of about $300 million for 2014.
Alpha Technologies
www.alpha.com
800-322-5742, 360-647-2360
Key Products: Standby, non-standby and uninterruptible
power supplies; surge suppressors; enclosures and batteries;
installation and construction services
Summary: Founded in 1976, Alpha Technologies is a major
player in power systems for the broadband communications
industry worldwide. Alpha products provide critical power
conditioning and emergency backup for video, data and
voice networks. Alpha’s installation and construction services
include structure engineering, right-of-way and easement
procurement, site preparation, equipment installation, system
turnup and system testing. Customers in 50 countries include
major cable television system operators, telecommunications
service providers and full-service communications providers.
Alpha recently launched several products that power FTTH
networks, including AC, DC and line power systems that
support both single-family and multifamily applications. In
December 2014, Alpha acquired the status monitoring division
of Cheetah Technologies, a developer and supplier of network
monitoring hardware and software. Alpha, with more than
1,000 employees, has sales and service centers in the United
States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, China and Australia.
Alpha Technologies is a member of The Alpha Group, a global
alliance of independent companies that share a common
philosophy: to create powering solutions for communications,
commercial, industrial and renewable energy markets.
Anritsu Company
www.anritsu.com
800-ANRITSU (267-4878)
Key Products: Network test and measurement instruments;
microwave, optical and RF components; service assurance
solutions
Summary: Anritsu was founded in 1895, the year Marconi
demonstrated the first “wireless telegraph,” and has been at the
forefront of the evolution of information and communications
networks ever since. Anritsu’s core business is test and
measurement instruments for existing and next-generation
wired and wireless communication systems and operators, and
its products are used in R&D, manufacture and maintenance
of wired and wireless, RF/microwave and optical solutions.
Fiber network installers use Anritsu equipment for such
critical measurements as optical time-domain reflectometry,
chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion and
optical return loss. In addition, Anritsu manufactures a line
of optoelectronic components for optical communications
systems and fiber optic sensing applications. The company
also offers solutions for network and service performance
management and service intelligence. Anritsu Company, the
U.S. subsidiary of Anritsu Corporation, is headquartered in
Morgan Hill, Calif., and has operations in Richardson, Texas,
and Pine Brook, N.J. Anritsu Corporation, headquartered in
Atsugi, Japan, posted revenue of just under $1 billion for the
fiscal year ending March 31, 2015.
ARRIS
www.arris.com
678-473-2000; 866-362-7747
Key Products: Optical and RF equipment, including RFoG,
for HFC and fiber networks; Carrier Ethernet solutions;
voice and data modems and gateways; on-demand video
and interactive advertising platforms; whole-home DVR;
fixed-mobile convergence; software for remote workforce
management and network management
Summary: ARRIS broadband solutions support traditional
RF triple-play services as well as IP video and high-speed
data services, voice, on-demand content, targeted advertising,
and network and workforce assurance solutions. The
company’s FTTMAX RFoG solution is a cable-friendly
FTTP infrastructure that allows future migration to
EPON or GPON without changes to the outside plant.
Because FTTMAX design fundamentals are based on HFC
technology, deployment and maintenance are relatively
simple for service technicians, and the technology allows
cable providers to postpone the transition to all-IP solutions.
In April 2015, ARRIS announced its plans to acquire Pace, a
provider of technology solutions to the pay-TV and broadband
industries. When the acquisition is complete, the company
will operate as New ARRIS. Headquartered north of Atlanta,
in Suwanee, Ga., ARRIS has R&D, sales and support centers
“Advanced broadband service is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity for
all of us to work, play and effectively conduct our lives. Communities can
dramatically disrupt the old scarce service delivery model by building
all-fiber networks. Today the options for collaboration and entering into
public-private partnerships make the business models much more doable.”
– Diane Kruse, Founder and CEO, NEO Fiber
throughout the world and employs 6,500 people globally. In
2014, ARRIS reported revenue of $5.3 billion.
AT&T / AT&T Connected Communities
www.att.com/communities
Key Products: Broadband Internet, TV and voice services
Summary: AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi,
high-speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. Its
advanced residential service bundle, AT&T U-verse, based
on IP technology, includes TV, high-speed Internet and
home phone. At the end of 2014, there were almost 6 million
U-verse TV customers, 4.8 million U-verse voice connections
and 12.2 million U-verse high-speed Internet customers – an
increase of almost 20 percent over 2013 despite the sale of
FIBER AND FIBER CABLE
These firms supply optical fiber
for fiber access deployments.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
AFLwww.aflglobal.com
Clearfieldwww.SeeClearfield.com
CommScopewww.commscope.com
Corning Optical
Fiberdyne Labs
www.fiberdyne.com
m2fxwww.m2fx.com
Nexanswww.nexans.us
Optical Cable Corporation
www.occfiber.com
Prysmianwww.prysmian.com
Sumitomo Electric
Lightwavewww.sumitomoelectric.com
Superior Essex
www.SuperiorEssex.com/Comm
TE Connectivity
www.te.com
Telectwww.telect.com
Timberconwww.timbercon.com
all wireline assets in Connecticut in 2014. In 2014, AT&T
announced plans to expand U-verse with GigaPower, its
ultrafast fiber network technology, to up to 100 candidate
cities and municipalities nationwide. Through May 2015,
AT&T has launched U-verse with GigaPower in parts of
the Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth,
San Jose, Kansas City, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, RaleighDurham and Winston-Salem markets. The service offers
some of the fastest consumer Internet available, with speeds
up to 1 gigabit per second. Through AT&T Connected
Communities, the company works with multifamily and
single-family builders, developers, real estate investment
trusts, apartment ownership and management groups
and homeowners associations to provide next-generation
communications and entertainment services. AT&T revenue
for 2014 was $132 billion.
www.aeg.cc, www.atlanticfibernetworks.com
706-654-2298
Key Products: Design and field engineering, aerial and
underground construction, technical services, and
professional services for FTTH networks
Summary: Atlantic Engineering Group (AEG), known as
a pioneer of fiber-to-the-home network deployment, leads
the drive to combine innovative FTTH and smart-grid
technologies into a single business plan for municipalities
and rural electric cooperatives. The company, founded in
1996, specializes in the design and construction of fiber
communications networks. Though this outside-plant
specialist is headquartered in Braselton, Ga., it deploys inhouse personnel and on-site project managers globally. AEG
performs project management, business modeling, service
planning, engineering, underground and aerial construction,
splicing, premises installation, headend activation, testing
and many other professional and technical services. AEG has
completed design or build commissions for more than 100
networks, including more than 40 FTTH projects. Recently,
AEG established Atlantic Fiber Networks, which constructs
fiber networks, including middle-mile and dark fiber
applications, on a build-to-own basis. Atlantic Fiber Networks
designs, builds, manages and maintains end-to-end fiber optic
solutions tailored primarily for middle-mile applications.
Clients include municipalities, electric utilities, telephone
companies, electric cooperatives and government agencies.
Baller Herbst Stokes & Lide PC
www.baller.com
202-833-5300
Key Products: Legal services, public policy advocacy
Summary: This telecom law firm has a long, consistent record
of support for the development of fiber to the home through its
representation of clients and through public policy advocacy.
The firm represents public and private entities on a broad range
of communications matters, both nationally and in more
than 35 states. It is best known for representing the rights of
public entities to build and operate their own communications
networks. Baller Herbst served as a consultant to Google
on its Fiber for Communities initiative and was involved in
several Gig.U projects. As the founder and president of the US
Broadband Coalition, a broad-based consortium, Baller Herbst
president Jim Baller was a major contributor to the development
of a national consensus on the need for a national broadband
strategy. He is now a driving force behind the movement to
use high-capacity broadband to foster economic development,
and he was instrumental in the recent formation of CLIC, the
Coalition for Local Internet Choice (www.localnetchoice.org),
dedicated to protecting the rights of communities to determine
their economic futures by choosing the best broadband Internet
infrastructure for their businesses, institutions and residents.
Founded in 1983, Baller Herbst is based in Washington, D.C.,
and Minneapolis and has six attorneys.
BHC Rhodes
www.ibhc.com
913-663-1900
Key Products: Planning, design and construction of FTTx
projects
Summary: BHC Rhodes provides civil engineering services
to telecom firms that build and maintain fiber networks across
the United States. BHC Rhodes has designed and managed
thousands of miles of telecom network infrastructure for
clients that range from small communities and telcos to large
international service providers. Its FTTx services include
feasibility studies, cost estimating and budgeting; planning,
layout and network architecture; GIS and AutoCAD mapping;
hut site development and construction; outside-plant design;
site surveys; right-of-way permitting and asset management.
BHC Rhodes customers include AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner
Cable, Level 3 Communications, Cox Communications, C
Spire, Unite Private Networks, and numerous municipalities.
BHC Rhodes recently expanded its geographic base by opening
an Austin, Texas, office. Based in Overland Park, Kan., BHC
Rhodes is privately owned and has more than 100 employees.
Black & Veatch
www.bv.com
913-458-2000
Key Products: Consulting, engineering, construction,
operations and program management services
Summary: Founded in 1915, Black & Veatch is a global
engineering, consulting and construction company that
specializes in telecommunications, energy, water and
government services. An employee-owned company, Black
& Veatch has approximately 10,000 professionals working in
more than 110 offices worldwide and has completed projects
in more than 100 countries. Services include engineering,
procurement, construction, design, management consulting,
asset management, environmental consulting and security.
Black & Veatch has deployed more than 30,000 miles of
fiber for commercial carriers, cities and utilities and was
recently selected by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as part
of a consortium that will build a statewide fiber backbone.
Revenue in 2014 was $3.0 billion.
Blandin Foundation
www.blandinfoundation.org
877-882-2257
Key Products: Grant making, community leadership
development and public policy programs
Summary: Since 1941, the Blandin Foundation, a private
foundation based in Grand Rapids, Minn., has been
dedicated to strengthening rural Minnesota communities. Its
Broadband Initiative, launched in 2003, helps communities
educate citizens about the need for ultra-high-speed
broadband and plan and execute broadband projects. The
foundation has published informational guides, sponsored
conferences and educational events, and supported many
feasibility studies for the development of robust, high-speed
broadband networks. It has supported implementation of
broadband applications in schools, health care facilities and
other institutions and for home-based users and has promoted
broadband adoption in rural communities. In May 2015,
Blandin Foundation awarded 29 grants totaling $321,245 to
“The hard part about future-proofing anything is that the future never
stops coming at you. For over a decade, we’ve talked with [MDU] clients
about spec’ing gigabit electronics and fiber as deep as possible so they’d
be ready and wouldn’t have to reinvest when the local loop infrastructure
caught up with the demand for speed. In many cases, that added extra
costs up front. But now that residents are starting to expect gigabit
connections, those clients who invested early are reaping the benefits of
being ahead of the curve.”
– Richard Holtz, CEO, InfiniSys Electronic Architects
support rural Minnesota communities as they grow highspeed Internet access and use in their communities.
Calix
www.calix.com
707-766-3000; 877-766-3500
C Spire / C Spire Fiber
www.cspire.com/fiberhome
855-277-4734
Key Products: Fiber access solutions for residential and
business services, network and services management
software, value-added software as a service
Key Products: Voice, video and Internet access delivered over
a fiber-to-the-home network
Summary: Calix serves more North American FTTx
providers than all other equipment vendors combined. It
is the leading supplier of optical ports to Tier 2 and Tier 3
carriers in North America and supplies FTTH equipment
to a Tier 1 carrier, CenturyLink. Its fiber access solutions
for GPON and point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet are widely
deployed in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean;
in addition, Calix recently entered the African, Asian,
Australian, European and Latin American markets. In 2014,
Calix introduced its Ethernet Service Access solution for
delivery of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 and LTE-Advanced mobile
backhaul services. The solution includes the Service Verify
software application for monitoring and managing servicelevel agreements. Calix also introduced the first 802.11ac
carrier-grade wireless premises service delivery platform with
4x4 MIMO. The company has shipped more than 19 million
ports to providers that have more than 100 million subscriber
lines. Headquartered in Petaluma, Calif., Calix had 2014
revenue of $401 million.
Summary: C Spire is aggressively building a 1 Gbps
ultra-high-speed Internet network in Mississippi to attract
investment and economic growth and pave the way for
improvements in health care, education, civic life and
municipal services. Using a crowdsourcing model similar
to Google Fiber, the company began preregistration in
December 2013 in nine Mississippi cities. Four cities were
removed from the program after they failed to qualify any
areas during their year of eligibility. Jackson, the state’s largest
city and capital, was added to the program in September
2014, and two others were added in 2015. C Spire began
offering service in the first three C Spire Fiber cities in the
fall of 2014. A fourth city turned up its first customers in
June 2015, and the company expects to activate service in
several other cities by the end of this year. C Spire’s FTTH
deployment in Mississippi is supported by its existing
fiber optic infrastructure, which was built to support the
company’s LTE network and business services and includes
more than 5,500 miles of fiber cable. C Spire, which operates
67 company-owned retail locations and another 10 select
retailer locations throughout its four-state footprint, opened a
new $23 million Tier 3+ commercial data center in October
2014. Based in Ridgeland, C Spire is privately owned and
employs 1,425 people.
CCG
www.ccgcomm.com
202-255-7689
Key Products: Regulatory, engineering, marketing, and
strategy and planning services
Summary: In business since 1997, CCG is a full-service
consultant for small communications carriers. The company
specializes in launching new broadband ventures and in
making existing businesses more profitable. CCG offers a
wide range of regulatory, engineering, strategy and planning,
operations, budgeting and billing services. CCG can help
clients design, upgrade or maximize fiber, coaxial, copper
or wireless networks. CCG also offers direct operational
assistance in areas such as number portability, new product
development, cable programming, carrier disputes, and
billing audits. One of CCG’s notable recent achievements
was to assist with the funding and launch of RS Fiber, a new
broadband cooperative in rural Minnesota – a project that
seemed all but impossible for five years and finally succeeded.
CenturyLink
www.centurylink.com
318-388-9000
Key Products: Data, voice, video, managed services, cloud
and hosted IT solutions
Summary: CenturyLink is a global communications, hosting,
cloud and IT services company. It offers network and data
systems management, Big Data analytics and IT consulting,
operating more than 55 data centers in North America,
Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice,
video, data and managed services over a 250,000-route-mile
U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international
transport network. CenturyLink launched its 1 Gbps FTTH
service in Omaha, Neb., in 2013. Today, CenturyLink
passes 360,000 homes with 1 Gbps service and plans to
expand to 700,000 homes in select locations in 10 cities by
year-end 2015, with further expansion in 2016 and beyond.
Early in 2014, the company also began offering 1 Gbps
service to businesses located in multitenant unit buildings
throughout Salt Lake City. CenturyLink has expanded that
service to 490,000 small and midsize business locations in
17 states. CenturyLink also offers Prism TV, an interactive
IPTV service, in 13 markets, passing 2.4 million homes.
Headquartered in Monroe, La., CenturyLink is an S&P 500
company and is included on the Fortune 500 list of the largest
U.S. corporations. With approximately 46,000 employees,
CenturyLink posted operating revenue of $18 billion in 2014.
Charles Industries
www.charlesindustries.com
847-806-6300
Key Products: Fiber optic distribution enclosures and
cabinets, fiber aggregation and demarcation interconnects
and hubs, fiber cross-connects
Summary: Charles Industries designs and manufactures
buried distribution pedestals and remote cabinet
enclosures for fiber optic applications. The company
serves telecommunications, CATV, municipal, utility and
government service providers. It introduced nonmetallic fiber
pedestals in 2001 and continues to provide new solutions
for nearly all fiber deployment architectures. Charles Fiber
Distribution Point pedestals offer closed-architecture
protection for ribbon and loose buffer-tube fiber; the Buried
Distribution Optical open-architecture fiber pedestals offer a
low-cost alternative. Charles Universal Broadband Enclosures
provide environmental protection for remotely deployed
electronics and batteries at cell sites, small cells, DASs,
MDUs, business parks and other multiuser locations. Charles
Fiber Interconnect Terminals and Charles Fiber Building
Terminals are compact indoor and outdoor terminals and
hubs for fiber aggregation and demarcation points. New this
year are the CFIT-Flex line of compact universal enclosures
for fiber, copper and coaxial distribution as well as fiber rack
and wall solutions for space-constrained patch, splice and
splitter requirements. Founded in 1968, Charles Industries
is privately held and headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Ill.,
with U.S-based engineering and manufacturing facilities.
Cincinnati Bell
www.cincinnatibell.com
www.cincinnatibell.com/Fioptics
513-397-9900
Key Products: Telephone, data, video, wireless and
information technology solutions
Summary: Households and businesses in Greater Cincinnati
have access to Cincinnati Bell’s integrated communications
solutions, which include local, long-distance, data, Internet,
entertainment, wireless and information technology services.
NETWORK TESTING,
MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT
SERVICES
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Allied Telesis
www.aeg.cc
BVU Authority
www.bvufocus.com
CHR Solutions
Design Nine /
WideOpen Networks www.wideopennetworks.us
Ericssonwww.ericsson.com
iGLASSwww.iglass.net
INOCwww.inoc.com
Korcett Holdings
www.korcett.com
MasTecwww.mastec.com
Michels Communications
www.michels.us
Satellite Management Services
www.smstv.com
In addition, Cincinnati Bell offers complex information
technology solutions, such as managed services and
technology staffing. The company’s fiber-based services,
branded as Fioptics, include advanced high-speed data,
digital television and telephone services and are available to
335,000 residential and business customers, more than 40
percent of Greater Cincinnati. In 2014, the company made
gigabit Internet speed available to Fioptics customers. It also
sold its wireless spectrum licenses for $194 million so that
it could focus its efforts on the efficient deployment of fiber.
Cincinnati Bell’s revenue in 2014 was $1.3 billion.
Cisco Systems
www.cisco.com
800-553-6387
Key Products: Platforms for fiber-to-the-home deployments,
digital set-top boxes and accessories, cable modems,
wireless routers, headend equipment, network
management systems
Summary: Cisco, which dominates the Ethernet switch
market worldwide, has supplied equipment used in active
CUSTOMER-PREMISES EQUIPMENT
OTHER THAN NETWORK
INTERFACE DEVICES
These companies provide set-top boxes,
routers, residential gateways, home networking gear
and related equipment.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Actiontecwww.actiontec.com
Advanced Digital Broadcast
www.adbglobal.com
Amino Communications
www.aminocom.com
ARRISwww.arris.com
BEC Technologies
www.bectechnologies.net
Cisco Systems
www.cisco.com
Comtrendwww.comtrend.com
D-Linkwww.dlink.com
DrayTekwww.draytek.com
EchoStarwww.echostar.com
Entonewww.entone.com
Genexiswww.genexis.eu
www.leviton.com
NETGEARwww.netgear.com
Pacewww.pace.com
Rokuwww.roku.com
Suttlewww.suttleonline.com
Technicolorwww.technicolor.com
Tilginwww.tilgin.com
www.us.zyxel.com
Ethernet FTTH deployments for more than a decade. In
2014, it introduced the ME 4600 Series Multiservice Optical
Access Platforms, which support both point-to-point (active
Ethernet) and point-to-multipoint (GPON) topologies for
fiber to the home, building, curb, cell and business. The
ME 4600 Series includes modular optical line termination
(OLT) and flexible optical network terminal/unit (ONT/
ONU) devices. Another platform, Prisma D-PON, delivers
an FTTH option for cable service providers by enabling a
PON architecture in the outside plant while maintaining
existing cable back-office systems. Cisco also supplies set-top
boxes and cable modems, transmission networks for home
broadband access and digital interactive subscriber systems
for video, high-speed Internet and VoIP networks. A leader in
the smart-city movement, Cisco recently signed an agreement
with Kansas City, Mo., to deploy a Smart+Connected City
framework to transform urban services and enhance the
citizen experience. Cisco Systems, headquartered in San
Jose, Calif., reported fiscal 2014 revenue of $47.1 billion. The
company has about 74,000 employees worldwide.
Clearfield
www.SeeClearfield.com
763-476-6866; 800-422-2537
Key Products: Fiber distribution and protection systems for
inside plant, outside plant and access networks
Summary: Headquartered in Minneapolis, Clearfield designs
and manufactures a high-density fiber distribution system for
the inside plant, a fiber scalability center for the outside plant,
a fiber delivery point series for access networks and an optical
fiber delivery and protection system made up of microduct and
pushable fiber. All product lines integrate with the Clearview
Cassette 12-fiber management system. For environments
that require fewer fibers, the Clearview xPAK cassette is the
foundation of a small-count delivery series. The CraftSmart
product line provides outdoor physical fiber protection. During
the last year, the company introduced three new products: the
FieldSmart Makwa, a fiber distribution hub designed for aboveand below-grade environments; FieldShield StrongFiber, an
OSP-rated, ready for in-duct placement, 900um optical fiber
cable that delivers exceptional pull strength in a small form
factor; and the FieldSmart ZoneBox, a new ceiling- and floormount panel that supports all cable constructions for the inside
plant. Clearfield, which has 179 employees, posted $58 million
in revenue for the year ending September 2014.
Comcast Cable
www.comcast.com
Key Products: Internet, video and phone service
“The past year has been great for community networks – from President
Obama’s speaking in favor of municipal networks to the FCC’s removing
barriers to community networks in North Carolina and Tennessee, we
have seen a lot of enthusiasm for communities’ investing in themselves to
expand high-quality Internet access.”
– Christopher Mitchell, Director, Community Broadband Networks, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Summary: Comcast delivers Internet, phone and media
services to residential customers under the XFINITY brand
and to businesses under the Comcast Business brand. After
building a national fiber backbone across 145,000 route miles
of fiber, Comcast is launching Gigabit Pro, a symmetrical,
2 Gbps FTTH service. The company began rolling out the
service in Atlanta in May 2015 and quickly followed with
rollouts in California, Chattanooga, Chicago, Colorado,
Houston, Knoxville, Nashville, Northwest Indiana, Portland,
the Twin Cities, Utah, Michigan and Washington state.
Comcast plans to offer Gigabit Pro nationwide to 18 million
homes by the end of the year. The company is currently
testing DOCSIS 3.1, a scalable, national, 1 Gbps technology
solution, which it plans to begin rolling out in early 2016.
When it is fully deployed, Comcast expects to deliver gigabit
speeds to almost every customer in its footprint over its
existing network (a combination of both fiber and coax).
Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable reported 2014
revenue of $44.1 billion.
CommScope
www.commscope.com
828-324-2200; 800-982-1708
Key Products: EPON, GPON and RFoG FTTH electronics;
cable and connectivity products
Summary: CommScope’s solutions constitute a complete,
end-to-end FTTH portfolio with active and passive
components, offering multiple fiber architectures compatible
with RFoG standards. With a suite of headend, outsideplant and end-user solutions, CommScope’s BOS and PON
solutions enable MSOs, electric co-ops and other operators
to choose the right technology and architecture to meet the
needs of residential, MDU, commercial and cellular backhaul
applications. The E2O solution enables MSOs to bridge from
hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) to all-fiber networks and rapidly
deploy optical solutions, pushing fiber deeper, under one
sheath. Founded in Hickory, N.C., CommScope has been
involved in the broadband and cable TV industry since 1976
and has played a role in nearly all the world’s most advanced
telecommunications networks. It is the largest manufacturer
of coaxial and fiber cable for HFC applications and a major
supplier of subscriber-premises connectivity products and
rugged conduit products. In January 2015, CommScope
announced plans to acquire TE Connectivity’s telecom,
enterprise and wireless businesses for approximately $3
billion. CommScope expects the transaction to close by the
end of 2015. CommScope’s broadband segment reported $511
million in revenue for 2014.
Corning / Corning Optical Communications
www.corning.com; www.corning.com/opcomm
828-901-5000
Key Products: Optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTH
cabinets, splitters, terminals, connectors, cable assemblies,
MDU products, other telecommunications hardware and
equipment, engineering services, training
Summary: Corning is one of the world’s leading innovators
in materials science. For more than 160 years, it has applied
its expertise in specialty glass, ceramics and optical physics to
develop products that have created new industries. Corning
Optical Communications develops and manufactures optical
fiber, wireless technologies and connectivity solutions that
enable high-speed communications networks. It developed
the first commercial low-loss optical fiber in 1970. Its
preconnectorized solutions, such as the OptiTap Connector,
introduced a new way to deploy FTTH networks, and its
ultra-bendable ClearCurve product suite opened the way
for cost-effective installation of fiber in MDUs and other
challenging environments. The Corning ONE Wireless
Platform, the first all-optical converged cellular and Wi-Fi
solution, supports cellular service enhancements and other
building applications, including Wi-Fi, video surveillance and
building automation, and the Centrix optical connectivity
solution combines high termination density with an intuitive
jumper routing system and superior cable management. Sales
were $7.7 billion in 2014, of which telecommunications
accounted for $2.6 billion.
COS Systems
www.cossystems.com
800-562-1730
www.ctcnet.us
301-933-1488
Key Products: Demand aggregation software, BSS/OSS for
managing open-access fiber networks
Key Products: Fiber and wireless broadband network design,
engineering, assessment and implementation
Summary: COS Systems’ cloud-hosted software helps
deployers plan, deploy and manage modern broadband
networks that deliver services from one or more providers.
COS Service Zones is a demand aggregation tool that
enables network builders to identify grassroots interest in
better broadband, spread awareness of their projects and
pre-sell Internet connections, using a “fiberhood” approach.
COS Business Engine is a BSS/OSS suite for managing and
operating gigabit fiber networks. It enables network operators
to easily market and offer services from multiple providers in
an online marketplace. COS clients include private Internet
service providers and operators, public-private partnerships,
municipalities, utilities and housing cooperatives in the
United States, Sweden and South Africa. In the last year,
COS Systems has rapidly expanded its customer base,
mainly in the United States, where multiple customers are
now running or preparing to launch COS Service Zones
campaigns. Privately held COS Systems is headquartered in
Umea, Sweden, and has U.S. headquarters in New York City.
Summary: A technology and energy consulting firm,
CTC provides business and engineering consulting
services for public sector and nonprofit clients. Its expertise
includes feasibility analysis, strategic planning, business
plan development, network design and engineering, RFP
preparation, grant applications and negotiations with privatesector partners. CTC currently provides fiber engineering and
network financial planning services to the cities of Atlanta;
Boston; Lexington, Ky.; Palo Alto, Calif.; San Francisco and
Seattle. Over the last year, CTC has been the lead business
and technical consultant to the commonwealth of Kentucky
in its partnership strategy and negotiations with Macquarie
Capital. CTC played a key role in helping negotiate publicprivate partnerships for FTTP network expansion on behalf of
the city of Westminster, Md., and of the coalition comprising
the cities of Urbana and Champaign and the University of
Illinois, as well as for an innovative fixed wireless broadband
network in rural Garrett County, in Maryland. Founded in
1983, CTC is headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area
and has satellite offices in many other states.
Cox Communications
www.cox.com
Key Products: High-speed Internet, video, voice and home
security services
Summary: Cox Communications is the third-largest cable
and broadband company in the United States, with about
6 million total customers. Cox is also the nation’s thirdlargest cable television provider. It serves both residential
and business customers with a variety of advanced digital
video, high-speed Internet and telephone services over
its IP network. In May 2014, Cox committed to deliver
residential gigabit Internet speeds to all markets it serves by
the end of 2016. A year later, the company announced that
G1GABLAST, its residential gigabit Internet service, was
already available in parts of Phoenix, Ariz.; Orange County,
Calif.; Omaha, Neb.; and Las Vegas, Nev. (The company
had been deploying multi-gigabit speeds to businesses for
more than 10 years.) In February 2015, Cox and Cleveland
Clinic announced the formation of Vivre Health, a strategic
alliance to bring world-class health care to the home
through innovative telehealth and home health solutions.
Cox also invested in HealthSpot, a pioneer in patient- and
provider-driven telehealth technology. Privately held Cox is a
subsidiary of Cox Enterprises and headquartered in Atlanta.
Dasan Networks USA
www.dasannetworksus.com
770-674-0302
Key Products: Access network equipment, including FTTP
(GPON, active Ethernet, 10G EPON, NG-PON), Carrier
and Metro Ethernet, edge and aggregation Layer 2 and
3 switching, and triple-play solutions for single-family,
multifamily and business applications
Summary: Based in Seoul, South Korea, with a U.S. office
in Suwanee, Ga., Dasan Networks offers technologies for
carrier, enterprise, utility, government, hospitality and mobile
backhaul networks and applications. Dasan’s FTTP solutions
have been deployed to more than 30 million subscribers.
Solutions for gigabit Internet services include NG-PON
(next generation-passive optical network), which utilizes
existing optical cables to deliver speeds up to 40 Gbps, and
10 GEPON, with line speed at 10 Gbps for multiservice
needs. Dasan supplies such major service providers as Korea
Telecom, SK Telecom, SoftBank Broadband, BSNL and
ChungHwa Telecom. U.S. customers include New Knoxville
Telephone, Horry Telephone, Benton Ridge Telephone, US
Sonet and Hometown Cable. With 500 employees globally,
Dasan reported revenue of $350 million in 2014.
Design Nine
www.designnine.com
540-951-4400
modeling, network engineering and construction management,
and network operations.
Key Products: Broadband planning and feasibility studies,
network business and financial planning, broadband
project management, broadband network design, network
buildout, network operations
Ditch Witch
www.ditchwitch.com
800-654-6481
Summary: The broadband planning and network design
firm Design Nine is well known for its expertise in – and
commitment to – local transport networks and openaccess networks. The successful open-access networks it has
planned and designed include Palm Coast FiberNET in
Florida; nDanville, Rockbridge and Wired Road in Virginia;
FastRoads in New Hampshire; AccessEagan in Minnesota;
and Charles City in Virginia. Design Nine’s services include
fiber and wireless network design, grant-writing assistance,
needs assessment, broadband network buildout assistance,
financial modeling, business planning, legal and organizational
design of community-owned broadband systems and project
management. Design Nine’s subsidiary, WideOpen Networks,
provides professional management of community-owned and
private-sector networks, including network monitoring, service
provisioning, service provider attraction, asset management,
billing and outside-plant management. Headquartered in
Blacksburg, Va., Design Nine works on projects throughout
North America. It currently assists clients in six states with
network design, equipment specifications, pricing and financial
Summary: Ditch Witch, a Charles Machine Works company,
specializes in the design and manufacture of high-quality
underground construction equipment for broadband
installations in the United States and abroad. It sells trenchers,
vibratory plows, Subsite brand electronic tracking and locating
tools, horizontal directional drills, mud recycling and fluid
systems, drill pipe, HDD tooling, vacuum excavation systems
and mini skid steers. Ditch Witch Financial Services offers
a variety of financing and lease options. Recent product
launches include a new HDD Advisor interactive drill string
configuration tool, the MR90 mud recycling system for
midsize drills and the SK850 mini skid steer. Ditch Witch
manufacturing is located in Perry, Okla., and the company
has more than 1,400 employees. Ditch Witch equipment is
distributed through a worldwide dealer organization.
Key Products: Construction equipment for laying fiber
NETWORK MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS
These companies provide OSS or software for network monitoring, optimization, provisioning,
service management, subscriber management, billing and related functions.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
ADTRANwww.adtran.com
Advance Fiber Optics
www.ospinsight.com
Allied Telesis
Allot Communications
www.allot.com
Amdocswww.amdocs.com
Anritsu Company
www.anritsu.com
ARRISwww.arrisi.com
BTI Systems
www.btisystems.com
Calixwww.calix.com
CHR Solutions
Cisco Systems
www.cisco.com
Comversewww.comverse.com
COS Systems
www.cossystems.com
Enghouse Networks www.enghousenetworks.com
Ericssonwww.ericsson.com
www.etisoftware.com
EXFOwww.exfo.com
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Fluke Networks
www.flukenetworks.com
GEwww.gedigitalenergy.com/
GLDSwww.glds.com
IDI Billing
www.idibilling.com
Incognito Software
www.incognito.com
Ineoquestwww.ineoquest.com/
iToolsOnlinewww.itoolsonline.com/
Logisensewww.logisense.com
Mapcom Systems
www.mapcom.com
MRV Communications
www.mrv.com
National Information
Solutions Cooperative
www.nisc.coop
Pacific Broadband Networks www.pbnglobal.com
Procera Networks
www.proceranetworks.com
Sandvinewww.sandvine.com
Sigma Systems
www.sigma-systems.com
TraceSpanwww.tracespan.com
ZCorumwww.zcorum.com
See Clearfield for a modular and space
maximizing frame solution designed with the
user in mind. Achieving industry-leading
density while utilizing industry-standard
jumpers, these intuitive routing paths ensure
ease of access. No moving parts and the
self-contained fiber management of the
Clearview Blue Cassette, ensure your fiber is
protected in every application for which its
deployed. Look to Clearfield for fiber
without compromise.
“The proven risk transfer and low cost of capital of the public-private
partnership model … has the potential to make viable fiber projects
which were previously considered uneconomic and to ensure that fiber
connectivity is regarded as an essential public utility rather than a luxury.”
– Nicholas Hann, Senior Managing Director, Macquarie Capital
Dura-Line
www.duraline.com
800-847-7661
Key Products: Conduit, cable-in-conduit, microducts and
accessories
Summary: Dura-Line develops and manufactures HDPE
conduits for protecting fiber optic, electrical and coaxial cables.
It supplies fiber optic conduit and related products to telecom,
data, cable TV, power and other markets. Customers include
Verizon, AT&T, Cablevision, Telmex, Time Warner Cable and
Bharti. Dura-Line developed the first ducts for installing and
protecting fiber optic cables in 1981, introduced a complete
line of fiber optic microduct products in 2001, and followed
up in 2003 with FuturePath, a bundled package of microducts
that can be installed the same way as traditional conduit.
FuturePath allows up to 24 pathways in a single conduit. DuraLine, which was acquired by Mexichem in September 2014, is
based in Knoxville, Tenn., and has revenue of more than $700
million with 1,500-plus employees worldwide.
Dycom Industries
www.dycomind.com
561-627-7171
Key Products: Engineering, construction, maintenance and
installation services for telecommunications providers
Summary: Dycom Industries is a provider of specialty
contracting services throughout the United States and
Canada. It provides engineering, construction, maintenance
and installation services for telecommunications providers;
underground facility locating services for various utilities;
and construction and maintenance services for electric and
gas utilities and others. In 2012, Dycom acquired Quanta’s
telecommunications business, which expanded its offering
with comprehensive broadband installation and maintenance
services for inside- and outside-plant facilities and residential
and commercial FTTx networks. Customers include AT&T,
Verizon and many other leading telephone and cable operators.
Services include rack installation, engineering and design,
long-term site and system planning, project management,
procurement and warehousing, infrastructure construction,
headend and central-office installation, content acquisition,
marketing and premises installation. Founded in 1969 and
headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Dycom has about
10,300 employees. It posted $1.8 billion in revenue for 2014.
EPB Fiber Optics
www.epbfi.com
423-648-1372
Key Products: Voice, video, data and smart-grid services
provided over a fiber optic network
Summary: EPB’s fiber-to-the-home network is frequently cited
as one of the success stories of municipal broadband. It delivers
Internet, voice and video services and serves as the backbone
for the utility smart grid. In addition to increasing power
reliability, reducing outage duration and improving operational
efficiency, the smart grid provides detailed usage information
for electricity customers and soon will provide more tools. EPB
has distributed electric power to the Chattanooga area since
1935 and now serves more than 170,000 homes and businesses
in a 600-square-mile area that includes eight counties in
Tennessee and Georgia. In 2009 it launched EPB Fiber Optics,
which, as of May 2015, serves more than 67,000 homes and
more than 5,000 businesses. EPB’s 1 Gbps broadband service
helps position Chattanooga as an innovation and technology
hub and furthers economic development opportunities. In
collaboration with such organizations as the Company Lab and
the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the community
launched a summer program, called GIGTANK, aimed at
spurring innovation. Now in its fourth year, the program hosts
students and entrepreneurs in Chattanooga to develop nextgeneration apps and disruptive business ideas using the nation’s
largest gigabit network.
www.etisoftware.com
770-242-3620; 800-332-1078
customer support center, strengthen ETI’s ability to serve
its customers worldwide. ETI is a privately owned company
headquartered in Norcross, Ga.
Key Products: Software products that manage broadband
service fulfillment, activation and revenue assurance
Summary: ETI Software Solutions, with more than 20
years of experience in B/OSS integration, offers software for
the FTTH marketplace. ETI’s Overture suite includes B/
OSS modules, ACS TR-069 modules, web apps, and fiber
management and mapping modules that harness realtime data to yield actionable intelligence for CSRs, field
technicians, management, marketing and network operations
personnel. Overture is preintegrated with all major FTTH,
IP video and softswitch platforms and provides service rating,
subscriber and service management, work order management,
trouble ticket, service provisioning, device management and
end-user billing for all services delivered over fiber networks.
In 2015, ETI acquired Netmania IT, a UK-based provider of
TR-069 services and solutions. This move expanded ETI’s
customer base to include providers in 13 countries outside the
United States, deepened ETI’s technology base and enhanced
its customer service/professional service model. Investments in
TR-069 technology and IoT products, combined with a 24/7
EXFO
www.EXFO.com
418-683-0211; 800-663-3936
Key Products: Telecom test and service assurance solutions
Summary: EXFO provides next-generation test and service
assurance solutions for wireline and wireless network
operators and equipment manufacturers in the global
telecommunications industry. The company offers solutions for
the development, installation, management and maintenance
of converged, IP fixed and mobile networks from the core to
the edge. Applications supported include 3G, 4G/LTE, IMS,
Ethernet, 40G/100G, FTTx, FTTA and DAS, ADSL2+,
VDSL2, IP Data, VoIP, IPTV and various optical technologies.
According to Frost & Sullivan, EXFO leads the portable fiber
ADVERTISEMENT
“FTTH and its capabilities are bringing the world together in a way
never experienced before. Students and teachers can connect to other
classrooms around the world, and doctors can watch and even participate
in surgeries remotely, all thanks to fiber and the evolution of gigabit
speeds. It’s been a very exciting time for the industry, and with new
developments in the pipeline, there’s even more excitement to come.”
– Gary Bolton, Vice President of Global Marketing, ADTRAN
optic test equipment market with a market share that exceeds
38 percent, owns more than 50 percent of market share
worldwide in the OTDR segment, has been a pioneer in FTTH
test solutions and has been involved in most major deployments
around the world. Headquartered in Quebec City, Quebec,
FIBER-TO-THE-HOME
ELECTRONICS
These companies provide FTTH electronic
equipment for central offices/headends,
customer premises or both.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Allied Telesis
ARRISwww.arris.com
Aurora Networks
(a Pace company)
www.aurora.com
Calixwww.calix.com
Cisco Systems
www.cisco.com
CTDIwww.ctdi.com
D-Linkwww.dlink.com
Dasan Networks USA www.dasannetworksus.com
Genexiswww.genexis.eu
iPhotonixwww.iphotonix.com
Pacific Broadband Networks www.pbnglobal.com
ReadyLinkswww.ready-links.com
Sumitomo Electric
Telco Systems
www.telco.com
Tilginwww.tilgin.com
Zhone Technologies
www.zhone.com
us.zyxel.com
EXFO has a staff of about 1,600 people in 25 countries and
supports more than 2,000 customers worldwide. In fiscal 2014,
the company reported revenue of $231 million.
Fiberdyne Labs
www.fiberdyne.com
315-895-8470
Key Products: Optical passive devices, fiber cable and fiber
cable assemblies, test equipment; fiber installation, splicing
and testing services
Summary: Fiberdyne is a manufacturer, refurbisher and
value-added seller of fiber optic products for FTTH,
cable, telecom and enterprise networks. Products include
components, passives, fiber distribution equipment, fiber
media converters and switches, connectors, terminators,
fiber cables and cable assemblies and test equipment. Its
professional services include design, installation and testing
of structured fiber cabling; fiber characterization; emergency
restoration of inside plant and outside plant; and engineering,
furnish and install services. Fiberdyne is headquartered
in Frankfort, N.Y., with offices in Rochester, N.Y.; Pagosa
Springs, Colo.; and Wenatchee, Wash. The company, founded
in 1992, is privately owned. It has 100 full-time employees.
Finley Engineering
www.fecinc.com
417-682-5531
Key Products: Network design and engineering services
Summary: Finley Engineering Company has more than
60 years of communications and electric power engineering
experience and nearly 30 years of experience with fiber
communication and data projects. The company works with
organizations that provide fiber connections to improve end
users’ quality of life and economic opportunities. Founded
in 1953, Finley Engineering Company has more than 300
employees in 10 offices nationwide and is one of the largest
communications network design companies in the United
States. The company specializes in end-to-end engineering
consulting for telecommunications, broadband, wireless,
cable television, electric power transmission and distribution
networks, IT services, project management, and right-ofway and land services. Finley develops design criteria for
clients’ projects and follows through with detailed designs,
construction documents, contracts, contract administration
and materials lists. Once a project is underway, Finley can
provide construction observation and project management.
Finley has completed more than 20,000 miles of FTTH
projects and passed more than 100,000 homes with fiber.
Fujitsu Network Communications
http://us.fujitsu.com/telecom
888-362-7763
Key Products: Multivendor core, access and wireless network
equipment; network management software solutions;
end-to-end multivendor network project integration; other
professional services
Summary: Fujitsu Network Communications Inc., based
in Richardson, Texas, builds middle-mile and last-mile
fiber networks, partnering with states, municipalities
and utilities to deploy fast, reliable broadband services.
It works with customers or alongside their consultants
to plan, design, build, operate and maintain their
broadband networks. It delivers custom, end-to-end
network integration by combining the best of wireline,
wireless and software technology with multivendor
services. Its vendor-agnostic approach provides turnkey
solutions for FTTH implementations. Fujitsu Network
Communications has served as prime integrator for highprofile telecommunications and enterprise projects, including
the ongoing last-mile FTTH deployment by Kit Carson
Electric Cooperative in Taos, N.M., and middle-mile network
connectivity for broadband provider Horizon Telcom across
34 counties in southern and eastern Ohio. It also powered a
2,000-mile fiber network with broadband speeds up to 100
Gbps for Illinois Century Network, an open-access provider
owned and operated by the state of Illinois. Fujitsu Network
Communications is a subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited, a global
information and communications technology company based
in Japan, which offers a wide range of technology products,
solutions and services in more than 100 countries. The
company, which has approximately 159,000 employees in
more than 100 countries, reported consolidated revenues of
$40 billion for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2015.
www.g4s.us
402-233-7700, 855-447-8721
Key Products: Design, construction and maintenance of
stand-alone and integrated communications networks and
security systems
Summary: Headquartered in Omaha, Neb., with 17
regional offices throughout the United States, G4S Secure
Integration is a systems integrator and project manager for
security systems and advanced communications networks,
including SONET, IP/Ethernet, DWDM/CWDM, wireless
and last-mile fiber. It serves utilities, municipalities, large
integration firms, government and transportation agencies,
rural associations, ILECs and CLECs and has deployed
more than 2 million fiber miles and more than 200 networks
throughout the country. Projects include a 600-mile fiber
optic backbone and distribution network for SLIC Network
Solutions’ FTTH deployment in St. Lawrence County, N.Y.;
design and construction of MassBroadband 123, a fiber
optic network that connects more than 120 communities in
western and north-central Massachusetts; deployment and
customer fulfillment services for LUS Fiber in Lafayette,
La.; design and construction for the EAGLE-Net Alliance
Network, a statewide Colorado broadband network; and
construction of fiber optic medical networks for Illinois
Rural HealthNet and the Health Information Exchange of
Montana. G4S provides nationwide systems integration, new
product installation and systems maintenance services to Cox
Enterprises and was selected to provide electronic security
for the Virginia Department of Transportation. In 2014,
G4S Secure Integration, which has 465 employees, reported
revenue of $145 million.
Genexis
www.genexis.eu
443-602-4510; +31 40-747-0233
Key Products: Customer-premises equipment for FTTH
service providers, service-provisioning software
Summary: Genexis provides solutions for in-home fiber
broadband connectivity. The Hybrid modular FTTH gateway
enables services for point-to-point and GPON networks. It
offers a flexible combination of fiber management, network
demarcation and a residential gateway that can be tailored
to match various deployment scenarios. The Hybrid product
line recently expanded to include a cost-effective version
for business use as well as an outdoor offering. FiberTwist,
for fiber and network demarcation, is a compact, easy-toinstall CPE solution. Available for point-to-point and GPON
networks, it has a twist-on interface that enables do-it-yourself
“We are in an industry that is changing by the day with respect to
regulatory frameworks, technology and potential business models. The
opportunities for public-private partnerships especially are an incredibly
positive development for local governments seeking to promote
broadband availability and adoption.”
– Joanne Hovis, President, CTC Technology & Energy
installation. The Platinum product portfolio, which includes
the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi technology, addresses the need for
high-speed in-home Wi-Fi. The Platinum home gateway
provides Wi-Fi speeds of up to 750 Mbps. It is a TR-069managed solution, reducing opex for operators by enabling
remote troubleshooting. The Platinum is available with SFP,
SFF and copper uplinks. Based in Eindhoven, Netherlands,
Genexis employs more than 75 people and has offices in
Sweden, the United States, Germany and India. In 2014,
Genexis posted revenue of about $40 million.
GLDS
www.glds.com
800-882-7950
Google / Google Fiber
www.google.com, fiber.google.com
Key Products: Gigabit Internet access and video services over
the Google Fiber network
Summary: The Internet search giant Google, founded in 1998,
launched a fiber access division in 2010 that popularized the
term “gigabit” and profoundly changed the FTTH industry.
With $66 billion in 2014 revenue, Google has the resources
to conduct any new venture on a large scale, and Google Fiber
is on its way to becoming a major competitive overbuilder.
In January 2015, Google Fiber announced three new cities
(Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta and Charlotte) where buildouts are
currently underway, bringing the total number of Google Fiber
metro areas to eight: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Kansas City,
Nashville, Provo, Raleigh-Durham and Salt Lake City. In May
2015, Google announced that it is taking applications for its
new Digital Inclusion Fellowships, which will pair 16 people
with local community organizations in its eight metro areas to
spend a year building a digital inclusion program.
Key Products: Customer management, billing, provisioning
and workforce management software for broadband
Summary: Since 1980, Great Lakes Data Systems (GLDS)
has helped small operators look big by providing reliable,
full-featured billing and management software at affordable
prices – including cloud-based services that operators can
use with little equipment investment. Partnering with major
equipment suppliers worldwide, GLDS supports FTTH,
IPTV, DOCSIS, OTT, TVE, cloud service, wireless, satellite,
mobile payments and legacy delivery systems. It serves more
than 400 small to midsize broadband providers, including
cable, satellite, wireless and FTTH operators that range from
startup operations to providers with more than 300,000
subscribers. GLDS’ largest offices are in Carlsbad, Calif.;
Beaver Dam, Wis.; and Kaunas, Lithuania, but it operates in
49 states and 44 countries. Key products include BroadHub
(formerly WinCable), for customer management and billing,
and SuperController, for multiservice automated provisioning.
WinForce tech, a mobile workforce management platform,
empowers field techs with tools previously available only to
office staff. Available in native Android and browser-based
platforms, WinForce tech is fully integrated with BroadHub.
Graybar
www.graybar.com
800-GRAYBAR (472-9227)
Key Products: PON electronics, optical transport, fiber
cabinets/enclosures, single-mode fiber optic cable, fiber
splice closures and pedestals, DC power, outdoor fiber
terminals, FTTx drop cable and hardened multiservice
terminals
Summary: Graybar specializes in supply-chain management
services – getting the right parts to the right places at the right
time so construction moves ahead and inventory doesn’t pile
up in warehouses. The company is a leading North American
distributor of components, equipment and materials for
telecommunications and other industries. FTTH and related
solutions represent a significant portion of its broadband
business. Independent telephone companies, competitive
phone companies, municipalities, RUS plow contractors,
wireless backhaul providers, central-office contractors and
cable companies all depend on Graybar. Founded in 1869 as
Gray and Barton, today Graybar sells thousands of items from
leading manufacturers; its value-added services include kitting
and integrated solutions. A Fortune 500 company with gross
sales of $6 billion in 2014, Graybar employs more than 8,250
people at more than 260 locations throughout the United
States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It is one of North America’s
largest and oldest employee-owned companies.
management firms. It provides critical infrastructure for the
communications, electric power, and natural gas and pipeline
industries. In the telecommunications sector, H&M works
with carriers, utilities, enterprises and all levels of government.
H&M has been involved in many FTTH projects – including
Verizon FiOS – performing feasibility studies, project
management, construction management, outside-plant and
inside-plant implementation, and underground and aerial
construction. With more than 70 regional, area and project
offices throughout the United States, more than 4,000
employees and more than 6,000 pieces of equipment, the
company has the ability to provide end-to-end solutions
and consistently ranks in the top 10 of Engineering NewsRecord’s annual list of specialty contractors.
GVTC Communications
www.gvtc.com
800-367-4882
Key Products: Video, high-speed Internet with 1 Gbps
availability, security monitoring, local and long-distance
telephone, advanced data services, Wi-Fi, Ethernet backhaul
Summary: A large telephone cooperative based outside San
Antonio in the Texas Hill Country, GVTC made a name for
itself through its aggressive rollout of fiber to the home and
close collaboration with the economic development agencies
that use its fiber network to recruit and retain businesses. In
June 2014, the company launched the GVTC GigaRegion
with the cities of Boerne, Bulverde and Gonzales to collectively
promote the business and lifestyle benefits of gigabit
connectivity. In September 2014, GVTC started delivering
1 Gbps speeds through more than 2,200 miles of fiber to its
2,000-square-mile service area. In January 2015, GVTC and
the city of Boerne announced a partnership to expand GVTC’s
fiber network throughout the city limits to an added 1,590
homes. This year, GVTC continues work on its fiber network
2.0 build out. Fiber connections are planned for 2,298 rooftops
throughout the Texas Hill Country. The company continues
to expand its Ethernet backhaul services for wireless companies
such as AT&T, Verizon and regional carriers. GVTC has 230
employees, and its revenue for 2014 was $94.8 million.
Henkels & McCoy
www.henkels.com
215-283-7600
Key Products: Planning, design, engineering, project
management, construction and installation of wireline
and wireless communications networks
Summary: Henkels & McCoy, founded in 1923 and
headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa., is one of the largest privately
held, diversified engineering, construction and project
Hiawatha Broadband Communications
www.hbci.com
888-474-9995
Key Products: Voice, video, data and wireless services over
high-speed networks
Summary: Competitive provider Hiawatha Broadband
Communications (HBC) delivers services to small towns in
southeastern Minnesota. Founded in 1997, HBC operates
both hybrid fiber-coax and fiber-to-the-home networks – its
first two networks were HFC and the last 17 have all been
FTTH. It also provides wireless broadband in rural areas. One
of its deployments, Red Wing, was selected as a US Ignite city
based on HBC’s gigabit network. HBC is also the operator of
the RS Fiber Cooperative gigabit fiber-to-the-farm project in
Minnesota. The company provides a video service selection
of more than 300 channels (including approximately 100 in
high definition), digital music, pay-per-view and extensive
local programming produced by HBC Productions. HBC
recently launched a fiber optic transport network. The company
has more than 110 employees, 19 retail communities, and
wholesale, construction, fiber transport, business consulting
and technical support divisions. Annual revenue is $23 million.
www.hotwirecommunications.com
800-409-4733
Key Products: Data, voice and video services delivered over
FTTP networks
Summary: Hotwire Communications is one of the nation’s
largest independent providers of fiber-to-the-premises
communications solutions. In 2014, it operated in 10 states
(New York to Florida, plus Texas) and has recently signed
deals in several more. Hotwire offers gigabit connectivity to
deliver ultra-high-speed Internet, along with IPTV, VoIP
and advanced home security products. It provides services
to private residential communities, condominiums, hotels,
multitenant commercial buildings, student housing and
senior living facilities. Hotwire’s business services include
Metro Ethernet, data backup, co-location, redundant wireless,
hosted PBX, videoconferencing and more. The company has
offered its Fision FTTP service since 2005 over an all fiber
optic network with a dedicated connection to each door.
InfiniSys Electronic Architects
www.ElectronicArchitect.com
386-236-1500
Key Products: Telecommunications/broadband network design
for multifamily, student housing, mixed-use and hospitality
buildings; amenity selection and engineering; contract
negotiation and project management; managed wireless and
DAS engineering, design and project management
Summary: Developers and property owners that want to
differentiate their communities by leveraging broadband
technology call on InfiniSys Electronic Architects for
customized, next-generation solutions. It works with
TEST AND MEASUREMENT
EQUIPMENT
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Anritsu Company
www.anritsu.com
Corning Optical
EXFOwww.exfo.com
Fiber Instrument
Saleswww.fiberinstrumentsales.com
Fluke Networks
www.flukenetworks.com
GAO Tek
www.gaotek.com
IneoQuestwww.ineoquest.com
JDSUwww.jdsu.com
Spirent Communications
www.spirent.com
Tektronixwww.tek.com
Trilithicwww.trilithic.com
VeEXwww.veexinc.com
electronics manufacturers, software developers, infrastructure
manufacturers and service providers to create new products
and service offerings for the multifamily and hospitality
markets. As an independent technology adviser, InfiniSys
Electronic Architects creates comprehensive, standards-based
amenity solutions – including entertainment, access control,
video surveillance, digital signage and messaging, energy
management and leisure space control systems – for new and
existing apartments, condominiums, student housing, hotels,
mixed-use developments and master-planned communities.
The firm represents developers and property owners in
negotiations with service providers and low-voltage contractors
and oversees projects for financial stakeholders. InfiniSys
Electronic Architects uses a proprietary Web-based software
system to streamline the RFP and service-provider selection
process. The company is based in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
www.ilsr.org
www.MuniNetworks.org
612-276-3456
Key Products: Broadband policy research and municipal
broadband advocacy
Summary: Since 1974, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance
(ILSR) has championed local self-reliance based on humanscaled institutions and widely distributed ownership. The
nonprofit organization, which has offices in Minnesota and
Washington, D.C., conducts research, advocacy and education
that support local control of energy, recycling, financing,
broadband and other initiatives. ILSR explicitly challenges
the view that localism and regionalism represent a misguided
desire to turn back time; rather, it promotes the intelligent use
of advanced technology to achieve locally determined goals.
Its Community Broadband Networks Initiative, directed by
Christopher Mitchell, is one of the most important sources of
information and analysis about municipal fiber-to-the-home
projects in the United States. ILSR’s publications, including
its MuniNetworks.org blog and its weekly podcast, have
been instrumental in showing communities that controlling
their broadband destinies is feasible and has the potential to
improve local economies and quality of life.
Inteleconnect Inc.
www.inteleconnect.com
734-944-6694
Key Products: Consultation and situation analysis for
developers, property management companies, educational
institutions, businesses and municipalities
Summary: Founded in 1998, Inteleconnect develops
telecommunications strategies for municipalities, college and
university campuses, mixed-use developments and small,
medium and large businesses. The company negotiates service
contracts and designs and manages service provider–neutral
networks (duct and handhole systems, fiber plant and
“The biggest current challenge I see for deploying broadband is funding. I
see communities everywhere that are either unable or unwilling to totally
fund broadband networks from municipal bonds. Finding funding is
moving to the top of the list as the issue that is stopping wider broadband
deployment, and I am advising cities to think about funding early in the
process. Broadband networks are not cheap, but the economic cost of
not having broadband is greater than the cost of paying for a network.
Businesses don’t want to operate where there is no broadband, and
nobody wants to live in a house without broadband. We now finally see a
distinct difference between the broadband haves and have-nots.”
– Doug Dawson, President, CCG Consulting
central office space) to enable advanced Internet and data
networks, CATV networks and telephone services. Recently,
Inteleconnect created the fiber-to-the-premises network plan
for Avalon, an 86-acre, mixed-use development near Atlanta.
iPhotonix
www.iphotonix.com
214-575-9300
Key Products: Optical network terminals, residential
gateways, network functions virtualization (NFV), cloud
transformation
Summary: Based in Richardson, Texas, iPhotonix develops
and commercializes solutions to help service providers migrate
to optical access networks in an easy, fast, affordable way. Its
GPON and active Ethernet ONTs interoperate with a wide
variety of central-office and customer-premises equipment,
including RF video headends and set-top boxes, to provide
FTTH services to homes, businesses, multitenant buildings
and cell sites. iPhotonix’s new iVN software enables service
providers to deploy, manage and orchestrate network services
in an NFV environment. Functions such as performance
monitoring, firewalls and end-device management can be
deployed quickly on low-cost commodity hardware rather
than on expensive, complex proprietary equipment. In
March 2015, iPhotonix ONTs and residential gateways were
selected to support the GPON deployment of Television
Internacional, a large MSO in Mexico. iPhotonix was spun
off from Siemens in 2006, and some of its technology was
developed in Siemens R&D labs.
JDSU
www.jdsu.com
408-546-5000
Key Products: Fiber optic communications components,
network optimization and test equipment for service
providers and enterprises
Summary: JDSU provides test, measurement and enablement
solutions and optical products for telecommunications
service providers, cable operators, network equipment
manufacturers, contractors and enterprises. The company’s
network optimization and communications test tools are
designed to enable systems that can be managed remotely and
respond dynamically to changes in network traffic patterns
as demand increases. As announced on Sept. 10, 2014, JDSU
will separate into two publicly traded companies by the
third calendar quarter of 2015. Lumentum will be an optical
components and commercial lasers company consisting of
JDSU’s current Communications and Commercial Optical
Products segment. Viavi will consist of JDSU’s current
Network Enablement, Service Enablement and Optical
Security and Performance Products segments. Based in
Milpitas, Calif., JDSU has approximately 5,000 employees.
Its revenue for the fiscal year ending June 2014 was just under
$1.75 billion. Optical communications solutions include
detectors/receivers, modulators, amplifiers, transceivers,
passives, pump/source lasers, ROADMs and WSSs, transport
blades, and tunable transmission modules.
“Fiber connectivity is just as important to our country and our future
as the development of the interstate system was in the 1950s. We must
continue to pursue all-fiber networks, which will improve how we live,
work and play.”
– Mike Hill, CEO, On Trac
KGP Logistics
800-755-1950
LUS Fiber
www.lusfiber.com
337-993-4237
Key Products: Products for FTTH, including outside plant,
central office, DAS, transmission and customer premises;
supply-chain and distribution services
Key Products: Video service, including IPTV; local and long
distance phone service; Internet access with a community
intranet, all delivered over an FTTH network
Summary: Headquartered in Faribault, Minn.,
KGP Logistics is one of the country’s largest singlesource, value-added suppliers of supply-chain services,
communications equipment and integrated solutions to the
telecommunications industry. With a diverse customer base,
a national logistics network and a portfolio of manufacturer
partnerships, the company is positioned to provide unique
products and services to the communications market.
Summary: LUS demonstrates that superfast, communityowned networks can be financially successful. The only
community-owned, all fiber optic network in Louisiana,
LUS Fiber offers 1 Gbps Internet access, making Lafayette
a member of an elite group of U.S. cities. Like all Internet
speeds provided by LUS Fiber, the gigabit service is
symmetrical, so users enjoy 1 Gbps both upstream and
downstream. Despite fierce price competition, the LUS Fiber
customer list continues to grow; the company doubled its
Internet access speeds last year for a minimal price increase
and offers 1 Gbps intranet speeds with all tiers of Internet
service. LUS Fiber, operated by the Lafayette Utilities System,
a department of the municipal government, became cash flow
positive in 2012 (four years after operations started) and is on
target to reach financial self-sufficiency this year. Standard &
Poor’s recently raised its revenue bond rating to A+. In 2014,
the entire LUS system, including water and power, sent $22
million to the city’s general fund in lieu of taxes.
www.leviton.com
718-229-4040
Key Products: Premises wiring, outside plant, central-office
solutions and home automation products
Summary: Leviton Manufacturing supplies secure, highbandwidth fiber and copper connectivity solutions for
enterprise, data center and service provider networks.
Residential customers use Leviton’s lighting controls,
wiring devices and home automation products, which allow
homeowners to create smart living environments that deliver
energy savings, safety and convenience. The company has
more than 20 years of experience developing solutions
for high-speed networks and offers a full line of customconfigurable products along with layout and design support
services for data centers. The company’s online configurator
allows users to quickly and easily customize enclosures,
copper and fiber cable assemblies, copper patch cords and
PDUs to meet their network needs. Privately held and based
in Melville, N.Y., Leviton has a portfolio of more than 25,000
products and 600 patents, employs more than 7,000 people
and has sales in 80 countries.
m2fx
www.m2fx.com
847-325-5454
Key Products: Armored polymer microduct and fiber cables
for FTTH and MDU markets
Summary: The m2fx product range enables low-risk, costeffective fiber deployment through its range of fiber optic
cable and microduct solutions. m2fx manufactures Miniflex
cable, an optical fiber cable solution that is a leader in fiber
protection, flexibility and installation performance and is
fully compatible with industry-standard microduct. m2fx
also supplies the QuikPush family of preconnectorized
“State Champion for
Hoosier-based High-speed
Gigabit Fiber Connectivity”
– Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann
Smithville Fiber (formerly known as Smithville
Communications) – Privileged and proud to
herald in fiber-based symmetrical wireless
gigabit technology in the state of Indiana.
With its first FTTH conversion in 2008,
Smithville has fashioned a reputation
for innovative excellence in
communication technology and
customer service.
Now establishing the Hoosier
state’s first GigaCity in Jasper
(Indiana), Smithville Fiber remains
committed to a leadership position in:
Fiber transformation
Economic development
Quality of life
SMITHVILLE.COM | (800) 742-4084
pushable fiber solutions and recently announced new, alldielectric, self-supporting (ADSS) cable, designed to speed
up the last mile of FTTH and FTTC deployments. m2fx
microducts are manufactured with the company’s patented
DVC liner, which allows the Miniflex fiber cable to be
pushed by hand more than 400 feet, pulled for 900 feet
or blown 2,500 feet. Founded in the U.K. in 1994, m2fx
currently operates in Europe, the United States, the Middle
East and Africa. Miniflex access and premises solutions can
be found in more than 45,000 installations (25,000 of them
FTTH installations, including most recently in the city of
Loma Linda, Calif.), with 85 million feet of fiber cable and
microduct protecting optical fiber in more than 52 countries.
Macquarie Group / Macquarie Capital
www.macquarie.com
604-605-1779
Key Products: Project development and equity investment,
financial advisory, debt arranging, lending and funds
management services
Summary: With headquarters in Sydney, Australia, and
U.S. headquarters in New York City, Macquarie is a global
financial services group with expertise in infrastructure,
telecommunications and media, resources and commodities,
energy, financial institutions and real estate. Founded in 1969,
Macquarie employs more than 14,000 people in 28 countries
and had $373 billion in assets under management as of
March 2015, including $102 billion in infrastructure and real
assets. Macquarie develops and finances infrastructure across
all sectors, including telecommunications, by leveraging
private investment. In the United States, Macquarie Capital
played a leading role in developing the public-private
partnership model for infrastructure, participating in
transactions that include the Goethals Bridge between New
York and New Jersey, the Virginia Midtown Tunnel and the
Denver FasTracks commuter rail project. Recently, Macquarie
Capital was selected as the development partner for the
Commonwealth of Kentucky’s 3,500-mile fiber ring and for
community fiber networks in 46 Connecticut municipalities,
which represent half the state’s population. Macquarie also
entered into a predevelopment agreement to expand, finance
and operate the UTOPIA FTTH network as a public-private
partnership with 11 Utah cities. Macquarie’s model represents
PASSIVE COMPONENTS FOR FTTH NETWORKS
(OUTSIDE PLANT AND INSIDE PLANT)
These companies provide fiber management solutions, splitters,
enclosures, connectors, ducts, conduits and related equipment for fiber access networks.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
3M Company/Communication
Markets Division
www.3M.com/telecom
AFLwww.aflglobal.com
Alliance Fiber Optic Products
www.afop.com
Calixwww.calix.com
Channell Commercial Corporation www.channell.com
Charles Industries Ltd. www.charlesindustries.com
Clearfieldwww.seeclearfield.com
Corning Optical
Crownduitwww.crownduit.com
Dura-Linewww.duraline.com
Emerson Network
Powerwww.emersonnetworkpower.com
Fiberdyne Labs
www.fiberdyne.com
www.leviton.com
Lite Access Technologies
www.liteaccess.com
m2fxwww.m2fx.com
Maxcellwww.maxcellinnerduct.com/
Montclair Fiber Optics
www.montclairfiber.com
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Multilinkwww.multilinkone.com
Opternawww.opterna.com
Opti-Com Manufacturing
Networkwww.opti-com.info/
Pencell Plastics
www.pencell.com
www.preformed.com
Primex Manufacturing
www.primexfits.com
Prysmianwww.prysmian.com
Radiant Communications
www.rccfiber.com
SENKO Advanced Components
www.senko.com
Sumitomo Electric
Superior Essex
www.SuperiorEssex.com/Comm
Suttlewww.suttlesolutions.com/
TE Connectivity
www.te.com
Telectwww.telect.com
TeraSpanwww.teraspan.com
Thermo Bond
www.thermobond.com
Timberconwww.timbercon.com
Westellwww.westell.com
Beautifully Dense, Stunningly Scalable
The 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, the Centrix Platform is a cross-functional solution that meets
the requirements of multiple application spaces.
Corning. Transforming Technology.
http://opcomm.corning.com/CentrixBuzz
© 2015 Corning Optical Communications. CRR-380-AEN / February 2015
a new type of public-private partnership for the U.S. telecom
market, opening potential new avenues for FTTH funding.
Mapcom Systems
www.mapcom.com
804-743-1860
Magellan Advisors
www.magellan-advisors.com
888-488-1767
Key Products: Visual operations system software, network
management, FTTH management, geographic
information systems, workforce management tools,
systems integration, training and consulting
Key Products: Broadband and telecom planning, deployment
and management services
Summary: Magellan Advisors is a full-cycle consulting
firm that offers services from project inception through
implementation and into continuing operations. It
provides comprehensive community broadband planning,
telecommunications master planning, deployment and
management services to government and private organizations,
and a suite of public-sector IT solutions to local, state and
federal government markets. Magellan helps communities
identify, negotiate and forge public-private and publicpublic partnerships. Magellan’s portfolio includes more than
200 engagements for city, county, state, federal and private
broadband projects. Clients include the city governments of
Baltimore, Md.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Missoula, Mont.; Columbia,
Mo.; Yolo County, Calif.; Hamilton, Ohio; Jupiter, Fla.;
Ketchum, Idaho; College Station, Texas; and Riverside, Calif.;
the national government of New Zealand; the old masterplanned community of Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego; and
the new master-planned community of Babcock Ranch, Fla.
– a diverse, multigenerational community that will eventually
have more than 20,000 homes and 50,000 residents. Magellan
is headquartered in Denver and has regional offices in Florida,
Kansas, and Pennsylvania.
OPTICAL LAN SOLUTIONS
The following companies sell fiber-to-the-desk
solutions for corporate or campus LANs.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
3M Company/Communication
Markets Division
www.3M.com/telecom
Cisco Systems
www.cisco.com
Corning Optical
TE Connectivity
www.te.com
Zhone Technologies
www.zhone.com
Summary: Mapcom Systems offers a visualization-based
approach to FTTH operations and management. Its M4
Solution Suite encompasses the entire FTTH life cycle from
PON or active network design and feasibility analysis to
day-to-day plant/facility assignment to network maintenance
and management. It includes both outside and inside plant
at physical and logical levels. Providers use the M4 Solutions
Suite to model their networks and service areas, integrating
and correlating data from billing, accounting, GPS tracking,
element management, network monitoring and vehicle-tracking
applications in a powerful visual interface. Using the suite in
conjunction with M4 Workforce and M4 Process Manager
technology, staff can communicate via mobile devices to handle
trouble tickets, service orders, field locates and permitting in an
efficient and customer-friendly manner. Since 1971, Mapcom
has worked with independents, cooperatives, fiber communities
and campus telecommunications providers across the United
States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean.
MasTec
www.mastec.com
218-785-3030
Key Products: FTTx deployment, outside-plant cabling,
inside-plant construction and installation, joint trench
systems, splicing and testing, systems integration, ongoing
maintenance
Summary: MasTec’s engineering, design, construction and
maintenance services support the world’s most advanced
fiber optic, copper, wireless and satellite networks. Its FTTH
network experience includes underground and aerial fiber
installation in urban, suburban and rural environments,
including Verizon FiOS installations in eight states. Based in
Coral Gables, Fla., the company works in large geographic
areas of the country; MasTec is able to supply crews and
equipment to its customers 24/7. It combines cutting-edge
technology, innovative solutions, skilled professionals and a
commitment to safety to ensure that its customers are able to
meet their customers’ communication needs with the highest
levels of reliability and quality. MasTec’s communications
division generated $2.0 billion in revenue for 2014.
MaxCell
www.maxcellinnerduct.com
888-387-3828
Key Products: Fabric innerduct, conduit technology
“Interest in innovative public-private partnerships as a way to get ultrahigh-speed Internet access for cities and counties has exploded in the last
few years as municipal leaders understand more clearly the importance of
a robust infrastructure to their economic future.”
– Hu Meena, president and CEO, C Spire
Summary: MaxCell makes the only flexible fabric innerduct
system designed specifically for the network construction
industry. Its fabric construction allows it to conform to the
shape of cables placed inside it, greatly reducing the wasted
space associated with rigid innerduct. Network operators that
use MaxCell can increase their cable density 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, enabling operators to
recover up to 90 percent of conduit space. The MaxCell group
was founded in 1999 and is based in Wadsworth, Ohio.
Michels Corporation
www.michels.us
920-583-3132
Key Products: Fiber optic network construction, including
outside-plant construction, structured cabling, and fiber
splicing and testing
Summary: In 1983, Michels, based in Brownsville, Wis.,
was one of the first companies to construct fiber lines. Today,
it builds thousands of miles of fiber optic and broadband
networks per year. Its communications division serves all
sectors of the communications industry – local telephone
companies, broadband and cable TV providers, schools and
enterprises. Plowing, trenching, splicing, terminating, testing,
constructing aerial lines, directional boring, rail plowing,
installing cable, conducting site work and providing FTTx
solutions are some of the services Michels Communications
offers. Last year, the company booked $1.9 billion in new
construction to rank 33rd on the Engineering News-Record
list of top 400 contractors. It assists clients with growth
forecasting, verification of existing facilities, investigation of
potential migration strategies and cost estimates of numerous
deployment options. The company’s construction design
and management services include all phases of inside- and
outside-plant engineering. The firm, which has more than
5,000 employees, has about 31 regional offices throughout the
United States.
www.mscon.com
435-623-8601
Key Products: Communications engineering services,
facilities management software
Summary: Mid-State Consultants offers a full range of
communications engineering services for telephony, data
and video networks as well as computerized mapping and
conversion and construction supervision. The company has
experience working for a broad clientele, including local
exchange carriers, RBOCs, interexchange carriers, competitive
access providers, ISPs, cellular operators and CATV operators,
and it has participated in many FTTH projects. Mid-State
assists clients with growth forecasting, verification of existing
facilities, investigation of potential migration strategies
and cost estimates of numerous deployment options. The
company’s construction design and management services
include all phases of inside- and outside-plant engineering.
Mid-State’s e-TICS facilities management software facilitates
the assignment of inside and outside plant from end to end;
for FTTH networks, it can assign fibers and splitter ports
to specific locations. Last year, the company acquired CBW
Communications Engineers, a professional engineering firm
whose client base has expanded from independent telephone
companies in North Carolina to companies throughout the
southeastern United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands. MidState Consultants is headquartered in Nephi, Utah, and has
eight regional offices throughout the United States.
Millennium Communications Group Inc.
www.millenniuminc.com
www.matrixdg.com
800-677-1919
Key Products: Planning, design, permitting, project
management, IT services and solutions, physical security
and related services for fiber optic networks
Summary: Millennium Communications Group Inc., founded
in 1995 and based in East Hanover, N.J., specializes in FTTx
“We think the next 24 months is going to be an exciting time for the
industry as more consumers cut the cable TV cord and demand the kind
of Internet bandwidth and quality that only fiber and high-performance
wireless can deliver.”
– Dr. Andrew Cohill, President and CEO, Design Nine Inc.
deployments and fiber optic networks of any size. Millennium
Communications Group Inc. and its subsidiary Matrix
Design Group can assist customers nationwide at any stage
of a fiber deployment, from concept to completion. Services
include feasibility studies, budgeting, planning, design,
buildouts and project management. The company also handles
business case development, grant application assistance,
CARRIER ETHERNET SOLUTIONS
The following companies sell electronic equipment for
fiber networks certified by the Metro Ethernet Forum.
right-ofway permitting and smart-grid planning, and it can
help communities get started with fiber to public facilities,
schools and hospitals. The firm also has experience in data
center siting, design and operation and in broadband-based
community amenities such as security. Current clients include
Fortune 500 companies, telecom carriers, communities,
cooperatives, municipalities and early-stage FTTH initiatives.
Among its FTTH clients is WiredWest Communications
Cooperative Corporation, a large municipal communications
cooperative of 44 towns in western Massachusetts. Other
clients deploying FTTH include ECFiber, a multitown
cooperative in Vermont with a unique resident-funded business
model, and the town of Leverett, Mass.
These devices provide fiber connectivity for
enterprises, mobile backhaul, schools, MDUs, MTUs
and other large users that require service providers to
adhere to service-level agreements.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Actelis Networks
www.actelis.com
Adva Optical Networking
www.advaoptical.com
Allied Telesis
ARRISwww.arris.com
BTI Systems
www.btisystems.com
Calixwww.calix.com
Cienawww.ciena.com
Cisco Systems
www.cisco.com
D-Linkwww.d-link.com
Dasan Networks USA www.dasannetworksus.com
Fujitsuwww.fujitsu.com
MRV Communications
www.mrv.com
Omnitron Systems Technology
www.
omnitron-systems.com
Overture Networks
www.overturenetworks.com
Rad Data Communications
www.rad.com
Telco Systems
www.telco.com
Transition Networks
www.transition.com
us.zyxel.com
Multicom
www.multicominc.com
800-423-2594
Key Products: Fiber optic components, including FTTH
actives and passives, fiber optic cable, transmitters,
receivers, amplifiers, nodes, attenuators, enclosures,
splitters, fusion splicers and tools
Summary: Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., since 1982,
Multicom is a full-line stocking distributor and manufacturer
of products used for end-to-end integration of voice, data
and video over fiber, coax and copper. The company has a
multimillion-dollar inventory of more than 13,000 products
from more than 270 of the world’s major manufacturers
and provides all active and passive components required for
complete FTTH end-to-end solutions. Multicom’s GPON
“Everything Included” video-data-voice-Wi-Fi solution and
fiber optic product line makes deploying future-proof GPON
networks easy and affordable. Multicom also sells retail and
wholesale VoIP services through its Mconnect subsidiary as
well as a complete HDTV hospitality solution that includes
a 24/7 active monitoring and issue resolution application
accessible from a smartphone. Multicom maintains sales offices,
rep agencies and subdistributors throughout the Americas.
Multilink
www.gomultilink.com
440-366-6966
Key Products: Fiber distribution and cable management
solutions, connectors, splice enclosures and cabinets;
MDU enclosures; raceway and pathway solutions
Summary: Multilink, founded in 1983, is a manufacturer
of telecommunications network components that expanded
to become a worldwide supplier and integrator of end-toend solutions as it focused its new product development on
fiber optic–based solutions. Multilink’s customers include
independent telcos, RBOCs, utilities, local-area network
providers and CATV MSOs. Its products are designed to
meet the needs of both legacy plant and new technology
applications. Based in Elyria, Ohio, Multilink is privately
owned and has 200 employees.
NEO Fiber
www.NEOfiber.net
970-309-3500
Key Products: Consulting, design and engineering services
for middle-mile and FTTH networks
Summary: NEO Fiber, founded by telecom and FTTH
veteran Diane Kruse, provides strategic services for utilities,
municipalities, companies, tribal communities, real estate
developers, grant recipients and government agencies that
deploy fiber optic, gigabit and fiber-to-the-home networks.
Services include consulting, feasibility studies, financial
and business planning, financing, contract negotiations,
design and engineering services, RFP writing and vendor
management, project management, program management
and appraisal services.
OFS
www.ofsoptics.com
770-798-5555; 888-342-3743
Key Products: Optical fiber; optical fiber cable; fusion
splicers; fiber management and connectivity products for
homes, businesses and MDUs; network design services
Summary: OFS’s heritage, which goes back to the original
Bell Labs, includes pioneering research and development in
fiber optics. Wholly owned by Furukawa Electric of Japan,
OFS designs, manufactures and supplies optical fiber, fiber
optic cable, specialty photonics and optical connectivity
solutions, providing end-to-end fiber optic solutions for
outside-plant and inside-plant networks. Products include
Get in the groove
WITH LITE ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES
Lite Access Technologies is the World leader in Air Blown and
Microduct solutions. Focusing on innovative Micro-Trench technologies,
Lite Access has made end to end fiber connectivity a fast, environmentally
friendly and cost effective solution
KEY BENEFITS
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Completely air and water tight system
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Fast Installation - environmentally friendly, non-disruptive
50% quicker, half the cost
Flexible and adaptive - integrates with all ISP, OSP Telecom
RUS approved
604 247 4704
w w w.liteaccess.com
EZ-Bend ultra-bend-insensitive optical cables and EZ Bend
InvisiLight fiber optic solutions for in-MDU and in-home
deployments; AllWave+ ZWP full-spectrum, zero-water-peak,
bend-optimized fiber; gel-free Fortex loose tube, AccuRibbon
ribbon and PowerGuide ADSS fiber cables; end-to-end fiber
connectivity, optical splitter and fiber management solutions;
fusion splicers and several MDU deployment solutions. The
professional services group helps optimize network designs.
Headquartered near Atlanta, OFS is a global provider with
facilities in North America, Europe and the Middle East and
sales offices around the world. Furukawa Electric reported
revenue of about $1.5 billion for its telecommunications
group for the fiscal year ending March 2015.
On Trac Inc.
www.ontracinc.net
423-317-0009
Key Products: FTTH splicing, FTTH residential and
commercial installation, mainline fiber splicing, MDU
network design and installation, structured cabling,
consulting, project management, warehousing, back-office
structure
Summary: Based in eastern Tennessee, On Trac provides
telecommunications services and special projects to network
operators nationwide. Core services include FTTH splicing
and FTTH installation. Additional services include consulting;
project management; training, service and repair; materials
DISTRIBUTORS OF FIBER
OPTIC PRODUCTS
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
Advanced Media Technologies
www.amt.com
Anixterwww.anixter.com
Communications
Supply Corporation
www.gocsc.com
Fiber Instrument
Saleswww.fiberinstrumentsales.com
FiberOptic.comwww.fiberoptic.com
Graybarwww.graybar.com
KGP Logistics
Metrotekwww.metrotek.com
Pace International
www.paceintl.com
Power & Tel
www.ptsupply.com
TVC Communications
www.tvcinc.com
www.walkerfirst.com
management and warehousing; scheduling processes and backoffice structure. Clients include municipal network operators
as well as cooperatives. On Trac serves ongoing FTTH
deployments by Auburn Essential Services, Bristol Tennessee
Essential Services, Erwin Utilities, GVTC, BVU Authority,
Clarksville Department of Electricity, Dalton Utilities, LUS
Fiber and Google Fiber. To date, On Trac has connected more
than 175,000 FTTH installations, performing outside-plant
work that includes aerial drops, underground drops, mainline
fiber splicing and bidirectional testing.
OneCommunity
www.onecommunity.org
216-923-2200
Key Products: Fiber optic connectivity for anchor institutions
and enterprises
Summary: The nonprofit organization OneCommunity,
founded in 2003 as OneCleveland, builds and operates a
state-of-the-art fiber optic network that connects Northeast
Ohio’s universities, schools, hospitals, cultural institutions,
social service organizations and government agencies. The
OneCommunity network was in many ways the prototype
for the BTOP model of an open-access, middle-mile network
connecting anchor institutions. The network now covers more
than 2,400 route miles, connecting some 1,800 facilities
and organizations in 23 counties. In 2014, OneCommunity
launched Everstream, a for-profit subsidiary that serves
the high-speed networking needs of enterprise businesses
throughout Northeast Ohio. Also in 2014, OneCommunity,
along with the city of Cleveland, began installing the nation’s
first commercially available metropolitan 100 gigabit network
through Cleveland’s Health-Tech Corridor to University
Circle – a project funded by the Economic Development
Administration, the city of Cleveland and OneCommunity.
Through the Big Gig Challenge Grant program,
OneCommunity makes matching funds available to help
support fiber network construction for economic development
in Northeast Ohio.
Pace PLC / Aurora Networks
www.pace.com/americas
www.aurora.com
561-995-6000
Key Products: FTTH and cable network equipment, home
media servers, set-top boxes, customer-premises equipment
for fiber, Ethernet, xDSL and cable networks
Summary: More than 200 cable and telco TV providers
(and eight of the top 10) choose Pace for customer-premises
equipment for digital TV and broadband solutions. Over
“FTTH service providers must cost-effectively manage and monitor all
connected devices that deliver subscriber services. Those that do not
will be unable to retain and grow their businesses. Consumers will pay
for faster broadband speeds to consume more content, but they will
also demand highly reliable and consistent connections, making service
assurance the No. 1 driver of success in today’s competitive environment.”
– Frank Gine, President and COO, ETI Software Solutions
the past 30 years, Pace has become the global market leader
in set-top boxes and is No. 1 for U.S. residential gateways.
Pace gateways are available for a variety of broadband
infrastructures, including ADSL, VDSL, cable and FTTH.
The company’s open gateway software can be integrated
into multiple gateway designs and used across networks to
standardize the application layer. In 2014, Pace acquired
Aurora Networks and now offers optical access solutions for
cable operators, including headend-based and node PON
solutions. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Pace, with
more than 2,000 employees worldwide, also has offices in
the United States, France, India, Australia and South Africa.
Revenue in 2014 was more than $2.6 billion, of which almost
60 percent came from North America.
Pacific Broadband Networks
www.pbnglobal.com
703-579-6777
Key Products: Optical broadband access products and
network solutions, including active Ethernet, GEPON
and RFoG equipment for the central office and customer
premises; network management and provisioning software
Summary: Pacific Broadband Networks (PBN) supplies
advanced optical broadband access products and network
solutions. Its headend equipment and network management
and access products are suitable for HFC, FTTH, RFoG,
Ethernet and DOCSIS applications. PBN’s flexible product
portfolio was designed to enable network operators to bridge
the gap between existing and emerging technologies. Recent
product introductions include a new series of GEPON optical
network units with CATV overlay. Customers include major
telcos and MSOs serving tens of millions of subscribers around
the world. Recent deployments include GIB, the owner of
Flashcable, an ISP near Zürich, Switzerland; Energie AG
Oberösterreich in Austria; KOMNEXX in Germany; Arizona
State University in Phoenix; NuLink Digital in Georgia; and
SuperVision, an affiliate of YukonTel, in Alaska. PBN has
research and development facilities in Melbourne and Beijing
and offices in Australia, China, Europe and the Americas.
PBN is also well represented by channel partners globally.
Pavlov Media
www.pavlovmedia.com
800-677-6812
Key Products: Internet, video and voice services; secure home
networking for apartment units
Summary: Pavlov Media is a leading network provider in the
MDU space and the largest private provider of broadband
services to off-campus student housing in the United States.
It serves apartment complexes, businesses and housing
communities in more than 35 states. Pavlov’s 10G national
fiber backbone network, along with its Tesseractiv content
delivery network, which launched in 2012, enable it to deliver
popular content at speeds up to 1 Gbps. Other recent speedenhancing innovations include launching WebSnap – a set
of traffic management techniques that enable fast Web page
loading through superfast blasts of service – and hosting a
root domain name server on its network to improve latency.
Pavlov Media was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in
Champaign, Ill.
Power & Tel
www.ptsupply.com
800-238-7514
Key Products: Fiber optic and cable products, optical
networking electronics, test gear, IPTV and home
networking solutions
Summary: The distributor Power & Tel specializes in the
procurement, sales and logistics of communications products.
By cost-effectively and efficiently managing the supply
“Consumers are demanding gigabit performance to and throughout their
connected homes. Service providers with progressive plans, from VDSL
to G.fast with fiber to FTTH and 802.11ac Wi-Fi, are best suited to thrive in
this hypercompetitive market. These operators will successfully lead their
customers into the Internet-centered world surrounded by smart devices
and always-on connectivity.”
– Brian Feng, Senior Vice President, ZyXEL
chain, Power & Tel lets its customers – service providers,
contractors and other entities large enough to maintain
their own communications networks – focus on building
and maintaining fiber networks. The company also provides
materials management services that make use of state-of-the
art distribution technology to accommodate the industry’s
rapidly changing supply needs. Founded in 1963 and privately
owned, Power & Tel is headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., and
has locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
www.preformed.com
440-461-5200
Key Products: Fiber optic and copper splice closures, highspeed cross-connect devices, cable anchoring and control
hardware and systems
Summary: Founded in 1947, Preformed Line Products
(PLP) is an international designer and manufacturer of
products and systems used to construct and maintain
overhead and underground networks. Its flagship product
line of COYOTE fiber closures has been updated to make
the devices more durable, more versatile and easier to install.
PLP serves telecommunications network operators, cable
television and broadband service providers, power utilities,
corporations and enterprise networks, government agencies
and educational institutions. Headquartered in Cleveland,
PLP operates domestic manufacturing centers in Rogers,
Ark.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Albemarle, N.C. The company
serves worldwide markets through operations in 16 countries.
Net sales for 2014 were $388 million.
Prysmian Group
www.prysmiangroup.com
803-951-4800; 800-713-5312
Key Products: Optical fiber and telecommunications cables
Summary: Prysmian Group is the world’s largest cable
solutions provider. The company operates through two global
brands: Prysmian and Draka. With 130 years of history,
Prysmian Group has subsidiaries in 50 countries, 89 plants,
17 R&D centers and more than 19,000 employees. In North
America, Prysmian Group has deployed more than 80 million
fiber miles. Its product portfolio includes optical fiber cable,
composite 4G cable, FTTx solutions and premises/data cables.
Prysmian offers two compact solutions for FTTH. Mini
FlexTube cables are optimized for mid-span access with superflexible 1.3mm tubes that can be removed without tools.
LT2.0 cable offers the smallest, most flexible conventional
buffer tubes in the market, with bend-insensitive fiber as
a standard feature. Prysmian Group also offers ADSS and
OPGW cables for FTTH and middle-mile builders that have
access to electrical utility poles or transmission infrastructure.
In 2014, Prysmian’s sales reached more than $7 billion.
Pulse Broadband
314-324-7347
Key Products: Fiber network and FTTH planning, design,
construction management, provisioning, billing, customer
care, video programming services and operations
management
Summary: Pulse Broadband helps electric cooperatives,
municipalities and other organizations build and operate
gigabit fiber networks to deliver high-speed broadband to
their constituents. Pulse helps clients determine which type of
fiber architecture is the most financially viable option for their
markets and then works to design the fiber network, manage
construction and optionally offer voice, video and data services
once the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network is completed.
Pulse also offers assistance with back-office functions,
including billing, customer sales and support, reporting and
marketing. Recent projects include working with Sebewaing
Light and Water to design and launch Michigan’s first gigabit
village, partnering with Midwest Energy as it accelerates
the buildout of its substation fiber interconnect project and
extends FTTH to its members and with Kit Carson Electric
Cooperative as it brings a transformative FTTH network to its
northern New Mexico customers.
and distributes more than 1,000 fiber optic products for the
telecom and datacom industries. Its Intelligent Building
Solution facilitates the distribution of advanced, highbandwidth services, such as HDTV and telemedicine,
within commercial buildings, multifamily buildings, hotels,
hospitals and educational institutions. Founded in 1997 and
headquartered in Boston, SENKO Advanced Components
is a subsidiary of SENKO Group in Japan. It has 1,500
employees and is privately held.
Smithville Communications / Smithville Telecom /
Smithville Fiber
www.smithville.net
812-876-2211; 800-742-4084
SDT
www.sdt-1.com
601-823-9440
Key Products: Telecommunications infrastructure services,
including structured cabling; engineer, furnish and install
services; design and engineering
Summary: Headquartered in Brookhaven, Miss., with 200
employees, SDT provides a diversified package of services
to telecommunications carriers, developers and integration
providers. The company performs network planning, design,
development, installation, testing, turnup and maintenance
on all network environments, from long-haul fiber networks
to FTTH, wireless and LAN. Over the last year, SDT has
been involved in numerous fiber-to-the cell-site projects.
With its integrated project delivery strategy, SDT can bundle
individual products from its separate business units (outsideplant engineering and construction, inside-plant and wireless
services, real estate, right-of-way and managed services) as
turnkey solutions. In association with its strategic partner,
Clearion Software, SDT pioneered the use of GIS in fiber
network design, which greatly reduces the time to engineer
and design networks, speeds network buildouts and achieves
cost savings for owners.
SENKO Advanced Components
www.senko.com
508-481-9999
Key Products: Fiber distribution panels, network access
terminals, fiber protection equipment, fiber cleaning
and inspection equipment, splitter modules, couplers,
attenuators, connectors and adapters
Summary: Many companies that sell FTTH technology
integrate SENKO into their product offerings. SENKO
Advanced Components develops, manufactures, markets
Key Products: High-speed Internet, IPTV, voice, managed
services, cellular, home security services, cloud services,
big data support, videoconferencing, consulting services
for broadband-supported economic development
Summary: Privately owned Smithville Communications is
Indiana’s largest independent telecom company, with about
200 employees. In the last year, it has continued its $90
million FTTP buildout to homes, businesses, educational
institutions and government facilities inside and outside its
traditional service area. In addition to connecting technology
parks, universities, Fortune 100 companies and nearly 25,000
residences, Smithville created two new all-fiber communities
in rural Indiana, continuing its commitment to rural areas
ignored by larger telcos. To mark this expansion, the company
NETWORK PLANNING AND
DESIGN SOLUTIONS
These companies provide software
used to plan and design FTTH networks.
COMPANY NAME
WEB ADDRESS
3-GISwww.3-GIS.com
Advance Fiber Optics
www.ospinsight.com
Comsofwww.comsof.com
COS Systems
www.cossystems.com
CrowdFiberwww.crowdfiber.com
www.etisoftware.com
GLDSwww.glds.com
Mapcom Systems
www.mapcom.com
www.mscon.com
Network Design Decisions Inc.
www.nocplan.com
adopted the brand Smithville Fiber. Smithville’s FTTP service
offers Internet speeds at a standard of 1 Gbps with the capacity
to boost speed to 10 Gbps for commercial installations.
Smithville is widely recognized for its positive impact on
economic development. Its subsidiary, Smithville Telecom,
provides fiber-based connectivity, data consulting, network
management and managed services for businesses, university
campuses, biotechnology companies, health care providers and
government offices in central and southern Indiana.
Sonic
www.sonic.net
888-766-4233
Key Products: Gigabit fiber and DSL Internet access,
residential and business voice service, co-location, business
networking
Summary: Sonic, based in Santa Rosa, Calif., was founded
in 1994 as an Internet service provider and was one of the
first ISPs to bring DSL access to the California wine country.
Because of its reliable, inexpensive connectivity and excellent
customer service – as well as its commitment to transparency
and user privacy, which was recognized by the Electronic
Frontier Foundation – Sonic survived an era during which
most independent ISPs collapsed. In addition to serving tens of
thousands of residential customers, Sonic provides customized
Internet and phone solutions to many top companies, including
the Golden State Warriors and Oracle Arena, Uber, Minted,
Amy’s Kitchen and others. In 2010, Google chose Sonic to
manage its “beta” FTTH network in Stanford University
faculty housing. When Sonic began deploying FTTH
technology, it prioritized its buildout in neighborhoods where
it already had high demand for its advanced DSL service and
could deploy relatively inexpensively. The company quickly
won acclaim for offering gigabit fiber Internet service for $70
per month (now down to $40) – a price-performance ratio
unheard of elsewhere in the United States. Both its demanddriven rollout strategy and its pricing then set the standard
nationwide for gigabit fiber networks. Currently, Sonic
provides gigabit fiber Internet and phone service to residents
in Sebastopol, Calif., and Brentwood, Calif., as well as gigabit
fiber Internet and cloud phone service to businesses in the
Northpoint Business Park, the Airport Business Park and
the Petaluma Redwood Business Park in the North Bay area.
The company is continuing to build gigabit fiber Internet in
residential and business areas in the North Bay and East Bay.
Superior Essex
www.SuperiorEssex.com
770-657-6000
Key Products: Premises and outside-plant fiber and copper
cable products, FTTH enclosures
Summary: Superior Essex designs, manufactures and
supplies a large selection of premises and outside-plant fiber
optic and copper wire and cable products. The company
supplies many of the largest telecommunications service
providers, and its cable products are installed in thousands
of enterprises around the globe. It recently introduced a line
of cables for distributed antenna systems; FTTH closures,
including fiber distribution hubs; and redesigned families
of fiber dome closures. In 2013, Superior Essex announced
a co-development and marketing alliance with Legrand to
create a suite of structured cabling systems, nCompass, which
provides solutions to the challenges of technical support,
network energy efficiency, reliability and flexibility. Other
recently introduced products include the reduced-diameter
10Gain XP category 6A unshielded twisted pair cable, the
low-voltage 600V power cable, and a new hybrid cable, which
combines copper conductors for power with optical fiber.
Superior Essex is headquartered in Atlanta and has more than
3,000 employees. Its state-of-the-art product development
center is in Kennesaw, Ga., and it has manufacturing facilities
in Brownwood, Texas; Tarboro, N.C.; and Hoisington, Kan.
Suttle
www.suttlesolutions.com
800-852-8662
Key Products: Fiber enclosure systems for OSP, MDUs and
building entrances; home networking solutions; structured
wiring media panel enclosures and modules; high-speed
panels and frames
Summary: Suttle specializes in connectivity solutions for
communications service providers, meeting network needs
from central offices all the way into customer premises. In the
last several years, Suttle has focused on innovating solutions
for gigabit broadband deployments. Suttle’s newest brands
are FutureLink and MediaMAX. FutureLink provides highquality, medium-agnostic connectivity for high-speed OSP
and premises applications. MediaMAX premises distribution
systems are designed to meet the demand for wired and
wireless high-speed triple play connectivity throughout homes
and small offices and to optimize the installation cost for
gigabit services. Suttle’s products are designed to comply with
the most stringent industry standards. Quality management
systems are ISO 9001 and TL9000 certified. Headquartered
in Hector, Minn., Suttle was founded in 1910 and is now a
subsidiary of Communications Systems Inc. Revenue for 2014
was $67 million.
TE Connectivity
www.te.com
610-893-9800
telecom, enterprise and wireless businesses (about two-thirds
of its network solutions operations) in an all-cash transaction
valued at approximately $3 billion.
Key Products: Fiber optic cabling and connectivity products
– undersea, from the central office to the customer
premises and from the data center to the desktop
Summary: TE Connectivity is a fiber connectivity
powerhouse. It designs and manufactures products that
make electronic and fiber connections in nearly every
industry – from broadband communications and automotive
to industrial, aerospace and defense. TE’s products include
connectors, above- and below-ground enclosures, heat-shrink
sleeves, cable accessories, surge arrestors and fiber optic and
copper cabling systems. The fiber optic product line offers
solutions for central offices, data centers, FTTx and optical
LANs. Recently introduced was a powered fiber cable
system, which combines optical fiber with copper for power.
TE Connectivity has 80,000 employees in more than 50
countries; its U.S. headquarters is in Berwyn, Pa. In its fiscal
year 2014 (ending September 26, 2014), TE had net sales of
$13.9 billion, with almost $3 billion of that directly tied to
TE’s Network Solutions products. In January, CommScope
Holding Company agreed to acquire TE Connectivity’s
Team Fishel
www.teamfishel.com
614-274-8100; 800-347-4351
Key Products: Network design, engineering, construction,
installation and maintenance services
Summary: Established in 1936, Team Fishel has 1,850
“teammates” and 37 offices in 13 states across the country. The
company specializes in designing and constructing last-mile
fiber optic networks for broadband service providers. Its fiber
specialists have more than 35 years of experience building
fiber networks to the home and business. Team Fishel
has the technical resources to design broadband network
infrastructures from initial planning stages all the way
through construction, installation and system maintenance.
“Consumer demand for increased capacity and data speeds is rising and
will continue to rise. Research suggests that FTTH will be the fastestgrowing access equipment market, with double-digit gains through 2017.
Much of that will include expansion in rural areas. The market demand for
fiber broadband is there, and that trend will only increase.”
– Marc Bolick, Vice President, Product & Marketing, KGP Companies
Telect
www.telect.com
509-926-6000; 800-551-4567
Tucows / Ting
www.ting.com/internet
855-846-4389
Key Products: Fiber optic and copper connectivity solutions,
network power management, equipment racks and
cabinets, cable management systems
Key Products: Gigabit Internet access
Summary: For more than 33 years, Telect has provided
connectivity, power, equipment racks and cable management
solutions for global communications networks. Products
include fiber optic distribution panels, high-density optical
frames, copper connectivity products, cable management,
power distribution and systems, and equipment racks.
Headquartered in Liberty Lake, Wash., with 220 employees,
Telect also operates a facility in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Tellabs
www.tellabs.com
630-798-8800
Key Products: Optical LAN, GPON optical line terminals
and optical network terminals, outside plant and network
management
Summary: Tellabs customers include enterprise, government
and telecom. The company has delivered carrier-class access
solutions to service providers for more than two decades. An
early supplier to the FiOS build, Tellabs is now a leader in
the optical LAN marketplace and a provider of broadband
access solutions to many of the world’s leading networks.
As a company in the Marlin Equity Partners portfolio,
Tellabs concentrates on two solutions. Its passive optical
LAN solution is a favorite among enterprise and government
customers, in addition to such markets as hospitality, health
care and education. Last year, Tellabs Optical LAN was
deployed in the Santa Fe Public Schools, providing gigabit
speeds to students, teachers and classrooms to improve the
digital learning environment and increase the efficiency of IT
systems and operations. Tellabs continues to serve traditional
telecom carriers by providing essential equipment and services
to support critical last-mile applications. The company backs
its access solutions with the Tellabs Services Suite, a collection
of training, professional services and support services
customized to meet specific needs.
Summary: One of the most unusual and promising newcomers
to the FTTH market in the last year was Ting. A subsidiary
of Tucows – a domain-management service company that
ventured into the MVNO business in 2012 – Ting launched
its FTTH business with a bang in December 2014 when
it acquired Blue Ridge InternetWorks, a competitive fiber
provider in Charlottesville, Va. Today, Ting provides fiber
services to several thousand Charlottesville customers, and it
plans to expand the FTTH network to cover the entire city in
2016. Shortly after the Charlottesville announcement, the city
of Westminster, Md., chose Ting to be the network operator
and first service provider on its city-owned fiber optic network.
Ting has ambitions to provide FTTH services in other small
markets; the company is evaluating opportunities to invest in
or partner with additional network operators, and its website
invites consumers to “Put your town or city’s name on our
watch list.” Tucows is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with
offices in Starkville Miss.; Amsterdam; Bonn and Singapore.
It reported $148 million in revenues for 2014.
US Ignite
www.us-ignite.org
202-365-9219
Key Products: Fostering the development, testing, and
deployment of transformative applications for nextgeneration networks
Summary: US Ignite spurs the development of nextgeneration broadband applications – novel applications and
digital experiences that promise to transform health care,
energy, education, transportation, public safety and advanced
manufacturing. The initiative makes use of advanced
technologies developed by researchers, entrepreneurs and US
Ignite’s commercial partners. US Ignite advocates for core
technologies – software-defined networking, symmetrical
gigabit to the end user and locavore computing (local cloud
computing) – that provide the opportunity to create the
Internet of Immersive Experience and transform the way
people live, work, learn and play in gigabit cities. US Ignite
launched at the White House in 2012 and was formed with
leadership from the National Science Foundation and the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. It
responded to the administration’s call to ensure all Americans
access to the information and tools necessary to thrive in a
21st-century economy. An independent nonprofit funded
through member organizations, US Ignite works with 45
technical partners, including many large network deployers,
and more than 30 communities. As coordinator and
incubator of this ecosystem, US Ignite aims to accelerate the
adoption of next-generation fiber and wireless networks.
speeds up to 500 Mbps symmetrical, and FiOS Quantum
TV offers the ability to record up to 12 shows at the same
time and up to 200 hours of HD recording capacity. Verizon
Enhanced Communities works with property owners, property
managers and businesses to serve multifamily residential,
multitenant commercial and mixed-use communities with
high-bandwidth Internet, TV and phone services. Verizon
bought the 45 percent of Verizon Wireless it did not already
own from Vodafone in February 2014. Early in 2015, Verizon
announced its intended sale of all residential and small-business
wireline operations in California, Florida and Texas to Frontier
Communications. If the sale closes as planned in 2016, Frontier
will take over approximately a quarter of all FiOS customers.
Vermeer Corporation
www.vermeer.com
641-628-3141; 888-837-6337
Key Products: Horizontal directional drilling equipment;
utility and pedestrian trenchers and plows
www.vantagepnt.com
605-995-1777
Key Products: Telecom engineering and consulting services
Summary: Vantage Point Solutions (VPS) provides
engineering and consulting services to broadband wireless
and wireline providers. With a staff of more than 150, VPS
has enormous depth and expertise in broadband engineering,
financial analysis and regulatory services. Services include
professional engineering, outside-plant engineering, strategic
planning, technology evaluations, network architecture
design, and regulatory and feasibility studies. VPS also
developed the popular Remote Assistant, a cloud-based home
monitoring service that providers can private label to allow
their customers to control door locks, lighting, thermostats,
cameras and other devices. VPS deploys FTTP, wireless, data
and transport networks as well as IPv6 network transitions
and IPTV implementations.
Verizon Communications /
Verizon Enhanced Communities
www.verizon.com/www.verizon.com/communities
Key Products: FiOS TV, Internet and Digital Voice; FiOS
Quantum Internet and FiOS Quantum TV
Summary: Verizon delivers broadband and other
communications services to consumer, business, government
and wholesale customers. The largest FTTH provider in
the United States, it provides converged communications,
information and entertainment services over an advanced fiber
optic network in the U.S. and delivers integrated business
solutions to customers in more than 150 countries. A Dow
30 company with more than $127 billion in 2014 revenues
(30 percent from wireline services), Verizon employs a diverse
workforce of 177,300 worldwide. The Verizon FiOS network
now passes more than 20 million homes, and, according to
RVA LLC, FiOS served more than half of all U.S. FTTH
subscribers in 2014. FiOS Quantum Internet offers connection
Summary: Headquartered in Pella, Iowa, and selling
worldwide, Vermeer Corporation manufactures underground
installation equipment. Its involvement in fiber optic
installation began in 1991 with the launch of its Navigator
horizontal directional drill product line, which can install
R E G I S T E R N OW !
Fiber For The New Economy
Lexington, KY
September 15-18, 2015
Conference Series
To Exhibit or Sponsor contact: Irene G. Prescott
[email protected] | 505-867-3299
877-588-1649 | www.bbcmag.com
communications lines underground without excavating or
trenching, minimizing environmental disruption and helping
reduce labor costs in fiber deployments. In 2010, Vermeer
introduced a microtrenching system that allows installation
of fiber lines into a roadway in one quick, efficient pass. A
recent introduction was the D23x30 S3 Navigator horizontal
directional drill, which packs speed and power into a
compact design for installation in congested commercial and
residential areas. The D23x30 S3 is also one of the quietest
drills on the HDD market – another advantage in congested
areas. Privately owned, Vermeer was founded in 1948.
www.walkerfirst.com
800-925-5371
Key Products: Products and services for deploying
communications networks
Summary:
Walker and Associates is a national distributor of network
products for broadband providers, including wireline,
wireless, CATV, government and enterprise network
operators. Walker’s extensive range of products from more
than 250 suppliers facilitates carriers’ delivery of highspeed Internet, video, data and voice services to residential,
business and mobile users. Walker supports technologies
such as switching, routing, Wi-Fi, microwave, NFV, Carrier
Ethernet, VoIP, WDM, ROADM, packet optical networking,
SDN, GPON, active Ethernet, fixed wireless, DSL and
more. Additionally, Walker provides physical plant products,
including fiber/copper connectivity, power systems, indoor/
outdoor enclosures and outside-plant products. In addition
to supplying basic material, Walker simplifies network
deployment through services such as product engineering,
expert installation, systems integration and managed services.
In an advisory capacity, Walker helps network designers
make wise product selection decisions for optimum network
performance, scale and operating cost. In a hands-on capacity,
Walker kits, integrates and installs products to help carriers
efficiently deploy networks. Walker performs important
promotional, logistical and technical support services for
its manufacturer base, reaching 10 telecommunications
submarkets and more than 1,200 domestic customers. Based
in Welcome, N.C., Walker is TL9000/ISO 9001/2008
quality certified and is a certified women-owned corporation.
Zhone Technologies
www.zhone.com
510-777-7000; 877-946-6320
Planning Your Gigabit Network?
Prove your business case with real-time customer demand
Take the guesswork out of your fiber deployment
Service Zones™
Delivering successful network deployments
© 2015 COS Systems
617.274.8171 | www.cossystems.com/service-zones
Key Products: Telecommunications equipment for all-IP
multiservice broadband access, including multiservice
platform integration of FTTx, Ethernet in the First Mile
and wireless access technologies
Summary: Zhone Technologies’ all-IP multiservice access
solutions serve more than 750 network operators worldwide.
With the company’s integrated portfolio of FTTx, EFM and
Wi-Fi access technologies, providers can deliver residential and
business broadband, fixed and mobile voice, advanced video
and entertainment, and mobile backhaul over copper, fiber
and wireless infrastructures. Zhone’s flagship, carrier-grade
FTTx platform, the MXK, is accompanied by a suite of smart
ONTs. In 2012, Zhone launched the Fiber LAN solution, a
high-performance, high-density, GPON-based optical LAN.
In the last year, Zhone announced several major deployments
in Canada, the United States, Italy and Ireland. Zhone is
headquartered in Oakland, Calif., and its MSAP products are
manufactured in the United States in a facility that is emission-,
wastewater- and CFC-free. With more than 250 employees
worldwide, Zhone posted revenue of $121 million in 2014.
ZyXEL Communications Inc.
www.zyxel.com/us
714-632-0882; 800-255-4101
Key Products: Customer-premises equipment and Ethernet
switches for FTTH and FTTN networks
Summary: In operation since 1989, ZyXEL offers a portfolio
of fiber and DSL broadband gateways, home connectivity,
entertainment solutions and smart-home devices. Service
providers deliver FTTH and FTTN services to homes,
buildings and campuses with ZyXEL products that include
broadband gateways, Wi-Fi routers and media streamers,
power line and HPNA adapters, indoor and outdoor WLAN
access points, gigabit and 10G Ethernet switches, next-gen
UTM security gateways, Wi-Fi hotspots and Internet service
gateways. Over the past year, ZyXEL has been the broadband
CPE vendor of choice for major service providers and more
than 100 independent operating companies throughout
the United States. Headquartered in Anaheim, Calif., with
90 employees, ZyXEL offers logistical, sales and technical
support through a domestic team of professionals. v
To nominate an organization for next year’s
FTTH Top 100, email [email protected].
FIBER AND WIRELESS DEPLOYMENT
Holy Cross High School
Graduates to a New Network
A generous gift allowed a private high school to upgrade its antiquated network
infrastructure. The result: a future-proof network plus educational benefits.
H
oly Cross High School in Waterbury,
Conn., is a college preparatory school
with 730 students from around the
region. It has an intensive academic program
(nearly all students go on to college), a
successful athletic program and a thriving arts
program. Until recently, however, it didn’t have
up-to-date technology.
Its campus network was 15 years old, built on
an ad-hoc infrastructure whose accessibility and
capacity were limited. Over time, IT staff had
patched up the network with donated equipment,
usually to fix urgent problems. Students and
administrators needed a better solution.
An opportunity arose in December 2013
when an anonymous donor gave the school a
transformational gift of $3.4 million. The gift
allowed Holy Cross to address several aspects
of its strategic plan, including upgrades to
facilities, programs and infrastructure.
One important infrastructure project to
which gift funds were applied was an upgrade of
the campus network, including ISP, structured
cabling, switching and the wired and wireless
Internet network.
School IT personnel knew what they
needed, but they didn’t have the skills to
design and implement the upgrade. Timothy
McDonald, the school president, says, “It was
evident that we had exhausted internal expertise
and were at the point where we recognized it
was time to go outside. We needed a solutions
provider that understood the complexities of
a private school that includes students, faculty
and staff all accessing the Internet at different
times in the day, on different devices, in a
variety of different places in the building.”
Enter RESOLUTE Partners – a firm based
in Southington, Conn., that engineers, installs,
operates and maintains wired and wireless
networks. RESOLUTE won the opportunity to
engineer a unified solution to deliver on-demand
wireless Internet access to the Holy Cross campus
and all the students, faculty, staff and guests.
SITE REVIEW
RESOLUTE began by doing a thorough site
review. This was an opportunity for engineers
to visit the campus, determine the locations
that would deliver the required level of Wi-Fi
coverage throughout the school, and decide
what hardware was needed to meet the school’s
capacity demands.
“We performed both physical analysis and
logical analysis to determine where the heaviest
requirements were,” says Frank DeMasi,
RESOLUTE vice president of information
technology.
The team identified several distinct coverage
areas, along with the functions performed in
each area and their intensity of network usage.
For example, science rooms require more
network capacity than language rooms because
students use more virtual books and wireless
projectors in science classes and tend to stream
more information from the Internet in real
time. Auditoriums have a higher user
density than classrooms but a lower
intensity of usage.
The engineers also studied the
devices students used in various areas
of the school – it’s not uncommon to
have two or three devices per student.
Understanding the devices and how
they were used made the network more
flexible as well as useful.
Finally, the site review team looked
at the school’s future plans for using
technology. Over time, the school will
use more and more wireless technology,
but the main building offers what
DeMasi calls a “worst-case scenario”
for wireless: cinder block and concrete
construction with hard ceilings. To
support the school’s growth plans,
engineers decided to run fiber to each
corridor and add enough intermediate
distribution frames (IDFs) so that every
wireless access point would be within
about 200 feet of an IDF. During site
review, they mapped out fiber paths
and IDF locations for easy access,
using existing pathways if available.
In one case, to accommodate a major
renovation of the athletic area, the team
decided point-to-point wireless would
be less expensive than fiber.
IMPLEMENTATION
Working from the approved site
review action report, RESOLUTE
created a detailed implementation plan
for the school, including additional
fiber runs, additional IDF locations,
access point types and locations and
network backbone upgrades. Once
the installation was completed,
RESOLUTE implemented the detailed
configurations for the network,
including SSIDs and VLANs, and then
completed the network testing. The
entire project took just six weeks.
Though the school network was
originally only wired, IT staff had
added some wireless access points
to accommodate students’ use of
mobile devices. By contrast, the
new environment is predominantly
wireless, with a few wired computers in
areas such as the library and training
labs. Wireless equipment from HP
Networking was used throughout the
project because HP’s wireless access
points and controllers allow for many
possible network configurations. This
flexibility allowed RESOLUTE to
meet both the school’s current needs
and its anticipated future needs at a
reasonable price.
Also required was the ability for
students, faculty and staff to move
around the campus without having
to log in and out of the network. To
accommodate this, three wireless
networks are now broadcast throughout
the campus. One allows students
to access the Internet via their own
cell phones (the school can turn off
this network to keep students from
spending too much time on applications
such as Facebook). The second is for
administrative staff, and the third is for
students to access the school curriculum
via school devices.
All access points support both 2.4
GHz (for legacy devices) and 5 GHz
(for newer devices). DeMasi explains
that as device technology moves to
the 5 GHz range, traffic will shift
to that frequency range, where more
bandwidth is available, without users or
network administrators having to take
any action to move it there.
Because the school is moving its
curriculum to the cloud, more Internet
bandwidth – and redundant bandwidth
– is now a necessity. In place of the
T1 circuit that connected the school
to the Internet, RESOLUTE brought
fiber circuits from two different
service providers, with the primary
fiber provisioned at 100 Mbps and the
secondary one at 50 Mbps. The bonded
capacity of the two circuits is 150 Mbps
and can expand over time. A highavailability firewall pair connects the
school to the circuits.
EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS
Today, the school reaps educational
benefits from its robust, ubiquitous
wireless network. Michael Blanco,
CEO of RESOLUTE Partners,
explains that students and faculty
walk around the school with their
laptops. They can have discussions in
hallways, do research in classrooms and
collaborate in small groups wherever
they are. The library is no longer the
only place to find information.
Easy access to educational resources
makes it more practical for the school to
offer accelerated and specialized classes.
“They’re having conversations now
about a ‘barbell strategy,’” Blanco says.
“That means they would offer common
teaching to a large group of students but
stretch the boundaries at the remedial
end and at the advanced end. They’re
just at the infancy of that project.”
“It’s such a challenge for schools that
the technology moves so fast,” Blanco
adds. “That’s why we’re focused on the
consultative side of the process, rather
than forcing them into a whiz-bang
solution. Now they have the network
bones to go where they need to go.” v
[email protected].
OPINION
Connecting Cambridge
Why doesn’t Cambridge, Mass., have a next-generation network?
By Saul Tannenbaum / Cambridge Broadband Task Force
I
t’s a strange experience to go to the 2015
Broadband Communities Summit and
announce that you are a member of the
Cambridge Broadband Task Force. After people
make sure you meant that Cambridge, they’re
surprised that Cambridge doesn’t already have a
next-generation network.
Is it local government interference? Robert
Metcalfe, the co-inventor of Ethernet –
technology at the foundation of all high-speed
computer networks – reminds you that you live
in the city in which the Internet was invented
and asks what’s taking you so long. Of a
libertarian bent, he’s sure it must be government
interference. No, you explain, anyone who
might want to invest in a better Cambridge
network has been invited in, and all have
declined. He’s still not entirely convinced. You
point to Kendall Square, an area he knows well
in his role as an MIT trustee, and suggest that if
Cambridge were as anticorporate as he imagines,
it wouldn’t have what many have called the most
innovative square mile on the planet.
Is it state government interference?
Representatives of small towns seek you out
to understand what the barriers have been,
There’s no local or state interference. The
city has plenty of money. The absence of
a next-generation network in Cambridge
must result from market failure.
certain that it must be state legislation
preventing you from moving ahead. Unlike
19 other states, Massachusetts has no laws
keeping a municipality from investing in
high-speed networks.
Is it money, they ask? If so, there are
interesting public-private partnerships available.
Creative financial engineering is also possible to
bring this within reach.
No. Cambridge has had an AAA bond rating
for 16 years and builds schools without state aid,
all fueled by a thriving commercial tax base.
IT’S NATIONWIDE MARKET
FAILURE
The United States is suffering from nationwide
failure of the telecommunications marketplace.
Because there is no competition, incumbent
telecommunications companies collect everincreasing subscriber fees without investing in
higher-speed networks. This position, formerly
voiced only by academics and activists, has
now become a cornerstone of government
policy. President Barack Obama, speaking in
Cedar Falls, Iowa, voiced this, as has Federal
Communications Commission Chairman
Tom Wheeler.
Along with acknowledging a market failure,
both Obama and Wheeler urged the same
solution: community networks.
It may be no surprise that former
community organizer Obama called for
community networks as a solution, but
Wheeler, formerly an industry representative for
the telecommunications companies, certainly
raised eyebrows when he told the Broadband
Communities Summit that “[w]hen commercial
providers don’t step up to serve a
community’s needs, we should embrace
the great American tradition of citizens
stepping up to take action collectively.”
Community networks turn out to
be a viable business. Because incumbent
telecommunications companies offer
poor service at artificially high prices,
building a business around higherspeed networking at reasonable prices is
quite feasible.
There’s no better indicator for that
than the day-long “Financing Fiber
Networks” session. The list of potential
financing mechanisms is quite long.
Though Cambridge has the financial
strength to fund a network through
traditional methods of infrastructure
funding – selling bonds – many cities
do not have that option. Private funders
– corporations, investment banks,
private equity funds – are increasingly
prepared to risk capital on these
investments.
WESTMINSTER, MD.:
OWNING THE NETWORK
It is a bedrock assumption of
government officials involved in
next-generation networks that a
municipality needs to retain ownership
of the network it builds. Use a private
partnership to mitigate risks and
provide services, but retain ownership
and create an open-access network to
stimulate competition.
Westminster, Md., is doing just
that. Expecting to spend $15 million
to build an open-access fiber network,
Westminster is leasing the network to
Ting, which will sell service directly to
residents. Robert Wack, Westminster’s
city council president, is quite clear
why they’re doing it: “We want to blow
this thing up, and we want disruptive
services at disruptive pricing. We’ve got
Comcast and its usual suite of services,
Verizon DSL with its patchy service
areas, and dish and satellite services.
Nobody is happy with any of it, and
none of it has the capacity we need to
take this city into the future.”
DIGITAL INCLUSION
A community-owned network can
build network services that reflect local
community values and priorities, not
A municipal network in Cambridge could
represent the city’s values and priorities better
than a large, publicly held telecommunications
company could.
the values of large telecommunications
companies answerable to stockholders.
The Cambridge City Council went
on record as early as 2005 as wanting
to close the digital divide. Comcast has
demonstrated no true interest in this,
offering its low-cost Internet Essentials as
what some have called a “crass PR stunt.”
A Cambridge-controlled
community network could – and
should – make some level of Internet
service available to all, regardless of the
ability to pay. It could – and should –
make sure that this service has firstclass connections to the public schools,
library resources and other city services.
It could operate in the spirit of the early
Internet: free and open, seeking only
to recover most costs rather than to
monetize every element.
COMMUNITY NETWORKS:
THE INNOVATION ECONOMY
It is an open secret among advocates
of gigabit networks that today there’s
little for which anyone really needs a
gigabit network. The justification given
for building networks of this speed is
future-proofing. We’ll need it in the
future, they say, and if you’re digging
up a community to bury cables, it
makes no sense to invest in technology
that will soon be obsolete. Instead,
build a fiber-to-the-home network.
Cambridge is an exception.
Cambridge has companies and
institutions for whom high-capacity,
high-speed networks are mission
critical. MIT, Harvard, the Broad
Institute, Google, Microsoft, Biogen,
Novartis and many others that are
not yet household names move large
amounts of data as part of daily work.
With partners like those, Cambridge
can become a true test bed for the
network of the future. Cambridge,
where the Internet was invented, can be
where the next Internet is developed.
It’s not just the upper end of the
research and education sector of the
economy that can benefit. Ubiquitous
high-speed networking enables health
monitoring of the frail and elderly that’s
not currently feasible. Vivid, lifelike,
real-time video interaction can provide
support for caregivers and for aging
in place.
REINVENTING A FREE, FAIR
AND OPEN INTERNET
Respondents to a Pew Research Center
report, Killer Apps in the Gigabit Age,
identified two basic problems with this
future:
• a new digital divide as only
economic elites get new network
services and the poor do not
• the reluctance of incumbent
telecommunications companies to
embrace the future.
Cambridge is uniquely positioned
to overcome these obstacles. It pairs a
legacy of being on the frontiers of social
justice with an economic sector whose
future health requires a free and open
Internet. It is a rarity in Cambridge
politics to find the interests of our
innovation community and our social
justice community to be so closely
aligned.
To this unique opportunity, one can
only repeat Bob Metcalfe’s question.
What’s taking us so long? v
Saul Tannenbaum is a member of, but
does not speak for, the Cambridge (Mass.)
Broadband Task Force. He is a retired
IT architect and planner who now
writes frequently about issues involving
Cambridge. Contact him at saul@
tannenbaum.org.
THE LAW
FCC Connect America Fund
Advances Broadband Deployment
The FCC hopes to encourage broadband deployment in underserved areas by allowing
competitive bidding for up to $1.8 billion of Universal Service Fund monies annually.
By Douglas Jarrett / Keller and Heckman
T
he next eight to 12 months may be the
“best of times” for competitive providers
to secure Universal Service Fund (USF)
monies to support fiber-based broadband services
in unserved rural areas of the United States.
Local governments, entrepreneurs, electric
cooperatives and independent cable operators
looking to deploy broadband services in
their communities should have a working
understanding of the FCC Connect America
Fund.
FCC REDIRECTS USF TO
SUPPORT BROADBAND
In response to criticisms of the growth and
direction in its USF programs, the FCC
adopted its USF/ICC Transformation Order in
2011. In May 2015, the Supreme Court declined
to consider further appeals of the order,
cutting off challenges to the FCC’s authority
to expend USF monies to support broadband
infrastructure investment.
In that 2011 decision, the agency capped
the high-cost component of the USF program
at $4.5 billion annually and redirected it to
“advance universal availability of modern
networks capable of delivering broadband
and voice services to homes, businesses and
community anchor institutions” and to ensure
that rates for voice and broadband service
available in rural, insular and high-cost areas
are “reasonably comparable” to the rates for
these services in urban areas. Consistent with
this new focus, the high-cost program was
renamed the Connect America Fund (CAF).
The FCC divided CAF funding into several
categories:
• a mobility fund, including a tribal mobility
fund
• a fund for remote and extremely high-cost
areas
• approximately $1.8 billion in annual support
for wireline broadband and voice services in
the high-cost areas that price-cap carriers
serve
• approximately $2.0 billion annually for
broadband and voice services for the highcost areas that rural rate-of-return carriers
serve.
To date, the FCC has set new rules and
disbursed funds for the mobility fund and tribal
mobility fund and is retargeting the $1.8 billion
for rural areas served by the price-cap ILECs
(the larger telephone companies) to support
more robust, fixed wireline, rural broadband
infrastructure. Long-term reform efforts for the
USF support provided to rural rate-of-return
carriers are just beginning.
HIGH-COST CENSUS BLOCKS
IN PRICE-CAP TERRITORIES
The FCC is now implementing its long-term
plan for the $1.8 billion in annual funding for
price-cap carrier service areas, generally referred
to as “CAF Phase II” or simply “Phase
II.” If a price-cap carrier declines to
accept funds available to it (based on
aggregate “model-based support”),
these funds will become available for
competitive bidding.
A central element is the FCC’s
adoption of new minimum
broadband service speeds of 10 Mbps
downstream/1 Mbps upstream for CAF
Phase II, subject to upward adjustments
in the future. Recipients of CAF Phase
II funds must satisfy these minimum
speeds and meet standards for latency
and minimum monthly usage levels
(the “baseline broadband offering”).
The annual disbursement of Phase
II funds is grounded in the FCC’s
Connect America Fund Cost Model
(CAM), which quantified the cost for
deploying broadband-capable networks
in high-cost areas and identified census
blocks in which the unsubsidized
cost of voice and broadband services
exceeds $52.50 per month but is less
than $207.81 per month. Census blocks
in which the cost of service exceeds
this upper boundary are referred to as
“extremely high-cost areas.”
The FCC established a rural
broadband experiment (RBE) program
to gain experience in shaping the CAF
II competitive bidding procedures
and to see how entities other than
local exchange carriers might deploy
broadband in rural areas. The FCC set
aside $100 million for these experiments.
Bids for these funds were tendered in
2014, and the FCC is finalizing the
grants to the selected winning bidders.
STEP 1: MODEL-BASED
OFFERS TO PRICE-CAP ILECS
On April 29, 2015, the FCC extended
model-based offers, approximating
$1.7 billion annually, on a state-bystate basis to each price-cap ILEC.
Funds were offered for all high-cost
areas in each carrier’s service territories
that were not served by unsubsidized
competitors offering broadband service
at speeds of at least 4 Mbps/1 Mpbs.
Each price-cap carrier must accept or
decline these model-based offers on or
before August 27, 2015. The carriers
may accept all, some or none of the
The reverse auction is open to a wide range
of entities, not just those currently eligible
for high-cost support. Electric co-ops,
municipalities and others may bid.
offers. Most observers expect carriers
to accept some offers and decline
others. As of press time, Frontier
Communications had accepted all its
statewide offers for slightly more than
$283 million in annual support.
Carriers that accept this support
must build out broadband infrastructure
capable of delivering broadband speeds
of 10 Mbps/1Mbps (and of meeting
the other components of the baseline
broadband offering) to 40 percent of
funded locations by the end of 2017,
60 percent by the end of 2018 and 100
percent by the end of 2020.
STEP 2: COMPETITIVE
BIDDING
The competitive bidding process will be
a reverse auction conducted in 2016. The
FCC must finalize the bid procedures
and establish a bidding platform for
this reverse auction. As noted above, the
funds available for the reverse auction
will equal the model-based statewide
offers that the price-cap ILECs decline.
In all likelihood, the reserve price
per bidding area (census tract or census
block) will be the CAM-determined
amount for the number of eligible
locations. Competitive providers will
have the opportunity to bid on those
census blocks for which the price-cap
carriers decline statewide, model-based
offers; competitive providers and pricecap ILECs will be able to bid on those
high-cost areas that the FCC expressly
excluded from the price-cap offers
(“other high-cost areas”).
These other high-cost areas include
census blocks in which subsidized or
unsubsidized providers currently offer
broadband in excess of 4 Mbps/1 Mbps
but less than 10 Mbps/1 Mbps as well
as those in which RBE applicants
applied for funding for broadband at
100 Mbps/25 Mbps and met the basic
financial and technical requirements
but were not selected. The number of
these other high-cost areas is expected
to be a small fraction of the areas
subject to the statewide offers.
Potential bidders can bid on
extremely high-cost areas as well as
high-cost areas. The FCC believes
bidders should be able to define their
service territories so as to design the
most efficient and scalable networks.
A final list of census blocks to be
included in the reverse auction will be
compiled after August 27, 2015, as the
FCC determines the model-based offers
accepted and rejected by the price-cap
carriers.
ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING
THE REVERSE AUCTION
The FCC assumes that:
• Price-cap carriers will decline
enough offers so that sufficient funds
are available for the reverse auction.
• Parties other than price-cap ILECs
will bid.
• The cost to deploy modern networks
capable of supporting voice service
and broadband service that meets
or exceeds the baseline broadband
offering in high-cost areas and
extremely high-cost areas will be
substantially less than the CAM
costs.
• Rules and procedures that are
relatively straightforward and will
encourage substantial participation
can be devised for the reverse
auction, and the auction platform
can be designed, deployed, tested
and ready for use in 2016.
• Entities will bid despite the
possibility that not all “winning
bids” will be funded.
THE LAW
The FCC recommends that
CAF II recipients construct
future-proof networks.
THE REVERSE AUCTION:
EASIER SAID THAN DONE
Each bidder will be allowed to select the census blocks for its
bidding package, and it is likely that each bidder will be able
to submit one or more bidding packages. The reserve prices
for the reverse auction will be the CAM-based prices for the
census blocks bid. An open question is whether the minimum
bidding unit will be a census block or census tract.
A fundamental policy decision for the FCC is whether
bids should be keyed to the baseline broadband offering,
with price being the determinative factor, or whether, as
the FCC has indicated, greater value should be placed on
bids that propose more robust broadband buildouts, such as
100 Mbps/25 Mbps. The FCC has also expressed a strong
preference for multiround bidding.
R E G I S T E R N OW !
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Lexington, KY
September 15-18, 2015
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[email protected] | 505-867-3299
Devising a multiround bidding procedure for variously
defined bid packages for which geographic service areas will
likely be different and in many cases will overlap may well
be the most significant challenge in developing the bidding
procedures.
WHO IS QUALIFIED?
The reverse auction is open to a wide range of entities, not
only to those currently qualified to receive CAF funds. All
CAF II recipients must qualify as eligible telecommunications
carriers (ETCs) under Section 214 of the Communications
Act. A selected bidder will be permitted to obtain its ETC
certification after being selected as a winning bidder, either
from its state public service commission or, if the state
declines jurisdiction to grant ETC status, from the FCC.
Bidders must show minimum financial and technical
competence. These showings will be patterned after the
showings adopted under the rural broadband experiment
program. A letter of credit from a qualified financial
institution will be required. The FCC is currently evaluating
proposals to expand the scope of qualified financial
institutions and to adjust the amount of the letter of credit
that must be maintained for the 10-year funding period.
PROGRESS REPORTS
Winning bidders will likely be subject to the same five-year
broadband buildout schedule required for price-cap carriers
that accept model-based support. Moreover, the evolving
broadband speed standard will apply to all CAF II recipients.
Because of this, the FCC strongly recommends that CAF II
recipients construct “future-proof networks that are capable
of meeting future demand.”
All recipients of CAF II monies will be required to submit
annual reports beginning the first year after receiving the initial
disbursement. The reports will describe the extent to which the
service provider is meeting its current deployment milestone,
providing broadband at the speeds committed to in its winning
bid (which are subject to potential upward adjustment by
the FCC) and providing voice and broadband service at
“reasonably comparable” rates. The failure to meet deployment
milestones will subject the service provider to reductions in
support that will not be restored until the milestone is met.
CAF II recipients are also obligated to bid on all posted
bids for E-Rate funding issued by schools and libraries located
within their service territories.
As the CAF II recipients must provide voice service,
and as broadband Internet access is now regulated as a
“telecommunications service” under the FCC’s Open Internet
Order, successful bidders in the reverse auction will be subject
to the federal and state regulations, filing requirements, FCC
fees and contribution obligations, such as contributing to the
Universal Service Fund, applicable to telecommunications
carriers. v
Douglas Jarrett, a partner in the law firm Keller and Heckman
LLP, practices telecommunications law in Washington, D.C.
Contact him at [email protected].
BROADBAND APPS
Distributed Work Centers
Broadband is more than just Internet access. To take full advantage of broadband’s
benefits, communities must broaden their broadband horizons.
By Michael B. Shear / Strategic Office Networks
T
he greatest opportunity to create
competitive, sustainable communities
lies in understanding how to adapt to
the revolution and character of information
technologies rather than merely applying these
technologies to the current ways of doing things.
The creation of the Internet is, without
question, one of the most powerful constructs of
broadband and Internet technologies. However,
one negative consequence of the Internet’s rapid
growth and adoption is that it obscures other
potentially innovative ways to assemble and
apply its pieces. In other words, people can’t see
the broadband for the Internet.
Addressing critical community needs with
broadband requires two essential changes in the
way people think and behave. They must
• Understand the ability of broadband
technologies to distribute information
and the benefits of identifying aggregate
community and regional requirements to
attain economic efficiencies
• Think about broadband technologies beyond
Internet connectivity and consider focused
applications of, and adaptations to, their
unique distribution character.
BROADBAND PLANNING
FROM THE COMMUNITY OUT
To be viable in today’s economy, every
community requires a core set of elements to a
greater or lesser degree.
Jobs and access to jobs: To grow,
communities have long relied on one approach –
attracting jobs by attracting employers one
at a time. This approach pits neighboring
communities against one another; in addition,
relying on one or several major employers is
often devastating when the employer moves, is
acquired or goes out of business. As jobs move,
so do people.
Moreover, for many households, finding,
financing, owning and selling homes has
become more problematic. People make
decisions about where to live by balancing the
cost and affordability of a home against the
desirability of its community and its proximity
to job opportunities.
Education: Access to quality, affordable
education at all levels has become more
fundamental to the economy and society.
Education no longer stops after graduation
from high school or even from college; rather,
lifelong education is needed to sustain and
grow a career. Academic and technical schools
can stimulate economic growth. Well-planned
community networks permit widespread
deployment of distance learning centers that
provide access to advanced technology tools.
Medical services: The need for medical
services is growing as the population ages.
Timely access to quality medical services
will greatly enhance quality of life through
telemedicine and networks of remote clinics.
Government and public services: As
community revenues fall, leaders seek costeffective approaches to inform the public and
respond to its needs. Telecommunications
plays a central role in coordinating
deployment of personnel and resources.
Affordable housing: Few
communities can exist unless affordable
housing is available to a broad
socioeconomic spectrum. Diversity
of the workforce is necessary. As
people’s social and economic lives
become dependent on information
and communications technologies,
communities require both housing
options and affordable, high-speed
connectivity.
Basic infrastructure: Key building
blocks of today’s society include roads,
transit, water, sewer, electricity and
information technologies. Information
infrastructure has a unique status in
that it performs monitoring and control
functions for the other infrastructures.
ADAPTING TO NEW
TECHNOLOGIES
Achieving maximum social and
economic benefits from advanced
information and communications
networks requires assessing aggregate
community demands for information
technologies and identifying
opportunities to adapt. One likely place
to start is the location of jobs.
Jobs and job access are crucial
to economic and social vitality.
Communities and individuals spend a
great deal of time and resources on one
“It is adaptive rather than
allocative efficiency which is the
key to long run growth. Successful
political/economic systems have
evolved flexible institutional
structures that can survive the
shocks and changes that are a
part of successful evolution. But
these systems have been a product
of long gestation. We do not know
how to create adaptive efficiency
in the short run.”
– Douglass C. North, “Economic
Performance Through Time,” 1993
Economics Nobel Prize lecture
Locating workplaces in hubs distributed across metropolitan areas yields benefits of many types..
method of getting people to work –
transit and transportation. Many people
believed that greater Internet access
would provide congestion relief by
allowing teleworking. Unfortunately,
current remote work processes have
not yielded the congestion mitigation
impact expected or necessary given the
rate of growth occurring in many major
metropolitan areas.
If these information technologies
are so transformative that they quickly
move jobs across the globe, why not
apply them to help reduce congestion
and the substantial costs it imposes?
Three key institutional behaviors
stand in the way:
• Communities’ bidding against one
another and incenting employers to
locate in specific places
• Employers’ selecting a single
location for a work site
• The way “solutions” are identified
for transportation in extended
metropolitan areas and for rural
development
All these models are largely fixed in
the past.
Some advocates of telework believe
everyone should work from home
or from a coffee shop. A portion of
the workforce is successful using
home workspaces. However, the
data regarding the potential for
remote working is clear: Only a small
percentage of the potential remote
workforce can or will work remotely
under the current approaches.
The lower-than-expected level
of telework participation is often
attributed to middle-management
resistance. However, given the complex,
changing dynamics of the workplace,
it is more likely that there is no one
problem. Rather, there are a number
of issues associated with the way
people work, their behaviors at work,
the nature of social (not cybersocial)
interaction and the real need for
the majority of people to preserve a
separation of work life and home life.
Remote working, or teleworking,
has remained predominantly a privilege
of the better-educated, higher-paid and
senior employees of most organizations.
For the vast majority of potential remote
BROADBAND APPS
On any given day, fewer than 3 million of the
120 million daily commuters in the United
States are working remotely. Home offices and
telework centers don’t work for most people.
workers, the daily commute is the only
way to get to the job and keep the job.
Of the approximately 120 million
daily commuters in the United States,
about 45 million to 50 million are
knowledge workers – meaning they
theoretically could perform their
jobs from anywhere. On any given
day, however, fewer than 3 million of
them do work from home or remotely.
Telework or drop-in centers work for
some people. Certain communities
have incubators that cater to
entrepreneurs. However, society has
yet to discover a model for the vast
majority of knowledge workers.
DISTRIBUTED WORKPLACE
Distributed workplace is a community
work model that seeks to change the
current single-location workplace
model of major area employers and
their workers by distributing and
localizing access to more jobs. It is a
network of strategically based work
centers, each supporting multiple suites.
Each suite is dedicated to, perhaps,
25 to 200 employees from one
company or agency.
With a dozen or more tenant
organizations, each work center
supports 300 to 2,000 employees. Each
work center connects to other work
centers and each employer’s primary
location using dedicated, secure
broadband technologies. Leveraging
economies of scale, a central support
technical staff provides infrastructure,
training and security to all the work
center clients. An employee can work
for a major business or government
How a distributed work pilot program might be set up in a metropolitan area
employer in the metropolitan area or
region from a networked work center
located in his or her community.
Broadband technologies such as virtual
presence make it easy to meet with
colleagues in other workplaces, and
cloud services allow employees to
share systems.
These strategic office networks
can achieve economies of scale and
create secure, scalable platforms for
rapid geographic expansion to other
suburban and rural communities,
providing residents local access to
jobs. In addition, there are peripheral
economic incentives to develop
distributed work centers that extend
employment opportunities to parttime working parents, students and
individuals with disabilities.
Locating work centers in residential
communities puts underutilized
commercial real estate to work and can
improve employee productivity and
employers’ abilities to attract, retain,
mentor and manage quality employees.
Distributed workplace is a permanent
deployment of employees that produces
measurable and predictable reduction
in transportation congestion while
immediately converting gasoline
dollars into “local economy” dollars.
Furthermore, this new approach can
provide higher-level security and
privacy for data, systems and employees
than do current methods.
Distributed work centers can do for
area employers what retail malls did for
retailers in the past – expand access.
In this case, rather than expanding
access to customers, they expand access
to knowledge workers from a greater
number of communities throughout
the area.
The architecture for distributed
workplace networks and communitybased centers is designed to integrate
the other essential building blocks
of distance learning, telemedicine,
day care and after-school programs,
government services and emergency
preparedness based upon the needs
of each community. Creation of
networked centers not only enhances
access to existing jobs but also creates
Possible locations for distributed work centers in the Baltimore-Washington area
new technology jobs to support this
infrastructure.
The multilocation, distributed
workplace model takes advantage
of the changing nature of work and
balances deployment with security and
management oversight while enhancing
economic growth and competitiveness.
As an adjunct to transportation, transit
and land use planning, this broadband
methodology may offer more timely
relief, may be expanded in a shorter
period and can easily be extended into
exurban and rural communities.
FEDERAL LEADERSHIP
In communities where the federal
government is a major employer,
government agencies can take the lead
in creating distributed workplaces.
For all the pressures to change,
including congressional legislation
to support telework, most agency
and department heads have been
unsuccessful at attaining acceptable
levels of remote work compliance
(currently less than 20 percent of
the 2004 objective). Although these
are discretionary laws, increased
emphasis on cybersecurity, emergency
preparedness and continuity of
operations planning requires a more
effective and strategic workforce
deployment strategy.
At a time when pay freezes and high
gasoline prices affect federal workers
the most, a distributed workplace
initiative can provide an equitable
method to improve their condition. By
adapting an aggregated approach to
the needs of agencies and departments,
the federal government has the
opportunity to reduce real estate and
IT infrastructure costs and increase
security and control while positioning
federal employees to be vastly more
effective to deal with emergency
situations. Not all emergencies provide
advance warning or can be predicted.
Many agency and department
heads argue the effectiveness of the
work-from-home approach to address
emergencies but do not differentiate
between, for example, forecasted
snow outages (notification events)
and terrorist attacks (non-notification
events). Current telework practices
result in less than 3 percent of the
federal workforce working remotely
on any given day (and that is not the
same 3 percent every day). In an event
of a non-notification emergency, the
likelihood is that too few employees
will be positioned to respond and that
they may be precluded from being
effective because of interruptions in
power and connectivity. Depending
on where a ground-zero event occurs,
federal employees will likely face the
BROADBAND APPS
Federal, state and local government agencies,
as well as government contractors, law firms,
insurance companies and call centers, would be
good candidates for distributed work.
daunting challenge to evacuate, arrive
at an alternative work facility (most
likely home) and ensure that power and
connectivity are available for them to
operate under these circumstances.
Given these realities, the federal
government as employer is in a unique
position to lead by example by working
with communities to demonstrate a
more holistic application of information
and communications technologies. A
pilot project could start with three to
five locations in a metropolitan area –
or even with one.
CONCLUSION
Now is the time for communities to
seize the opportunity to effectively use
broadband technologies to increase
their competitiveness and sustainability.
Assessing the geographic distribution of
a region’s knowledge-based workforce
and major area employers is a first step;
another is identifying key chokepoints
that could benefit from reduction of
traffic congestion. Communities with
a federal employment presence have a
particularly good opportunity to work
with their congressional delegations
and federal managers to create
distributed workplace centers.
Ultimately, these centers can include
private-sector as well as state and local
employers. Communities without a
federal presence can work with local
employers and real estate owners to
establish distributed workplace centers.
Organizations that have knowledge
workers or clerical workers who spend
substantial time at the computer or on
the phone – government contractors,
insurance companies, financial services,
major law firms and even call center
operations – would be good candidates
for distributed work. v
Michael B. Shear, founder of Strategic
Office Networks LLC and of the nonprofit
Broadband Planning Initiative, has
more than three decades of experience in
bringing new technologies and services to
market. You can reach him at mshear@
pocketsnet.com.
Subscribe today.
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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
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TECHNOLOGY
Optical Fiber in the Living Unit
The advantages of indoor ONTs have a created a need to place fiber inside living units.
The challenge: installing the fiber invisibly with no disruption to residents.
By Anurag Jain and John George / OFS
D
uring a recent fiber-to-the-home
installation in Brazil, installers heard
feedback that has become familiar
over the years. “We don’t want to see it,” said
an 18-year-old resident, firmly paraphrasing his
mother’s instructions to the installers. And he
added another requirement often heard from
residents in solid concrete buildings: “There can
be no drilling or damage to any of the walls.”
After the installers promptly explained the
process and showed the InvisiLight indoor
optical fiber kit, the young resident had no
difficulty understanding the simple process or
envisioning the attractive result, and he gave the
installer the green light to proceed under his
watchful eye.
Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and fiber-to-thebusiness (FTTB) deployments are accelerating
globally, and 147 million subscribers are now
fiber-connected. The current trend is to install
optical fiber inside a living unit to an indoor
optical network terminal (ONT), which
requires fiber in the home (FITH).
OFS launched the InvisiLight solution in
2012 to enable fast, virtually invisible fiber
Running fiber to an ONT centrally located
inside a residence enables the provision of
excellent Wi-Fi coverage and bandwidth to
many in-home devices.
installation to indoor ONTs. Today there are
more than 50,000 InvisiLight installations
worldwide in multiple-dwelling-unit properties,
residential single-family units and business
premises. An indoor solution of this kind
differentiates a provider’s service offering,
improves subscriber acceptance (which yields a
higher take rate) and speeds up time to revenue
for the service provider.
Figure 1 shows an example of an InvisiLight
installation map and actual provider installation
pictures.
ADVANTAGES OF FIBER IN THE
HOME
Service providers are increasingly locating an
ONT inside each living unit to help meet the
growing need for speed. Many providers now
deliver a gigabit connection to each subscriber,
and some plan to offer 10 Gbps connections in
the next generation. Content providers, such as
Netflix, recommend a 25 Mbps connection to
accommodate a single 4K video stream. Soon to
come is 8K video, with possibly 50 to 100 Mbps
recommended per stream.
In addition, the number of connected
devices per home is projected to quadruple in
the next five years, and even more bandwidth
will be needed per device for consumer and
business applications. The number of devices
that will support streaming video, voice, security
video surveillance, data, gaming or home and
appliance automation is projected to increase
from five today to 20 per household by 2020.
Cost and wireless coverage are also driving
fiber into the home. When fiber is run to an
Figure 1: (a) InvisiLight installation map example; (b) InvisiLight installation examples
indoor ONT centrally located in a
residence, a co-located wireless router
can provide excellent coverage and
bandwidth to a large number of inhome devices. Compared with placing
ONTs outdoors, this approach allows
the use of lower-cost, non-hardened
ONTs and enables much easier access
to electrical power. Using indoor
ONTs offers the option to integrate an
ONT, a residential gateway and even a
wireless router into one device.
How can a service provider get
fiber into a living unit cost-effectively,
and how can it persuade subscribers to
accept this arrangement?
TECHNOLOGY
continuous adhesive bead to confine and
protect the fiber. Many service providers
have determined this to be the optimum
approach for many subscribers.
Figure 2: InvisiLight installation steps and benefits
FTTH solutions consist of central
office or headend components, outside
plant and drop cables that take optical
fiber to homes or buildings. There is no
cookie cutter solution for FTTH, as
each deployment has unique needs, and
FITH is no exception. Although in some
living units, an indoor ONT location
may be optimally reached by ultra-bendinsensitive 3 mm cords pulled through
existing conduit or behind open walls
to outlets, many others don’t have such
pathways accessible. Ducts may not exist
or may be blocked; walls may be solid or
filled with obstacles.
When no pathways were available,
installers typically tried to staple
5 mm-diameter cables to walls inside
living units, but this caused another
major problem: Up to 15 percent of
prospective subscribers canceled service
orders because of the visual appearance
of the cables. This cost service providers
revenue and wasted truck rolls.
The OFS innovation team
considered many options to address this
pain point, and they eventually created
a solution that blends seamlessly with
the décor, is fast and easy to install,
provides reliable service and is happily
accepted by subscribers. The solution
uses a process similar to caulking
to attach a tiny fiber in the grooves
between ceilings and walls, baseboards
and walls, and corners between walls.
The fiber used has the best available
tight bending performance (2.5 mm
radius) to wrap around what can be
dozens of corners along a path to an
ONT without breaking or incurring
service-disrupting bend loss.
The resulting solution, called
InvisiLight, enables easy, reliable fiber
installation in these pathways using a
A SIMPLE INSTALLATION
PROCESS
The installation process is simple and
intuitive. First, an installer places a small
module, called a spool module, near the
desired ONT location – usually close to
a power outlet. The installer then presses
a small spool of factory-terminated EZBend 900 micron buffered fiber onto an
axle in the spool module and pulls one
of the connectors to spool out enough
fiber to reach another small module
placed where fiber enters the living unit.
The spool module includes auto slack
management so one spool part number
can support fiber lengths up to 132 feet.
Next, the installer lays a safe,
water-based adhesive bead along the
pathway and presses the fiber into
the adhesive so it’s fully secured and
protected along its entire length. The
spool module is then connected into
an ONT, which is usually paired with
a wireless router or a set-top box. The
adhesive dries clear within 30 minutes
without leaving any stains. The optical
fiber itself is tiny (less than 1 mm in
diameter) and blends into the décor as
it is nearly invisible to the human eye.
It can be painted or caulked over if the
subscriber chooses to do so.
This simple process can place
fiber deep into a living unit without
disrupting the décor or the resident
and is very quick for installers. Because
installation requires only simple skills,
service providers have flexibility in
utilizing an existing workforce or
outsourcing, and they can minimize
training costs by adopting the intuitive
process shown in Figure 2, which
installers easily learn by watching a
training video.
COMPARISON OF INDOOR
SOLUTIONS
OFS introduced the InvisiLight solution
in 2012 after considering many different
possibilities for installing optical fiber
inside living units. InvisiLight does not
require electrical power or batteries, it
uses a reliable adhesive system and it has
InvisiLight fiber can be peeled back from
the wall, if necessary, without damaging
the surface.
been tested to ensure that the fiber stays
in place and maintains an attractive
appearance after aging and exposure to
light and cleaning fluids.
In the rare cases in which optical
fiber has to be removed or rerouted
(for example, minor wall repairs),
InvisiLight fiber can be peeled back
using a simple process without
damaging the surface. In addition, it
can be passed through or behind walls.
Table 1 compares several indoor
fiber solutions on the market on several
key attributes, based on published
information. Readers can determine
which factors are most important for
them and choose the most appropriate
solutions to fit their needs.
South Africa report that their lowskilled installers can be quickly trained
to complete an installation in about 30
minutes or less, depending upon the
size and type of living unit.
Fiber-connected subscribers are
forecast to increase to 600 million in 10
years, and indoor ONTs are becoming
the norm. Now there is a simple,
accepted, virtually invisible, robust
solution available to connect these users
to gigabit speeds.
“The installation is amazing. I
cannot even see it,” exclaimed the
ADOPTION HAS JUST BEGUN
Multiple service providers in the United
States, Canada, South America and
happy new subscriber, joining tens of
thousands of others worldwide. v
Anurag Jain is the marketing manager
responsible for the FOX Solution Fiber to
the Home and Business portfolio at OFS.
He can be reached at ajain@ofsoptics.
com. John George is director of solutions
and professional services at OFS. He can
be reached at [email protected].
Please visit OFS at www.ofsoptics.com to
learn more about the FOX Solution, case
studies and information on fiber to and
into the home.
ATTRIBUTES
INVISILIGHT
SOLUTION
TAPE SOLUTION
THERMAL
SOLUTION
TAPE CLIP/ADHESIVE
SOLUTION
Year Introduced
2012
2010
2014
2013
Size / Décor Impact
0.9 mm
Negligible
8 mm
Significant
0.9 mm
Negligible
0.9 mm
Negligible
Fiber Attachment
Adhesive along entire length
Tape along entire length
Precoated, field-heated
adhesive along entire length
Fiber suspended between
numerous tape-backed clips
and adhesive dots.
Handheld tool applies very
thin bead. Fiber is pressed
into adhesive, dries clear.
Handheld applicator presses
tape into place while peeling
backing. Wings of tape are cut
out at corners.
Handheld heating and
application tool
(230 degrees F)
Clips are pressed on, and fiber
is pressed into clips. Adhesive
tubes are used to apply dots to
fiber between clips.
Facilitates passing
through or behind walls
Yes
No
No
No
Power required
No
No
Yes – batteries, typically
changed or recharged after
each installation
No
Installation time
1X
2X
1.3X
1X
Repositionable
Yes
Not recommended
Yes
Yes
2.5 mm
5 mm
5 mm
5 mm
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Tools and
Attachment Process
Fiber minimum bend
radius (smaller is better)
Paintable
Plug and play,
both ends factory
terminated and tested
Yes – facilitated by auto slack
management on spool
No – requires field-mounted No – requires field-mounted
connector or fusion splice and connector or fusion splice and
associated precision tooling
No – requires field-mounted
connector or fusion splice and
Table 1: Comparison of several indoor fiber solutions currently on the market
BROADBAND COMMUNITIES MARKETPLACE
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].
REGISTER NOW!
Lexington, KY | September 15-18, 2015
Conference Series
FieldShield
Multiport
SmarTerminal
Vision. Clarity.
Clearfield.
Industry’s most
cost-effective and
easy to deploy
environmentally
sealed fiber
delivery system
FieldShield
Hardened
Connector
Replacing the
bulkiness of
flat drop
cables with
the ease of
use & cost
reductions
associated
with pushable
fiber
www.ClearfieldConnection.com
800-422-2537
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
April 5 – 7, 2016
Renaissance Hotel – Austin, Texas
DELIVERING TELECOM RESULTS
THAT EXCEED EXPECTATIONS
FOR OVER 22 YEARS
ibhc.com
Bill Brungardt, P.E.
Utilities Services Director
913.663.1900
Allen Meyer
Project Initiatives Manager
913.663.1900
ADVERTISER INDEX / CALENDAR
ADVERTISER
AT&T
PAGEWEBSITE
94www.att.com/livedigitally
Broadband Communities Magazine89
www.bbcmag.com
Broadband Communities Summit Outside Front Cover Flap,
18 – 21, 94
www.bbcmag.com
BHC Rhodes
94
www.ibhc.com
Black & Veach
9
www.bv.com/telecom
Calix
31www.calix.com/gigabit
Clearfield, Inc.
49, 94
www.seeclearfield.com
Comcast
Back Cover
www.xfinity.com/
xfinitycommunities
Corning 61
http://opcomm.corning.com/
CentrixBuzz
COS Systems
74
www.cossystems.com/
service-zones
Cox
3www.cox.com
DrayTek
91www.draytek.com
Economic Development &
Community Toolkit Conference –
Lexington, KY
Inside Front Cover Flap – 1,
12, 73, 82, 94
www.TownsAndTech.com
17
www.etisoftware.com
Fiberdyne
75www.fiberdyne.com
GLDS
27www.glds.com
Henkels & McCoy
47
www.henkels.com
25
www.hotwire
communications.com
Lite Access Technologies
65
www.liteaccess.com
Mapcom
7www.mapcom.com
MasTec
88www.mastec.com
Millennium Inc.
Inside Back Cover
www.matrixdg.com /
www.millenniuminc.com
OFS
13www.ofsoptics.com
On Trac
51
www.ontrac.com
Pavlov Media
5
www.pavlovmedia.com
33
www.preformed.com
Power & Tel Supply
94
www.ptsupply.com
Smithville Fiber
59
www.smithville.com
83
www.walkerfirst.com
Wide Open Networks
71
www.wideopennetworks.us
JUNE
29 – July 1
FTTH Connect
Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim, CA
202-367-1173 • www.ftthconnect.org
JULY
20 – 22
mHealth + Telehealth World
Seaport Hotel • Boston, MA
800-767-9499
www.worldcongress.com/mHealth
SEPTEMBER
15 – 17
Community Fiber Networks
Broadband Communities Economic
Development Conference
Hilton Lexington/Downtown
Lexington, KY
877-588-1649 • www.bbcmag.com
28 – 30
NMHC Student Housing
Conference & Exposition
Arizona Biltmore • Phoenix, AZ
202-974-2300 • www.nmhc.org
29 – Oct 1
ECOC 2015
European Conference on
Optical Communication
Valencia, Spain
+ 33 (0) 169 81 6574
www.ecoc2015.org
OCTOBER
13 – 16
SCTE Cable-Tec Expo
New Orleans, LA
800-542-5040 • www.expo.scte.org
NOVEMBER
17 – 19
NMHC OpTech
Hyatt Regency • Chicago, IL
703-518-6141 • www.naahq.org
FEBRUARY 2016
16 – 17
NAA Student Housing
Conference & Exposition
Hilton San Diego Bayfront
San Diego, CA
202-974-2300 • www.nmhc.org
APRIL 2016
5–7
Broadband Communities Summit
Renaissance Hotel • Austin, TX
877-588-1649 • www.bbcmag.com
THE GIGABIT HIGHWAY
FTTH Boosts Home Values
A new study commissioned by the FTTH Council Americas shows that access to
fiber-delivered Internet boosts home values by up to 3.1 percent.
By Heather Burnett Gold / FTTH Council Americas
I
n June, the Fiber to the Home Council Americas released
a white paper that showed access to fiber may increase
a home’s value by up to 3.1 percent. Using the National
Broadband Map and a nationwide sample of real estate
prices from 2011 to 2013, the study’s authors investigated
the relationship between fiber-delivered Internet services and
housing prices. The boost to the value of a typical home –
$5,437 – is roughly equivalent to adding a fireplace, half a
bathroom or a quarter of a swimming pool to the home.
The new study found that, for homes where 1 Gbps
broadband was available, transaction prices were more than
7 percent higher than for homes located where the highest
speed available is 25 Mbps or lower.
Conference Series
The FTTH Council’s Community Toolkit
helps cities get a jump-start on the
gigabit highway. Don’t miss the
Community Toolkit Program in
Lexington, September 16 and 17.
The study adds to a growing body of research that
demonstrates the consumer benefits from widespread access
to fiber broadband Internet. A number of studies have
linked broadband networks and new investments in such
networks to improved economic performance. The speed
and reliability that fiber provides offer further benefits. Most
recently, in 2014, the FTTH Council released a study that
found higher per capita GDP in communities where gigabit
Internet was available. Infrastructure investment, job creation,
entrepreneurship, and business relocation or expansion are all
manifestations of this growth.
The evidence is mounting: Investment in fiber improves
the economic performance of a community as well as its
quality of life. Around the United States, local leaders
have started to think about how Internet infrastructure in
their communities catalyzes economic, educational and
governmental innovation. v
Heather Burnett Gold is president and CEO of the Fiber to the
Home Council Americas, a nonprofit association whose mission
is to accelerate deployment of all-fiber access networks. You can
contact her at [email protected].
Enhance Your Community
With Advanced Fiber Networks
The Lexington conference encompasses a 12-state region:
Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina,
West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri and Arkansas
Meet the
Conference
Directors:
The Hon. Hilda Legg
and Vice Chair,
Heather Burnett Gold
President & CEO,
EVERY
COMMUNITY
DESERVES
Economic
What You Will Learn:
Development
ULTRA-FAST
BROADBAND
Chairman
How to successfully plan for, monetize, and manage an
all fiber-based broadband investment.
Together we can make it happen.
Explore best practices for developing broadband strategies for the knowledge economy.
Learn the strategies necessary to foster collaboration with economic development agencies.
Differentiate your community with advanced broadband connectivity.
Discover how your community can become a magnet for the tech industry.
Who You Will Meet:
Millennium and Matrix help
Jim
Baller cooperatives, utilities,
communities,
INTEGRATE
Local, State PLAN
& Federal Officials
President
and
municipalities
empower
people
The Baller Herbst
Economic Development Professionals
through
optic technology. Working
Law
Group, fiber
PC
Investors
together, we can implement a costPublic and Private Network Operators
effective fiber network that delivers a
DESIGN
MANAGE
Business Leaders
& Entrepreneurs
strong communications infrastructure and
Financial Institutions
enables our country to compete
in the
Community
Anchor Institutions – Education, Medical, Public Safety &
world’s marketplace.
Security
Community
Toolkit
Chairman
BUILD
Broadband
Champions
SUPPORT
How To Write A Winning RFP
What will attract providers to build FTTH in your community?
Joseph Jones
Executive Director
millenniuminc.com
On
Trac, Inc.
Learn how you can empower your
How
Leverage
Your Fiber
community with
theTo
benefits
of fiber.
For Economic Development
matrixdg.com
Once you have your network, how do you get business to make
the most of it?
One gigabit per second.
Now that’s a high-speed amenity.
XFINITY’s Advanced Communities Network provides
fiber solutions to gigabit speeds for your property.
Every resident wants more Internet speed. As an XFINITY® Community on our exclusive Advanced Communities
Network, your property will be gigabit capable, ready to support the latest integrated TV, Internet, Voice and
Home Automation experience with the X1 Entertainment Operating System® from XFINITY. And since every
property is unique, we customize our fiber solutions to fit your environment. Plus, we constantly monitor
our network for consistent, reliable service and our customer support is available 24/7. Become an XFINITY
Communities property and get a better network, better entertainment and better service.
Visit xfinity.com/xfinitycommunities today.
Suits available with XFINITY On Demand,
on XFINITY TV Go app and at xfinity.com/tv
Not available in all areas. Restrictions apply. Availability limited to qualifying properties. Features and programming vary depending on area and service level
and are subject to change. Call for restrictions and details. © 2015 Comcast. All rights reserved. NBCU celebrity endorsement not implied. All networks are
divisions of NBCUniversal. © NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
NPA159162

april 5 – 7, 2016 - Broadband Communities Magazine

Transcription

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