fiber - Broadband Communities Magazine

Transcription

It’s one of those win-win situations
you hear so much about.
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© 2012 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other AT&T marks
contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.
It’s all
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Editor’s note
Just Say Yes
CEO & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Scott DeGarmo / [email protected]
President
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PUBLISHER
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Corporate Editor, BBP LLC
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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
PRESIDENT
Jeffrey M. Reiman
VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS & OPERATIONS
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Meeting consumer needs – rather than protecting existing
lines of business – is the best long-term strategy.
K
odak, after inventing the
digital camera, lost its firstmover advantage by trying to
protect its film photography business.
Kodak wanted the market to go in one
direction, and consumers wanted it to
go in another direction. By the time
the company caught on, it was too late.
History is full of such examples.
The myth that advertising creates
demand is largely a myth. Consumers
have minds of their own and rarely
appreciate being told what they want.
Companies that ignore consumer
demand to protect existing lines of
business may succeed in the short term,
but the strategy fails in the long term.
This issue of Broadband
Communities offers many examples
of shifts in consumer preferences and
their implications for service providers.
Young people no longer want to be
told when to watch TV? Bryan Rader
writes about a new breed of private cable
operators that offer bulk broadband and
over-the-top video without linear pay
TV. Apartment dwellers no longer want
landlines? Richard Sherwin writes about
how to make cellphones work indoors –
even in “green” multifamily buildings.
Service providers that disregard
consumer preferences leave themselves
open to competition, sometimes
from unexpected sources. As Joan
Engebretson writes, cell towers need
fiber connectivity, and this opportunity
encourages the creation of new fiberbased transport carriers.
Some communities are told they
are too poor to appreciate robust,
high-speed broadband. In Scotland,
a housing cooperative built fiber to
the unit in a new low-income housing
development and achieved a 78 percent
take rate. Other communities are
supposed to be too remote; throughout
the United States, members of rural
electric cooperatives are learning there
is nothing to stop them from building
their own broadband networks.
Municipalities are told they should
be satisfied with whatever broadband
services are available; as Joanne Hovis
writes, they need robust broadband to
deliver traditional services in today’s
world – and many of them can save
money by operating their own networks.
Do the Math
Of course, it isn’t just a matter of
saying yes – deployers that forge
ahead unprepared, whether they
are established providers or new
competitors, may be in for unpleasant
surprises. Before making decisions,
crunch the numbers, both cost and
revenue. Joanne Hovis offers guidelines
to help government agencies do this,
and she discusses several revenue sources
they may not have been aware of.
Steve Ross, Broadband
Communities’ corporate editor,
introduces the FTTH Analyzer models
he created, which are freely available
online (www.FTTHanalyzer.com).
The models help potential deployers
decide quickly and easily whether a
fiber network is worth pursuing further
– and whether a lender might be
interested in funding it.
First, take the time to understand
what consumers want and will pay for.
Second, do the math. And finally – if
the numbers work – just say yes.
[email protected]
2 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | March/April 2013
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table of contents
departments
EDITOR’S NOTE
Just Say Yes / By Masha Zager, Broadband Communities
2
BANDWIDTH HAWK
Time to Get Out of the Way /
By Steven S. Ross, Broadband Communities
6
91
92
MARKETPLACE ADS
FTTH Deployments
Electric Co-ops Build FTTH Networks /
By Masha Zager, Broadband Communities
18
Why electric cooperatives may be residents’ best hope for
true broadband in some rural areas.
26
FTTH Empowers Scottish Housing Cooperative
Advertiser Index / Calendar
in this issue
Provider Perspective
An Episode Worth Watching /
By Bryan J. Rader, Bandwidth Consulting LLC
8
For the under-30 generation, live TV is so 20th century.
Providers that serve this cohort may do better focusing on
bulk broadband with great speed at attractive prices.
features
Why We Need More Fiber
Push Is on for Fiber to the Cell Site /
By Joan Engebretson, Broadband Communities
HOT PRODUCTS
Broadband Communities’ 12th Annual List of Leading
Broadband Technologies and Services
64
Every wireless signal must eventually find a wire – and as
wireless data fills the airwaves, transport carriers are racing
to connect cell sites with fiber.
Property of the Month
The Virginian, Fairfax, Va. /
By Steven S. Ross, Broadband Communities
12
This award-winning continuing-care facility uses Verizon
FiOS along with Healthsense health monitoring services to
improve the quality of care and control costs.
cover story
Financing Fiber
What If? / By Steven S. Ross, Broadband Communities
28
Learn about this year’s latest and greatest broadband
products … and then see them at the BBC Summit.
Operations
Overture GIS Harnesses the Power of Information /
By Masha Zager, Broadband Communities
76
10
A low-income housing project near Glasgow helps bridge
the digital divide with fiber.
With a user-friendly geographic operating system,
Greenlight Communications became more efficient and
raised the bar on customer service.
Service Provider Strategies
Setting Expectations for Network Performance /
By Sebastian Pereira, Broadband Enterprise
80
Expecting perfection from broadband networks may lead to
higher costs and worse outcomes.
Technology
Lowering ‘Skeletal Load’ Reduces the Cost of
Broadband / By Cheri Beranek, Clearfield Inc. and
Greg Johnson, Aeritae
82
To squeeze the fat out of broadband costs, take advantage
of new fiber management designs.
86
Solutions for Cell Coverage Issues /
By Richard J. Sherwin, Spot On Networks
Prospective tenants are checking the bars on their cellphones
while they’re apartment hunting. How can you make sure
they like what they see?
Broadband Communities’ financial models help a would-be
FTTH deployer evaluate the business case – and see what
contingencies might threaten that case.
60
The Business Case for Government Fiber Networks /
By Joanne Hovis, CTC Technology and Energy
For municipalities, there are special factors, both on and off
the balance sheet, to consider when making the decision to
build a fiber network.
Industry News
From Gigabit Envy to Gigabit Deployed:
You Can Get There / By Heather Burnett Gold,
Fiber to the Home Council Americas
Special Insert
25th Anniversary Issue of iHomes & Buildings, the
35
official magazine of the Continental Automated
Buildings Association, with up-to-date research and
information on trends and products in the home and
building automation industry.
90
Join the FTTH Council in Kansas City on May 29 and 30 to
learn how to deploy an ultra-high-speed network and join
the gigabit revolution.
Visit www.bbcmag.com for up-to-the-minute news
of broadband trends, technologies and deployments
facebook.com/bbcmag •
t witter.com/bbcmag
Come see us at booth #302
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in driving ARPU and EBITDA to help video providers yield higher advertising revenues. So go ahead, focus on
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bandwidth hawk
Time to Get Out of the Way
Broadband’s detractors on the right and on the left need to understand how FTTH
changes the game.
By Steven S. Ross / Broadband Communities
I
n January, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski
challenged broadband providers and local governments
to build at least one gigabit Internet community in every
state by 2015 – a challenge that will soon be forgotten. It
is important to understand how so many supposedly smart
people from all points on the political compass are helping to
ensure this dismal result.
Few private carriers are building citywide gigabit
networks. Google, currently deploying fiber in Kansas City,
is the best known. Thus, to meet the gigabit challenge,
communities will need to build their own networks. A
number have already done so, but 19 states have erected legal
barriers to keep munis from building their own systems.
The latest banning effort, in the form of the same job-killing
model bill that passed the North Carolina legislature last year,
was just defeated in Georgia. (It came from the right-wing
American Legislative Exchange Council.)
These bans, championed by incumbents that have
no intention of providing adequate broadband in most
communities, are bizarre on their face. One would think (as
FTTH is easy to monitor and maintain) that capital-short
incumbents would welcome public investment in networks that
can be shared by all. But state lawmakers are cheap to purchase.
This problem is not limited to rural areas – Boston is still
waiting for fiber, for instance. Nor is the myopia limited to
conservatives; many liberals believe Americans are being
overcharged by profiteering cable and telephone companies at
the same time Wall Street is punishing the same companies
for not being profitable enough.
Who’s Overcharging?
Big companies do profiteer when they have the chance –
in providing rural interconnects, for example. Stimulusfunded middle-mile builds championed by NTIA have helped
bring prices down in many places, but the stimulus was
simply too small to help everyone.
However, some accusations of overcharging don’t make
much sense – for example, those made by Yeshiva University
communications law professor Susan Crawford. Crawford
scores points with me when she decries absurd restrictions on
municipal broadband in her recent book, “Captive Audience:
The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New
Gilded Age,” but her recent Public Affairs Television interview
with Bill Moyers is rife with errors. For instance, she says
Manhattan (where she works!) suffers from a Time Warner
Cable monopoly, although Verizon is bringing FiOS to every
household in New York City and cable overbuilder RCN also
serves parts of the borough.
One reason for high cable prices is high payments to video
content providers. There is almost no carrier profit in video,
but carriers usually have to provide it anyway. The content
providers bundle their services. You want ESPN 1 and 2?
Sorry, but, as Crawford notes, you must carry the other ESPN
channels as well! Some claim these excess payments to content
providers are used to hide cable and telco profits, but only one
of the seven major content providers (NBC) is owned by a
network provider (Comcast). HBO and Time Warner Cable
have not been corporate siblings since 2009.
Still, someone has to pay for building the network, and
that someone in this country is the consumer of pure Internet
broadband. Crawford asks why we can’t be more like Europe,
where prices are lower but which actually lags behind the
United States in FTTH deployment.
Between higher content costs, much lower population
density and pricing oddities (Europeans typically pay low
mobile phone bills, for instance, but pay $500-plus up
front for phones), most so-called overcharges are caused not
by carriers but by lack of federal spending on broadband
infrastructure, compared with our international competitors
in Europe and especially in Asia.
What’s the solution? According to the financial models I
have developed (downloadable free at www.FTTHAnalyzer.
com), if a network provider can make a gross profit before
overhead of $50 per customer per month, it can get by with as
few as eight customers a mile, even with 10 percent financing.
FTTH can support the new high-margin health, security and
educational services that make it possible. v
Contact the Bandwidth Hawk at [email protected].
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Provider prospective
An Episode Worth Watching
Young people no longer organize their schedules around their favorite TV shows.
Give them plenty of broadband, and let them watch content whenever they want.
By Bryan Rader / Bandwidth Consulting LLC
W
hen I was a kid, my family was glued to the TV
set on Thursday nights, catching a lineup of
“Cheers,” “The Cosby Show” and “Family Ties.”
As we got older, we shifted to newer shows such as “Seinfeld”
and “Friends.” Before my time, I am sure families were
watching “Happy Days,” “Mash” or even “I Love Lucy.”
What happened to “must see TV”? Why are young people
no longer eagerly waiting for Thursday nights?
Watching TV episodes has been replaced with viewing
YouTube, Xbox and Facebook. According to the television
measurement firm Nielsen, this is increasingly true for
young viewers.
In its most recent findings, Nielsen reported that young
adults watch considerably less traditional TV than they did
just three months ago. This trend has been developing for
some time. Leading TV executives also notice a big drop in
traditional TV viewing among this demographic group.
According to Nielsen, younger viewers are more likely to
use Internet video, social networks, mobile phones and video
games. In other words, “must see TV” has been replaced with
“must see broadband.” This will have significant implications
for cable operators as these young viewers eventually move into
their own homes and start making decisions about pay TV.
In student housing, property management firms say their
students want a fat broadband pipe and a very thin TV lineup.
There is no more “must see” anything! One developer told me
his college students are fine with a 50-channel HD lineup as
long as they can use Wi-Fi and have plenty of bandwidth.
For private cable operators (PCOs) that covet this space,
it’s time to begin looking at how to create products that are
attractive to the young adults Nielsen says are changing the
face of traditional TV.
Young adults are increasing in numbers, making up a
disproportionate percentage of people moving into rental
housing. According to several sources, the 18- to 30-yearold cohort (also known as “echo boomers” or “millenials”)
is a big reason apartment occupancies are increasing today.
Time Warner recently called these customers “cable nevers,”
customers who will never subscribe to traditional TV. I call
them a real headache if the industry doesn’t respond to this
behavioral shift.
New Options for Cable Nevers
Without “The Cosby Show” or “Seinfeld” as part of their
entertainment diet, how can we sell traditional TV to these
customers? Will young people actually pay $100 a month for
digital TV with numerous programming tiers? Or will they
bypass pay TV altogether – as Nielsen is seeing – and spend
more time finding content online?
It appears increasingly likely that they won’t spend the
$100. This group of customers must be presented with TV
options different from previous generations’. For them, it’s not
about more channels; it’s about more megabytes.
Yes, millenials still do watch TV content – recent hits
such as “Modern Family” or “Big Bang Theory” – but they
download the latest episodes to their iPads directly from
the content owner’s website. They don’t care about regularly
scheduled time slots.
Some millenials even wait for rainy weekends and
download entire seasons of these shows. (Ten hours in a row
of “Glee?” Really?)
This trend must be considered an opportunity, not a
threat, for PCOs. PCOs must rethink how to sell TV content
to the young adults who populate multifamily housing.
Some PCOs are bundling broadband with HD local
stations to build very inexpensive packages of services.
One operator told me, “Locals, Hulu Plus, Netflix and
my broadband pipe make the perfect bundle for young
customers today.”
I suggest we stop using “must see TV” to target younger
consumers and start pushing “must see broadband” as a new
source for content. This will be a much better episode to watch!
NOTE: I will explore this subject further in future
columns. I’ll also be moderating a session at the 2013
Broadband Communities Summit called Bulk Broadband
in MDUs, in which several innovative PCO executives
will discuss topics such as this one. 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.
Keeping residents happy.
there’s an app for that.
Now, residents can take their TV anywhere.
at time Warner Cable, innovative thinking isn’t just outside the box, it’s outside the home. for example, our android™ and
iphone® apps allow residents to set programming and watch their favorite shows anywhere, via tablet or smartphone.
it’s just one more way we’re improving your residents’ lives. and the desirability of your communities.
to learn about our other innovations, contact Joanne C. Luger at 703.345.2749 or email [email protected]
Visit us at Booth #403 at the Broadband Communities Summit.
twc.com/communitysolutions
© 2013 time Warner Cable inc. all rights reserved, time Warner Cable and the eye/ear logo are trademarks of time Warner inc., used under license.
WHY WE NEED MORE FIBER
Push Is on for Fiber to the Cell Site
Wireless carriers need backhaul to support the explosion of mobile data – and that
creates new opportunities for fiber-based transport carriers.
By Joan Engebretson / Broadband Communities
A
s mobile data usage grows and as wireless carriers roll
out high-speed, fourth-generation networks capable
of supporting higher data rates, the carriers are
finding they need to increase the bandwidth of the backhaul
networks that transport traffic from cell sites to a high-speed
network backbone.
In North America, cell site connectivity traditionally was
supplied by T-1 circuits delivered over copper phone wiring.
But as data traffic climbs, wireless carriers are finding that
copper connections are no longer adequate. Another concern
is that all major U.S. wireless carriers have begun to or
plan to deploy 4G networks based on LTE technology, and
copper connections generally are inadequate to support LTE
except over relatively short distances – and even that requires
considerable kludging.
Take all these factors into consideration, and it’s easy to
see why network operators are undertaking major initiatives
to bring fiber to North America’s estimated 300,000 cell sites.
Estimates of the number of cell sites that currently have
fiber vary from one analyst firm to another. According to
Heavy Reading, about 40 percent of U.S. cell sites had fiber
backhaul as of year-end 2012, with 50 percent served by
copper and 10 percent with microwave. Infonetics Research
sees wider availability of fiber, estimating that more than
half (56 percent) of North American cell sites in 2012 had
fiber, with 30 percent fed by copper and 14 percent fed by
microwave. (Microwave, like fiber, has seen a boom in recent
years as it can be quickly installed and can support higher
data rates than copper for limited distances.)
Most people agree fiber-to-the-cell-site deployments
haven’t occurred at the same pace nationwide. Infonetics
estimates that 90 percent of cell sites in major cities are now
fiber-fed – which suggests the percentage of fiber-fed cell sites
in rural areas is considerably lower.
Allied Fiber CEO Hunter Newby believes the percentage
of fiber-fed cell sites in rural areas is below 30 percent – or
even as low as the single digits. Allied Fiber aims to build
a wholesale dark fiber network nationwide and has already
completed a large part of the work on phase 1, which will
connect Chicago with New York City and Ashburn, Va.
Newby expects substantial demand from carriers that will
use the Allied Fiber network to support fiber deployments
to cell sites. Carrier customers will be able to connect to the
network virtually anywhere along its length because there will
be access points every 3,000 feet, and once on the network,
their traffic could easily reach major exchange points.
Allied Fiber’s carrier customers are likely to consider
deploying fiber to a cell tower if the length of new fiber
needed is no more than 5 miles, Newby says. Using this rule
of thumb leads him to believe tens of thousands of cell sites
will be within easy reach of phase 1 of Allied Fiber’s network.
Assuming that the majority currently lack fiber, Newby sees
a substantial opportunity for network operators – including
some new players – to build fiber infrastructure to a large
number of these towers.
Newby argues that because of consolidation in the fiber
network business, there are not currently enough network
operators to bring fiber to all the cell sites that don’t currently
have it. He believes the fiber-to-the-cell-site opportunity will
encourage the creation of new fiber-based transport carriers.
Fiber Through the Back Door
Some communications industry stakeholders argue that once
fiber is brought to a cell site, broadband service providers can
more easily justify the deployment of higher-speed Internet
connectivity to nearby homes and businesses because the
cost of providing backhaul connectivity for those networks is
substantially reduced.
Newby says that scenario has indeed unfolded in some
communities. “It’s not theory – that’s a fact,” says Newby.
Newby also notes that “once fiber-based transport makes
a business case to bring fiber out 5 miles, the new point of
reference is that point – the next 5-mile build could be from
that point.”
What’s “fun about the whole 5-mile thing,” Newby says,
is that people who aren’t near the Allied Fiber network (or,
presumably, an access point to another fiber network) can
estimate when they might get fiber by assuming that network
operators will build fiber out in additional 5-mile increments
every year or two. v
Joan Engebretson is a Chicago-based freelancer who has been
writing about the telecom industry since 1993. She can be
reached at [email protected].
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property of the month
The Virginian
Fairfax, Va.
The Broadband Communities Property of the Month for
this issue is The Virginian, a mid-rise community that
has been providing elder care for more than 30 years.
The campus was recently upgraded with Verizon FiOS
FTTH and Healthsense monitoring equipment. Thanks
to Mark Ridgely, director of The Virginian, Sarah Jones
of Healthsense and Eva Bell and Bill King of Verizon
Enhanced Communities for their help with this feature.
T
he Virginian, founded by The Temple
Foundation in 1980, has a long history as an
independent, not-for-profit, continuing care
retirement community (CCRC) dedicated to providing
housing and individualized care for older adults. The
Virginian is recognized in the community for its
standards of excellence, sound values and quality of care.
Featured over the years in publications such as
Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping and Redbook and
on NBC’s “American Health Front,” The Virginian
offers all levels of care, including independent living,
assisted living, nursing, rehab, Parkinson’s-specific
programs, outpatient rehab, respite and home
health services.
“We actually look at our labor costs, the number of
staff per resident,” says Mark Ridgely, director of The
Virginian, “so technology and the ability to monitor
residents is critical for our industry. We’ve added skilled
care, outpatient therapy and a home health division as
revenue sources that do not require a lot of capital and
also help us market our facility.”
Ridgely was interested in using Healthsense’s
remote monitoring, emergency response and wellness
management solutions to minimize
the cost of delivering quality care,
and he was able to implement this
technology after Verizon installed the
fiber infrastructure over which the
Healthsense devices communicate.
He says, “A reliable, fiber-connected
wireless network installed and operated
by Healthsense includes motion
detectors to see if residents are up and
about in the morning. People carry
emergency-response pendants not just
inside apartments but anyplace.”
Ridgely foresees the possibility
of delivering more outpatient care
electronically via remote monitoring,
creating “a CCRC without walls.”
Technology deployment in the
continuing-care market can be slow
because of the elderly customer base.
Residents may have physical limitations
and resistance to complex technology.
The standard universal remote, for
instance, is daunting to many.
“We look upon this [Healthsense] as
a communication tool for the residents’
families as well as the residents,”
Ridgely says. However, he notes that
many residents come to The Virginian
email-literate and knowing their way
around cable TV.
“The least obtrusive solution is
the best solution,” Ridgely says. He
explains that the motion sensors do not
present much of a privacy issue, and the
pendants were well-received, but that
visual monitoring, although possible
given the network’s bandwidth, would
be almost nonsellable.
The Virginian depends on its on-site
marketing employees to train staff in
the new technologies. Although FiOS
and Healthsense have been live since
fall 2012, new capabilities are still being
March/April 2013 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 13
Telephone: FiOS Digital Voice
Concierge: Verizon Concierge
will offer a variety of services
that range from work order
management to communitybased social media to dining
reservations. The management of
The Virginian especially likes the
mobility of the Verizon Concierge
platform and the diverse range of
smartphones that can be used to
access the platform. The phonebased Resident Alert feature, which
enables staff to send voice messages
to all residents, is expected to
be a huge benefit because of the
ease of communication with this
demographic group.
implemented. For example, Verizon
Concierge is just getting up to speed.
VITAL STATISTICS
Demographics: The median age of
residents at The Virginian is 86, and
many residents, even in independent
living, have medical issues. The
primary attraction of a CCRC such
as The Virginian is that residents
and their families are given multiple
care options to allow aging in place,
including independent living,
assisted living, Medicare skilled
care and long-term nursing care, as
well as respite care. The Virginian
was recognized as one of U.S. News
& World Report’s Best Nursing
Homes for 2012 in that magazine’s
list of 5-Star Ranked Communities.
Greenfield or retrofit? Retrofit
Number of units: 368 living units
(186 apartments, 86 assistedliving quarters and 96 nursing
rehabilitation/hospital rooms) plus
39 offices and amenity areas
Style: 5-story mid-rise
Special requirements: The
property required a three-step
implementation process. The first
step was for Verizon to provide
broadband connectivity for the
Healthsense Wi-Fi applications for
remote health care monitoring and
its own management services. The
second step was for Healthsense
to configure, install and activate
its Wi-Fi–based aging services
technology platform. The third step
was for Verizon to provide FiOS
TV, Internet and phone service to
the residential and rehabilitation
accommodations.
Time to deploy: Providing the
infrastructure backbone for the
Healthsense Wi-Fi network took
approximately three months to
complete. The project began in
February 2012 and was completed
in May. This allowed Healthsense
to offer its technology-enabled care
solutions at The Virginian by early
July. The second phase of FiOS
deployment, to provide telephone,
Internet, and television services
to the residents and patients, was
completed in September 2012.
SERVICES
Services offered or planned on the
network: FiOS TV, Internet
and phone services, along with
Healthsense’s technology-enabled
care services and Verizon Concierge.
High-speed Internet access: FiOS
Internet with top speeds of 75 Mbps
downstream and 35 Mbps upstream.
Video: FiOS TV
Health: Health-related monitoring
services provided directly by
Healthsense include residents’
personal emergency response
pendants (worn around the neck),
nurse pull cords installed in all
living units and motion sensors.
Headroom for future services? Possible
additions/enhancements on the
Healthsense side for equipment and
health-monitoring services
Provider choice: Cox was the incumbent
provider and still offers cable service,
although The Virginian designates
Verizon as a preferred provider.
Technical support: For FiOS retail
services (TV, Internet, or phone)
the point of contact is Verizon.
Healthsense handles all resident
health monitoring equipment.
BUSINESS
Is there a marketing agreement with
the property owner? Yes, Verizon
has triple-play exclusive marketing
rights. A Verizon account manager
works with the staff to coordinate
marketing activities.
What marketing approaches have been
particularly successful? On-site events
Is there a bulk-service agreement? No.
TECHNOLOGY
Broadband architecture: Fiber to the
unit, with a single-family-unit
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etisoftware.com
optical network terminal placed
inside each unit, either behind the
door or in a closet
Technology: BPON
Distribution system: Verizon’s fiber
deployment design brings a feeder
fiber onto the property. The feeder
is extended into the buildings.
The main point of entry for each
building is generally the main
telephone closet located on a lower
level. Verizon fiber distribution
also requires installing a fiber hub
and terminals and microduct or
interior molding and placing fiber.
A small piece of fire-rated plywood
backboard is also required to support
the optical network terminal housed
inside the living quarters. These are
installed when a customer requests
FiOS services.
LESSONS LEARNED
The following answers were supplied by
The Virginian.
What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was training
the management staff to work with
the residents to use Healthsense’s
technology to increase productivity and
administrative efficiency, which helps
us control costs.
We have pull cords in every nursing
room and every apartment. We have
motion sensors in all apartments and
pendants distributed to all residents
who are capable of using them
appropriately. We use the motion
sensors for our “Morning Watch”
program to confirm that residents
are up and about in their apartments.
We eliminate manual check-in tasks
and then receive reports on residents’
check-in status.
There is a lot of room for growth
on the monitoring side. The motion
sensors are part of the eNeighbor
product line from Healthsense and can
be combined with other devices to get
additional health monitoring data. That
is where we plan to go in the future
as we expand our electronic medical
records system.
What feedback does the management
office get from residents?
The guests and their relatives, including
children and grandchildren, laud our
decision to launch a cutting-edge
network that will help keep some of
our residents living independently and
in a dignified way for a longer period
of time. In addition, they greatly
appreciate our ability to remotely
expand our reach into residents’ lives
for urgent and diagnostic care.
What was the biggest success?
We have gained a tremendous
competitive edge, and we have a vehicle
in place with built-in capabilities for
constant improvements.
The Virginian now has an advanced,
next-generation, fiber optic network
topology that can scale with our
business needs, and we’ve partnered
with companies that are at the forefront
of the technological revolution. This
assures us that whatever products and
services evolve through creativity and
innovation, and on whatever platform
those products and services are delivered,
we’ll be in a position to take advantage
of the benefits and conveniences.
We realize that our residents are
more technologically competent
than those in past years and will be
even more so in future years. They
are looking for places that will not
have to be modified in a few years
to accommodate the accelerated
introduction of innovative services that
will improve their lifestyles and provide
maximum enjoyment.
What was done to limit disruption during
the deployment?
Verizon was required to enter the
property through aerial and buried
access. This required the team to dig
on the property to create a path to the
main point of entry into the building.
Verizon brought fiber into The
Virginian’s main telecom room
to provide an access node for
Healthsense’s wireless access points,
dedicating an ONT to Healthsense.
Verizon provided The Virginian with a
block of IP addresses to configure the
Wi-Fi equipment.
Healthsense is built on a Wi-Fi
platform that supports the medical and
patient monitoring equipment on a
secured, scalable wireless LAN.
A Verizon technician installed the
ONT and wireless router and activated
the fiber connection.
What should other owners consider before
they get started on a similar deployment?
Although a strategic plan with
meticulous attention to every detail
is crucial to success, procrastination
could lead to obsolescence. Data
capacity requirements are growing
exponentially, demanding powerful
data networks, and smart health
technology is the wave of the future.
Implementing a robust aging services
technology platform will result in a
significant savings in labor. v
Corporate editor Steve Ross can be
Property of the Month Highlights
~ The Virginian ~
• First joint deployment of FiOS triple-play services and Healthsense
health care monitoring services in a continuing-care facility
• Fiber to the unit permits delivery of robust services to every resident and
serves as the backbone for the Wi-Fi–based health monitoring services.
• Health monitoring services keep residents safe and as independent as
possible in a nonintrusive way.
• Verizon’s strategic partners include Healthsense (health monitoring
equipment and services), Simplikate (Verizon Concierge services) and
Truecomm (system design).
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ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES
Electric Co-ops Build
FTTH Networks
In rural areas that lack broadband, electric cooperatives are deploying fiber to help
their members.
By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities
F
ifty years after Edison and his competitors
began lighting urban streets and homes,
most of the U.S. countryside still lacked
electric power. No one – except farmers –
could imagine what farms might do with
electricity or could believe that businesses other
than farms might locate in rural areas. Franklin
Roosevelt’s Rural Electrification Administration
changed all that, providing financing for local
governments and nonprofit organizations to
deliver electricity in rural areas.
Today, with nearly the entire country served
by electricity, electric cooperatives still fill most
of the gaps left by investor-owned utilities.
More than 900 electric co-ops serve about 42
million people at 18 million premises in 47
states, according to the National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association. Though some of these
areas have suburbanized over the years, the
great majority are still rural.
A number of electric co-ops have taken
on a new challenge: broadband. In areas that
are as deficient in broadband infrastructure as
they once were in electric infrastructure, co-op
members have urged their leadership teams to
remedy the situation. Without broadband, the
survival of some electric co-ops is in doubt as
residents and businesses move to the cities – so
when co-ops cannot persuade local carriers to
invest in broadband, they sometimes become
the broadband providers of last resort.
Some co-ops deployed broadband over
power lines, an option that made use of their
existing infrastructure. However, though
broadband over power line technology has
been used successfully to monitor electrical
equipment, it is not well suited for commercial
Internet service, and many of these efforts were
ultimately abandoned. In addition, a major
broadband over power line vendor went out of
business in early 2012. A number of electric
co-ops offer satellite Internet service through
an arrangement with the National Rural
Telecommunications Cooperative; wireless
and DSL service are also offered by some.
Fiber Optic Networks
In 2002, Douglas Electric Cooperative
founded Douglas Fast Net to bring advanced
telecommunications to Douglas County, Ore.
Douglas Fast Net serves homes with WiMAX
and DSL, and it provides fiber optic Internet
service to businesses, schools and medical
facilities – the earliest fiber-to-the-premises
deployment by an electric co-op that this
magazine is aware of.
In 2006, Blue Ridge Mountain Electric
Membership Cooperative, which also provides
wireless and DSL in some parts of its territory,
began building a fiber-to-the-home network.
It now serves more than 4,000 broadband
customers in Georgia and North Carolina,
providing Internet access directly and delivering
voice and video over fiber through retail partners.
Co-Mo Electric Cooperative – Tipton, Mo.
Co-Mo Cooperative applied for
broadband stimulus funding to
build a fiber-to-the-home network
and, like the majority of applicants,
was not selected for an award.
However, the grant application
process unleashed a wave of
enthusiasm, and the many letters
from cooperative members who
hoped to use broadband to pursue
education, start home businesses
and fulfill other goals persuaded
Co-Mo not to give up. “A lot of them
realized they wouldn’t get service
any other way,” says Randy Klindt,
the general manager of Co-Mo
Comm, the cooperative’s telecom
subsidiary.
Without federal dollars,
investing in a full fiber buildout
seemed risky, and the cooperative
decided to test a small-scale fiber
network before committing to a
large project. Klindt says the pilot
project was intended to validate the
company’s assumptions about both
construction costs and the market
for fiber services.
Co-Mo’s central Missouri
territory is divided between
farmland in the north and rugged
lake country in the south. For the
pilot project, Klindt picked two
distinct areas, one northern and
one southern, that accurately
reflected the cooperative’s territory
in terms of both demographics and
geology. The pilot areas included
farmers, seasonal second-home
owners, aerial plant, underground
plant, rocky terrain and even a small
area that already had broadband
service. Altogether there were
about 1,100 households in the
pilot areas; if 25 percent of them
signed up for FTTH services – and
construction costs proved out –
the pilot would be a success.
A Successful Pilot
The pilot was more than a success.
Construction costs came in at about
15 percent below projections,
and the take rate is two years in
advance of projections. After a year
of offering voice and data services,
Co-Mo estimates the take rate at
about 46 percent of households
(exact numbers are hard to come by
because some electric meters are
attached to unoccupied premises
such as grain bins).
The take rate is especially
impressive because the company
was operating under two handicaps
– first, voice and data were the only
services offered at the outset, and
second, subscribers were asked to
put $100 down before construction
even started. (One local bank,
The Co-Mo Connect broadband project is
proceeding along the electric cooperative’s lines.
Where there are overhead lines, the fiber is being
lashed overhead. Here, a crew installs conduit that
will protect underground fiber.
acting in support of the project,
contributed the $100 sign-up fee
for any customers that wanted to
subscribe to FTTH services.)
On the basis of the success of
the pilot project, Co-Mo added
an IPTV headend – video services
go live this spring – and decided
to build fiber out to the entire
service area in four phases over
the next four years. Phase 1 is in
design and will start construction
this spring, with services turned
up this summer. Although the pilot
area densities were representative
of the territory as a whole (eight
customers per linear mile), phase
1 has 12 customers per mile and
should have an even better chance
of success. Like Google with its
Kansas City “fiberhoods,” Co-Mo
is conducting a race for sign-ups
in the phase 1 territory to decide
which sections to build out first.
Phase 1 was financed from
traditional co-op finance sources.
“It really helped having results
from the pilot to get the financing,”
Klindt comments. So far, the board
has approved funding only for
phase 1 so the plan can be modified
if necessary.
The financial relationship
between the two halves of Co-Mo
is complex. The electric co-op owns
the poles and the fiber – it plans
to use fiber to communicate with
its electricity distribution devices
and may eventually communicate
with meters via fiber as well. The
telecom subsidiary leases fiber from
the parent company and provides
triple-play services over it.
Fiber is already starting to make
a difference in Co-Mo’s area. Klindt
says he received an email from
a resort home owner thanking
him for installing fiber so he can
spend more time at his lake house.
For a community that depends
on second-home owners for a
significant part of its economic
base, holding onto the “seasonals”
for a little longer can have a
noticeable impact on the economy.
The FTTH parade got under
way in earnest with the arrival of the
broadband stimulus program in 2009.
Blue Ridge Mountain EMC, along
with nearby Habersham EMC, joined
the North Georgia Network (NGN)
Cooperative, which received a $33
million BTOP grant to build a middlemile fiber optic network throughout
northeast Georgia. Blue Ridge is using
the NGN network to expand its fiberto-the-home service, and Habersham is
preparing to offer FTTH service for the
first time. In addition, six electric
co-ops received BIP stimulus funding
from the Rural Utilities Service to
build FTTH networks (see sidebar on
United Electric Cooperative).
The stimulus program had indirect
effects as well. Many co-ops that either
saw their stimulus proposals turned
down or did not apply for stimulus
funding became aware of the potential
of fiber for their members. Several
succeeded in launching fiber-to-thehome projects without government
support. Today, at least 16 electric
co-ops (including one, NineStar
Connect, that is both a telephone and
an electric co-op) are deploying fiberbased Internet services to homes or
businesses. Some others deploy fiber to
cell towers or in middle-mile networks.
Will the Buildout
Continue?
Are these 16 electric co-ops the advance
guard of a larger movement, or has the
trend already come and gone? Many
observers think a significant number of
co-ops might eventually deploy FTTH,
but there is no consensus about how
many of the 900-plus electric co-ops (of
which about 850 are retail electricity
providers) are good candidates.
The issue isn’t demand for
broadband – most electric co-ops’
Electric Cooperatives Deploying Fiber to the Premises
Provider
Arrowhead Electric Cooperative
States
Date
Started
Vendors
Technology
Services
Broadband
Stimulus
Funding
MN
2010
Calix, Pulse Broadband
GPON
Data, Voice
BIP
GA, NC
2006
Allied Telesis, OFS
Active Ethernet
Data
BTOP
Co-Mo Electric Cooperative
MO
2011
Calix, Pulse Broadband
GPON
Data, Smart Grid,
Video, Voice
Consolidated Electric Cooperative
OH
2012
ADTRAN
Active Ethernet
Data, Video, Voice
Douglas Fast Net
OR
2002
ADTRAN, Ciena
French Broad Electric Membership
Corporation
NC
Habersham Electric Membership
Cooperative (partner of Internet EMC)
GA
2010
Allied Telesis
CO, NM
2010
Atlantic Engineering Group, Pulse
Broadband
Lake Region Electric Cooperative
OK
2012
CommScope, Pulse Broadband
Lumbee River Electric Membership Corp.
NC
2010
Allied Telesis
NineStar Connect (also telephone co-op)
IN
2002
Calix, OFS
EPON, GPON
Data, Smart Grid,
Video, Voice
North Alabama Electric Cooperative
AL
2010
ADTRAN
Active
Ethernet, GPON
Data, Voice
BIP
Ralls County Electric Cooperative
MO
2010
Pulse Broadband
Data, Smart Grid
BIP
Blue Ridge Mountain Electric
Membership Cooperative
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative
Active Ethernet Business Services,
Data
Fiber to
businesses only
Data
RECtec (Northeast Oklahoma Electric
Cooperative)
AR, CO, OK
Southeast Colorado Power Association
(SECOM)
CO
2009
United Electric Cooperative
MO
2010
Fiber to
businesses only
Active Ethernet Business Services,
Data
BTOP
Data, Smart Grid,
Voice
BIP
EPON
Data, Voice
Data, Smart Grid,
Video, Voice
Active Ethernet
Data
Calix
Active
Ethernet, GPON
Data
Atlantic Engineering Group , Calix,
Pulse Broadband
GPON
Data, Smart Grid,
Video, Voice
Notes
Pilot project
BIP
Fiber to
businesses only
BIP
Source: Broadband Communities fiber-to-the-home deployment database. See the full list of 800-plus FTTH deployers in
the United States at www.fiberville.com
territories are underserved with
broadband today, and their members
are eager for better service – but
whether co-ops have sufficient resources
to build and operate fiber networks and
whether they believe these activities are
consistent with their missions.
About 300 of the co-ops – which
together account for about 75 percent
of homes served – have more than
eight customers per linear mile. Eric
Freesmeier, CEO of Pulse Broadband,
an integrator that has worked with six
electric co-ops on FTTH projects, says
almost any co-op with eight customers
per mile could “legitimately build and
deploy full fiber to the home to all its
members” without any government
subsidies.
In addition, Freesmeier says, a
number of co-ops with linear densities
of six to eight customers per mile
“initially couldn’t make what we feel
is a strong business case but could
deploy in phases, building in their
higher-density areas first and using
those revenues to subsidize the lowerdensity areas.” These co-ops’ tradition
of “fairness” would encourage them to
build out fiber to their entire service
areas if they built to any part of them,
Freesmeier explains. On the other
hand, the most rural and remote
co-ops – those with fewer than six
customers per linear mile – could not
economically build out fiber, he says,
“short of a full government subsidy.”
Freesmeier, who has discussed
FTTH with close to 100 co-ops, sees
“extreme interest” in fiber and suspects
the industry may be at a “tipping
point.” He says some co-op executives
now feel they have no choice but to
build FTTH.
Some Co-ops Are Wary
David Russell, solutions marketing
director at Calix, an access equipment
vendor that is working with several
electric co-ops, expects no more than
50 to 100 electric co-ops to deploy
FTTH. Though he agrees that more
co-ops could make a good business
case for fiber, his conversations with
co-op managers led him to believe
many have qualms about departing
from traditional lines of business and
Electric co-ops have loyal customers,
established funding sources, skilled workers –
and no impediments to deploying broadband.
others are “gun-shy” after struggling to
provide broadband over power lines.
Mike Keyser, CEO and general
manager of BARC Electric Cooperative
in Virginia, says the Rural Broadband
Initiative, which he chairs, already
includes more than 50 electric co-ops,
and he estimates, based on a recent
survey, that there is a pool of about
250 that are interested in pursuing
broadband. However, some of these are
looking to partner with municipalities
or local telcos for broadband, and some
that hope to build their own broadband
networks may opt for technologies other
than FTTH. The Rural Broadband
Initiative has just become a part of
the Utilities Telecom Council, an
organization many cooperatives already
belong to. This merger should help
diffuse knowledge about broadband
deployment among electric co-ops.
Electric Co-ops’
Advantages
Electric co-ops have many important
advantages when it comes to FTTH
deployment. First, they are highly
popular with their members and
thus likely to have high take rates.
“Co-op members love their co-ops,”
Freesmeier says. “They have a voice
in their governance. … Members are
more apt to purchase their goods and
services than to ship dollars out of the
community.” Keyser agrees, adding,
“Members look at it like, ‘This must
be a good thing because the co-op is
providing it to us.’”
Second, unlike most investor-owned
companies, co-ops are accustomed to
investing in long-term infrastructure
with payback periods of 10 or 15 years
and aren’t fazed by these numbers.
Freesmeier recalls, “Once, when we
were trying to show a payback period
as short as we could make it, a [co-op
manager] stopped me and said, ‘Don’t
try to argue for shorter paybacks –
I won’t believe it.’”
Third, there is no one to say “no.”
Co-op owners, directors and managers
are all local residents – and they all
suffer from lack of broadband. They
don’t have to persuade executives in faroff headquarters that they really need
broadband, and they don’t face the
legal restrictions that inhibit municipal
electric utilities in many states.
Fourth, though Freesmeier believes
most co-ops with eight or more
customers per mile can make a good
business case for FTTH with only
residential triple-play services, new
sources of revenues can potentially
enhance the business case. For one
thing, all electric utilities will have
to implement smart grids eventually.
Although some of today’s smart-grid
applications can be implemented
on wireless or power line networks,
Freesmeier says all electric co-ops
“realize that ultimately, true smart grid
requires real-time, two-way, immediate
response, and the only technology that
would enable that would be fiber.”
Many co-ops have already deployed
fiber to their substations, and extending
it to customer premises is not that much
of a stretch. In addition to smart-grid
applications, cellular backhaul and video
monitoring of properties such as farm
outbuildings are potentially lucrative.
Fifth, electric co-ops have ready
access to low-cost capital. Although
those that provide broadband generally
create telecom subsidiaries to avoid
leveraging their electric assets and
comingling funds, these subsidiaries
can still borrow from the financial
institutions that the utilities typically
rely on to fund their electric plant,
including the National Rural Utilities
Cooperative Finance Corporation and
CoBank. Electric co-ops in rural areas
are also eligible for Rural Utilities
Service broadband loans, and at least
SHLB
SCHOOLS, HEALTH & LIBRARIES
BROADBAND COALITION
Promoting Broadband
for Anchor Institutions
and Their Communities
you are invited to the
shlb 2013 annual conference!
“Getting to Gigabit: The Future of
Broadband for Anchor Institutions
and Their Communities”
May 1-3, 2013
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC
www.shlb.org/events
The conference will provide valuable information for:
• Schools, libraries, healthcare providers and other anchor institutions seeking
the latest information about federal programs and policies that will affect their
broadband access.
• BTOP and BIP grantees that are completing their grants and seeking to sustain
their projects long into the future.
• Broadband Providers seeking to serve the broadband needs of community
anchor institutions and their surrounding communities.
• Policy-Makers seeking to learn what they can do to promote economic growth
and social inclusion through anchor institutions.
• Everyone interested in the Obama Administration’s Internet and broadband
policies for the next four years.
Exhibition and sponsorship opportunities are available. For information, please contact:
Kimberly Maddox, SHLB Coalition Conference Organizer
email: [email protected] or phone: 301-509-9102
United Electric Cooperative – Maryville, Mo.
In United Electric Cooperative’s territory in northern
Missouri and southern Iowa, residents had few
broadband options. Though United offered fixed
wireless where the terrain allowed and though DSL was
available in a few areas, satellite was the only alternative
for many residents. Membership surveys made clear
that better broadband was needed – but with only
2.5 customers per mile, the territory was difficult and
expensive to serve.
When the broadband stimulus program was
announced, says Darren Farnan, United’s chief
development officer, the company saw that “with our
density, that was a one-time opportunity to look at an
option for fiber.” Taking a cautious approach, United
sat out the first round of stimulus grants; once it saw
that FTTH was being funded, it submitted a broadband
stimulus application in the second round and received
$21 million in grants and loans under the Broadband
Initiatives Program to build an FTTH network. The
network will cover the densest 40 percent of its service
area and reach about 60 percent of members. “That was
the risk we felt comfortable with,” Farnan says.
As of February 2013, United has constructed 850
of a projected 1,300 miles of fiber
and has just begun marketing
triple-play services to the first of
14 areas. It is also running fiber to
electric substations for smart-grid
applications. The fiber will support
remote video monitoring of the
substations to deter copper theft.
“Security is a big issue in the electric
industry,” Farnan says. Eventually,
he expects other businesses to
subscribe to video surveillance or
other types of monitoring – for
example, farmers may want to
monitor the levels of their grain bins.
percent take rate for broadband services over three
years. Some residents have expressed interest in
starting up businesses that they can’t currently support
with the Internet access they have available; others
would like to avoid driving long distances to work at
offices with broadband connectivity. The local schools
hope to offer their students classes in such subjects as
foreign languages that they cannot currently support.
Finding workers to maintain the FTTH network is a
challenge, but David Girvan, the company’s network
specialist, is retraining existing workers and seeking
new personnel with experience in fiber. He is also
working with institutions of higher education to
develop internship programs.
United is hopeful that the new FTTH network
will help reverse the population decline that most of
its service area has suffered in recent years and the
concomitant decline in economic activity and the tax
base. Farnan says, “For the same reasons the electric
co-ops were formed in the 1930s and 1940s, we’re doing
the same with broadband right now. We’re trying to put
the infrastructure in place to retain people, businesses,
jobs and a whole way of life.”
High Take Rates
Expected
Based on the surveys it conducted
– and on the lack of competitive
offerings – United expects a 50
one is on track to be awarded such
a loan.
Beginning this year, electric co-ops
may be able to qualify for broadband
support under the Connect America
A line worker sets a Calix fiber cabinet at
a United Electric Cooperative substation.
Fund (CAF), the program that is
replacing the high-cost portion of
the Universal Service Fund. To date,
however, it does not appear that
any electric co-ops have submitted
paperwork to establish themselves as
eligible telecommunications carriers
under this program.
The Utilities Telecom Council
recently filed comments with the FCC
recommending, among other things,
that unclaimed CAF funds be made
available to entities other than eligible
telecommunications carriers. UTC will
also support any electric utilities that
would like to qualify for CAF funding.
Electric co-ops also have FTTHfriendly skills. They already know how
to bill customers and provide highquality customer support, and they have
line workers who can easily transition
into being fiber maintenance installers
and technicians. Freesmeier says, “The
younger guys really see it as a career
opportunity to learn new skills.”
Finally, as Russell points out,
the co-ops own their own poles and
rights-of-way. He says, “In many cases,
deploying fiber is actually cheaper than
building in urban areas, where rightsof-way are costly and streets may need
to be dug up.”
Hurdles
If the electric co-ops’ advantages were
all that mattered, they would all have
fiber-wired their territories by now.
However, they face hurdles as well –
including inertia, trepidation about
entering new lines of business and lack
of technical skills.
One daunting hurdle is video,
which has, in Freesmeier’s words,
“the lowest margin and the highest
aggravation” of all services. Electric coops aren’t unique in this regard – many
small FTTH providers, including telcos
and municipalities, have begun to
wonder whether they should be in the
video business, and some have opted
out of video in the last few years.
Pulse Broadband, which was
founded by cable TV veterans, manages
video for electric co-ops that don’t want
to get into that business (or for those
that have tried it and want to get out
of it). Another option, if local residents
are happy with their existing video
choices, is to forgo video entirely. “You
can make the numbers work without
video,” Freesmeier says, but he warns
that “a lot of communities want … the
local high school graduation, the Friday
night football, the local community
advertising. A lot of our co-op clients
want some kind of video offering for
that reason.”
The biggest mistake for rural
co-ops, Freesmeier says, is trying to
provide video on the cheap by offering
lineups of a few dozen channels
that “won’t compete with DISH
and DIRECTV but still have high
programming costs.”
Industry-specific challenges exist as
well. For example, Russell points out
that in many rural areas, electric meters
are situated at utility poles along roads –
sometimes at the end of a very long
driveway, far from the resident’s house.
For a rural electric company, this setup
makes sense because it allows the same
meter to serve the barn, the chicken
coop and other outbuildings in addition
to the house and it lets families set up
roadside lights for children getting on
and off the school bus. However, it
presents a challenge for a utility that
wants to leverage its fiber infrastructure
for broadband services. In town, the
same optical network terminal (ONT)
can easily connect to a smart meter
and provide triple-play services;
in the country, there may have to be
two fiber drops and two ONTs, raising
the cost of providing broadband.
One Bite at a Time
Perhaps the greatest hurdle for small
electric co-ops is the risk involved in
building and operating an FTTH
network; to mitigate this risk, Co-Mo
Electric Cooperative in central
Missouri, which was turned down for
broadband stimulus funding but still
wanted to go ahead with fiber to the
home, decided to try a pilot project (see
sidebar for details) to be followed by
a larger project if the pilot succeeded.
Freesmeier says, “Co-Mo realized that
the best way to build a $60 million
network is to eat the apple one bite at a
time. … It’s an interesting phenomenon
that a lot of rural electric co-ops are
watching closely.”
So far, the Co-Mo experiment
appears to be successful, and Freesmeier
expects to see a number of other co-ops
replicate this model in the next year or
two. Stay tuned! v
Masha Zager is the editor of Broadband
Communities. You can reach her at
[email protected].
FTTH Deployment
FTTH Empowers Scottish
Housing Cooperative
The installation of FTTH on greenfield sites gave Scotland’s West Whitlawburn Housing
Cooperative control over deployment, services and cost and ensured a wide take-up of
high-speed broadband among its tenants.
Editor’s note: This case study was originally published by the FTTH Council Europe in January 2013.
Contact the Council at [email protected].
W
hen Scotland’s West
Whitlawburn Housing
Cooperative (WWHC)
built 100 new homes on
the outskirts of Glasgow between 2007 and
2009, it chose FTTH as the communications
infrastructure for its greenfield site.
By laying and managing its own network,
WWHC set out to offer tenants triple-play
communications services at lower rates than
those of national communications service
providers, according to Paul Farrell, director
of West Whitlawburn Housing Cooperative,
which provides affordable accommodations to
low-income families on the edge of Glasgow.
Funding for the new development came from
both the Scottish government and loans to the
WWHC from the Co-operative Bank [a division
of a large consumer cooperative in the U.K.].
Because it was starting from scratch,
WWHC was able to lay ducts for its GPON
fiber network as part of its overall construction
project. This meant that equipping the 100
dwellings with FTTH added little to the total
£13.5 million ($21.0 million) cost of building
the 100 dwellings.
“The scale of the housing development was
huge, and we had no existing infrastructure such
as water or telecoms. Laying fiber added around
2 percent to the total cost; it was not significant,”
says Farrell, adding that “the highest building is
two-story, so technically it wasn’t too difficult.”
WWHC remains the sole telecom
infrastructure provider on the site, and in
2009 it set up a legally independent consumer
cooperative, called Whitcomm, to provide
and manage the FTTH access and triple-play
service. Whitcomm also sets a monthly tariff
based on the services tenants choose to use.
Tenants have the opportunity to be members
of Whitcomm and therefore decide both
pricing and service evolution. In April 2012, for
example, the cooperative upgraded broadband
speed to 50 Mbps.
Whitcomm sets pricing and does not
seek a return on investment in its FTTH
infrastructure. “Whitcomm’s capital position
is neutral. We need to watch our fees,” says
Farrell. For line rental and fiber broadband up
to and often exceeding 50 Mbps, Whitcomm
charges £24.70 ($38.53) per calendar month.
For both broadband and telephone service,
customers pay £30.69 ($47.87), which includes
anytime calls to U.K. landlines.
Nevertheless, WWHC calculated that
Whitcomm needs to attain a 50 percent
penetration rate in order to be viable –
a threshold that it has surpassed.
The new fiber-wired neighborhood built by the West Whitlawburn Housing Cooperative has high rates of broadband adoption.
Today, 78 percent of the 100 homes
on the greenfield site subscribe to
FTTH. A further 20 percent opted to
do without a landline for phone calls
and rely solely on mobile.
This compares favorably with an
overall Internet adoption rate of 39
percent in those dwellings managed by
WWHC that do not have FTTH.
WWHC, which houses many
families with children and relatively
few elderly people on the new site,
has found that tenants use the FTTH
service in particular for gaming, as well
as for online banking, video streaming
services such as BBC iPlayer, and
General Information
Location: Cambuslang, on the outskirts of Glasgow
Type of project: Greenfield FTTH/GPON
Partners: West Whitlawburn Housing Cooperative
Population: Low-income families
Network status: Operational
Deployment
Size of network: 100 homes connected, 78 subscribers
Technology/architecture: GPON
Business case
Investment: Financed by WWHC and the Scottish government
Business model: Network owner (WWHC) owns and operates the openaccess network.
End-user services
50 Mbps for £24.70/month for line rental and fiber broadband; £30.69/
month for both broadband and telephone service
helping with children’s homework.
The cooperative, which manages
first- and second-line support of the
network itself, originally provided
a triple-play service. But like many
small high-speed broadband service
providers, Whitcomm discovered that
content provisioning would be its
biggest challenge.
“We learned a harsh lesson with
content,” says Farrell. “Open access
became complicated with TV. A
number of people said they wanted
Sky [a digital satellite pay-TV service]
and that Freeview [a free-to-air digital
terrestrial video service] was not
enough. Then some wanted Sky and
didn’t want Internet access.”
The cooperative now offers
telephony and Internet access only.
The FTTH network also enables the
cooperative to provide home help alarms
and run a CCTV security service.
FTTH may not be the primary
reason tenants choose to live in
Cambuslang, but three years after
embarking on the FTTH project,
WWHC believes that high-speed
broadband infrastructure has added
value to the service it provides and
helped overcome digital exclusion. v
FINANCING FIBER
What If?
Use the Broadband Communities FTTH Analyzers to refine business cases for deploying
fiber to the home.
F
iber to the home is different. Compared
with technologies that reuse as much of
the existing copper plant as possible, fiber
to the home requires more up-front capital.
In exchange, fiber technologies “give back” in
lower operating costs and offer potential for
much higher revenue. Sooner or later, customers
will demand the bandwidth that only FTTH
can provide. So why not start enjoying the
benefits as soon as possible?
As the business magazine of our industry,
Broadband Communities has been striving
to quantify the costs and benefits of FTTH
since 2004, when it first emerged as a realistic
alternative to copper in more than a few
specialized situations. Yes, deployment costs
Broadband Communities’ FTTH Analyzers
Of the five financial models Broadband Communities has released to date, three are aimed at
refining business plans for a build, as an aid in attracting investors:
• #1: Financial calculator for municipal and franchise-operator builds
• #2: Calculator for private cable operators, property developers, multiunit buildings and
commercial structures
• #3: Calculator for rural builds.
Two others are monthly cash flow models designed to help keep operators on track
once construction and operations start:
• #4: Customer monthly revenue calculator
• #5: 18-month operations cash flow calculator.
Other models are in the works, including a detailed “scratch pad” for all fixed and
contract costs – any costs that are not directly linked to a customer premises or services
sold to a customer. Customer-linked costs are already included in the existing models.
You can view and download the models free of charge at www.FTTHAnalyzer.com.
We’ve placed these models into the public domain. Consultants and vendors can use them
any way they wish. We always appreciate credit (and accept blame), but if anyone wishes to
simply rebrand the models, that’s fine – our goal is to grow the industry.
We’ve also run workshops and webinars on all the models, and we can help network
builders customize them for their own needs.
were falling and becoming more
predictable, but the revenue potential
and the social good – the potential of
new fiber infrastructure to enable new
industries – were even more compelling.
To navigate this new environment
in which old rules of thumb rarely
applied, the magazine developed dozens
of small calculation tools that helped
show whether a new technology or a
new use of an old technology could
enable new business cases and thus spur
deployment. By the fall of 2011, we
started publishing full-blown computer
models that combined many of these
calculations. To date, we have released
five models.
This article, which focuses on model
1, or the most general business case
for FTTH, shows how to modify the
models and their inputs to uncover
key leverage points. What happens
when interest rates change? When
construction delays occur? When
competitors cut their prices, eating into
margins or take rates? Scenario analysis
of this kind helps forewarn – and
forearm – against unpleasant surprises.
A Feasibility Model
Broadband Communities’ models
cover the first four years of a network
build, by which time a network should
be cash-flow positive or close to it.
The models were designed for quick
feasibility modeling. They are also
great for showing to bankers and other
potential investors. They print on one
page, allowing the overall business plan
to be quickly grasped. An interested
investor can (and should) use the model
to explore basic assumptions; this article
will explain how.
A one-page model is great for
exploring assumptions, but it isn’t all
the planning you’ll ever have to do.
Federal grant proposals often run 60
pages or more.
The general-case model has four
sections:
• Basics. Figure 1 describes the
size of the proposed network and
anticipated number of subscribers
added each year. Modeling cash flow
also requires estimating the average
number of subscribers in a given
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MODELING
A model is like a roadmap. A map
cannot contain everything. A
map as detailed as the real world
would be the size of the real world!
We already have one of those.
But what detail should the map
include?
Some map users want to get
from point A to point B as quickly
as possible. A map for them must
concentrate on highways and
through streets.
Other users want to pick out
historical points of interest. Some
will shun highways. Some need to
know where to find the closest gas
station or hospital.
An online mapping program
or a GPS-driven device might
include all possibilities, but trying
to display all of them at the same
time obfuscates rather than
enlightens.
Financial modeling should also
highlight the information most
relevant to your situation. For
instance, say you need to replace a
roof. You can do it cheaply, with an
expectation of replacing it again
in 10 years, or you can spend more
now and get a roof warranted for
15 years with an expected lifetime
of 20 years. What should you do?
Well, that depends on the answers
to a number of questions:
• Do you have money available
for the best roof? If not, you
have to settle for less, even
if the choice is “foolish”
financially.
• If you can raise the money
for the best roof, what is
the opportunity cost of that
money? Will the interest
you could earn or the return
you could make investing
in something else outweigh
the cost of replacing the roof
sooner than you might have
done?
• Are you planning to sell the
property before even a shoddy
replacement is likely to wear
out? Will a potential purchaser
notice and discount the
purchase price? What formula
will the purchaser use for that?
• How costly is the inconvenience
of frequent reconstruction to
tenants or unit owners?
The financial model must
include a way to project answers
to all these questions. All too often,
we rationalize poor decisions with
wishful thinking: Well, winters have
been pretty mild lately. Maybe a
shoddy roof will last longer simply
because storms might be less severe
than in the past decade. A good
model will expose these wishful
assumptions and force you to
confront and analyze them.
Suppose you are modeling
the future cost of the eventual,
inevitable fiber upgrade to the
obsolescent copper in your
network. Who knows what the
cost of a fiber upgrade will be
in five years? How can you tell
whether you can get by with the
copper for eight years? Or 10?
Unless the copper is within a few
years of foreseeable replacement,
modeling can’t tell you what
you need to know, because the
uncertainties will lead to a range of
alternatives that is too broad.
A good model
• Helps you plan, because you
have to start somewhere
• Helps determine feasibility
(How close can you get to
profitability?)
• Helps guide choices that
increase the chance of success
• Helps predict problem areas or
key leverage points.
Perhaps most important, a
good model helps assure funders
that you are not a dreamer without
a plan.
FINANCING FIBER
Figure 1: Basic network parameters and cash needs
Figure 2: Analysis section
period. After year 4, for instance,
the numbers entered as examples
project a 50 percent take rate, about
the average for rural telephone
companies. The model allows users
to make any assumptions they
want about sources of financing.
In this case, as an example, we have
assumed that 20 percent of the
funds come from internal sources
and 80 percent are borrowed.
• Analysis. Once the basics are
entered, the model calculates the
key variables, such as the average
cost to pass one home or business
with fiber and the cost to connect it
to the network. Because the “basics”
section includes the number of
premises passed each year and the
expected number of customers,
the analysis section (Figure 2) can
calculate the systemwide take rate
at year-end and as an average for the
year. This section also calculates the
capital cost (annual and monthly)
of adding each potential and actual
customer to the network.
• Cash Flow. Figure 3 is a handy
checklist of all possible revenues
from the network and the costs of
providing the services that generate
those revenues, such as fees payable
to video content providers and
system overhead.
• Investment considerations.
Many investors focus on EBITDA
– earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization – to
compare a borrower’s assumptions
to industry norms. Calculating
EBITDA also offers an easy way to
calculate the all-important debtservice coverage ratio, which is
EBITDA divided by the debt service
per subscriber, times the number of
subscribers. If your ratio is somewhat
more than 1, investors should be
happy because you will have the cash
flow to pay them off (Figure 4).
LEVERAGE POINTS
In the example shown in Table 1, the
network deployer provides $5 million
equity (20 percent of the total network
capital cost) and raises another $20
million, all in one tranche. The network
is projected to pass 10,000 premises in
Figure 3: Cash flows, including revenues and costs
Figure 4: Investment considerations
the first year and build out to 18,250
premises over four years.
The legal and brokerage fees for the
money raised, in this example, amount
to 8 percent up front. This cost could
be counted separately (as it is here)
or charged against money raised or
against initial equity. You don’t have
to change the spreadsheet coding –
you can just adjust the amounts in the
inputs and make the explicit cost of
capital 0 percent.
For this model run, we keep all
assumptions the same except for
the interest rate. The low end of the
projections, 4 percent, would be typical
for a small Tier 3 incumbent local
exchange carrier or a municipality that
has a good management track record
and something to mortgage. The high
end would be more likely for a network
builder that must pledge the network
itself as collateral. Lenders tend not to
be in the business of running networks.
And they know that partially built,
unsuccessful networks sell at a steep
discount, if they can be sold at all.
To hardly anyone’s surprise, lower
interest rates lead to much more
comfortable cash flow projections. A
closer look, however, reveals that the
Debt Service Coverage Ratio, Base Case
Interest
Rate
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
12%
0.79
1.05
1.16
1.31
11%
0.81
1.08
1.21
1.37
10%
0.82
1.12
1.27
1.44
9%
0.83
1.15
1.33
1.52
8%
0.84
1.19
1.40
1.60
7%
0.84
1.22
1.47
1.69
6%
0.84
1.26
1.55
1.78
5%
0.84
1.30
1.63
1.88
4%
0.84
1.34
1.72
1.99
Table 1: Higher interest rates mean lower debt service coverage ratios, especially in the out years.
FINANCING FIBER
effect of low interest rates increases
dramatically over time. The debt
coverage ratio in year one, at 12 percent
interest, is 0.79. That is, the system has
a cash flow that could in theory pay
only 79 percent of the debt service. But
at 4 percent interest, the ratio improves
to only 0.84.
Now look at year four. At 12
percent, the system is projecting a
ratio of 1.31 – comfortable but hardly
exciting. At a low 4 percent, the
coverage ratio is a healthy 1.99. Why?
Compounding. The interest payments
deferred while the system is just getting
started must also be paid back. At 12
percent, interest charges amount to
roughly a third of the money that must
be raised in the first place!
As a system is being planned, a wise
builder will take a close look at ways
to structure the debt. Private builders,
of course, will pay up front for a loan
commitment. But the builder will not
draw down the loan (and start paying
interest) until absolutely necessary.
In the current economic climate,
equipment vendors will usually help
by deferring deliveries of equipment
and providing 90 or more days’ credit
in their billing cycles. However, labor
costs account for typically 70 to 80
percent of any build, and labor costs are
hard to defer.
Municipalities have a tougher
problem. Although their interest rates
tend to be lower (because interest is
typically tax-free to lenders in the same
state), many states require all borrowing
to be up front in one tranche (that
is, one round of fundraising). Thus,
municipalities can end up paying 7
percent or more up front while they
earn 1 percent or less on the unused
cash they are borrowing.
Too often, networks aren’t built
because their revenue potential
is underestimated. Look at the
conventional triple play. Voice service
is a giveaway. A service provider might
be able to charge $100 or more for
video service, but its profit, after paying
content providers, might be only $10
or $15 a month! Only Internet service
is a consistent triple-play moneymaker,
providing profits of $10 to $50 a month.
(Milo Medin, vice president of access
services for Google, recently estimated
that leading cable providers earn gross
operating margins for broadband
Internet services that exceed 95 percent.)
However, fiber to the home can
support multiple services beyond the
triple play. What about video security
tied to a customer’s smart phone?
Conventional security might sell for $20
a month, of which the network operator
might pay $10 or more to a local security
provider. High-end video security
enabled by FTTH sells for $40 a month
in many locations, and the local security
provider will charge little (if any) more.
That’s a profit of $30 a month! True, the
percentage of households that buy it will
be smaller, and carriers have to pay for
video uploads, but the overall profit can
still rival that of video. The reliability
and upload capacity of FTTH make
it possible.
Video surveillance offers an added
bonus: fewer false alarms. That helps
control costs for the local security
provider and local police.
Great opportunities are also
emerging in telehealth, distance
learning, home shopping and other
services. Verizon reports FiOS average
revenue per customer of about $150 a
month, a figure that has grown over the
years, even in a recession economy. Of
that, we suspect a third is gross profit.
Table 2 shows the enormous
difference that per-customer profit
makes to the debt-service coverage
ratio – a good reason to offer as many
QUICK MODIFICATION TO ROUGHLY CALCULATE OVERHEAD
You can, of course, go back to your
original overhead calculations. But
the prospective lender would not
bother doing so for a quick analysis.
Neither should you, unless there is
an unusual contract provision such
as a construction-contract shortfall
makeup or a community-imposed
performance penalty on an ILEC
that does not build out as fast
as expected.
Year 1
Payroll
Management
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Payroll
=19.81/F53
=21.86/F53
=19.4/F53
=19.40/F53
Management
=6.86/F53
=3.00/F53
=2.70/F53
=2.70/F53
Look at Table 4 again. Turn each
number into a ratio referring back
to a single cell. The model would
look like this example, where F53
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
24.76
27.33
24.25
24.25
8.57
3.75
3.37
3.37
contains the overhead ratio. If there
is a 20 percent shortfall in customers
in year one and this shortfall carries
on all the way to year four, only 80
percent of the customers would
have to carry the full overhead. The
value in cell F53 in the model would
be 0.80. Dividing the original basecase values by 0.80 leads to the
result above.
different services as possible. The model
actually underestimates the effect of
multiple services because it does not
account for lower churn (customers
are “stickier” when they purchase
more services).
Sometimes a model looks too
good. Consider Table 3. The first row
Profit per
Customer
per Month
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
$50
1.63
1.62
1.91
2.14
$40
1.49
1.43
1.66
1.83
$30
1.35
1.25
1.40
1.53
$20
1.21
1.07
1.15
1.22
$10
1.07
0.89
0.89
0.92
Table 2: Monthly profit per customer has a large effect on debt service coverage ratio (this
example assumes a 10 percent interest rate).
DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE RATIO
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Base Case (2,500 new
customers in Year 1)
0.82
1.12
1.27
1.44
20% Below Base Case
0.68
0.95
1.03
1.19
20% Above Base Case
0.95
1.27
1.49
1.68
60% Below Base Case
0.38
0.58
0.50
0.60
Table 3: The initial model run shows a surprisingly low effect of construction delays on the debt
service coverage ratio (assuming 10 percent interest rate and $30 customer monthly profit).
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Payroll
$19.81
$21.86
$19.40
$19.40
Management
$6.86
$3.00
$2.70
$2.70
Table 4: Management overhead per customer.
DEBT SERVICE COVERAGE RATIO
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Base Case (2,500 new
customers in Year 1)
0.82
1.12
1.27
1.44
20% Below Base Case
0.60
0.86
0.92
1.05
20% Above Base Case
1.03
1.36
1.60
1.81
60% Below Base Case
0.14
0.28
0.12
0.13
Table 5: The second model run shows a more severe effect of construction delays on the debt
service coverage ratio.
considers the base case, 2,500 new
customers in year one (an average of
1,250 for the year), growing to 6,000
in year two, 7,300 in year three and
9,125 in year four as the system is built
out and as take rate improves from 25
to 50 percent. However, something is
clearly wrong. Even at 60 percent below
the projected base case, the debt service
coverage ratio, though hardly healthy, is
around 0.60 in years two through four.
This shows the value of testing
the model with projections of severe
shortfalls and great successes. In this
case, the debt service coverage ratio
appears unrealistically high because
the model does not calculate overheads
directly. It depends on users to calculate
the overheads on a separate worksheet
and insert simple values, not formulas,
into the model itself.
The system per-customer payroll
and external management fees have
been inserted with the assumption that
customers are being added at the base
rate. It looks like Table 4.
But what if the customer base is
below the original estimate and the
system operator makes no adjustments?
Then, the payroll will have to be
assumed by fewer customers and the
amounts per customer will rise. The
effect may not be linear. That is, a 20
percent drop in customers may not
lead to exactly a 20 percent rise in
per-customer overhead. For instance,
there will likely be fewer maintenance
calls, and if maintenance is handled by
a third party, there will be some savings
to the system operator. Likewise, a
customer database contractor might
charge an up-front fee plus $1 or $2 per
customer per year.
But a linear approximation is a
good start. You can be sure that a savvy
lender will test your model that way. In
this case, the linear approximation (see
box) leads to the more realistic set of
projections in table 5. Notice that even
a 20 percent shortfall leads to disaster!
Fine-tuning the calculations to include
some nonlinear assumptions is not
enough; the need for a serious reduction
in overhead becomes apparent. v
Corporate editor Steve Ross can be
Spring 2013 Volume 10, Number 1
CABA Celebrates 25th
Anniversary
Dr. Satyen Mukherjee, Chair of the
CABA Board of Directors, provides a
history and celebratory message on
the occasion of the organization’s 25th
anniversary.
www.caba.org/ihomesandbuildings
Smart Building Predictions in 2013
ZigBee – the next world changing
technology – just like Wi-Fi
Is the Bloom off Smart Grids?
Unfinished Business: The oBIX initiative
CABA’s Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council (IIBC) focused on areas of research that address
the needs and priorities of high performance and intelligent buildings. The IIBC identified two key
areas of exploration in its 2011 Landmark Research study - the impact of smart grid development on
intelligent buildings, and the progression of intelligent buildings towards net zero energy.
There is a growing marketplace outlook that achieving energy sustainability and the growth of building intelligence are interdependent and exert a collective influence in the progression of high performance intelligent buildings. Consequently, CABA’s IIBC
members focussed the research study on an investigation and assessment of the impact of the smart grid on the commercial
buildings sector. Though still early in development and deployment, the research also examined the relationship of smart grids
and the progression towards net zero energy output in intelligent buildings.
The purpose of this study was to identify, define and size the principle business opportunities presented by the growth of smart
grids, in relation to “intelligent buildings”. An examination of smart grid should yield immediate value to all stakeholders in the
intelligent building industry, as smart grid and auto demand response holds more relevance in the industry today - with opportunities in existing buildings and new construction. Energy capacity/supply problems need to be addressed in the short-term,
and made available in emerging technology. This will serve to add to market education and understanding, and address market
knowledge gaps. As well, open and interoperable communication between energy suppliers and commercial energy users is an
eventuality - which was further explored in relation to smart grid development and intelligent buildings. The purpose of these
initiatives is two fold – an educational and validation exercise for industry participants and a means to drive public opinion and
facilitate policy decisions at industry stakeholder, public authority and government organization levels.
The study was funded by these CABA members:
RUBY SPONSOR
EMERALD SPONSORS
DIAMOND SPONSORS
The research was undertaken by research and buildings technology consultancy, BSRIA, on behalf of CABA.
Your Information Source For
Home & Building Automation
www.CABA.org
To purchase this and other available research reports
or explore new research opportunities contact:
George Grimes
CABA Business Development Manager
613.686.1814 x226 or [email protected]
More Information available at:
www.caba.org/estore
Spring 2013, Volume 10, Number 1
Contents
Features
Cover Story
CABA Celebrates 25th Anniversary by Dr. Satyen Mukherjee ................................................................................7
Large Building Automation
Smart Building Predictions in 2013 by Jim Sinopoli ............................................................................................... 9
Home Systems
ZigBee – the next world changing technology – just like Wi-Fi by Cees Links ................................................... 12
Columns
CABA Research Briefs
Intelligent Buildings and the Bid Specification Process ........................................................................................5
Impact of Smart Grid on Connected Homes 2012 Study ...................................................................................... 6
Ken Wacks’ Perspectives
Is the Bloom off Smart Grids?................................................................................................................................. 16
Opinion
Unfinished Business: The oBIX initiative by Toby Considine ................................................................................ 19
Departments
New Members ................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Networking and Events ..................................................................................................................................................11
Industry Trends .............................................................................................................................................................. 15
Upcoming Events .......................................................................................................................................................... 21
CABA NewsBrief
Please go to the CABA Web site at www.caba.org to
learn how to freely subscribe and sponsor
EdItORIAL AdVISORy BOARd
MANAgINg EdItOR
CONtRIButORS
Dr. Kenneth Wacks Ken Wacks Associates (Chair)
Ronald J. Zimmer, CAE
Ken Gallinger
Steven Brown CSA Group
George Grimes
David Labuskes RTKL Associates, Inc.
EdItOR
Labib Matta NeXgen Advisory Group FZ-LLC
Rawlson O’Neil King
John Hall
Robert Knight Environmental Systems Design
Harshad Shah Eagle Technology, Inc
Jim Sinopoli Smart Buildings
Association Office
Continental Automated Buildings Association
1173 Cyrville Road, Suite 210
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1J 7S6
Tel: 613.686.1814; 888.798.CABA (2222)
Fax: 613.744.7833
Further editorial use of the articles in this magazine is
encouraged.
For subscriptions, circulation, and change of address
enquiries email [email protected]. For editorial and
advertising opportunities:
www.caba.org/ihomesandbuildings
The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those held by the Continental Automated Buildings Association
(CABA). CABA shall not be under any liability whatsoever with respect to the contents of contributed articles. The organization
reserves the right to edit, abridge or alter articles for publication.
CABA BOARd Of dIRECtORS
CHAIR
VICE-CHAIR
Dr. Satyen Mukherjee
Dr. Morad Atif
Philips
National Research Council Canada
dIRECtORS
Scot Adams
Larry Ehlinger
Stephen Nardi
Cadillac Fairview Corporation
Pella Corporation
RealView, LLC
Kris Bowring
Jeff Hamilton
Barry Rogers
Best Buy Co., Inc.
Ingersoll Rand
SecurTek Monitoring Solutions
Scott Burnett
Bill Horrocks
Tom Semler
IBM
Comcast Communications
Hydro One Networks Inc.
Brian Casey
Elizabeth Jacobs
Alok Singh
Honeywell International, Inc.
Siemens Industry, Inc.
Southern California Edison Company
Dr. Yong Chang
Shahram Mehraban
Dana “Deke” Smith
Samsung Electronics, Co. Ltd.
Intel Corporation
National Institute of Building Sciences
Michael Clay
Ian Milne
Thomas Starek
Verizon Wireless
Robinson Solutions
Diebold, Incorporated
Jonathan Cluts
Mike Nager
Microsoft Corporation
Metz Connect
CABA PresiDent & CeO’s MessAge
Ron Zimmer
Every organization reaches key milestones and objectives and it is important to recognize and reflect on those
achievements. On that note, CABA was launched in 1988 and therefore has just reached its 25th Anniversary. CABA
has already undertaken a number of activities to recognize this important achievement, including hosting several
special receptions and events at CES 2013 and AHR Expo 2013. There will be celebrations to come including special
Forums that will be collocated with CABA Board meetings.
Since joining CABA 15 years ago, I still had the pleasure of working with Jack Fraser, Al McKinley, Gerry Meade and
others that were instrumental in launching CABA. They shared stories about those first meetings which only involved
a few people and organizations. However, there was consensus and a dream of creating an organization that could
become “An Information Source for Home and Building Automation”.
That dream has become reality and continues to grow as CABA has achieved much, including building the largest
“connected home and intelligent buildings” research library in the world. Frank Bisbee, Editor of Heard it on the
Street, which reaches over two million readers, was recently stated: “CABA is providing valuable research to the
industry and there is no other organization that even comes close to providing this information.”
It is important to recognize and celebrate the past and current CABA Board, members, staff and volunteers for the
effort, support and passion that they have provided and continue to provide CABA and the industry. The original
five members have now grown to over 300 and CABA has expanded into a global industry association reaching
over 20,000 subscribers with the CABA NewsBrief. As CABA celebrates the past, watch for more announcements
about new research and member benefits throughout this 25th anniversary year.
Remember – CABA works for you!
Join CABA Today!
The Continental Automated Buildings Association
provides more information about integrated systems and
automation in homes and buildings than any other source.
www.caba.org
CABA iHomes and Buildings Spring 2013
3
new MeMBers
The Continental Automated Buildings Association is a not-for-profit
industry association that promotes advanced technologies for the
automation of homes and buildings. CABA members benefit from
timely, competitive intelligence on the integrated systems industry.
Here is a sampling of our latest members.
ABB, inc.
ABB is one of the world’s largest engineering companies and
largest conglomerates specializing in robotics, power and
automation technologies.
The Light Brigade, the world’s leading fiber optic training
company, was founded in September 1986 to provide a
growing population of fiber-optic end-users in the Pacific
Northwest expertise with the technology.
Actiontec electronics
nuleDs, inc.
Actiontec Electronics develops broadband-powered solutions that connect people to the Internet, applications and
content. The firm provides gigabit Ethernet fiber routers,
high speed bonded VDSL2 gateways, 4G LTE routers, DSL
modems, and home networking solutions to telecom carriers.
NuLEDs, Inc. designs, develops and manufacturers LED
lighting systems. The firm specializes in general purpose
LED luminaires, multiple channel SSL controllers, and
high-quality white LED and RGB lighting.
ADT Security Services is a U.S. and Canada provider of
electronic security systems, fire alarm systems, communication systems, and integrated building management systems.
research into Action
Research Into Action, Inc. is a program evaluation and
market research firm. It specializes in evaluation research
and market assessment design and analysis services in the
fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and natural
resource management.
enOcean Alliance
sCl elements inc.
EnOcean Alliance develops and promotes self-powered
wireless monitoring and control systems for sustainable
buildings by formalizing an interoperable, international
wireless standard.
SCL Elements Inc. provides CAN2GO building automation
solutions for comfort and energy efficiency in commercial
buildings. CAN2GO offers integrated wired and wireless
solutions for HVAC, lighting and metering applications.
ADt security services
the light Brigade
A complete CABA member listing with both product and service information and Web links is
available at: www.caba.org
Connect with us at www.caba.org
4
CABA reseArCh BrieFs
CABA Research Briefs provide a condensed synopsis of specific
research papers available in the organization’s research libraries.
CABA research libraries provide industry intelligence to the home
and large building automation and integrated systems sector.
intelligent BuilDings AnD the BiD sPeCiFiCAtiOn PrOCess
In 2012, CABA’s Intelligent & Integrated
Key Industry Dynamics
Buildings Council (IIBC) commissioned
the “Intelligent Buildings and the Bid
Specification Process” research study
ification process throughout the intel-
The broad purpose of the study was
to identify and understand the market
imperfections and inconsistencies that
exist in designing and implementing
Slow
economy
and limited
budgets
Undefined
value chain
practices
Lack of direct
interface with
specifiers and
awareness issues
Increased
competition
and price
pressures
Challenge
and related decision-making process.
Availability
of advanced
technology
Challenge
ligent buildings industry value-chain
Need for
technology
upgrades
Drivers
the commercial bid and product spec-
Green
certifications
and Regulatory
Requirements
Drivers
to greatly improve the understanding of
Energy
efficiency
retrofits
intelligent building projects, as well
Short Term impact (0-3 Years)
as making investment decisions on
intelligent technologies. To this end,
the research identified and assessed
critical areas and importance factors
to enable project sponsors to: further
Mid Term (4-6 Years)
Long Term impact (7-10 Years)
Energy efficiency improvements will continue to drive the need for bid and spec projects, however,
slow economic recovery will impact bid prices and vendor selection.
Industry Dynamics – Drivers and Challenges
product/services market development; unify stakeholder decision-making processes; identify opportunities/needs
for training and coaching to remove obstacles from the process; and to provide product demand information to
parallel market segments and other business areas.
The intelligent buildings industry in North America is still in the early adoption stage, though there are distinct signs
of it gradually moving upward in the market life cycle. There are distinct dynamics that have driven, and challenged
the use of intelligent technologies.
the major characteristics of the intelligent buildings industry are:
• Energyefficiencyandoperationalcostsavingshavebeeninstrumentalindrivingintegrationofintelligent
buildings technology. With energy costs fluctuating and the building sector consuming more energy, operating
costs are expected to continue rising unless energy consumption is more effectively managed.
• Buildingownersandmanagersarerealizingthemanyfinancialbenefitsofintelligenttechnologies,suchas
lower energy costs, lower maintenance costs, and lower repair and replacement costs. Building owners and
operators are leveraging the energy-saving aspects to fund intelligent technology projects.
5
CABA RESEARCH BRIEfS
• Acatalystformanycompaniestocommittomoreintelligentbuildingssystemsmayalsobefoundinthegreen
and high-performance building movement which is gaining momentum daily. Building owners are investing in
better building performance as a way to reduce energy costs.
• Additionally,thereispressureonbuildingownerstoprovidedetailedaccountingsoftheirgreenhousegas
(GHG) emissions with taxation proposals or legislation (as in California) intended to either limit or tax emissions
of carbon dioxide and other gases.
• Bidandspechasbeenintegratedintoprocurementprocessesbybuildingownerstomaximizeprojectefficiency,
particularly when it comes to incorporating cost-prohibitive intelligent buildings solutions.
• Ahighly-fragmenteddeliveryprocessandthepresenceofnumerousstakeholdersinfluencingtheprocess
create several hurdles in project execution. Schematic designs, adopted early on, often get revised on account
of cheaper substitutes.
• Aconsensus-basedapproachtoprojectdeliveryisneeded,wherebyvariousstakeholderscancollaboratefrom
the early conceptual stages of the project. This will ensure that all goals are met in an optimal manner and
generate long return on investment (ROI) over the life cycle of a building.
iMPACt OF sMArt griD On COnneCteD hOMes 2012 stuDy
In 2012, CABA conducted the Impact of Smart Grid on Connected Homes Landmark Research study with the
objective of greatly improving the understanding of residential smart grid development and deployment in terms
of: identifying market demand and growth areas for new products; comparing competing product strategies and
communication of competitors; determining product preferences for end-users; developing messaging that resonates with the target audience; defining critical success factors to expand product offerings to end-user markets;
and establishing a market approach and foundation for strategic decision-making efforts.
the key takeaways of this research are the following:
• Limitedcustomerengagementandlackofpersonalizationofsolutions,aswellasthelackofpredictiveand
self-sensing capability of solutions, will continue to hinder value demonstrations in the connected home industry.
• Theindustryhorizonwillcontinuetobedottedbybothpure-playandturnkeyplayers.Competitiveadvantages
will, however, depend upon scalability of solutions to accommodate the emerging demand in technology
integration.
• TheIPinfluencewilldominatetheconvergenceindomainexpertise,butpracticalitiesoffullconvergenceare
questionable and not a near-term reality.
• Theconnectedhome’srelationshipwithenergyislikelytobefurtherstressedwiththeabilityofsuchahome
to integrate with the smart grid; however, optimized solutions in this area are currently only demonstrative in
nature, with limited initiatives undertaken by the utility industry.
• Industryparticipantsneedtocollaborateinacohesivemannertomakesmarthomesolutionsworktogether;
however, both conceptual frameworks and technology development initiatives should work simultaneously
toward this end.
For more information about the “Intelligent Buildings and the Bid Specification Process” and the “Impact of Smart
grid on the Connected Homes 2012” research studies, please contact George Grimes, CABA’s Business Development
Manager at 613-686-1814 x226 or [email protected].
6
•
COver stOry
CABA Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Dr. Satyen Mukherjee, Chair of the CABA
Board of Directors, provides a history and
celebratory message on the occasion of the
organization’s 25th anniversary.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Continental
Automated Buildings Association, I have the distinct pleasure to express congratulations on the occasion of the
organization’s silver anniversary.
The Continental Automated Buildings Association was
founded 25 years ago as a venue to facilitate networking and
collaboration between industry stakeholders, educational
institutions and organizations in order to further the development of a mass market in home and building automation.
Starting with just six members, now 300 companies
interact with CABA to access cutting-edge research, trends
and analysis and to attend highly-focused industry seminars,
workshops and conferences.
CABA’s 25th anniversary is an opportune time to reflect
on how joint industry efforts can strengthen the goal of
mass market developments. Our anniversary also provides
an opportunity for the organization to show its appreciation
to our industry.
For all those who do not know, CABA is an international not-for-profit industry association dedicated to the
advancement of intelligent home and intelligent building
technologies.
The organization was originally founded as the Canadian
Automated Buildings Association at a meeting called at the
National Research Council of Canada’s headquarters in
Ottawa to explore the possibility of establishing a Canadian
association of like-minded, building-related organizations.
Bell Canada, Bell-Northern Research, Ontario Hydro,
Hydro-Québec, Consumers Gas, Canadian Home Builders’
Association, the Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers
Association of Canada, Industry Canada, Minto
Developments Inc. and the National Research Council of
Canada attended.
This diverse group of organizations resolved to devote
their resources to the promotion of intelligent buildings
in Canada through the establishment of the Canadian
Automated Buildings Association in November 1988.
An initial fund of $100,000 was pledged by the Board of
Directors and an interim office was supplied in Toronto by
the Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association
of Canada.
Gerry Meade, a senior Ontario Hydro manager was seconded to occupy the post of executive director. Honeywell, a
major manufacturer of heating and environmental controls
initially occupied the organization’s chairmanship. In 1990
former Bell Canada assistant vice president, Jack Fraser,
was appointed president. In 1991, Alan McKinley from the
National Research Council of Canada became president of
the organization.
In 1995, the association organized its first major collaborative research project focused on home energy and
environmental management systems. The $160,000 study
involved 16 different funding organizations, including federal and provincial government agencies, manufacturers,
and utilities.
In 1998, CABA was renamed the Continental Automated
Buildings Association and given an expanded international
mission by its Board of Directors to encourage the development, promotion, pursuit and understanding of integrated
systems and automation in homes and buildings throughout
North America.
In 1999, Ronald J. Zimmer, an experienced and certified
association executive was appointed by the CABA Board
of Directors to lead the organization. With the expanded
mission, the organization began to grow to near 400 members involved in the design, manufacture, installation and
7
testimonials
“I’m very pleased to celebrate the 25th anniversary of CABA.
As one of the originals of the organization, I’ve watched it
develop as a leader within this industry and help move it
forward. Anyone who is not part of the organization should
join.” – Bob Lane, Robert H. Lane Consulting
“Throughout all of my experience, CABA has been extremely
helpful. It is an excellent organization with excellent publications and initiatives which promote events and standard.
I look forward to CABA’s next 25 years.” – John Antonchick,
NCN Associates
“I want to congratulate CABA for doing a great job over the
last 25 years. CABA has been a leader in both the home and
building markets through both its research and its industry
outreach. Everything that the organization does is a valuable resource to our company and many others.” – Steve
Harvey, Global Research Advisors
“The relationship between CABA and Z-Wave Alliance is
absolutely phenomenal. Over the years, the support from
CABA has proven to the best relationship we have had in
the home and building automation industry.” - Bill Scheffler,
Sigma Designs
“CABA has been instrumental in bringing us together with
other organizations with similar interests, to form a common bond in order to understand where the industry is
going. CABA undertakes specialized research and is an
excellent source of information, through its Web site and
various research studies and projects.” - Chellury (Ram)
Sastry, Samsung Electronics
“In North America, a group that has taken the lead
in promoting and researching intelligent building
systems is the Continental Automated Buildings
Association.” – Patrick McLaughlin, Cabling Installation
& Maintenance Magazine
“We feel that CABA is an excellent source to keep a pulse
on industry developments.” – Phil Kopp, Energy Eye Inc.
retailing of products relating to home automation and
building automation.
In 2003, CABA and the Government of Canada completed the Technology Roadmap (TRM) for Intelligent
Buildings Technologies, a collaborative $110,000 research
project between industry and five federal government
departments and agencies. The project focused upon commercial, institutional and high-rise residential buildings,
and culminated in a final report that provided an in-depth
examination of intelligent buildings technologies.
Two years later, the organization’s Board of Directors
endorsed a policy that further internationalized the organization by making its membership appeal global in scope.
In 2006, CABA integrated the operations of the Internet
Home Alliance. The Internet Home Alliance was a cross-industry network of leading companies conducting collaborative research to advance the connected home market.
Founded in 2000, the Alliance provided its members with
the real-world testing opportunities required to bring their
home technology products and services to market more
quickly, successfully and cost-effectively.
In 2010, CABA’s collaborative research evolved and
expanded into the CABA Research Program, which is
directed by the CABA Board of Directors. The CABA
Research Program’s scope has incorporated market research
for both large building technologies and home systems and
has produced several actionable industry reports.
It is our desire that CABA continues to undertake such
constructive work with the aim to continue to strengthen
the home and building automation industry.
Presently CABA provides a number of services to its
members and the technical community at large including
a technical library with nearly 1,000 reports and articles.
CABA also provides a widely-viewed electronic newsletter.
Further, our Board of Directors are illustrious members of
industry, academia, and research firms who address major
areas of interest in the sector.
•
Dr. Satyen Mukherjee is currently a chief scientist and
senior director at Philips for research strategy in North
America. He is also the Chair of the CABA Board of
Directors.
“CABA is a doing a wonderful job in promoting and
advocating more intelligence for buildings.” –Jim Long,
Herman Miller, Inc.
8
lArge BuilDing AutOMAtiOn
Smart Building Predictions in 2013
Jim Sinopoli, PE, RCDD provides several
predictions concerning the development
of intelligent building technologies for the
upcoming year.
the Coming of indoor Positioning systems (iPs)
We’ve all used Google Maps or MapQuest to locate a place,
get a map or directions. The underlying infrastructure is a
collection of U.S. satellites providing a Global Positioning
System (GPS). GPS doesn’t work well indoors though
because the signal is blocked. However, locating assets and
people within buildings has value for potentially improving
the performance of buildings, businesses and life safety.
There are “traditional” real time location systems (RTLS)
for buildings that use RFID or Wi-Fi but they require a tag
or device to be attached to the asset or person. But why use
tags and devices when all of us are carrying a smartphone,
aka “the new building sensor”. Indoor location technology
is already being developed by some of the world’s largest
tech companies. It will happen in 2013.
How serious are these efforts? Twenty-two companies
formed the In-Location Alliance six months ago; they
include large multi-national companies such as Nokia,
Samsung, Sony and CSR. While a number of technology
approaches have potential for being the basis of indoor positioning (the identification of unique flickering of individual
LED lights via a smartphone camera, detecting natural electromagnetic radiation, existing digital TV signals, etc.), it
seems the “Bluetooth Beaconing” approach may be one that
initially succeeds, partially because everyone with a smartphone or laptop has some familiarity with the technology.
It’s interesting that Google, which is not part of the
alliance, launched their Indoor Maps and Indoor Location
in late 2011. They already have over 10,000 floor plans for
a variety of buildings in North America, Europe and Japan
and claim 5-10 meter accuracy indoors inside buildings.
Being able to identify when and where people are in a
building can improve energy management and life safety,
and can generate a treasure trove of customer and tenant
data.
smart Becomes the new green
Building owners, designers and facility management personnel are very focused on energy management and sustainability and many pursue green building certification.
But who wants a dumb green certified building?
Building owners also want smart buildings and believe
that smart buildings already incorporate many green attributes. In addition, smart buildings really touch on aspects
of technology, building systems, building operations and
performance that aren’t addressed in the alphabet soup of
many green certifications (Pop Quiz: How many of us are
familiar with SERF, Earth Advantage, Earthcraft or Class-C
green certifications?).
The lives of typical tenants and building occupants are
technology-laden with constant social and internet connectivity; they’re expecting advanced technology in buildings
and smart building certification can meet those expectations.
We anticipate many owners will complement the green certification and get their building certified as smart.
hey, what Are you looking At? eye-tracking
Studying human eye movement has been around for roughly
150 years, initially performed by simple observation. Eye
movement is important because what people look at and
how long they look at it influences their decision-making and comprehension. Today one of the more popular
approaches to eye-tracking uses video cameras sensing
reflected light from the eye, an approach which is not invasive and generally inexpensive.
As you may have guessed, today’s eye-tracking is more
9
LARgE BuILdINg AutOMAtION
about commercial applications. You’ll see eye tracking used
in advertising, software interfaces, retail window design, web
pages and almost anything associated with marketing and
selling. Much of the eye-tracking is done for “prototypes” or
“draft” products or ads, gathering data on how a consumer
interacts with “visual stimulus” to perfect the ad or Web page.
The basic data evaluates what people look at, and how long
they hold their gaze.
There are eye-tracking applications that can control
computers, monitor automobile drivers or pilots and even
usages allowing paralyzed people to operate wheelchairs via
eye movement. And yes, eye-tracking has applications for
building design and operation. One example is a company
that has several “mock supermarkets” or “shopper labs” in
order to track eye movements as people wander down the
aisles to determine what items or displays catch their eye.
Eyetracking can benefit a building’s interior design, signage,
way finding, ergonomics of manual controls and kiosks.
With eye movement directly related to decision making,
we’ll start to see more use of research in the design and operation of buildings, touching on the “visual” structure of the
facility, its layout, lighting, colors and placement of objects
or controls. The results could be improved productivity in
commercial buildings, wellness in hospitals and enhanced
learning in schools.
Community gardens Are so yesterday;
Community Microgrids Are now
Community gardens have been around for centuries and
are found worldwide. Essentially neighbors share a plot of
land to grow fresh produce and vegetables, and they may
trade their harvest with others so everyone has a little variety.
The community garden is environmentally sound, creates a
sense of togetherness, and lowers the cost for fresh produce.
Now substitute the word “energy” for “produce” and you
have a community microgrid.
Just like community gardens, microgrids have to deal
with the issues of ownership, management and diversity of
energy (or produce). Microgrids have several unique advantages. One is improvement of power reliability; a microgrid
with multiple generation sources offers diversity and therefore greater reliability. Second, microgrids have the potential
to lower or at least constrain energy costs, for example, using
power from the larger grid when prices are cheaper than
the microgrid; or conversely, maximizing the use of the
10
microgrid when prices from the larger grid are high. At
the very least microgrids offer more flexibility for owners
in managing their energy costs. Third is a slight increase
in energy efficiency; microgrids eliminate or decrease the
transmission and distribution of energy losses and also have
the capability to recover and use heat locally. The result is
higher energy efficiency.
Many neighborhoods and large housing developments
already own and operate their own water systems, and
microgrids will be seen as comparable to a water utility
and can offer local control and positive involvement with
energy resources. Expect a microgrid next to the community
garden and well water.
Cross training for it and FM
In sports or exercising, cross training means a person trains
in an activity that’s not their main sport or has a variety
of exercises to address different parts of the body. Cross
training improves one’s overall performance. This is a concept that the IT and Facility Management departments will
start to adopt. Each has their focus on IT or FM but some
employees in each will be crossed trained in the other “sport”.
Typically companies do cross training so that one
employee can cover for another. That’s not the case with
IT and FM.
It’s about broadening the skill sets and knowledge of
employees to better understand and appreciate each other’s department roles, concerns and issues. The upside for
employees provided such training is that they gain new
proficiencies and understanding that benefits them personally and professionally.
IT is being pulled into supporting the building systems
managed by FM; it’s not by choice but rather by necessity.
In general, IT may know very little about the underlying
mechanical and electrical systems in the buildings, unless
they’ve had some experience in deploying or managing
a data center where cooling and power is critical. If IT
approaches the building control systems as simply different
types of networks with different protocols, different devices
and different functions, cross training may be a little easier.
There’s a lesson here for not only IT departments but also IT
companies, especially those trying to penetrate the building
operation and energy management marketplace; you’ll have
Continues on page 20
netwOrking & events
Over the past 25 years, CABA has brought together industry and
thought leaders at numerous workshops and events.
CABA held anniversary celebration receptions at AHR Expo and the International Consumer Electronics Show in
January. The organization also plans to combine its future semi-annual connected home and intelligent building
events along with its Board meetings.
Bob Lane of Robert H. Lane
Consulting (left) with Ron Zimmer,
CABA President & CEO (right) at
CABA’s 25th Anniversary Celebration
Reception at CES 2013.
CABA’s Digital Home Forum, hosted by Qualcomm and held in October 2012, brought together leading companies
involved in the integration of consumer electronics and other cutting-edge technology throughout the home.
Attendees discussed trends in the digital and connected home with a wide range of companies and explored market
research opportunities.
Ron Bernstein, a noted energy control systems engineering
consultant, moderated a session on the evolution of smart
devices and appliances.
Over 100 attendees participated in CABA’s last Digital Home
Forum. Due to the generosity of Qualcomm, the event’s sponsor,
many attended the Miramar Air Show as VIP guests.
11
hOMe systeMs
ZigBee – the next world changing
technology – just like Wi-fi
Cees Links describes how ZigBee wireless
technology will power The Internet of Things
and the homes of the future.
No one can argue with the success of WiFi. Since Wi-Fi’s
market introduction in 1999 by Apple connecting the iBook
via the Airport Router to the Internet, the number of Wi-Fi
devices has grown astronomically: anywhere you go in the
world, you will find computers, tablets and smart phones
are equipped with Wi-Fi. In addition, many TVs, game consoles, eBooks, printers, cameras, etc. now also have Wi-Fi
connections.
At this moment there are about 600 million homes
connected to the internet. A reasonable guess is that, on
average, each connected home has five connected Wi-Fi
devices, which equals three billion Wi-Fi devices. By the
end of this decade, when the number of connected homes
has grown to 700 million, this average Wi-Fi number will
probably increase to 10 per home – expanding the market
of Wi-Fi devices to seven billion.
Having been deeply involved in the conception of Wi-Fi
in 1988, through its early steps in the standardization (IEEE
802.11) and having seen its early adoption turning into a
broad market success, I am very excited to now help bring
ZigBee to the world.
While working today on implementing ZigBee (IEEE
80.15.4), a technology for the smart home, I realized the
many parallels that there are between the market adoption
of Wi-Fi about 10 years ago and what we see happening
with ZigBee today.
But let me first explain ZigBee
What Wi-Fi provides for computers, TVs, etc. in distributing content through the home, ZigBee provides for all
the small devices and gadgets in the home: light switches,
thermostats, remote controls, security sensors, door locks,
weighing scales, etc. These sense/control devices have much
12
in common. They have only little data to share: just a few
bits once in a while, literally. So, contrary to Wi-Fi, where
high data rates are important, ZigBee is about sense/control
data bits: about reliability, availability, low maintenance and
responsiveness: pressing a wireless light switch should turn
on the light immediately, just as with a wired switch.
To achieve these requirements these types of sense/
control devices need a long battery life and that is exactly
how ZigBee has been designed. One can live with keeping a
Wi-Fi powered tablet or a smartphone charged on a regular
basis, but think about the 100+ other small devices in the
home. If each device has an average battery life of two years,
one will be ending up with changing one battery per week.
In many of these devices it is the communication that
requires the energy. ZigBee has been designed in such a
way that the life of the battery can exceed the life of the
sense/control device, or that the device can operate without
batteries (for example: a light switch running on the energy
generated by flipping the switch).
Therefore it comes as no surprise that many efforts have
been undertaken to develop low power versions of Wi-Fi.
Unfortunately, with some rare exceptions, these efforts have
not been very successful, for the simple reason that Wi-Fi
was never designed for low power. In many implementations the energy consumption of Wi-Fi is at least a factor 10
higher than ZigBee, resulting in a battery life of 1/10th of a
ZigBee equivalent. This is not so much a result of difference
in “transmission power” or “air-time”, but more because of
the overhead incurred by supporting a high speed data-rate
computer-based protocol.
This high speed overhead also incurs an economic
shortcoming of low-power Wi-Fi: even a low cost Wi-Fi
device is easily twice the cost of a ZigBee device, and with
HOME SyStEMS
GreenPeak GP 710 Universal ZigBee Chip in the Set Top Box/Home Control Box) enables communication with all the
various 100+ ZigBee sensors and devices throughout a home.
potentially 100+ wireless devices in the home, this expense
quickly adds up.
Well… so much about explaining the differences, what
are the parallels between ZigBee and Wi-Fi?
Competing proprietary alternatives
As already indicated, both Wi-Fi and ZigBee are IEEE
standards for an open and freely accessible technology that
is available from multiple technology suppliers and chip
vendors worldwide.
Frequency bands
Another interesting parallel between Wi-Fi and ZigBee is
the sub-GHz versus the 2.4 GHz frequency band discussion.
Different regions in the world (U.S., China, Europe, Japan,
etc.) have reserved different frequency bands below the 1
GHz band for wireless data-communications, as well as one
band in the 2.4 GHz that is uniform over all the regions in
the world.
The advantage of the 2.4 GHz band is clear: it does not
matter where you go around in the world, Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz)
just works. The initial Wi-Fi developments however were
done in the sub-GHz bands, for the simple reason that
it is easier to get a better range in the sub-GHz than in
the 2.4GHz. But the large companies were not interested.
Different power cords for products for different countries
were already enough of a headache and, different Wi-Fi
frequency bands for different countries would only further
complicate their logistics. So large companies as well as the
IEEE spent significant time in the 1990-ties to harmonize
the 2.4 GHz band worldwide – the sub-GHz bands were
too different per region, so harmonizing those was just not
feasible. Today, we still need different power socket adapters
for different countries, but at least Wi-Fi is uniform.
At this moment there is within ZigBee, as well as in the
more proprietary alternatives (Z-Wave, EnOcean, io-homecontrol, etc.) serious interest and ongoing efforts for subGHz solutions. If the history repeats itself sooner or later
these efforts will disappear: large corporations want uniform
solutions and economy of scale will make the 2.4 GHz so
much more cost-effective, that interest in sub-GHz solutions
will just disappear.
13
HOME SyStEMS
ZigBee as low Power wi-Fi
One of the concerns about ZigBee is that ZigBee is such a
broad family of standards that from the outside they do not
seem to work together very well, in particular compared
to Wi-Fi which looks very uniform today. And indeed, the
different networking layers and application profiles in the
ZigBee standard can create some confusion. ZigBee opponents like to point this out as a weakness, explaining that
ZigBee is going nowhere.
But also in this case there is an interesting parallel with
Wi-Fi. True: Wi-Fi today is very uniform: it talks TCP/IPv4
(v6) and making a connection to the internet over Wi-Fi
is as easy as one can imagine: find the network, enter the
code and connect. However, we conveniently forget that it
took significant engineering efforts and quite a few years of
maturing before reaching this stage. Wi-Fi has gone through
serious compatibility crises, security has been upgraded
several times and the standardization of higher data-rates
required a lot of negotiations: the agony about 802.11a, b, g,
pre-N, n. But fortunately, Wi-Fi has matured now and grown
into a household name.
ZigBee is still in the middle of this maturing process,
but a few characteristics are already very clear, and these
characteristics are exactly the same as the ones that established Wi-Fi.
ZigBee is an open standard, put together by members
(not adopted by members) and has a clear standard IP policy about ownership of the developed technology (in legal
terms called RAND: Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory).
ZigBee is using one frequency band, worldwide, and does
not have any regional flavors. This means for product makers that they can develop one product for the worldwide
market against the lowest cost.
ZigBee is covering the Internet of Things, but has
split the different application spaces in clear domains in
which full compatibility is pursued. Examples are: Home
Automation, Building Automation, Retail Services, Smart
Energy (an extension of the Smart Grid) and others. Great
steps forward have been made and currently activities have
been undertaken to also integrate TCI/IPv6 compatibility
for ZigBee as well.
ZigBee is also clearly differentiated compared to Wi-Fi.
Where Wi-Fi is about content distribution, ZigBee can support all sense/control applications in a maintenance free
manner, because of its low power and meshing capabilities.
14
Designed for high data rate applications, Wi-Fi
requires 100,000 times more power than ZigBee and
10,000,000 times more power than ZigBee PRO Green
Power, which is designed for energy harvesting uses
(no batteries – no AC power).
Most importantly: many cable operators have recognized the opportunities of sense/control networks for rolling
out new services to their subscribers, requiring an open
worldwide wireless communications standard, for which
there actually is no alternative next to ZigBee. Cable operators are equipping their set-top boxes and gateways with
both ZigBee and Wi-Fi. ZigBee provides the home’s sense/
control services while Wi-Fi, in the same box, prpvides for
content distribution. Cable operators are laying the foundations for making ZigBee a similar household name as Wi-Fi.
Actually this points to a last parallel between Wi-Fi and
ZigBee.
Wi-Fi (was truly launched in the market by Apple in
1999 with the introduction of the iBook. Once Apple had set
the direction, other PC vendors quickly followed, realizing
that supporting an open communication standard made
sense for everyone.
Although few people would put Comcast in the same
category as Apple – it is now Comcast leading the way for
setting ZigBee as the standard for set-top boxes and remote
HOME SyStEMS
controls as part of its Xfinity platform. It may be less spectacular than Steve Jobs on-stage, but it is ultimately equally
profound, the first steps to building a new industry on an
open standard.
In the future we will be looking back at 2012 as the
break-through year for ZigBee to be set as another household name, probably most easily described as low-power
Wi-Fi for sense/control networks.
At the end of this decade, when the number of homes
connected to the Internet has grown to 700 million, then
we can expect to find next to the 10 Wi-Fi devices per home
at least 100 ZigBee devices enabling consumers to live in
really smart homes - safely, comfortably and managing their
energy, security and health in a responsible and cost effective
way.
•
Cees Links is CEO of GreenPeak Technologies.
inDustry trenDs
indoor Air Quality
Health-related factors, most specifically improved indoor air quality (IAQ), were cited as among the benefits of a
green building, according to a McGraw-Hill Construction report. Properly maintained green buildings with healthy
IAQ typically enhance worker productivity, among other benefits.
smart Appliances
Pike Research says the market for smart appliances will boom from $613 million in 2012 to $34.9 billion in 2013. The
market firm notes that as utilities install smart meters throughout the world, smart appliances have a significant role
to play in achieving the efficiencies and grid optimization we expect to see in the smart grid.
leeD Certification
The number of U.S. firms seeking LEED certification has declined from 61 percent in 2008 to less than 50 percent
according to Turner Construction. However adoption rates indicate that LEED will remain the de facto standard for
defining a green building and serve as the roadmap for whether or not a building is ultimately certified.
internet television
Half of U.S. consumers surveyed by Accenture report they are watching over-the-top video content streamed over
the Internet on their televisions in addition to their customary cable and satellite TV programming. Some 49 percent
of consumers in the U.K. and the U.S. are subscribing to various video delivery services, up from 8 percent in March
of last year, according to Accenture.
second screens
Most people who watch TV shows or movies on their wireless devices are not actually on the go, according to a
report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which found that 63 percent of the viewing took place at home, with
36 percent taking place in a room even with another device available to watch content. The report also found that
two-thirds of respondents watch more than one hour a week on their smartphones or tablets, with 85 percent of it
in short bites, less than 10 minutes in length.
15
ken wACks’ PersPeCtives
Is the Bloom off Smart Grids?
By Ken Wacks
Attendance at smart grid conferences in 2012 dropped at
least a third from the previous two years. The excitement
and lively conversations are more subdued. Was the smart
grid idea a flash-in-the-pan?
I was asked about this by Brett Brune, the editor of Smart
Grid Today, an industry newsletter. Brett’s publisher, Modern
Markets Intelligence, Inc. granted permission to reprint the
interviews, which appeared in the December 14 and 21,
2012 issues.
some traditional firms go “back to knitting”
Smart Grid Today, December 14, 2012
“Interest is growing in using energy management agents
(EMAs) in homes or businesses to implement power consumers’ preferences automatically during demand response
events,” Kenneth Wacks, GridWise Architecture Council
(GWAC) member and president of the management consulting firm Home & Utility Systems told us this week.
“But there is a clear and present danger of ‘more traditional’
utilities in the US falling behind those in Europe and Asia
when it comes to this and other smart grid technologies,” he
said, reflecting on presentations at Grid-Interop this month
[December 2012] in Texas.
“There really wasn’t much talk about the recession,” said
Wacks, who wrote the book Home Automation and Utility
Customer Services and this month [December 2012] chaired
a session at Grid-Interop on price-responsive appliances.
“After all, the electric utility industry has been the recipient
of stimulus funding. There was more talk about the fact
that stimulus funds have all been allocated now. And the
question is, ‘How will utilities and service providers in the
U.S. move forward?’ It’s clear that the industry outside of
the U.S. is not slowing down – in China, India and Europe.
In spite of the economic problems in Europe, they are still
moving ahead in this area.”
16
“Europeans have made it clear that we may have started
a little sooner on smart grids in the US, but they are determined not to be a follower. Europe is not going to play
second-fiddle to anyone.”
Business as usual
The question on some vendors’ minds is whether they will
have a market if the US smart grid industry slacks off.
“I don’t think it’s the recession in the U.S.; I think it’s
utilities going back to their knitting – and trying to say, ‘OK,
we’ve explored smart grids. Let’s go back to the business we
know well because we’ve been running it for a century and
we know how to do it.’ The problem with that approach is
that the world is moving on towards more distributed power
grids, including distributed energy resources like wind and
solar and more diverse loads like electric vehicles. Things
are never going back to the way they were. And if our more
traditional utilities think that, they are going to be the losers
in the long run.”
A national industrial policy
“US history shows the nation is unlikely to set a federal policy
that would help spur utilities to keep on track with smart
grid developments,” Wacks noted.
“If we do set industrial policy, it’s likely to be very indirect,”
he added. “In the 1950s, we didn’t have a transportation
policy, but President Eisenhower got a major funding bill
as a defense appropriation to build the Interstate Highway
System. You know, the Interstate Highway System was supposedly built to transport armaments around the country.
And yet, I don’t drag a missile when I go on the Interstate.
The point is, if we do an industrial policy, it’s in the guise of
something else, or we hope for the best.”
KEN WACKS’ PERSPECtIVES
Cost of energy
Usage data
Appliance/DER rating
Energy
Management
Agent
User energy budget
Appliance/DER control
User preferences
Figure 1 – Energy Management Agent (EMA) Parameters
(DER = Distributed Energy Resources)
Automated demand response
“In the U.S., demand response penetration is stuck at about
10 percent,” Wacks said.
Certainly, it will help to implement programs like
OpenADR – “so customers don’t have to be involved every
time there is a utility event, or, when dynamic prices are
available, customers don’t have to figure out how to translate
these prices into actions with regard to which equipment
(for commercial) or appliances (for residential) should
operate at what time,” he said.
Under automated programs involving EMAs in homes,
for example, utility customers “might set preferences along
an economic dimension,” Wacks said. “If they are accustomed to paying say a $150 per month, they may request
that their automation system try to keep the bills at that
level. At the same time, the customers would express preferences along an activity dimension: take a shower at 8 in
the morning, cook at 6 at night, and maybe take a dip in the
pool at 8 at night. The EMA would balance the economic
and activity preferences with appliance needs, the cost of
energy, and the availability of power from local generators,
such as wind and solar, and from any storage devices in the
home.” [Illustrated in Figure 1]
Some elements of automation “would either operate
appliances automatically in a more or less energy conserving
mode or give a gentle nudge to the consumer and say, ‘Look,
you can save a little if you delay this action by a couple of
hours’,” he said. “And the customer makes a simple choice:
Wash dishes now, or can it be put off a few hours?” [Please
see Figure 2 for a possible user interface.]
The EMA could be “a stand-alone device or embedded
in other home devices like set-top boxes,” he added.
Interoperability is here
At Grid-Interop, some vendors demonstrated interconnectivity and interoperability.
“The MultiSpeak people who work with the rural
co-ops showed a system all the way from the meter to a
simulated back office that was all interconnected,” Wacks
said. “It included a complete AMI [Advanced Metering
Infrastructure] system with data management, as well as
access to the meter data by the customer.”
Optimism for smart grids
In a follow-up article for Smart Grid Today, I expressed
optimism that smart grid developments will proceed
methodically with less hype. The Grid-Interop conference
was followed by an intensive day of discussions between U.S.
and Korean smart grid experts. Both groups shared smart
grid experiences and discussed cooperation on advancing
smart grid technologies and business practices. Here is the
newsletter interview.
us, korea see positive trends at interoperability
meeting in texas
Smart Grid Today, December 21, 2012
17
KEN WACKS’ PERSPECtIVES
issues, as well,” he said, noting that they have six working
groups focused on these issues.
1. Wash dishes now.
2. Delay wash by 3
hours and save 25¢.
3. Delay wash by 6
hours and save 50¢.
Figure 2 – User Interface Showing Options for Reducing
Energy Costs
The Korea Smart Grid Standardization Forum and the
[U.S.] Smart Grid Interoperability Panel [SGIP] held a joint
meeting in Texas this month [December 2012], Kenneth
Wacks, GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC) member
and president of the management consulting firm Home &
Utility Systems, told us recently.
“They are very much paralleling what we do in the U.S.,”
he said. “In fact, some of their drawings looked similar to
ours and some of the terminology was aligned. And I think
that’s all for the positive.”
“Marianne Swanson, a senior advisor for information
technology security management in the computer security unit at NIST [National Institute of Standards and
Technology] and chair of the SGIP cyber security working
group, addressed cyber security at the meeting in Texas,”
Wacks said.
NIST Interagency Report 7628, entitled Guidelines for
Smart Grid Cyber Security, came out in August 2010 and
provided guidance for risk assessment and mitigation. That
report is being revised and will be made public early next
year [2013], Swanson told people attending the meeting in
Texas. The privacy section has the most changes – “especially
for third-party service providers,” Wacks recalled from the
meeting.
“Some of the Koreans at the Texas meeting, scientists
from the Electronics and Telecommunications Research
Institute [ETRI], gave their perspective on cyber security
18
Columbia, Ecuador next
In the next year or so, “I’m hoping we’ll find similar progress and cooperation with the other countries with which
the SGIP has signed letters-of-intent to cooperate, namely
Columbia and Ecuador,” Wacks said.
SGIP cooperation with the European Union [EU] and
Japan is already underway. The SGIP had held joint meetings
with people working on the same issues in the EU. “And
Japan came to an SGIP meeting in 2011,” Wacks said. “A
representative for the prime minister told us that Japan
had made a fundamental decision to focus on renewables,
and they were determined to drive the price of solar power
down to one-third of the current level by 2020.”
The SGIP and the Korea Smart Grid Standardization
Forum set a standards coordination alliance in March
2011 – with plans to share conceptual models, cyber security requirements and technology, and requirements for
certifying interoperability standards-testing.
Focus on implementing smart grids
The smart grid bandwagon is receding, but the real work is
progressing. Utilities, equipment suppliers, standards organizations, trade associations, regulators, and legislators are
looking at smart grids as a long-term undertaking.
As President Obama said is his January inaugural
address, “The path towards sustainable energy sources will
be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist
this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other
nations the technology that will power new jobs and new
industries – we must claim its promise.” Thus, I am optimistic that the goal of moving the utility industry toward
smart grids will continue with increased diligence and will
eventually come into full bloom.
•
Dr. Kenneth Wacks has been a pioneer in establishing the
home systems industry. He advises manufacturers and
utilities worldwide on business opportunities, network
alternatives, and product development in home and
building systems. In 2008, the United States Department
of Energy appointed him to the GridWise Architecture
Council. For further information, please contact Dr.
Wacks at 781.662.6211; [email protected];
www.kenwacks.com.
OPiniOn
Unfinished Business: The oBIX initiative
By toby Considine
In 2003, CABA launched the effort to define standard interactions between building control systems and the enterprise.
This effort led to the open Building Information Exchange
(oBIX), an OASIS specification for XML-based interactions
with any building control system. In 2004, the development
of oBIX began in earnest in OASIS (the Organization for
the Advancement of Structured Information Standards).
The core oBIX 1.0 specification was completed in 2006
and is now in widespread use as a middleware layer for
communicating with building control systems.
Today, more than 40 North American companies offer
products that provide oBIX access to their systems, many
based on the Tridium NIAGARA product line. Open source
projects for both oBIX clients and oBIX servers are available.
oBIX has been used in research projects world-wide, including by US National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), the US
Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research Development
Center (USACE-ERDC) and Construction Engineering
Research Lab (USACE-CERL).
In the European Union, several energy management
systems now offer native support for oBIX. The Japanese
Green University of Tokyo project produced not only an
open source oBIX client, but an oBIX server “personality”
for iLON as well. Korean products such as Energle use oBIX
in each layer of a multi-tier architecture.
Since publication of the completed specification six
years ago, oBIX has been declared a success. oBIX is now
meeting again to tie up loose ends and to address some new
issues in enterprise to building communications.
The biggest new issue is energy use. Smart energy became
the official policy of the United States with the passage of
the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Real work on smart energy,
in which buildings are partners of smart grids, was finally
treated as a priority in 2009, when NIST teamed up with
EPRI to begin to develop a smart grid roadmap.
Smart energy moves the focus from static efficiency to
aligning energy use with current energy market supplies.
While demand response (DR), under which buildings
reduce energy use when its supplier announces a critical
shortage, has drawn early attention, energy surpluses offer
a greater opportunity. Buildings that can use energy when
wind-farms are producing surplus can save money every
day—a better scenario than responding to DR a dozen times
a year.
New standards for service oriented information
exchanges were developed to meet priority needs identified
by the roadmap. WS-Calendar was developed as an all-purpose means to exchange schedules, for energy availability
is always changing. EMIX (Energy Market Information
Exchange) describes energy market products and transaction, using WS-Calendar to express how they change over
time. Energy Interoperation (EI), defines the market interactions not only for DR, but for transactive energy as well.
oBIX 1.0 omitted scheduling. Scheduling was considered
too contentious. There
was no specification
that could be borrowed.
Today, WS-calendar
describes interactions
that are already understood by business and personal calendar systems. Buildings
must already understand WS-Calendar to respond to smart
energy communications such as OpenADR, based upon EI.
oBIX 1.0 did not consider energy directly. If a building
system did include an electrical meter, it was read as just one
point among many. The oBIX historian provides single-purpose telemetry, less flexible and compact than the report and
projection model defined in EI. Interest in standardizing
building telemetry is growing world-wide, driven in part
by energy, but including many other areas.
19
OPINION
The U.S. National BIM Standard (NBIMS) has undergone rapid development this same period. COBie Lite now
offers a standard for describing building spaces (rooms)
and their amenities that is becoming accepted by enterprise
schedules and calendars. This establishes a potential basis for
aligning BAS performance with Business activities. We have
tools now that were not available during the development
of oBIX 1.0.
The OASIS oBIX Technical Committee has begun meeting again to address these and other issues. The objective is
to keep core specification small, addressing compatibility
and inconsistencies to complete oBIX 1.1. The TC will then
create a series of small companion standards including:
• Toexchangeenergyuseprojectionsandhistory.
• Tointeractwithenterpriseschedulesandcalendars
(and smart energy signals!)
• Toexchange-BIM-baseddescriptionsoftheunderlying
BAS.
• Todefinealternatebindingsofthecoreprotocol.First
up is a likely JSON binding of oBIX.
These standards will reference the core specification. It is
the Committees current intent to keep the core specification
compact.
oBIX started in CABA and relies on the broad perspectives of the CABA membership. CABA members are
encouraged to join the OASIS Open Building Information
Exchange Technical Committee. Information can be found
at www.oasis-open.org. If you have any questions about the
projects, or need assistance in working through the process,
please contact the committee Chair, Toby Considine, at toby.
[email protected].
•
Toby Considine is President of TC9, Inc. and is Chair
of the OASIS Open Building Information Exchange
Technical Committee.
lArge BuilDing AutOMAtiOn continued from page 10
little credibility with a facility manager without understanding the building systems and operational challenges.
On the other hand FM is dealing with the building systems penetrated with some sort of IT infrastructure and
often times doesn’t have the internal resources to address
those IT issues. Even if they did have the capabilities, FM
would need to coordinate with IT.
The idea of putting both organizations under an
umbrella of “Systems Engineering” to bridge this gap sounds
appealing but it requires much more effort than simply cross
training key personnel; and that’s what will happen in 2013.
Pilot Projects for Direct Current infrastructure in
Buildings
The argument for DC infrastructure in buildings is quite
compelling. Most of the devices and equipment we use
operate internally on DC. Some of the renewable energy
resources generate DC and also power storage is DC. Plus,
eliminating the conversion of AC to DC saves some energy.
DC infrastructure or at least a hybrid of both AC and DC
infrastructure seems to make some sense.
However, implementation issues with DC can be
daunting: relatively few people are experienced with the
installation of low voltage direct current; circuit protectors,
20
fuses and insulation materials may need to be redesigned.
Products and devices may need to be modified, training and
test methods need to be developed, and buy-in by architects,
engineers and contractors are critical.
The best way to address these potential issues is through
independent pilots in commercial buildings, most likely
involving a hybrid AC/DC infrastructure with maximum
use of DC in building systems, renewable energy and storage.
The objective of the pilot programs would be to develop
real world metrics and identify the work needed for full
scale deployment. Most building owners don’t want to be
in the vanguard; they want some assurance that that the
comprehensive approach has been deployed elsewhere and
there are some case studies documenting the outcomes.
Even if the results of the case studies identify some problems, it’s positive for the DC infrastructure industry as well
as building owners possibly interested in the technology
or developments. The idea of using DC infrastructure in
buildings has merit; implementation issues addressed in
credible pilots will move the idea forward in 2013.
•
James M. Sinopoli, PE, RCDD is Principal of Smart
Buildings.
uPCOMing events
Need information on upcoming industry events?
Go to: www.caba.org/events
iwCe 2013
isC west 2013
March 11-15, 2013
April 9-12, 2013
Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas, NV
www.iwceexpo.com/iwce2013
www.iscwest.com
6th Ajman international urban Planning
Conference
Broadband Communities summit 2013
April 16-18
March 11-14, 2013
Dallas, TX
Ajman, UAE
www.bbcmag.com/2013s
thepowerfulsolutions.com/conferences/energy-saversuae/esuae2013/
lightFAir 2013
April 21-25, 2013
nFMt 2013
Philadelphia, PA
March 12-14, 2013
www.lightfair.com
Baltimore, MD
www.nfmt.com/baltimore
Buildingsny
April 24-25, 2013
energy savers uAe 2013
New York, NY
March 17, 2013
www.buildingsny.com
Abu Dhabi, UAE
thepowerfulsolutions.com/conferences/energy-savers-
COnneCtiOns
uae/esuae2013
May 20-23, 2013
2013 DC Building energy summit
www.connectionsconference.com
Las Vegas, NV
March 26, 2013
Washington, DC
2013.dcenergysummit.com
guangzhou electrical Building technology (geBt
2013)
June 9-12, 2013
CABA’s home & Building Automation networking
Forum
Guangzhou, China
bit.ly/zWJ3iN
April 24, 2013
Toronto, ON
guangzhou international lighting exhibition
www.caba.org/caba-forum
June 9-12, 2013
Guangzhou, China
Beijing international Building technology
bit.ly/zWJ3iN
April 8-10, 2013
Beijing, China
bit.ly/rWc6a1
21
From Gigabit Envy
to Gigabit Deployed
A Community Toolkit
for Building Ultra
High-Speed Networks
May 29-30, 2013
The Westin Kansas City at Crown Center
Kansas City, Missouri
PLATINUM SPONSOR
GOLD SPONSOR
SILVER SPONSORS
BRONZE SPONSORS
Building upon the experiences of its own members and
that of its partners, the FTTH Council Americas is holding
this special conference in Kansas City at The Westin
Crown Center to provide communities with the Toolkit
they need to deploy gigabit networks.
Hear from those on the frontlines of the gigabit
revolution̶public and private sector leaders who have
brought (or are bringing) ultra high-speed broadband to
their communities. Through general sessions and
interactive workshops, we will showcase the tools to get
gigabit deployed, including an understanding of the
value proposition of gigabit networks and how to create
an asset inventory, aggregate demand, issue an RFP, and
manage implementation.
Conference participants include:
EVENT PARTNERS
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State and local government officials;
Community/civic leaders;
Companies and organizations that deliver video,
Internet, and/or voice services over high-bandwidth,
next-generation, direct fiber optic connections; and
Companies that manufacture FTTH products and
others involved in planning and building FTTH
networks.
This is the event for you to connect with and learn from
peers who have gone through the steps of building an allfiber network and, most importantly, to craft an action
plan that you can take home and begin implementing.
Visit www. ftthcouncil.org to register and book your
hotel room.
FINANCING FIBER
The Business Case
For Government Fiber Networks
Yes, there is life after I-Nets and the stimulus program. Funding sources come and go,
rules may change, but fiber is still a winning proposition.
By Joanne Hovis / CTC Technology and Energy
W
ith the lucky few recipients of
federal broadband stimulus grants
now hard at work building their
networks, localities that did not win funding or
were not in a position to apply could be forgiven
for thinking they missed the opportunity
to operate a government-owned, fiber optic
broadband network.
This is especially true for any community in
danger of losing its institutional network (I-Net)
– that hard-won concession of cable contracts
from an earlier franchising environment –
because of regulatory or technical changes.
However, despite the closing of the $7
billion broadband stimulus window and the
ongoing shift from franchise-funded I-Nets,
viable options remain for communities to build
next-generation networks to serve governmental
and institutional needs. Rather than
government grants or cable-company funding,
new federal E-Rate regulations and new ways to
analyze the benefits of municipal fiber networks
will be the keys to a successful business case.
Opportunities Past and Future
Communities nationwide have reaped
the benefits of a bygone cable franchising
environment. In the early and mid-1990s,
effective county and municipal negotiators
signed contracts that secured fiber optic
I-Nets for their jurisdictions. These were
either partially funded by cable operators
as compensation for use of public rights-ofway or built alongside the cable companies’
construction paths to benefit from the
enormous efficiencies of shared construction.
However, many franchise agreements from
that era are expiring or have been abrogated by
regulatory change, and even the best negotiators
cannot surmount regulatory changes that
give franchisees the power to reclaim I-Net
infrastructure. As a result, the functionality
of many broadband networks that have costeffectively supported governmental needs for
the past 15 years will need to be replaced.
More recently, the Broadband Technology
Opportunities Program (BTOP) – which
commenced with the passage of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(ARRA) and culminated with the awarding,
in September 2010, of the program’s final
infrastructure grants – held out the tantalizing
prospect of up to 80 percent federal funding
for open-access government networks. Even
taking into account the program’s required
matching contributions, many cash-strapped
communities were able to demonstrate viable
business models with reasonable cash flow and
solid sustainability.
The surest way for communities to replace
the bandwidth they are losing from I-Nets
targeted for extinction is to build their own
capacity. As with any major capital investment,
a new communications network requires a solid
return on investment (ROI). In the
absence of BTOP funding and I-Net
agreements, there are two primary ways
to demonstrate the business case for a
government-owned network: on and off
the balance sheet.
Benefits ‘Beyond the
Balance Sheet’
The best business plans are built on
conservative financial assumptions.
Someone who expects less return and
ends up getting more is obviously in
a much better position than someone
who plans for returns that never
materialize. However, business plan
assumptions typically relate to dollars
on traditional financial statements.
To make the case for investing in
a government-owned fiber network,
many communities define ROI
more broadly and consider the
“beyond the balance sheet” benefits
that such a network would deliver.
These benefits have nothing to do
with traditional financial measures.
Rather, they represent the return
to the community in terms of such
largely intangible societal benefits
as enhancing health care quality,
narrowing the digital divide, providing
enhanced educational opportunities to
schoolchildren, delivering job search
and placement opportunities at public
computer centers and helping isolated
senior citizens make virtual social
connections.
This approach is a justifiable,
appropriate way to define the success of
a network because these benefits are the
reasons governments build broadband
infrastructure in the first place. Local
governments are in the business of
providing education for young people,
job training for the unemployed and
so on; broadband for key community
anchor institutions is just the latest and
newly essential tool to enable those
government services.
Benefits on the Balance
Sheet: Long-Term Cost
Savings
As compelling as beyond-the-balancesheet benefits may be, there are also
strictly dollars-and-cents ways to model
Broadband for anchor institutions is the latest
and newly essential tool to enable the services
local governments have traditionally delivered.
a proposed network – without direct
federal funding and without cable
franchise support – that may put a
network business case on solid footing.
First, a government network can
help avoid existing and future costs
by replacing services for which the
government previously paid third
parties. Second, a network can bring
revenues to a community, especially
given new E-Rate regulations that
make government networks eligible
for subsidy if they serve schools and
libraries. Together, these cost savings
and revenue streams can add up to
significant dollars – potentially to
amounts that justify financing the
necessary construction.
Government entities of all sizes
are major consumers of connectivity
services to support internal operations,
public safety functions and a range
of other applications. Typically,
government facilities lease circuits from
a phone company or similar provider,
and for that privilege they pay rates
that sometimes represent profits of
many hundreds, if not thousands,
of percent for the phone companies.
Worse, the circuits are usually relatively
low-bandwidth connections because
the retail costs of very high-bandwidth
services make those connections
unaffordable.
A government fiber optic network
that links all government facilities
eliminates the jurisdiction’s ongoing
cost of leasing circuits. This represents
an easily quantifiable present value on
the financial statement and is as close as
possible to a guaranteed line item: Build
the network and you will shave this
amount from your accounts payable.
In fact, because a government
network can deliver far higher-capacity
connectivity than the jurisdiction
had previously leased, its value is even
greater than simple cost avoidance.
A government that owns a network
can use inexpensive, off-the-shelf
equipment to connect its facilities to
one another at no cost for bandwidth
(because the traffic is “on network”
and not going out to the Internet). It
can also deliver Internet connections to
these facilities at a per-unit cost much
lower than that of leased connections
because it can aggregate the needs of all
departments and purchase commodity
bandwidth. This is particularly true
for a jurisdiction that can develop a
mutually beneficial partnership with a
provider of wholesale bandwidth.
The cost savings generated by a
government network will grow over
time, too. At the least, savings will grow
in lockstep with the expected inflation
of retail service prices. In addition,
the network will inexpensively scale
to meet the jurisdiction’s future needs
for more capacity and connectivity to
additional sites.
Many government facilities and
community anchor institutions are
already bandwidth-constrained today,
and they can expect their capacity
requirements to grow as quickly over
the next 15 years as they grew over the
past 15 years. Because leased bandwidth
is so expensive, governments will
continue to be unable to adequately
support their internal operations and
those of community anchors – and they
will lack the bandwidth to undertake
future innovations, even if they have the
necessary hardware, software and ideas.
The cost of scaling up a
government-owned fiber network
to meet new needs is far lower than
the cost of buying circuits from
someone else – not just because the
“someone else” has a profit motive
but also because it may not have the
infrastructure where needed. For
FINANCING FIBER
example, if a local phone company has
only low-speed twisted-pair copper, the
only way a customer can get the needed
capacity is to pay the phone company
to build out fiber – and then pay it
to deliver services over the fiber the
customer just financed. Viewed in this
light, a government-owned network
becomes even more compelling.
Benefits on the Balance
Sheet: Revenue Streams
Like a toll road waiting for traffic, a
government-owned and -operated fiber
optic network represents a potential
source of revenue for a community.
Projected cash flow generated by a
government-owned network is not as
certain as avoided costs, but prudent
business modeling can include
scenarios ranging from best to worst
case. This is just one of many factors to
consider in building the business case.
There are three potential revenue
streams for a fiber network. Two are
fairly traditional, and one is both new
and potentially very lucrative. (A fourth
stream, the Federal Communications
Commission’s Healthcare Connect
Fund, may become significant in the
near future.)
Dark or lit fiber to community
anchors. A well-established revenue
stream is derived from providing
either dark fiber or lit services for
nongovernment institutions. This
model hews very closely to the service
delivered to government operations –
but instead of helping the government
avoid its own costs, it creates a
revenue stream for the operator. By
providing reasonably priced fiber to
qualified nonprofit and community
organizations and facilities, the
network operator also supports the
needs of anchor institutions – which in
turn support the citizens.
To understand the magnitude of
revenue a government fiber network
can earn from this source requires
understanding the types of facilities
that can be connected and the levels of
service they need.
Community anchor institutions are
places where members of a community
go for the services that support and
sustain them and where services
such as broadband Internet access
(and the applications that broadband
supports) are aggregated and made
available to them. A government fiber
network connection is a natural fit at
these facilities.
Broadly defined, these anchors
include government buildings,
community colleges, schools, libraries,
municipal utility facilities and public
facilities such as community media
centers, key nonprofits, hospitals,
clinics, community centers, senior
centers and public housing.
Community anchor institutions
buy connectivity to one another and
to the Internet. Some of them, such as
libraries, colleges and media centers,
often provide Internet access and
broadband applications to residents
who lack home broadband service. Like
government operations, community
anchor institutions have seen – and
are likely to continue to see – their
bandwidth needs grow exponentially.
Middle-mile capacity. The second
potential revenue stream derives
from providing middle-mile capacity
to private-sector operators. This is a
more speculative income source, but
a growing body of evidence indicates
that it is feasible given the proper
market conditions. (A formal request
for information process would easily
enough establish whether those market
conditions are present in a given
community.) The BTOP funding rules,
in fact, make this market an implicit
requirement: Grant recipients must
commit to nondiscriminatory, openaccess policies that make access available
to third-party service providers.
By making middle-mile capacity
available where it does not otherwise
exist, and at very reasonable
cost, a government network can
reduce barriers to investment for
entrepreneurial companies and
nonprofits that want to build last-mile
capacity. Those companies’ leases
would lead to meaningful revenues for
the network operator and stimulate
private investment and the extension of
broadband service to members of the
community who otherwise would not
have it or would not have the benefits of
competition.
Like selling lit and dark fiber
services to anchors, selling middlemile capacity has both a financial and
a social impact. Because many of the
BTOP infrastructure grants incorporate
this business model, significant
data about the ROI of this model
will emerge over the next few years.
Preliminary indications from many of
these projects are very good. In both
metropolitan and rural areas, BTOP
awardees are engaged in negotiations
with last-mile providers that seek access
to new middle-mile fiber to affordably
reach areas for last-mile service.
E-Rate subsidies. Another very
significant potential revenue stream
enabled by a government-owned
fiber network is one that hinges on a
September 2010 FCC order. In that
decision, the FCC for the first time
made nonregulated nonprofit and
public networks eligible for the E-Rate
subsidy for providing broadband
to schools and libraries under the
Universal Service Fund.
This is by no means a free lunch for
network operators; the requirements for
becoming an E-Rate provider, including
competing in a procurement process
and submitting extensive paperwork,
are necessarily strict. However, there
are enormous positive financial
implications for governments that
choose to become E-Rate providers.
By serving schools and libraries, they
can receive E-Rate subsidies as high as
90 percent, depending on the level of
poverty in a community.
When schools and libraries award
contracts under a competitive process –
meaning that the network provided
the best service at the best price – the
network owner has guaranteed revenues
that are independent of the fiscal
position of government. Depending
on how much E-Rate subsidy a local
government qualifies for, the bulk of
its network funding could come from
sources other than local government.
This funding could go a long way
toward covering network operating
costs and could even cover some
debt service costs. An E-Rate subsidy
could help make a network more
self-sustaining and less dependent on
government or other external funding.
The Multiplier Effect
By avoiding costs and increasing
revenues, a government-owned network
can deliver one additional benefit:
keeping money in a community.
Circuits leased from a large national
provider require the delivery of a big
monthly check to a potentially faraway corporate entity, but monthly fees
paid to a government-owned network
stay in the community to be spent on
other government services and to be
multiplied when network employees
go out to eat or spend money at other
local businesses.
This is true of E-Rate subsidies, too.
The schools and libraries that benefit
from E-Rate never touch the money
that subsidizes their connectivity –
it usually goes directly from USAC,
the administrator of the program, to
the company that provides services
and may never reach the community
where the services are provided.
When the E-Rate subsidy becomes
a revenue source for a locally owned
and operated network, however, that
money goes into the community. That
has benefits for the network bottom
line, for government operations, and
for the community as a whole based
on a multiplier effect. Norwood
Light Broadband, the municipal
fiber network operator in Norwood,
Mass., makes that point directly to
its potential customers. Visitors to
the town’s Entering Norwood website
(www.enteringnorwood.com) see the
value proposition spelled out for them:
Do you own a house or business in
Norwood? Do you have children
that go to school in Norwood? …
When you write out a check to the
Town of Norwood, your money
stays in town working for you.
Norwood is among the minority of
American communities that own and
operate their own fiber optic networks.
But given the potential financial
benefits of the recent E-Rate order and
a growing understanding of broadband
as a public good, it may ultimately be
joined by many other communities –
with higher bandwidth available for
government operations and community
anchor institutions and more revenue
staying in town to support local
economic development. v
Joanne Hovis is the president of CTC
Technology and Energy, an engineering
and business consulting firm that has
been involved in planning, designing and
implementing many fiber optic networks.
She can be reached at [email protected].
Wouldn’t it be great if selling new Internet services could be this easy?
It can be with COS!
Self service solutions for internet services and network management.
Come see us at the 2013 Broadband Communities Summit Booth 611.
Improve customer satisfaction, lower your OPX and increase ARPU!
www.cossystems.com
Phone: 617.274.8171
[email protected]
© COS Systems Inc. 2013
hot products
Broadband Communities
12th Annual List Of
Leading Broadband
Technologies and Services
The latest offerings from top broadband hardware and software suppliers, distributors
and service providers.
Advanced Media Technologies
3 3 3 3 3
3
3 3
3
3 3 3 3
3
3 3
3
Anritsu Company
AT&T Connected Communities
3
ATX Networks
3 3 3 3 3
Aurora Networks
3 3 3 3 3
Broadband Enterprise
3 3 3 3 3
Calix
3
3 3
3
3
3 3
3
3
3
Charles Industries
3 3 3
3
3 3
3
Clearfield
3 3 3
3
3 3
3
Comcast
3
3
3
3
3
3
Customer-Facing Software
Training
Back-Office Software
Planning, Design
or Construction
3
3
3 3
Other Managed Services
3
3
3
Internet and Video
Services / Programming
Test Equipment
Structured Wiring
Customer-Premises
Equipment
Passives – Inside Plant
Passives – Outside Plant
Video Headends
and Related Equipment
Active Electronics - Wireless
Company
Products and Services
Active Electronics - Wireline
Municipalities
Hospitality
Cable TV
Telcos
MDU/PCO
Customers
Communications Data Group
Customer-Facing Software
Training
Back-Office Software
3 3
3 3 3
3
COS Systems
3 3
3
Design Nine
3 3 3
3
DSL-Warehouse.com
3 3 3 3 3
ETI Software Solutions
3 3 3
G4S Technology
3 3
3 3
3
3
3
3
3 3
3
3
3 3
3
3
3 3
3
3
3 3
3
GLDS
3 3 3
3
Matrix Design Group
3 3
3
Multicom Inc.
3 3 3 3 3
Multifamily Ancillary Group
(MAG)
3
OFS
3 3 3
3
3
Power and Tel
3 3 3 3 3
3 3
Pulse Broadband
3 3 3
Spot On Networks
3
Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
3 3 3 3 3
Time Warner Cable
3
3
Verizon Enhanced Communities 3
3
ZeeVee
Planning, Design
or Construction
3 3
Corning Cable Systems
Viamedia
Other Managed Services
Internet and Video
Services / Programming
Test Equipment
Structured Wiring
Customer-Premises
Equipment
Passives – Inside Plant
Passives – Outside Plant
Video Headends
and Related Equipment
Active Electronics - Wireless
Company
Products and Services
Active Electronics - Wireline
Municipalities
Hospitality
Cable TV
Telcos
MDU/PCO
Customers
3
3
3 3
3
3 3
3
3 3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3 3
3
3 3
3
3
3
3
3 3
3 3
3 3
3 3
3
3
3
3
3
3 3
3
3
3 3 3 3 3
3150 SW 15th Street
Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
P:954-427-5711
F: 954-427-9688
Contact: Rob Narzisi
E: [email protected]
W: www.amt.com
Customers: MDU/PCO, Telcos, Cable TV, Hospitality,
Municipalities
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
Products/Services: Video
Headends and Related
Equipment, Passives – Outside
Plant, Passives – Inside Plant,
Customer-Premises Equipment
CMTS Solutions for
MDU/Hospitality
AMT is proud to
announce a complete
cable modem solution
for delivery of data
hot products
over coax networks. AMT is your #1 source for all the
hardware, software and support you need to deploy a
system today.
Anritsu Company
1155 E. Collins Blvd.
Richardson, TX 75081
P: 800-267-4878
F: 972-671-1877
W: www.anritsu.com
Customers: Telcos, Cable TV, Hospitality, Municipalities
Products/Services: Passives – Outside Plant, Passives – Inside
Plant, Wireless, Test Equipment, Headends, CustomerPremises Equipment
Introducing the
first handheld
OTDR that does
not compromise
performance – the
new µOTDR
from Anritsu.
With performance
that rivals traditional OTDRs that are four times the size and
more than double the price, the Network Master MT9090A
µOTDR has created a new class of test instruments. It features
2 cm resolution for accurate mapping of events, deadzones of
less than 1 meter (3 feet) and a dynamic range of up to 38dB
– enough to test more than 150km (90+ miles) or PON-based
FTTx networks with up to a 1x64 split. Add loss test set, PON
power meter and connector inspection microscope options, and
the MT9090A uOTDR becomes the ultra-portable, highperformance solution you need to install and maintain your
FTTx network. The MT9090A with MU909014x/15x module
represents a new era in optical fiber testing!
AT&T Connected Communities
2180 Lake Blvd.
Atlanta, GA 30319
P: 404-754-3335
F: 404-829-8818
Contact: Thuy Woodall
Customers: MDU/PCO
Products/Services: Internet and Video Services/
Programming
AT&T Connected Communities is a specialized division
of AT&T dedicated to creating alliances with apartment
ownership and management groups, single-family builders,
developers and real estate investment trusts within our
22-state service area. As a leading global provider of highspeed Internet, advanced TV, home phone service and wireless
communication services, we have a mission to develop reliable
technology solutions that bring AT&T’s complete offering of
the latest communications and entertainment services to your
community and residents. Aligning with AT&T Connected
Communities, backed by a single point of contact, ensures a
rewarding marketing partnership and seamless technology
deployment while increasing the value of your community.
To learn more, visit www.att.com/communities.
ATX Networks
1-501 Clements Rd. W
Ajax, ON L1S 7H4
Canada
P: 814-502-5409
F: 905-427-1964
W: www.atxnetworks.com
Contact: Tim Buck
Municipalities
Products/Services: Video Headends and Related Equipment,
Passives – Outside Plant; Passives – Inside Plant;
Customer-Premises Equipment
ATX’s DVIS line of cost-effective products feature an MDU
hardened form factor and are optimized for local digital video
content insertions into MDUs as well as local content backhaul
to the hub/headend. The DVIS and DVISm (Mini) support
MPEG-2/H.264, SD/HD encoding of up to 10SD/5HD
programs (for DVIS) and QAM demodulation, they
accommodate an integrated channel deletion filter for program
“add/drop” applications and they support transmission via
QAM or IP. The DVISf (fiber) is ATX’s new optical DVIS
version, which incorporates an optical transmitter and optional
EDFAs for insertion of local video content directly into an
FTTx-based architecture. These products feature an HTTPbased management interface and SNMP support, allowing
them to be configured and monitored from either local or
remote locations. ATX also offers a line of optical transmitters,
optical receivers, fiber nodes and optical connectivity products.
Aurora Networks
5400 Betsy Ross Dr.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
P: 408-235-7000
F: 408-845-9043
C: Kathleen Pizzo
W: www.aurora.com
Municipalities
Products/Services: Active Electronics – Wireline, Video
Headends and Related Equipment, Passives – Outside
Plant, Passives – Inside Plant, Customer-Premises
Equipment, Back-Office Software
Aurora Networks is the leading innovator of advanced, nextgeneration optical transport and access systems for broadband
networks that support the convergence of video, data and
voice applications. The company is at the forefront of the
evolution of optical transport and access networks, delivering
pioneering products and solutions that enable broadband
service providers to deliver the capacity, flexibility and services
end-users demand, now and into the future.
Aurora’s comprehensive FTTP solutions include its
industry-leading RFoG, RFPON and Unified PON portfolio.
The Unified PON architecture supports both EPON and
GPON and includes a high-capacity, high-density chassis; a
compact chassis; and Node PON, a node-based OLT module.
Aurora offers a comprehensive ONT selection with multiple
GE, POTS, RF video and wireless interface options and port
counts supporting a myriad of commercial and residential
applications. The Unified PON portfolio is supported by our
Trident7 Element Management System, a cost-effective and
powerful service provisioning tool.
7601 East Treasure Dr., PH 201
N Bay Village, FL 33141
P: 305-861-1753
F: 305-625-3275
C: Sebastian Pereira
W: www.broadbandent.com
Municipalities
Programming, Other Managed Services
Calix
16305 36th Ave N., Ste. 300
Minneapolis, MN 55446
P: 763-268-3300
F: 763-268-3301
C: Dave Russell
W: www.calix.com
Customers: Telcos, Cable TV, Municipalities
Products/Services: Active Electronics – Wireline, CustomerPremises Equipment, Back-Office Software
Calix is a global leader
in access innovation.
Its Unified Access
portfolio of broadband
communications access
systems and software enables
communications service
providers worldwide to be the
broadband provider of choice to
their subscribers. Calix enables
communications service providers
to deploy virtually any service to residential and business
subscribers over fiber and copper-based network architectures.
Calix has more than 1,150 communications service provider
customers worldwide and is recognized as the fiber access
deployment leader by Broadband Communities Magazine.
For more information, please visit www.calix.com.
Charles Industries
5600 Apollo Dr.
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
P: 847-806-6300
F: 847-806-6231
C: Brad Wackerlin
W: www.charlesindustries.com
Customers: MDU/PCO, Telcos, Cable TV, Municipalities
Products/Services: Passives – Outside Plant, Passives –
Inside Plant, Customer-Premises Equipment
Charles Fiber Building Terminals (CFBT) provide flexible,
compact indoor enclosure solutions for fiber aggregation
Broadband Enterprise focuses and specializes on all aspects
of high-speed Internet, from offering bandwidth to MDUs
to engineering and managing networks to sourcing for lowcost equipment such as CMTS. The company also assists in
designing for next-generation Internet services by adding
bandwidth management and shaping technologies, all at an
affordable cost.
hot products
or demarcation of up to 96 fiber connectors and/or 432
fiber splices with easily field-upgradeable options. Their
flexible splicing area and bulkhead design allows for splicing
or terminating all different fiber types and connectors.
Subscribers can be added incrementally for grow-as-you-go
scalability, with intelligently designed fiber feed and drop tray
arrangements, adapter panels and fiber cable management
ensuring existing subscribers are undisturbed as new
subscribers are added.
CFBT cabinets are ideally suited to multi-dwelling units
(MDU), cell sites, campuses, strip malls, business parks and
other applications where a customer requires high-capacity
fiber bandwidth for wireless backhaul, private networks or
data and video broadband services. Their convenient form
factor saves space in basements, huts, telecom equipment
closets and other indoor locations.
Clearfield
5480 Nathan Lane
Plymouth, MN 55442
P: 763-476-6866
F: 763-475-8457
Contact: Johnny Hill
W: www.clearfieldconnection.com
Customers: MDU/PCO, Telcos, Cable TV, Municipalities,
Other – Cell tower
Plant, Customer-Premises Equipment
Fieldshield Optical Fiber Protection System
Installing fiber cost-effectively where you want it and when
you want it is the promise of FieldShield Optical Fiber
Protection System.
This pushable fiber technology continues Clearfield’s
legacy of user-defined configurability, enabling users to push
or pull a hardened fiber cable through a series of ruggedized
microducts that deliver fiber to even the hardest-to-reach
environments. What’s more, preplaced FieldShield integrates
the fiber within the microduct for a one-step installation
process when situations warrant. By using only a 10 mm
microduct, deployers can bury fiber using the simplest and
least invasive of trenching techniques. On a cell tower, fiber
can run protected from all elements directly to an antenna
or radio head; in inside plant, fiber can be installed within a
riser duct that was previously assumed exhausted. Ease of field
restoration is ensured regardless of installation method or of
the environment in which it is installed. Should the microduct
be cut for whatever reason, the fiber is easily removed, the duct
repaired with a simple coupler, and fiber pushed back into
place with limited interruption or inconvenience.
Comcast
One Comcast Center
Philadelphia, PA 19103
P: 1-800-COMCAST
Contact: Daniel O’Connell
W: www.comcast.com/multifamily
Customers: MDU/PCO
Programming
Comcast brings together the best in media and technology.
We drive innovation to create the world’s best entertainment
and online experiences. Comcast Corporation is one of the
nation’s leading providers of entertainment, information
and communications products and services. We value our
partnerships with multifamily communities as we help
them deliver the best in entertainment to their residents. All
Comcast services bring valuable benefits to each customer’s
home, including Xfinity TV, Xfinity Internet and Xfinity
Voice. We hold our products, service and people to the
highest standards because our goal is to provide a superior
customer experience. Serving residents in 36 states and the
District of Columbia, Comcast will partner with you to meet
all your residents’ communications’ needs.
Communications Data Group – CDG
102 S. Duncan Rd.
Champaign, IL 61822
P: 888-234-4443
F: 217-351-6994
Contact: Bobbie McKay
W: www.cdg.ws
Customers: Telcos, Cable TV
Products/Services: Back-Office Software, Customer-Facing
Software
CDG creates smart data solutions, including software for
CABS, billing, mediation, customer care, plant, trouble
support, service activation management, e-care, workflow,
financial and facilities management as well as consulting. MBS
Consumer Invoicing is a Web-based customer care and billing
solution with flexible cycles, account, services, features and
charges for every situation. CDG CABS Billing allows you
to tailor data and billing to your individual needs, is current
with FCC USF/ICC reforms, and includes robust reporting
and dashboard business intelligence. CDG CABS is C/BOS
compliant with BDT and CSR outputs. Mediation processes
switch and network data in industry-standard formats for
billing, rating and reporting. Look to CDG for online,
licensed and service bureau revenue assurance tools, billing
analysis, revenue collection and auditing for wireline, Internet,
cable, wireless, VoIP, IPTV and generic services billing.
800 17th St. NW
Hickory, NC 28602
P: 828-901-5000
W: www.corning.com/cablesystems
Plant; Customer-Premises Equipment; Test Equipment;
Planning, Design or Construction; Training
Corning Cable Systems, part of Corning’s
telecommunications segment, is a
leading manufacturer of fiber
optic communications system
solutions for voice, data
and video network
applications worldwide.
We offer the broadest
range of end-toend fiber optic
product solutions
for customers’
telecommunications
networks. We put
companies at the forefront of network innovation, pioneering
many of the global products and solutions commonly used
in state-of-the-art cabling systems. Corning Cable Systems
develops and manufactures fiber optic cable, hardware
and equipment, as well as providing network services
worldwide. Our commitment to total quality and a superior
customer experience distinguishes us as a leader in the
telecommunications industry.
COS Systems
16 Coddington Wharf #2
Newport, RI 02840
P: 617-274-8171
F: 401-849-3870
Contact: Ron Corriveau
W: www.cossystems.com
Customers: MDU/PCO, Telcos, Municipalities
Products/Services: Back-Office Software; Customer-Facing
Software
COS is a business and operations support suite (B/OSS)
offering an advanced online marketplace, self-service
management of IP services and support for multiple providers
on FTTx and advanced broadband networks. It delivers
a proven solution to automate operational and business
processes critical to selling, provisioning and managing
broadband networks.
The COS Marketplace offers a secure self-service portal
that enables customers and service providers to conduct
business online without calling a salesperson or waiting on
the phone to order services. COS automatically provisions
services selected from the Marketplace, sends customer
and billing information to the relevant service provider
and enables the services, all in a matter of minutes. COS
increases ARPU, improves customer satisfaction, lowers
service deployment costs and accelerates revenues. Call us at
617.274.8171 or visit us at www.cossystems.com
Design Nine
2000 Kraft Drive, Ste. 2180
Blacksburg, VA 24060
P: 540-951-4400
C: Andrew Cohill
W: www.designnine.com
Products/Services: Planning, Design or Construction;
Back-Office Software; Customer-Facing Software; Other
Managed Services
Design Nine’s Fiber Tools software offers network owners
and operators a complete, GIS-based fiber splicing and
network asset management solution. One low-cost monthly
subscription includes an easy-to-use Web interface that can
be accessed anywhere by as many users as you like. Manage
splice data with one-click splice and fiber cable management,
complete network equipment inventory control and beautiful
PDF maps and reports. Keep track of fiber cables, buffer tubes
and individual fibers. Track equipment location, in-service
dates, serial numbers, model numbers and much more. Take
pictures of equipment and cabinets and geolocate them. Use
photos to help keep track of port assignments on routers
and switches. Easily map where your customers are located.
Designed for use by network managers, not GIS technicians.
Our intuitive interface is easy to learn. No previous GIS
experience? No problem – we will get you up to speed quickly.
DSL-Warehouse.com
353 Richard Mine Rd.
Wharton, NJ 07885
P: 973-442-9990
F: 973-442-9991
C: Neal Cennamo
W: www.dsl-warehouse.com
Municipalities
hot products
Products/Services: Active Electronics – Wireline, Active
Electronics – Wireless, Customer-Premises Equipment
DSL-Warehouse.com specializes in ADSL2+ and VDSL2
hardware solutions for MTU and MDU applications. Mini IP
DSLAM port density ranges from 8 to 48 ports, with higher
port density chassis also available. Backhauling the DSLAM
is easy via the Gigabit Ethernet ports or fiber connections.
ADSL2+ and VDSL2 modem/routers are available with single
or four Ethernet ports, including a built-in Wireless N Triple
Play version to fit nearly any application. With the newest
technology, VDSL2 speeds of 100 Mbps bidirectional are
now possible and are perfect for triple-play services such as
IPTV, HDTV, video on demand, multimedia streaming and
Internet gaming.
Utilizing current copper infrastructure is the best way to
go for many types of buildings, avoiding the need to run new
coax or fiber cabling. Plug-and-play CPE eliminates the need
for truck rolls for CPE installation, and both the DSLAMs
and CPE can easily be remotely monitored and managed.
6065 Atlantic Blvd.
Norcross, GA 30071
P: 770-242-3620
F: 770-242-9197
Contact: Mary Beth Henderson
W: www.etisoftware.com
Products/Services: Planning, Design or Construction;
Back-Office Software; Customer-Facing Software
ETI Software Solutions introduces Overture GIS, the
only solution that integrates real-time subscriber data,
plant management records, fiber and network element
information, and workforce management into one easy-touse, customizable GIS platform.
From mature, fully operational networks to greenfield
deployments, Overture GIS provides invaluable tools that
improve efficiency and effectiveness in every area of your
operation. Geographic visualization of data vital to your
business enables proactive network element monitoring,
faster issue resolution and service call optimization.
Overture GIS: a comprehensive network and customer
intelligence tool that can be proactively monitored and
managed to maximize revenue, reduce operating expenses,
and create an optimal end-user experience. For more
information, visit www.etisoftware.com
G4S Technology
1200 Landmark Center, Ste. 1300
P: 402-233-7700
F: 402-233-7650
W: www.g4stechnology.com
Products/Services: Planning, Design or Construction
G4S Technology (formerly Adesta) specializes in the design
and implementation of modern communications networks
and infrastructure for public and private customers. A trusted
provider of facilities, equipment and personnel for a wide
variety of communications infrastructure, we offer customtailored, results-oriented services in SONET, IP/Ethernet,
DWDM/CWDM, wireless, last-mile and broadband networks.
Since 1988, G4S Technology has deployed more than 2
million fiber miles. We can help develop a greenfield network
or integrate into an existing infrastructure. We work with
inside- and outside-plant facilities and provide all types of
networks for voice, data and video applications. Our wide
service range includes design, engineering, cable and equipment
procurement, aerial and underground installation, construction,
system testing and turn-up, fusion splicing and documentation.
G4S Technology is a founding Fiber to the Home Council
member that specializes in last-mile and broadband solutions
for ILECs, CLECs, utilities, municipalities, economic
development projects and rural broadband cooperatives.
GLDS
5954 Priestly Dr.
Carlsbad, CA 92008
P: 760-602-1900
F: 760-602-1928
Contact: Sandi Kruger
W: www.glds.com
Municipalities
Products/Services: Back-Office Software
GLDS offers subscriber
management, billing,
provisioning and workforce
management solutions, including
complete control for video,
Internet, VoIP, IPTV, FTTx,
VoD and OTT all managed
directly from the billing system.
We offer stand-alone or cloudbased solutions designed for
small to medium-sized operators.
WinForce tech, the newest
addition to our best-of-suite
platform, puts subscriber and
equipment control directly
in the hands of technicians,
eliminating calls to dispatch.
GLDS provides the newest FTTH technology to franchised
and private operators, municipalities and utility companies
and has provided solutions for over 400 operators in 44
countries worldwide. Great software, great service, great value.
800.882.7950 www.glds.com
Matrix Design Group
11 Melanie Lane, Ste. 14
East Hanover, NJ 07936
P: 866-792-9930
F: 973-503-5666
Contact: Rachael Licata
W: www.matrixdg.com
Products/Services: Structured Wiring; Other Managed
Services; Planning, Design or Construction
Matrix Design Group specializes in fiber optic network
deployments, civil engineering and complete broadband
solutions. Our highly skilled design and engineering
team will lead your project from conception, budgeting,
engineering
and design to
construction and
final acceptance.
Our mission is
to partner with
communities,
cooperatives,
municipalities and
utilities and enable
them to provide bestin-class broadband
communication
networks. From implementing fiber to the home to
empowering the smart grid, Matrix will provide everything
from concept to completion.
Multicom
1076 Florida Central Parkway
Longwood, FL 32750
P: 407-331-7779
F: 407-339-0204
Contact: Matt Conrad
W: www.multicominc.com
R
Municipalities
Products/Services: Passives – Outside Plant; Passives –
Inside Plant; Structured Wiring; Test Equipment; Active
Electronics; Planning, Design or Construction; Training;
Customer-Premises Equipment; Internet and Video
Services/Programming
Multicom is proud to announce its new, affordable, GPON
“Everything Included” Video-Data-Voice-Wi-Fi Solution
and fiber optic product line – making it easy and affordable
to deploy future-proof GPON networks in any location.
GPON is the latest in technology that enables the subscriber
to receive high-definition video, high speed Internet, Wi-Fi
and voice service over a single fiber. Service providers are now
installing all–fiber optic GPON networks to each subscriber,
replacing costly, unreliable and bandwidth-limited networks.
By upgrading to high reliability, high speed (2.5 Gbps) and
high efficiency (passive network connectivity), the Multicom
solution will satisfy subscribers’ bandwidth-hungry needs for
laptops, smartphones, tablets, HDTV and voice.
As a premier provider of design services and custom
manufacturing, and a full-line stocking distributor for the
FTTH and CATV industries, Multicom is continuing the
expansion of its broad line of reliable, feature-rich and valuepriced fiber optic, GPON, CATV and datacom products to
meet the demanding requirements of data, video, and voice
networks both domestically and internationally.
hot products
Multifamily Ancillary Group (MAG)
4 Executive Circle, Ste. 250
Irvine, CA 92614
P: 800-941-5171
C: Chris Houle
W: www.magrev.com
Customers: MDU/PCO
Products/Services: Other Managed Services
Multifamily Telecommunication
Contract Negotiations
MAG provides premier telecommunications contract
negotiations for Internet, voice and cable that are designed to
optimize your multifamily portfolio’s profits and operating
efficiencies nationwide.
We design and offer substantial savings while creating
additional opportunities for growth and capital without
any additional overhead expenses. Our team stays on the
cutting edge of the ever-changing telecom industry by
working closely with premier vendors throughout the country
and strategically sourcing the best rates and methods to
supplement your needs.
• Create profit margins to optimize any size portfolio
• Immediate savings, regardless of contract term or situation
• Specialize in telecommunications contract negotiations
Our telecom experts take a proactive approach while
aggressively negotiating the best terms based on current
market conditions on a national level.
OFS
200 N.E. Expressway
Norcross, GA 30071
P: 770-798-2729
F: 770-798-3872
Contact: Alexis McIntosh
W: www.ofsoptics.com
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Products/Services: Passives – Outside Plant, Passives –
Inside Plant, Structured Wiring, Training, CustomerPremises Equipment
OFS is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and provider
of optical fiber, optical fiber cable, FTTx , optical connectivity
and specialty photonics products. Our manufacturing
and research divisions work together to provide innovative
products and solutions that traverse many different
applications as they link people and machines worldwide.
Between continents, between cities, around neighborhoods,
and into homes and businesses of digital consumers we
provide the right optical fiber, optical cable and components
for efficient, cost-effective transmission.
OFS’s corporate lineage dates back to 1876 and included
technology powerhouses such as AT&T and Lucent
Technologies. Today, OFS is owned by Furukawa Electric, a
multibillion-dollar global leader in optical communications.
Headquartered in Norcross (near Atlanta), Ga., OFS is a
global provider with facilities in Avon, Ct.; Carrollton, Ga.;
Somerset, N.J.; and Sturbridge, Mass., as well as in Denmark,
Germany and Russia. For more information, please visit
www.ofsoptics.com.
Power and Tel
2673 Yale Ave.
Memphis, TN 38112
P: 901-866-3300
F: 901-320-3082
Contact: Keith Cress
W: www.ptsupply.com
Municipalities, Other – Contractors
Products/Services: Active Electronics – Wireline, Active
Electronics – Wireless, Video Headends and Related
Equipment, Passives – Outside Plant, Passives – Inside
Plant, Structured Wiring, Test Equipment, CustomerPremises Equipment
Power & Tel provides
communication
service providers and
contractors with a
critical link between
their network
needs and the
manufacturers’
solutions for
them. Our
portfolio
includes
products and solutions
for broadband access, CATV, cellular backhaul, FTTx, home
networking, IPTV, MDUs, optical networks, outside plant,
testing and much more.
2013 is Power & Tel’s 50th year of supplying telecom
products and services. This milestone was reached by delivering
a consistently high level of service to our customers and
manufacturers. Our inventory, experience and technologies
can reduce costs in your supply chain and help you reach your
profit objectives. Visit us at Booth 515 to learn more.
Pulse Broadband
13 Berry Wood Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63122
P: 314-825-2154
C: Scott Terrell
W: www.pulsebroadband.net
Products/Services: Passives – Outside Plant; CustomerPremises Equipment; Internet and Video Services/
Programming; Other Managed Services; Planning,
Design or Construction
Pulse Broadband is a full solutions provider that assists clients
with evaluating, justifying, building and operating FTTH
broadband networks. Our expertise is assisting rural markets
and underserved communities considering broadband,
television and phone services for their communities.
Pulse helps organizations evaluate whether FTTH is
financially viable for their market with a free customizable
expense and ROI model. Pulse then provides lower-cost
design options that are less costly to build and maintain
than traditional fiber networks while still utilizing popular
architectures such as GPON, EPON and RFoG. As part of
its service offering, Pulse designs the fiber network, manages
construction and optionally offers voice, video and data services
once the FTTH network is completed. This includes negotiating
programming rights/rates, billing and customer care services.
In the last 24 months, Pulse has helped clients justify,
design and build more than $150 million in FTTH projects
in Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Minnesota.
Spot On Networks
55 Church St., Ste. 200
New Haven, CT 06510
P: 203-523-5210
Contact: Jessica DaSilva
W: www.spotonnetworks.com
Customers: MDU/PCO, Hospitality, Municipalities
Programming, Other Managed Services
Spot On Networks (“SON”) is a wireless Internet service
provider (WISP) and wireless solutions provider. SON provides
managed UserSafe Wi-Fi networks and wireless solutions to
multitenant properties, hotels and commercial spaces. SON is
the leading provider of managed Wi-Fi networks to the U.S.
multitenant housing market and a trusted leader in hotel Wi-Fi
since 2004. SON also develops wireless energy management,
building automation and security monitoring solutions
(WiFiPlus+) that help properties save money on utilities, earn
LEED credits and reduce their carbon footprints.
Wireless Property Solutions:
• The CellBOOST Family of Services provides cost-effective
cellular and radio signal solutions for properties that
hot products
experience poor signal strength inside their buildings
due to energy-saving construction. CellBOOST keeps
residents, staff and first responders always connected at
your property!
• WiFiPlus+ wireless energy management, building
automation and security monitoring solutions help
properties save money on utilities, earn LEED points and
reduce their carbon footpints.
in minutes without physical disruption to security systems
or the facility. Both significantly reduce costs and network
downtime for faster MACs and restoration.
Also featured is the new Quantum Mass Type-Q101-M12,
the industry’s only multifiber, touch-screen, Internet interface,
and dual heater system fusion splicer. Visit us at the BBC
Summit, booth # 513, and at www.sumitomoelectric.com
Learn more about Spot On Networks UserSafe Wi-Fi,
CellBOOST and WiFiPlus+ at www.spotonnetworks.com or
email [email protected].
Time Warner Cable
2551 Dulles View Dr.
Herndon, VA 20171
P: 703-345-2749
Contact: Joanne Luger
W: www.twc.com/communitysolutions
78 T.W. Alexander Dr.
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
P: 800-358-7378
Contact: Customer Service
W: www.sumitomoelectric.com
Municipalities, Other – Data Centers, Enterprise
Networks, Utilities and Energy
Products/Services: Passives – Outside Plant; Passives –
Inside Plant; Customer-Premises Equipment; Structured
Wiring; Test Equipment; Other Managed Services;
Planning, Design or Construction; Training
Sumitomo Electric Lightwave (SEL) is a major industry
leader in the development, innovation and manufacturing of
optical fiber and connectivity solutions to tailor fiber optic
communications, wireless, MDU, residential broadband,
FTTx, data center and enterprise networks.
Dedicated to continuous innovation and industry-first
solutions, Sumitomo features the revolutionary Lynx2
field-installable connectors and environmentally green
FutureFLEX Air-Blown Fiber that empower networks with
the most advanced optical fiber solutions. With Lynx2
(MPO, SC, LC,
FC, ST), achieve
real-time, on-site
connectivity
without the
shorts, excess
slack and
logistic delays of
preterminated
cables.
FutureFLEX
provides
unlimited fiber
and bandwidth
Customers: MDU/PCO
Programming
When you choose Time Warner Cable, you’re partnering
with an industry leader that is dedicated to helping property
owners and managers exceed their goals. We’re all about
connecting people and businesses with information,
entertainment and each other. That’s why we bring you the
latest innovations for your home and office – hundreds of
high-definition channels, enhanced TV features, super-fast
Internet and easy-to-use home phone. All this and more
thanks to Time Warner Cable’s investment in a robust,
fiber-rich network. If you want apps, we have those, too;
The TWC TV App makes any room a TV room. Download
apps to manage your My TWC account or locate the nearest
TWC Wi-Fi hotspot. Never miss your favorite show or
sporting event with HBOGO, WatchESPN, Fox News
and countless others – all available from Time Warner
Cable. Time Warner Cable – Enjoy Better. www.twc.com/
communitysolutions
Verizon Enhanced Communities
One Verizon Way, VC21E217
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
P: 908-559-1433
F: 908-766-6098
Contact: Tom Nugent
W: www.verizon.com/communities
Customers: MDU/PCO
Programming
Verizon Enhanced Communities is Verizon’s business unit
dedicated to serving single- and multifamily residential
communities with Verizon FiOS TV, Internet and phone
services delivered over the award-winning Verizon FiOS allfiber-optic network, as well as applications that add value to
your community.
Four family members are available, offering 1080p/i or
720p performance in four- or two-channel configurations.
Verizon offers a wide variety of unique services and
programs to enhance and differentiate your community,
including Verizon Concierge and the Verizon Enhanced
Communities Value Program. Verizon makes it easy by
providing custom installation with dedicated management
and engineering teams, as well as ongoing customer service.
Contact us to learn how your property can benefit.
• Advanced Management – Maestro headend management
software and front-panel color LCD for local and/or
remote configuration and monitoring
• Breakthrough Cable Management – for clean wiring and
easy diagnostics
• Analog and Digital Audio – for maximum flexibility
• Component Video – for HD input
Viamedia
220 Lexington Green Circle, Ste. 300
Lexington, KY 40503
P: 859-422-0517
C: Jack Olson
W: www.viamediatv.com
campaigns to send FTTH primers to every household and business.
Visit www.zeevee.com
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Viamedia is the largest non-MSO-affiliated video ad sales
organization in the U.S., offering video providers a full
turnkey solution from a 100-percent independent firm.
At Viamedia, we are focused on driving revenue through
the power of media. We provide video providers across the
country with dependable, high-quality representation of their
advertising inventory, as well as offering an extensive suite
of online marketing services and solutions to help drive the
business needs of our customers.
Viamedia provides successful media solutions for local,
regional and national advertisers by inserting advertising
onto such major cable networks as ESPN, MTV, Discovery,
CNN, Lifetime, A&E, Fox News, TNT and Spike, as well
as providing online advertising solutions utilizing new and
proven technologies. www.viamediatv.com
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campaigns to send FTTH primers to every household and business.
ZeeVee
1 Monarch Dr.
Littleton, MA 01460
P: 347-851-7364
C: Kai Rostcheck
W: www.zeevee.com
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“The primer is an EXCELLENT WAY
to not only EDUCATE people about the
basics of FTTH but also INFORM them
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Municipalities
Products/Services: Video Headends and Related Equipment
NEW! HDbridge 2000 Series Encoder/Modulators
Designed especially for headends where rapid deployment,
advanced management and compatibility are critical –
you can practically feel the confidence that’s built into
every unit!
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City administrator and economic development director - winthrop, minn.
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Get more information or place your request for a bulk shipment
of printed primers for your community at:
www.FTTHPrimer.com
WWW.GLDS.COM
800-882-7950
[email protected]
operations
Overture GIS Harnesses
The Power of Information
A new geographic operating system helps Greenlight Communications operate more
efficiently and provide proactive customer service.
By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities
P
roactive service is the key to keeping
customers happy and running a
network efficiently, according to
Will Aycock, general manager of
Greenlight Communications, the municipal
broadband provider in Wilson, N.C. Network
operators can provide proactive service only
when they know about problems before their
customers do.
Greenlight began operations five years
ago, and Wilson residents and businesses
have enthusiastically adopted its fiber optic
services. (For a full case study of the Greenlight
deployment, see the January/February 2013
issue of this magazine.) Aycock, originally
a geographic information systems manager,
developed the GIS system that Greenlight used
to build and manage its network. However, this
homegrown system, though highly functional,
was difficult for non-GIS experts to use, which
limited its potential benefits.
When ETI Software Solutions, whose
subscriber management, workforce management
and billing software Greenlight deployed, began
looking for network operators to beta test its
new geographic solution, Aycock was among the
first to volunteer. He understood the potential
for GIS to improve Greenlight’s operations,
and he was eager to test a system that his entire
organization could use.
The new solution, Overture GIS, integrates
ETI’s data warehouse (marketed as Triad) with
Geographic Technologies Group’s Vantage Points
GIS software, making subscriber data, plant
management records, fiber and network element
information, and workforce management data
available on a single platform. Location-based
information from external sources – such as
photographs, weather data, and income or other
census data – can also be added to the system.
Instead of being limited to GIS specialists,
Overture is easily accessible to engineering,
network management, sales and marketing,
customer service and executive management
personnel. It provides comprehensive network
and customer intelligence that network
operators can use to maximize their revenue,
reduce their operating expenses and improve
their customers’ experiences.
Winning Customers,
Improving Operations
In a recent Web demo of Overture GIS, Aycock
said Greenlight’s proactive approach to network
management had paid off in a recent sales
meeting. The prospective commercial customer
was already a residential subscriber. He came
to the meeting favorably disposed toward
connecting his organization to Greenlight
because, he said, a network technician had
recently appeared at his door to respond to an
outage he hadn’t yet reported. “That type of
response generates good will and makes sales in
the future,” Aycock commented.
Tracking locations of ONTs, pigtails in hub cabinets, splitter cards and PON ports minimizes operating expenses via improved asset management.
Greenlight’s faster-than-light
response was possible because a
network operations center (NOC)
worker saw the customer’s outage
appear on a map in real time and,
using GPS signals from company
maintenance vehicles, identified the
technician closest to the scene and sent
him to fix the problem right away.
Aycock supplied many examples of
how Greenlight uses Overture GIS for
intelligent and effective management.
• Reports on repeat trouble calls
and repeat truck rolls over a twomonth period allow supervisors
to identify common problems
and trends. For example, if one
installer is consistently responsible
for a high proportion of follow-up
issues, additional training may be
warranted. Follow-up reports can
help determine whether recurring
problems have been solved.
• Reports on repeat customer calls in
a single week prompt supervisors
to call back customers and find out
whether their problems have been
addressed properly.
• Real-time reports of open service
calls make systemic issues apparent
so that call center personnel can
begin tagging them as system
outages. Aycock said, “Before,
network engineers would run down
to the NOC and hang over the
shoulders of the NOC staff, asking
‘What shelf is it on? What services
are impacted?’ Now they can easily
see [all that information] from their
desks. … If they immediately start
aggregating tickets by shelf, by line
terminal, by PON and so forth,
they can figure out what’s failed,
and that speeds up response time.”
• Real-time displays of optical
network terminal (ONT) alarms
on the NOC’s main display make
fiber cuts and other urgent issues
immediately apparent, enabling
technicians to swing into action
to deal with them. For example,
during Hurricane Irene, a
particularly destructive storm that
pummeled the East Coast in August
2011, the NOC staff followed
outages in real time and began
dispatching service crews to make
repairs even before the wind had
stopped blowing.
Aycock commented, “Previously,
we would have had to do a
windshield survey, sending crews
to ride out the network, report on
the damage and evaluate it, and
then send people out for repairs.
Now, the alarms are integrated with
GPS and our fiber records, so we
could restore service faster and save
ourselves some money.” In addition,
the ability to tag orders as stormrelated helps the utility obtain
reimbursement from FEMA.
• Historical analyses of alarms by
type show geographic clusters of
persistent issues such as signal
operations
Managers can easily see the take rates, the
average revenue per user and the requests for
service in any particular neighborhood and can
use this information to plan network expansion.
•
•
•
•
degradation. This enables supervisors
to send technicians directly to field
cabinets in need of work.
Outside-plant work in preparation
for new service installations can be
bundled geographically to reduce
the number of truck rolls. Even if
two installation work orders are
scheduled for different days, the
preliminary outside-plant work can
be performed on the same day.
If a customer calls to order service
and the customer service rep can
see a fiber drop is already installed,
the rep can schedule the customer
for the next installation date rather
than waiting for outside-plant work
to be completed. “Before we had
this tool,” Aycock said, “we were
sending people out to put in conduit
when it was already there. Now,
we have a management expectation
that people will use this tool. …
[Installers] are saving an hour or
two a week that they used to spend
driving around, looking at stuff that
was already done.”
Field supervisors and customer
service supervisors review pending
work orders by area to gauge their
workload over the coming days.
A supervisor who sees a spike in
orders may cancel days off, hire
contract labor or even reschedule
some work orders to avoid overtime.
Conversely, if the workload is light,
the supervisor may try to move
pending installation orders to earlier
dates. In either case, these reports
help supervisors minimize costs by
matching staffing to workload.
Reports on active customers per hub
help managers plan for expansion
of field cabinets (if a shelf is 90
percent utilized, the time may be
right to add another splitter card) or
consolidate underutilized equipment
and reclaim it for use elsewhere.
• Geographic reports on customer
disconnects help the NOC staff
identify available pigtails in each hub
and locate ONTs for reclamation.
Aycock explained, “When we first
launched services, we were trying
to grow subscriber numbers as fast
as we could, so we weren’t focusing
on these types of details. We found
that we were spending a lot more
on infrastructure [than we should
have been], so we had a big push
to generate lists of unused ONTs,
hand the lists out to contractors and
bring the ONTs back in. When we
realized the vast majority of ONTs
were in good condition, we asked,
‘Why bring them back?’” Today,
Greenlight stores a few disconnected
ONTs centrally, just to have some
on hand, but leaves most of them in
place to reclaim for new installations
in the same neighborhood.
• Simply having all information
available in a single location
improves operational efficiency. For
example, Aycock said, a network
designer planning an upgrade or
extension to the network saves 60
to 90 minutes by not having to pull
information from the GIS, as-built
records, spreadsheets and multiple
other sources. Similarly, data on
fiber distribution strands (which is
now being loaded into the system)
can automatically be connected
with customer data to reveal which
fibers are in use, which are being
saved for specific purposes and
which are available for customers
requesting dedicated fibers.
• Field technicians now contact the
office after they complete their
assigned repairs each day to find out
whether there are any outstanding
service orders nearby. “If there’s
still work to be done in that area,
[the NOC will] work those with
the techs before they clear the
field,” Aycock said. “It saves money
as opposed to keeping one guy
working till 10 p.m.”
The Management
Perspective
Though most of Aycock’s examples
revolved around ways to improve
operational efficiency and customer
satisfaction, he said Overture GIS
also yields important marketing
information for management. For
example, managers can easily see how
much revenue any geographic area
generates and how the penetration of
various services is trending in each area.
Aycock said, “We can see clear
trends in the service footprint of where
we get the most bang for the buck.
We’re able to look at the characteristics
of the neighborhoods where we’re
doing well, and it helps us target
neighborhoods for planned system
expansion.” Integration of census-based
information into the Overture database
is also helpful for planning purposes.
Customer inquiries can also be
tracked by location to help guide
expansion decisions and to provide
lists of customer leads that will be used
once a neighborhood is opened for
marketing. Greenlight can also tailor its
marketing campaigns according to the
take rates in an area – for example, it
may saturate a high-take-rate area with
yard signs and offer referral credits to
customers who sign up their neighbors.
One of the best things about a
user-friendly GIS system, Aycock said
in conclusion, is that once users gain
experience with it, they begin to devise
new ways to use it even more effectively.
“I’m starting to get a lot more feedback
now,” Aycock said. “The users have a
lot more expertise and time [with the
product] than I’ve got, and they’ve made
it work more efficiently and faster.” v
Masha Zager is the editor of Broadband
Communities. You can reach her at
[email protected].
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SERVICE PROVIDER STRATEGIES
Setting Expectations
For Network Performance
Is the customer always right? One industry veteran argues that the Internet service
business is not – and cannot be – customer-centric. Both building owners and ISPs
benefit from a realistic understanding of the technical and business constraints they face.
By Sebastian Pereira / Broadband Enterprise
D
elivering Internet access in a
multifamily building is not easy,
but for an Internet service provider
(ISP) that educates, trains, informs
and advises its customers and installs the right
equipment, the process isn’t as hard as it seems.
Yes, the information highway is fraught with
accidents and mishaps – but still, people don’t
call cities every time a road is blocked or an
accident delay occurs.
Setting expectations is key, and a close
working relationship between a buyer and a
supplier is more beneficial than a yelling contest.
Building Owner and ISP
In the last year, cloud computing crossed
the chasm to the mass market, and ferocious
bandwidth upgrades were needed as a result.
Suddenly, building owners’ expectations
increased. How should an ISP respond to
those expectations?
For users that access the Internet about
10 hours a day, the cloud has changed
everything. Students, remote businesses and
small businesses that operate from home are
the heaviest consumers of bandwidth. Students
have, on average, six devices in their dorm
rooms constantly connected, and then they
invite friends to play multiplayer games during
peak hour. Businesses soak up upstream
capacity with Web and remote servers sending
emails and presentations, conducting voice
and video webcasts and participating in
instant chat sessions – sometimes, all through
a wireless network.
Netflix HD alone takes about 2 to 4 Mbps
per stream. Now imagine one student viewing
two movies, one on a desktop and the other on
an iPhone, or a family with different Netflix
viewing habits. There are more than 150 online
movie sites like Netflix. At this same peak hour,
students are trying to submit papers to meet
deadlines and residential business users are
trying to access servers late at night.
Coupled with all this traffic are thousands
of protocols being used to spoof networks,
track users, create peer-to-peer agents, hijack
browsers, reroute traffic and mask as HTTP
to sneak into networks – and that doesn’t even
count the virus and spam traffic that typically
soaks up anywhere from 20 percent to 30
percent of network capacity.
The Internet is not a policeable state, and
no ISP can be blamed for all breakdowns. A
simple building with 100 users has, on average,
more than 200 moving parts – processors,
software, powering, ether (air space for Wi-Fi),
handshakes, authentication and hardware. A
building owner that enters into a relationship
with an ISP should expect a network to break
down occasionally.
An ISP needs to train its customers
about the components used to build a
network in the same way a contractor
explains building construction detail.
During that stage, owners need to
ask hard questions about products’
tolerance to failure and power glitches,
about remote monitoring, mean time to
repair, capacity management, escalation
procedures and so forth. Once
customers understand these issues, the
ISP has completed its basic training in
Internet understanding.
Fort Knox Without
the Cost
For student housing, the best building
networks are wireline – either VDSL,
cable or Ethernet. VDSL is the most
reliable. Ethernet, an older technology,
carries more packet overhead than
VDSL or cable and hence needs
more backbone bandwidth and cost.
Ethernet and Wi-Fi can be easily
compromised compared with cable or
DSL. A student can plug into a switch
port and glean all network information
– it’s that simple.
Cable modems are a good alternative
because they can now support 300
Mbps with no distance limitations.
Costs have dropped significantly, and
the next standard is 1 Gbps.
Given that Google, Apple,
Microsoft, Amazon and Intel all have
IPTV plans, planning for a network
that can eventually support Gigabit
Ethernet is a good idea.
Any network pushing more than
100 Mbps suddenly invites abuse.
Defending against abuse, which keeps
availability high and costs low, is a
challenge that ISPs can meet today.
Broadband Enterprise strongly
recommends virus protection as
well as bandwidth shaping to run a
best-in-class network. If both these
elements are in place, then with remote
network monitoring, a GigE router,
CMTS 160 Mbps or VDSL 100 Mbps
and used Ethernet GigE switching,
network costs should not exceed
$3 to $4 per subscriber per month
for a 200-subscriber complex. For a
500-subscriber complex, costs can
be held to between $1 and $2
per subscriber.
Though ISPs complain about bandwidth
costs, a well-designed network with a great
bandwidth supplier relationship can go a
long way toward lowering overall costs.
Most building ISPs skip virus
protection and bandwidth shaping
altogether to conserve cost, but by
doing so, they compromise their
abilities to identify abusers by IP
address, shut down sneak protocols
that hog bandwidth, create bandwidth
availability during periods of
congestion, and prevent packet loss.
They also lose the ability to present
charts to management on network
availability by the hour. In fact, ISPs
should give building owners complete
access to network viewing and
charts on daily individual and total
consumption level – information that
can reduce building owner complaints.
Using the devices mentioned helps
reduce bandwidth consumption by
20 percent to 40 percent, thereby
saving on bandwidth costs. Broadband
Enterprise highly recommends
spending on network defense hardware
up front versus throwing bandwidth
(a recurring cost) at congestion issues.
Most ISPs complain about bandwidth
costs as an impediment to success, but
a well-designed network with a great
bandwidth supplier relationship
can go a long way toward lowering
overall costs.
ISP and Supplier
Most people can remember their best
deals. Here’s the secret to success: a
good relationship with the seller.
In network equipment and
bandwidth, the same philosophy
applies. Many buyers wrangle with
their suppliers about deliveries,
troubleshooting, installations,
contracts, early termination and so
forth. Suppliers are often unwilling to
work with customers who lack a basic
understanding of business. At the same
time, suppliers often have the flexibility
to extend special pricing and other
favorable terms to customers they want
to work with.
For example, we have sent engineers
to install cable modem termination
systems at no cost to special customers,
ensuring early adoption. We have seen
bandwidth suppliers help their best
customers reduce costs by pooling
bandwidth or getting exception
approvals from large carriers. In one
case, we were up against two large
carriers on a 44-location install in
Florida. Carrier A was charging us
$92,700 to build to locations – but
Carrier B, with whom we had a good
relationship, absorbed all that cost and
met total deal pricing at 30 percent less.
In another case, a carrier was willing
to spend $220,000 in build cost to 15
sites to offer 500 Mbps bandwidth at
some sites for as low as $2,750 – about
30 percent to 40 percent lower than the
going rate. It’s all in the relationship!
Building ISPs face competition
from their suppliers, which can
easily integrate forward. Thus, a good
supplier relationship is a good defense
against extinction.
In conclusion, managing
expectations is feasible with the right
ISP relationship, the right equipment
and a good supplier relationship.
Collectively, these make an otherwise
unmanageable Internet business
manageable. v
Sebastian Pereira, president and CEO of
Broadband Enterprise, was a key founder
of Motorola’s cable modem business in
1993. Broadband Enterprise today is
one of the largest suppliers of CMTS and
bandwidth to MDUs and PCOs.
Contact Sebastian at sebastian@
broadbandent.com or 781-929-2112.
Technology
Lowering ‘Skeletal Load’
Reduces the Cost of Broadband
New designs for fiber management systems can squeeze more fiber into smaller spaces
and remove some of the “fat” from broadband costs.
By Cheri Beranek / Clearfield Inc. and Greg Johnson / Aeritae
C
arrying around excess fat stresses the
human skeletal system, and reducing
skeletal load is recommended as a way to
stay strong and healthy. Broadband networks are
no different. As more and more data is pushed
through networks for dynamic storage and
retrieval, central offices expand rapidly, quickly
consuming real estate. The network strain
extends beyond the capacity and redundancy of
servers and switches to the physical media – the
highway used to transfer the data around.
Scalability Is Crucial
to Cost-Effective Growth
In the early days, when copper was king,
fiber counts were relatively small, so fiber
management was relatively easy. Devices such
as 72-port panels were considered massive and
were thought to accommodate all the fiber
anyone could possibly need.
The purpose of fiber management is to
consolidate, distribute and minimize risk of
damage to fibers. Traditional fiber management
design always started with the box, which
had to be big enough to hold as much fiber as
possible. Protecting and managing the fiber was
considered secondary, so boxes got larger, and
more elaborate schemes were needed to protect
the rat’s nest that could result from cramming
a box full. The configuration was costly and
not very flexible. “Modularity” meant growing
things in large chunks: 96, 144 or even 288
ports at a time.
Traditional fiber management was just
overkill; it had too many needless components
that drove up costs. Solutions that provide
swinging bulkheads, sliding adapter plates and
other nifty, sexy-looking features increase the
risk of damage to fiber. These design shortcuts
provide easy access to fiber, but the risk-reward
ratio is out of sync. Moving fiber is a bad thing.
Careful attention must be paid to every
element of the fiber. One area of concern is the
protection of buffer tubes. When an outsideplant cable is brought to a fiber management
device for splicing, it is typically prepped to
allow for slack. The outer jacket, shielding,
paper wrappers, strength members and other
protective parts are removed from a length
of cable equal to the desired storage slack
length, leaving only the buffer tubes, which are
typically 2.5mm in diameter and house 250um
fibers, usually in counts of 12.
The buffer tubes are then brought to a splice
tray and spliced to another cable that continues
the fiber pathway to their destination. The slack
is left to allow for misburns, or mistakes in the
splicing process, or for when the splice needs
to be broken and respliced to another cable or
another route path in the future.
Most often, the splice is never touched
again, but still, the slack has to figure into the
fiber management scheme, and space must be
allowed for proper radius of the stored cables
– usually anywhere from 8 feet to 25 feet
and sometimes more. It takes a lot of space,
Ports per
rack
Rack
footprint
Square
feet per
rack
Cost per
square
foot per
month
Cost per
rack per
month
Cost per
port per
month
if fully
utilized
Cost per
rack per
year
Cost per
port per
year
Traditional
frame
1,728
24 inches x
30 inches
5
$30
$150
$0.0868
$1,800
$1.04
High-density
frame
2,016
18 inches x
36 inches
4.5
$30
$135
$0.067
$1,620
$0.80
Figure 1: Real estate cost of traditional fiber management solution compared with high-density solution (racks only). Sources: Clearfield and Aeritae
and traditional fiber management
solutions allocate room outside the fiber
management device for the protection
of fiber assets.
Newer fiber management solutions
address this challenge with sub-unit
buffer tube storage that alleviates the
need for buffer tube storage outside the
fiber management panel. This reduces
the footprint of the overall device and
also enhances the protection of the fiber
sub-units.
Superior Density Reduces
Real Estate Costs
Fiber management design has long
promoted the need for density.
The industry pushes to increase the
number of ports per rack unit (RU)
space while balancing the need for
fiber access. Intuitively, designers have
known that less space means less cost –
but have they calculated that into the
cost of deployment? Have they made
that part of the decision tree when
High-density fiber frames,
especially those with front access,
can greatly reduce expenditures
for central office real estate.
seeking solutions?
Regardless of whether you own your
central office space, rent or co-locate,
the cost of real estate is a cost of doing
business. To calculate an independent
cost metric for the space savings
attributable to using a new, highdensity fiber management solution,
this article uses cost per square foot to
rent space in a co-location environment
(“cage”) from a third party. Though
some locations will be significantly
higher, a typical cost is $30 per square
foot per month.
Ports per
two racks
Rack
footprint
Square
feet per
two racks
with 30inch aisles
Cost per
square
foot per
month
Traditional
Frame
3,546
24 inches x
30 inches
35
$30
$1,050
High-density
frame with
front access
4,032
18 inches x
36 inches
24
$30
$720
Assuming the port count is fully
maximized, dividing the cost of the
footprint per year by the number of
ports on the frame calculates the cost
per port for the high-density solution
at 80 cents per port per year. This is
24 cents per port per year less than the
$1.04 cost of the traditional solution,
delivering a cost savings of 23 percent.
Front/Rear Access Implications
Increasing density isn’t the only way
to reduce real estate costs. Fiber
management solutions that provide
full access to the fibers through the
Total cost
Cost per
per two
port per
racks per
month if
month
fully utilized
Cost per
two racks
per year
Cost per
port per
year
$0.3038
$12,600
$3.65
$0.17
$8,650
$2.14
Figure 2: Real estate cost of traditional fiber management solution compared with high-density, front-access solution (racks plus aisle space).
Sources: Clearfield and Aeritae
Technology
Cage Size
12 feet x 12 feet
10 feet x 12 feet
10 feet x10 feet
Square Feet
144
120
100
Monthly Cost
$4,320
$3,500
$3,000
Traditional
13,824
13,824
13,824
Front Access/High-Density
32,256
24,192
18,144
Maximum Number of Ports
Figure 3 and graphic on facing page: Number of ports that can fit into various standard-size cages – traditional fiber management solution compared
with high-density, front-access solution. Sources: Clearfield and Aeritae
front of the frame provide better
utilization of cage space. Though
many central offices require up to 4
feet for aisle access, some conservative
environments use as little as 30 inches.
A front-access solution requires only
30 inches of aisle space on the front
and zero access space on the rear. This
compares with the 30 inches of aisle
space on the front and rear of the frame
that would be required of a standard
platform. Because an aisle can be
eliminated for each row of frames, the
amount of square footage required for
a high-density, front-access system is
dramatically less than for alternative
solutions.
To establish the cost savings of these
designs, Figure 2 outlines the cost of a
solution on a per-port, per-year basis,
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accounting for both the footprint of the
two racks and the required aisle space.
The 24 square feet of the high-density,
front-access frame houses 4,032 ports,
and the 35 square feet of the traditional
solution houses 3,456 ports. Assuming
the port counts of both racks are fully
utilized, the annual cost per port for
the high-density, front-access solution
is 2.14 cents per port – 1.51 cents per
port per year less than the $3.65 cost
of the traditional solution, yielding a
savings of 41 percent.
Full-Cage Implications
The full impact of the savings
associated with reducing the real estate
requirements for fiber management
are apparent in the real-world exercise
of optimizing the floor plan of a cage.
Front-access, high-density designs
can be deployed either in a back-toback layout or against a wall. (The
illustrations on the facing page show
how racks might be arranged in three
standard-sized cages.) Effectively,
32,256 ports could be housed in a 12x 12-foot cage; only 13,824 could be
housed in a traditional platform. Thus,
a front-access, high-density design
allows 133 percent more ports per cage
than the traditional solutions without
jeopardizing ease of use.
Economic Implications
Investment in fiber management is a
wise idea. Ensuring that fiber patch
cords have the highest performance
metrics for insertion and return
loss and then protecting that fiber
with management devices that scale
to capacity requirements will pay
dividends in the future. In addition, the use of modern
cabling and racking systems leads to additional benefits in the
area of space usage. Unlike most New Year’s resolutions to
lose weight and reduce the skeletal load, the commitment to
establish a lean central office infrastructure will pay dividends
long into the future. v
Cheri Beranek is the president and CEO of Clearfield Inc.,
a manufacturer of fiber management solutions. She can be
reached at [email protected]. Greg Johnson is a senior solutions
consultant at Aeritae Consulting Group, a management
consulting and solution delivery firm. He can be reached at
[email protected].
Arrangements of traditional fiber management solutions and high-density, front-access solutions in three standard size co-location cages.
Technology
Solutions for Cell Coverage Issues
Multifamily residents overwhelmingly rely on cellphones – and they won’t lease
apartments with poor cell coverage. Fortunately, solutions to this problem are at hand.
By Richard J. Sherwin / Spot On Networks
The apartment is great,
but how’s the cell coverage?
H
ow many times have your leasing
agents or property managers
encountered potential renters
concerned about cell coverage? How many
times have your leasing agents accompanied
a prospective resident who was looking at the
number of bars on his or her cellphone?
You are not alone!
More than 20 times per week, someone
in the multifamily industry contacts Spot
On Networks for suggestions on how to deal
with this very difficult, time-consuming and
potentially very expensive issue.
What causes it? What can be done about
it? At Spot On Networks, we have done a lot
of thinking about this issue, have begun to
work on it and have found several avenues
to pursue.
The Cause:
Mobile Explosion
Smartphone usage and tablet usage
have increased by unprecedented
levels since 2010. The Pew Research
Center reports that smartphone
ownership increased from 35 percent
of U.S. adults in 2011 to more than
46 percent of U.S. adults in 2012, a
31 percent increase in less than one
year. However, that doesn’t tell the
whole story. As Ericsson reported in
2012, from the third quarter of 2009
to the fourth quarter of 2011, mobile
data transmissions increased by 600
percent, and projections by Cisco seem
to indicate that the trend will continue,
especially as more video is delivered
over the Internet.
More than 80 percent of
multifamily residents now use
cellphones as their primary or only
phones. As cellphone companies try
to wring as much revenue as they can
out of their networks, they have shifted
to a new model: data usage fees and
unlimited talk time. This increases
total monthly bills, now that data
usage exceeds voice communications
on cellular networks, but it also
More than
80 percent of
multifamily
residents rely
primarily or entirely
on cellphones –
but property
developers have
constructed new
buildings using
energy-conserving
materials that block
cellular signals.
Cellular data traffic has increased exponentially over the past several years.
By early 2012, smartphones outnumbered other mobile phones in the United States.
Technology
Owners can choose among distributed
antenna systems, Wi-Fi or femtocell solutions
to boost cellular coverage inside their
buildings. The right choice for any community
depends on building construction, cost and
the convenience that residents require.
reduces the marginal cost of voice
communications to zero and thus
eliminates any justification for buying
landline service.
Complicating things is the issue of
cellphone reception inside buildings.
As landlords and developers focused
on energy conservation, they favored
certain building materials that are
particularly resistant to penetration
by cellphone signals. This exacerbates
the familiar “Can you hear me now?”
reception issues and often leads to
cellular problems that tenants won’t
tolerate. Do you remember hearing the
telephone ring and running inside to
answer it? Today, many people have to
run outside to answer their phones.
If residents don’t have cellphone
service inside their homes, how will
they make calls to friends and family?
Even more important, how will they
call 911?
Three Possible Cures
There are several possible solutions. The
right solution for any building depends
upon the situation, the cost and the
convenience residents require.
DAS. Implementing an active
distributed antenna system (DAS) is
an expensive solution to the reception
problem, which is the No. 1 issue
(though some less-expensive DAS
solutions, such as Spot On’s CellBoost
services, are available). However, DAS
will not necessarily, or even usually,
help with the capacity problem. A DAS
uses only the frequencies allocated to
the base station or microcell to which it
is connected. As a result, the channels
have narrower bandwidth and therefore
significantly less capacity than Wi-Fi.
Existing Wi-Fi applications. If
Wi-Fi is available in a community,
residents can use a mobile VoIP
application such as Skype as an
alternative phone service. Conditional
call forwarding is available with most
cell carriers. Incoming calls can be
routed to the Skype number, and
outgoing calls can be made easily
and even appear to come from the
smartphone’s caller ID. The cost of such
service is extremely attractive compared
with cell service, especially for a
resident who makes international calls.
Residents can make emergency calls
with Skype and similar applications,
although their locations are not as
visible as they otherwise would be.
For texting, an application called
WhatsApp can be used for messaging
over Wi-Fi. WhatsApp and similar
applications are available for most
smartphones and are relatively easy
to use.
A new service has recently become
available from the mobile virtual
operator Republic Wireless. This service
routes calls over the Sprint cell network
normally when no known Wi-Fi service
is operating and automatically switches
to a recognized Wi-Fi network when
such connectivity exists. If a Wi-Fi
network is operating in a residential
complex, residents can make and
receive calls, messages and data without
a cumbersome process involving signons and multiple dialers.
Femtocell. Don’t forget the lonely
femtocell – a small, low-power cellular
base station designed for in-home use.
Although each carrier has a different
name for the device, all versions operate
in pretty much the same way: Plug in
an Internet cable, and use cell service
from a single carrier (thus lonely) in an
individual apartment, for a fee.
The Future: Hotspot 2.0
Within a few months, the Wi-Fi
Alliance and the Wireless Broadband
Alliance will release a compatible set
of protocols and procedures that make
Wi-Fi networks complementary to cell
carrier networks. The service, called
Hotspot 2.0, uses the Wi-Fi Alliance’s
Passpoint 2.0 certification procedure
for product certification to promote
secure, seamless roaming between cell
services and Wi-Fi networks.
The first Hotspot 2.0 solution is
expected to be introduced during
2013. Some access points are already
Passpoint 2.0 certified, as are some
models of the Samsung Galaxy S III,
but device availability has held up trials
so far, and testing has had to be done
with prototype handsets. Operators,
including BT and AT&T, are involved
in ongoing trials, Orange France and
Smart in the Philippines have already
successfully tested Wi-Fi roaming and
authentication and another Wireless
Broadband Alliance trial this year
will use preproduction and shipping
handsets to test the billing interfaces on
a live network.
Because AT&T and Wi-Fi
controller manufacturer Pronto
Networks are already testing these
protocols and procedures, I am
confident that some operators will
have the first commercial Hotspot 2.0
networks in the first half of 2013.
Soon, residents’ smartphones could
be seamlessly connecting over Wi-Fi,
eliminating cellphone coverage issues
entirely. v
Richard J. Sherwin is the founder and
CEO of Spot On Networks LLC, a
provider of Wi-Fi telecommunications.
He has been involved in the development
of wireless communications and radio
frequency transmission for 30 years.
You can reach him at rsherwin@
spotonnetworks.com.
Formerly Broadband Properties
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Industry News
From Gigabit Envy to Gigabit
Deployed: You Can Get There
Join the FTTH Council in Kansas City on May 29 – 30 to learn how to deploy an
ultra-high-speed network and join the gigabit revolution.
By Heather Burnett Gold / Fiber to the Home Council Americas
F
rom Seattle and Chicago to Chattanooga and Kansas
City to Lafayette, La., Bristol, Tenn., and Bristol,
Va., gigabit connectivity is not a theory but a reality.
These are just a few of the cities across the United
States that understand what we all already know – gigabit
connectivity is a game changer.
Ultra-high-speed, gigabit connectivity is quickly becoming
a vital prerequisite to economic growth, job creation and
global competitiveness. A gigabit network isn’t just for
entertainment or hours of uninterrupted gaming. It is needed
for real-world applications that range from enhancing public
safety networks to upgrading electrical grids to advancing the
capabilities of telemedicine to growing the local economy. A
gigabit network is a local on-ramp to the rest of the world.
Chattanooga, often referred to as “Gig City,” made an
investment in its broadband infrastructure that revitalized the
city and resulted in significant economic development and job
growth by luring such companies as Volkswagen, Amazon.
com, HomeServe USA and Claris Networks. Case Western
Reserve University Medical Center is using its gigabit
network to help surgeons practice difficult medical operations
through the use of surgical theater software. And thanks to its
fiber-to-the-home network, Lafayette, La., created the Living
Lab, a community-scale test bed that allows health care
innovators to develop solutions to challenges health care faces
today, including childhood obesity and emergency medicine.
This is not “Game of Thrones” or five screens streaming
Netflix. This is an engine for local innovation and economic
growth, and it is only a taste of what is yet to come. The
challenge now is to get every community to gigabit deployed.
Securing the necessary financing for gigabit connectivity,
managing the technical and administrative requirements and
juggling the requirements of many stakeholders can be slow,
frustrating and arduous. The process raises difficult questions
of how to solicit, invest in and use gigabit connectivity and
make it work for economic progress, how to attract private
and public investment, and how to assess demand.
Though these questions have inhibited many communities
from investing in ultra-high-speed networks, they are
not insurmountable. There is no longer any need to keep
reinventing the wheel. Indeed, we now have more than 1,000
fiber-to-the-home networks across the country to tell us so.
Any community can be the next Kansas City or Lafayette if it
is willing to learn from those who have gone before.
Just as gigabit connectivity allows the knowledge
exchange that will fuel the 21st century, coming together
to share the knowledge and experiences in obtaining that
kind of connectivity is invaluable. Business and community
leaders across the U.S. understand they must upgrade their
broadband networks to remain competitive in the global
economy, but information on how to achieve that goal is hard
to find and often overwhelmingly technical.
Responding to this deficiency, the Fiber to the
Home Council and partner organizations have gathered
the resources needed to help civic leaders, local
telecommunications providers and other groups upgrade their
networks and join the gigabit revolution. On May 29 and 30,
we will bring those resources together in Kansas City, Mo.,
where Google is already deploying its fiber network.
The Council’s Community Toolkit Conference in Kansas
City will focus on every aspect of upgrading a network, from
building a business case and securing community support to
navigating local government and engaging key stakeholders.
You will have the opportunity to hear from others who have
upgraded their networks and can help your community walk
through each step of the process. By assisting local civic and
community leaders from across the country pursue their
dreams of gigabit connectivity, we aim to move one step
closer to all-fiber connectivity in the United States, advancing
our global competitiveness while promoting economic
development and enhancing quality of life.
Come join us. v
Heather Burnett Gold is the president of the Fiber to the Home
Council Americas, a nonprofit association consisting of companies
and organizations that deliver video, Internet and/or voice
services over high-bandwidth, next-generation, direct fiber optic
connections, as well as those planning and building FTTH
networks. For more information on the Community Toolkit
Conference, visit www.ftthcouncil.org.
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 Prescott at 505-867-2668 or email [email protected].
As the premier consulting firm focusing on city and communitywide integrated broadband planning, we work with developers,
public officials and city planners to incorporate fiber-based
networks,applications and services into their communities
Driving Innovation
Creating Value
It’s one of those win-win situations
you hear so much about.
702-405-7000
[email protected]
www.broadbandgroup.com
AT&T Connected Communities has something for everyone.
Learn more at att.com/communities.
© 2012 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
CHICAGO
Economic Development
Conference Series
Verizon FiOS:
COMMUNITY FIBER NETWORKS
November 5 – 7, 2013
www.TownsAndTech.com
Top-rated broadband service in America.
Period.
877-588-1649
Find out if FiOS is available for your multifamily community.
Contact Verizon Enhanced Communities
866.638.6066
www.verizon.com/communities
Conference Site: Tinley Park Convention Center. Chicago Southlands – Just Beyond the City Limits
Verizon FiOS services not available in all areas. ©2009 Verizon.
!
NEW
®
FTTH FINANCIAL
ANALYZERS
Visit www.FTTHAnalyzer.com to learn more
about our FTTH Financial Analyzers including those
tailored for rural and MDU applications.
Download for
FREE!
advertiser index / calendar
AdvertiserPageWebsite
65
www.amt.com
Anritsu
66www.antritsu.com
AT&T
Inside Front Cover, 66, 91
www.att.com/
commumities
ATX Networks
66
www.atxnetworks.com
Aurora Networks
66
www.aurora.com
Broadband Communities Magazine
89, 91
www.bbcmag.com
21, 67
www.BroadbandEnt.com
Calix
67www.calix.com
Charles Industries
25, 67
www.charlesindustries.com
Clearfield, Inc.
11, 68
www.clearfield
connection.com
Comcast Cable
17, 68
www.xfinity.com/
multifamilies
Communications Data Group
68
www.cdg.ws
1, 69
www.corning.com/
cablesystems
COS Systems
63, 69
www.cossystems.com
Design Nine
69, 73
www.designnine.com
DSL Warehous.com
69
www.dsl-warehouse.com
15, 70
www.etisoftware.com
FTTH Council
59
www.ftthcouncil.org
G4S Technology
7, 70
www.g4stechnology.com
GLDS
70, 75
www.glds.com
IMCC
79www.imcc-online.org
Matrix Design Group
Inside Back Cover, 71
www.matrixdg.com
Multicom, Inc
34, 71, 91
www.multicominc.com
Multifamily Ancillary Group (MAG)
72
www.magrev.com
OFS
72www.ofsoptics.com
Power & Tel Supply
3, 72
www.ptsupply.com
Pulse Broadband
72
www.pulsebroadband.net
SHLB
23www.shlb.org/events
Spot On Networks
73
www.spotonnetworks.com
74
www.sumitomoelectric
lightwave.com
The Broadband Group
84, 91
www.broadbandgroup.com
Time Warner Cable
9, 74
www.twc.com/
communitysolutions
Verizon Enhanced Communities
Back Cover, 74, 91
www.verizon.com/
communities
Viamedia
5, 75
www.viamedia.com
ZeeVee
75www.zeevee.com
Broadband Communities (ISSN 0745-8711) (USPS 679-050) (Publication Mail Agreement #1271091) is published 7 times a
year at a rate of $24 per year by Broadband Properties LLC, 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471. Periodical postage paid at
Rosenberg, TX, and additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Broadband Communities, PO Box 303, Congers, NY 10920-9852.
CANADA POST: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International,
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Copyright © 2013 Broadband Properties LLC. All rights reserved.
March
17 – 21
OFC/NFOEC
Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim, CA
202-416-1907 • www.ofcnfoec.org
April
16 – 18
Broadband Communities
Summit
InterContinental Hotel – Dallas
Addison, Texas
877-588-1649 • www.bbcmag.com
May
13 – 15
FTTH LATAM Conference
Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil
613-226-9988 • www.ftthcouncil.org
29 – 30
Community Toolkit Conference
Sponsored by the
Fiber-to-the-Home Council
Kansas City, MO
202-525-4343 • www.ftthcouncil.org
June
19 – 22
NAA Education
Conference & Exposition
San Diego Convention Center
San Diego, CA
866-470-7778 • www.naahq.org
September
30 – Oct. 3
FTTH Conference & Expo
Tampa Convention Center
Tampa, FL
613-226-9988
www.ftthconference.com
November
5–7
Community Fiber Networks
BBC Magazine Economic
Development Conference Series
Tinley Park Convention Center
Chicago Southlands • Tinley Park, IL
866-588-1649
www.TownsAndTech.com
11 – 13
NMHC Apartment Operations &
Technology Conference & Expo
Hilton Anatole • Dallas, TX
202-974-2300 • www.nmhc.org
PLATINUM MEMBER
EVERY COMMUNITY DESERVES
ULTRA-FAST BROADBAND
Evidence shows fiber optic broadband helps attract, retain and grow
businesses. Matrix is dedicated to helping communities reap the benefits
of a future proof, fiber optic network.
Matrix helps communities, cooperatives,
utilities, and municipalities empower
people through fiber optic technology.
Working together, we can implement a
cost-effective fiber network that delivers
a strong communications infrastructure
and enables our country to compete in the
world marketplace.
CONCEPT
PL AN
DESIGN
BUILD
MANAGE
SUPPORT
Learn how you can empower your
community with the benefits of
fiber. Visit matrixdg.com/services
866-792-9930 - [email protected]
GIVE YOUR RESIDENTS
THE POWER OF FiOS.
When you have FiOS, other buildings just can’t compare.
The Ultimate in entertainment.
Unparalleled convenience.
• FiOS® Internet — America’s fastest,* most
consistent and most reliable Internet
• Verizon Concierge — Lifestyle amenity management
solution offering property communications and alerts
for residents, plus package tracking, integrated vendor
services and more.
• FiOS® TV — High-quality access to over
580 channels including over 150 in HD
• Verizon Enhanced Communities Value Program —
Secure FiOS TV and/or Internet at significantly reduced
prices for all your residents as an added amenity for your
property or community.
• Verizon FiOS and Healthsense — Give your senior living
community better quality of care and added peace of mind
with wellness monitoring including caregiver alerts, vital
sign monitoring and more.
Give your property the unbeatable power of FiOS® today.
CALL 1.888.376.5472
CLICK verizon.com/communities
*Reprinted from www.pcmag.com with permission. © 2012 Ziff Davis, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
© 2013 Verizon.
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fiber - Broadband Communities Magazine

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