Cavium Networks (search for Cavium) says that Sumitomo Electric Networks Inc. (search for Sumitomo), which provides broadband access equipment for major carrier customers in Japan, will use the Cavium Networks OCTEON CN5020 processor in its gigabit-rate, next-generation FTTH home gateway.

"We benchmarked a number of solutions and the OCTEON CN5020 was clearly the best solution for us," said Tsuyoshi Kawano, president, Sumitomo Electric Networks Inc. "Our product has to meet or exceed the highly demanding price, power, and performance requirements needed for mass deployment of fiber to the home broadband networks. Cavium's dual core processor enabled us to fulfill these requirements along with ease of programming and providing headroom for future deployment of additional services."

"We are honored to be selected by Sumitomo Electric Networks Inc. for their next generation gateway," said Syed Ali, President and CEO, Cavium Networks. "The advanced feature requirements of FTTx networks such as gigabit rate IPv4 and IPv6 performance to the home, multiple levels of QoS, excellent small packet performance, VoIP, 802.11 WLAN as well the as many proprietary features means that basic, off the shelf processors simply cannot do the job. Our highly integrated OCTEON Plus System-on-Chip processor with dual custom MIPS64 cores, essential hardware acceleration features, built in security delivers leading performance within stringent cost and power constraints for these rigorous requirements."

That super-fast figure, though, will only available in those areas where BT elects to deliver FTTH (Fibre to the Home), which will primarily be in new-build areas, such as the lucky pathfinder community at Ebbsfleet, Kent, where BT has already commenced FTTH trials. FTTH is expensive, and requires new distribution plant and a new connection to every served premises - which is unlikely to make economic sense in the general case.

The alternative approach that BT has announced is FTTC - Fibre to the Cabinet (or Curb if you like). This relies on a single fibre connection from the local exchange to the end-of-street cabinets or distribution points (DP - the green boxes that Openreach engineers set their tents up at). A home's existing copper connection to the DP will be driven from a mini-DSLAM installed in the green box. Since the copper length is small, new technologies such as VDSL can be deployed instead of the more common ADSL or ADSL2+, allowing real-world speeds of up to 40Mbit/s to be achieved. FTTC provides an attractive compromise between cost and speed, and needs minimal disruption at the customer premises - an upgraded xDSL modem or router will be needed to take advantage of the higher speed, but the phone line and other connections remain the same. FTTC, then, is an attractive option to upgrade existing residential areas.

BT is careful to emphasise that the fibre investment is dependent on Ofcom coming up with a suitably supportive regulatory environment in order for the company to get an acceptable return on its £1.5bn. The commercial model must depend on BT having price-setting flexibility, and not be constrained in how it plans to offer access to the fibre network to other communications providers. Expect to see much deliberation behind closed doors at Riverside House on that aspect.

So the lucky BT-supplied consumers who are currently starting to enjoy the first BT ADSL2+ up-to-24Mbps service, along with those C&W and Be Unlimited users who've had it for a while, will only enjoy their position at the top of the speed charts until BT comes along and fibre-enables their exchange - then it's upgrade time again.

Cook County
With funding from the Blandin Foundation, Cook County plans to look into what it would take to invest in broadband infrastructure in their area.
(http://tinyurl.com/4tj8u2)

Eagan
Eagan-based CaringBridge, the third largest nonprofit web site in the world, has expanded service to not only provide people who are ill with a free web site but now also connects families and friends to reputable healthcare information through a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control. (http://tinyurl.com/4ltm4c)

Fergus Falls
A Japanese researcher visited 5 communities in Minnesota, including Fergus Falls, to look at how rural communities benefit from broadband.
(http://tinyurl.com/4u77wc)

Hutchinson
Creatively using broadband in the schools, Little Crow Telemedia Network brought a local chaplain serving in Iraq into the school for Veterans Day. They also provided students with the opportunity to watch and interact with a surgical team as they performed a knee replacement. (http://tinyurl.com/4vloft)

Minneapolis
Minneapolis is ironing out some kinks in their wireless network. Built primarily in the winter, there are small issues with balancing foliage and wireless coverage. (http://tinyurl.com/3h3gky)

Monticello
The Monticello Fiber Network moves ahead with fiber deployment despite a lawsuit filed by incumbent provider TDS. (http://tinyurl.com/49w8ta)  

New Ulm
Stained Glass and More, an online retailer experiences great increase in online sales after attending a Get Broadband sponsored training session on e-commerce and online marketing. (http://tinyurl.com/4v9qg6)

St Cloud
The St Cloud Times now offers live streaming video, starting with their Granite Days weekend coverage. (http://tinyurl.com/3gjapj)

Swift County
Swift County, the latest community to take advantage of Community Broadband Resources available through the Blandin Foundation, invited Bill Coleman to present on “Leveraging Broadband for Community and Economic Development”. They plan to follow up with e-commerce training for the local business community. (http://tinyurl.com/4tjj8d)

Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota recently released research that indicates that Midwest teens that use social networking sites are learning skills required for 21st century jobs. Benefits are seen across socioeconomic demographics. (http://tinyurl.com/3v2bol)

KFAI aired a show on broadband that included comments, questions and answers from three local broadband experts, Christopher Mitchell, Eric Lampland and Peter Fleck. (http://tinyurl.com/3epfx3)

Waseca
The Waseca School Board recently approved a donation from the Waseca Federal Correctional Institution for 73 computers, two 17-inch monitors and a scanner, valued conservatively at $22,000. (http://tinyurl.com/5474au)

Windom
Equipment and software has been purchased for Windom’s “Video Production and Community Server” project. This summer the Mass Media teacher will be learning more about the system with an eye towards using it this fall. (http://tinyurl.com/3zu7gz)

Winona
Home and Community Options (a Blandin Light Speed funded project) has had great success implementing eFile, a system that is being installed and enthusiastically adapted across the organization this year. (http://tinyurl.com/4z9q4v)  

(Many stories are gathered from local online newspaper. Unfortunately each newspaper has a different policy in regards to archive news and therefore we cannot guarantee access to all articles cited.)

That is about to change, for two basic reasons. First, the technology to enable triple play over carrier infrastructure is now ready for deployment. Second, local telcos have no choice but to become triple-play providers. Voice revenues are diminishing as competition from wireless operators, local telco competitors, and even cable operators intensifies. Best-effort data services have quickly become commoditized and today generate only cash, not profits. Partnerships with satellite video operators do give telcos a path of entry into video services, but they don't offer any way to leverage existing infrastructure, nor enter the more lucrative interactive video services markets.

I had a meeting last month with the Chief Strategy Officer of one of the biggest European Triple players, who asked us: Is there a choice for a mobile operator of competing in the triple play broadband market without own infrastructure? Not easy to answer. Here’s the rationale that will tell you what we think:

1. Triple play is no longer just a revenue enhancer, but a must for long-term survival; telcos must devise a video strategy in the coming year. The ability of cable operators to quickly add voice to their service mix is a major threat to local telcos. With competition for core voice services coming from multiple fronts, telcos already face real prospects of accelerated revenue erosion.
2. Telcos must become involved in the creation of content and services. Those that do not take an active role will be reduced to operators of "dumb-pipe" broadband networks, while facilities-free service providers reap the rewards of triple play by accessing the customer directly over their broadband lines.
3. The telco business case for triple play is improving, but many telcos feel the "grand slam" of voice, data, video, and mobility will be their long-term differentiator from competitors. In many cases, this will favor vendors that are able to support fixed-mobile convergence from their access platforms.
4. The emphasis on and interest in triple play are clear indications that telcos are rediscovering the importance of the consumer market. Although telcos still see business markets as potentially more lucrative, they also realize that continued erosion of their bread-and-butter consumer business could be fatal. Service bundles are their solution to stem that erosion.
5. Second to competition, the ability to increase ARPU by 100 percent is driving renewed interest in video. No other service can offer this effect on top-line growth for a local service provider. Broadband data service for the consumer market has already fallen to commodity status.
6. Smaller, independent telcos are taking the lead in deploying IP-based video services. Smaller telcos are moving quickly to embrace switched digital video based on IP to take advantage of the technology's ability to better support unicast and interactive video services. This strategy will put smaller telcos in a favorable position to compete against satellite and cable providers.
7. IP is emerging as the telco's most critical weapon in a showdown with cable competitors. All service providers can become triple-play providers, leveraging multiservice IP access solutions to provide voice, video, and data over a common platform. Although telcos have failed in the past to compete effectively with cable operators as video providers, the ongoing trend toward switched digital video services could favor the telco that understands switched services well and has well-established operations to support massively scaleable switched services.
8. Although much has been made of FTTP (Fiber to the premises) in the past year, telcos worldwide remain committed to delivering bundled services over their copper networks.  Operators currently show a preference for central-office-based multiservice access platforms (MSAPs) over DSLAMs alone, allowing them to flexibly provision voice and other data services from a common platform with high-speed backhaul. Independent and rural telcos showed a preference for IP DSLAMs with Gigabit Ethernet transport.
9. Twenty is the magic number. Operators worldwide are finding that a minimum of 20 Mbit/s is required to enable a compelling triple-play offer over DSL. This will guide network reengineering projects and vendor DSL solutions in the coming three years.

Got the answer? You might be right.
Best regards
CVA

Monticello Times Newspaper – June 26, 2008

FiberNet Update

The fiber optics committee asked council to consider moving forward on the FiberNet project by constructing a subset of the larger project, called the Fiber Loop, which would include connecting important commercial, industrial and civic facilities in the Monticello area.

The service provided would include high-speed data only.

The estimated cost to construct and operate the system is estimated at $1.74 million, with projected revenue being sufficient to cover capital and operation expenses.

The project is fully separate form the legal challenge currently being presented by TDS Telecom.

In other FiberNet news, the council awarded Schulender Construction, Inc., the bid for the fiber optics head-end building site’s grading and utility improvements in the amount of $133,874.

The improvements include grading the site to allow for construction of the head-end building and garage as well as the proposed outside storage area where the antennae/satellite dishes will be located and a 6-foot black vinyl coated chain link fence surrounding the site.

Council also approved the bid for the construction of the fiber optics head-end building to KC Companies, Inc., in the amount of $555,000 for the base bid and $14,500 for the alternate bid; well below the engineer’s estimate for the bids.

Construction of the head-end building is planned for mid-August with final completion set for the end of November of this year.

The building will be located south of the city’s newest water tower, which is off of School Boulevard, near River City Extreme. Council determined the location of the building at a meeting earlier this spring.

Peter Walsh, Project Coordinator

Project Update

June 24, 2008

As I came out of our Technology Committee meeting last week I was struck by the excitement and personal investment of the committee members in our discussion of our goals for the year and the progress we have made.  Every year in late fall we undertake a strategic planning exercise in which we review our technology related strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.  The committee members talk to their colleagues about technology issues; seeking needs, frustrations, concerns and good ideas.  We start by having a general open discussion about our technology use and move to developing an open ended, no holds barred “wish we could…..” list.  Then we group the topics into clusters of similar or related headings and eliminate the obvious wild, impossible and impractical ideas.  We break into groups; our total committee is about 20 folk so we will have four groups of five to discuss the topics and to rank the top three in each cluster - identifying the pros and cons of their top choices.  The groups report back and we have a general open debate of speaking for or against topics on the list.  And, finally we rank our personal choices using a nominal group process.  The method of ranking varies from year to year but I personally like the one where we are each given ten stickers which we can place next to the topic of our choice – with no limit as to how many stickers you can put on any one topic.  The top ten are then organized, some fit together, and others stand alone.  Then we identify the resources needed, indicators of success, responsible parties, and approvals needed and so forth.  The entire process generally takes about four hours.

As we were reviewing our progress on this year’s goals and we realized the gains we have made there was a general excitement in the room.  Our discussion became more detailed when we reviewed our eFile program goals. This project is also part of our Blandin Light Speed grant and we have far exceeded our initial objectives.  The eFile participants were excitedly reflecting on the tremendous gains they have made this year.  We had hoped to have eFile implemented in three programs by the end of the year and we already have six programs using it.  There was a general agreement that the support of the Blandin grant enabled us to work on several pieces of the puzzle at once creating a synergy in that solutions in one piece turned out to benefit other pieces.  As we added a second and third test site and new staff began to grapple with some of the limitations of the beta program we began to discover solutions at a faster pace.  We reached a state of having attained the “critical mass” of minds working on the same problems.  All of a sudden the solutions were coming faster and faster.  The methodology was standardized and everything began to fit together.  New insights were gained as staff were trained, began using the program and saw additional ways that it could be used within their program.  Another interesting outcome is that staff from the individual programs began to meet for what they called “Show and Tell” sessions.  These were opportunities to show off new tools and techniques and to ask questions of each other.  These sessions really stimulated the problem solving and facilitated program standardization. The eFile coordinator reported an impressive list of functionality that is now being handled electronically in a standardized uniform manner: Client Calendaring, Client Programming, Program Documentation, Medication Administration, Client Progress Notes, Staff Scheduling, Staff Notes, Cleaning Lists, and even Menus. The task list for starting eFile in a new program has even been delineated; this is a check list that notes the steps that the program needs to complete to demonstrate that it is ready and qualified to implement the eFile program.  This check list came about as the first couple of implementation attempts did not work out because the program staff were not sufficiently trained and the program was dealing with other administrative issues at the time. 

The entire eFile Program development and implementation is a tremendous example of problem solving from the bottom up.  Those who have the need and use the system are the ones who created the solution, are vested in its success and excited to share it with others.  Management does not have a problem trying to convince other programs to try eFile because staff sell the idea to each other.  Now there is the problem of programs that don’t have eFile getting impatient because the have to wait their turn.  It will be very interesting to see where we what we have accomplished at the end of the year.

The Blandin Foundation is supporting four standout broadband programs through the Light Speed program. The program's purpose is to stimulate the deployment of bandwidth intensive applications that connect local institutions to area resident's home. This post comes from a Light Speed community leader.

Here’s the update - with an added update to report that TDS did post the bond by Friday’s deadline of June 20:

A court date of Friday, June 13 was set for a Motion hearing with the Honorable Judge Jonathan Jasper at Wright County Court in response to the recent lawsuit filed by Bridgewater Telephone Company Inc./TDS Telecom against the City of Monticello. At this Hearing the judge ruled that TDS is required to post a surety bond in the amount of $2.5 Million dollars within 7 days. If they fail to post the bond within the time allowed, the case will be dismissed with prejudice. In the event that the bond is posted, a court date has been set for Friday, July 18 at 9 a.m. so that a judge can rule on the City’s Motion to Dismiss the case.

Christopher Mitchell from ILSR
Eric Lampland from Lookout Point
Peter Fleck from Digital Inclusion Funds and Extension Services

I took some super quick notes – but you can listen to the archive online, which is even better.

Promoting municipally owned networks. Folks who own the network make the rules to a great extent. In light of that maybe Minneapolis should have built itself. If they had gone with Earthlink (which was a contender for the network built by US Internet) they could be in trouble today. Earthlink is dropping citywide networks. There was a fun call from someone in DC who works with networks on a national basis.

Promoting wired over wireless because of the greater bandwidth available. Aerial fiber is a good way to go – in Vermont they are going with aerial fiber. Fiber is cheaper and more available in other countries and we’re getting left in the dust.

Focusing on economic development makes a lot of sense. Broadband is akin to the highway or the phone in that way.

Need symmetrical access. Increasingly people need to upload info as much or as often as they need to download info. There is a discrepancy in the service available – often residential connections are asymmetrical.

We also need to look at not just improving existing connections but getting more people online and if we can get communities to take on that goal that would be a start. Minneapolis started down this road with their wireless and getting new people connected was a big goal. Through Digital Inclusion Fund they are giving out money to help bridge the gap.

Equipment and software has been purchased for our "Video Production and Community Server" project.  The hardware has been setup, software installed and we've started working on our first deliverable video, which will be an informational video about my son, Nick Riordan's, trip to Washington, DC for the National Spelling Bee.  We'll be working up the production and should have it available on our school and city cable channels, as well as hosting it on our community web server very soon.

Our next steps for the project are:

Setting up a room at the Windom Area High School to serve as our video production center.  Now that school is out for the year, our Mass Media teacher will have some time to put towards planning his fall class outlines and determining how best to use the video equipment in his classes.

Getting school staff assigned to the "Homework Helper" project and purchasing laptops and webcams.

Working with our Meterology teacher to determine the best use of technology in his classroom and how best to deliver that class across our network.

That's it for now, hopefully more to come very soon.

The Blandin Foundation is supporting four standout broadband programs through the Light Speed program. The program's purpose is to stimulate the deployment of bandwidth intensive applications that connect local institutions to area resident's home. This post comes from a Light Speed community leader.

The report is a great state of FTTH in the US.

Municipal FTTH systems are continuing to proliferate where allowed.
As of March, 2008, there are 44 public providers (representing more than 60 individual cites) operating FTTH systems in North America. They list 2 communities in Minnesota: Barnesville and Windom.

More, and larger, municipal FTTH systems are under development for 2008

The “success” of municipal FTTH systems is substantiated by high subscriber take rates.
The typical FTTH business plan usually requiring a 30-40 percent take rate to “break even” with payback periods.

The effect of municipal FTTH systems on local economic development is significant.
Windom has noted that a trucking company relocated to Windom (at least in part) because of the access to FTTH.

Municipal FTTH systems have a positive impact on overall FTTH and broadband use.

CONCLUSION: Municipal FTTH Systems are an important element of national FTTH deployment and should be encouraged. OK, not a shocker coming from the FTTH Council - but also not wrong in my opinion.

(There have been some nice articles in the Monticello Times on this story - but unfortunately they're not online yet. Update: thanks to Lynne for the link to the stories, which are now online! I really enjoyed the editorial (I'd include the link when/if I can - again thanks to Lynne for the udpate link!) from Mike Shoemer who while clearly a fan of TDS calls their lawsuit and accelerated plan for FTTH "shady". Like many incumbents in other areas, TDS has taken a "wait and see" approach to network upgrades, letting the municipality do a lot of their business and market development and trying to take the lead once the municipality has already invested time and money into a public network.)

On May 21st the City of Monticello obtained commitments from private investors to purchase revenue bonds sufficient to finance the establishment of a city owned and operated telecommunications utility called "FiberNet Monticello". Obtaining investor support for the FiberNet Monticello business plan is a true demonstration of the financial viability of the project and a key milestone in development of the system. An important factor in the success to date is the overwhelming support of the citizens as reflected in the 74% favorable vote In the September 2007 referendum.

On May 22nd the City Council was prepared to meet to vote on authorizing sale of the bonds. Less than 48 hours prior to that intended vote TDS Telecom through its subsidiary Bridgewater Telephone served a lawsuit against the City claiming that state laws do not grant the right to use revenue bonds for establishment of a telecommunications system, despite express language in the statute allowing revenue bonds to be issued for revenue based "utilities and public conveniences".

The City is confident that it is well within its legal rights to use revenue bonds to build a municipal network and that it will prevail against the suit. The City will vigorously oppose the law suit. Defense of the lawsuit is partially afforded through the City's membership in the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust.

Both the timing and the grounds alleged in the suit lead to the impression that the suit was intended to interfere with the award of the bonds and create additional costs for the City project.

The City plans to move forward with the project and its bond managers will continue to prepare for the bond sale which will include a disclosure to investors of the existence of the lawsuit.

All other aspects of the FiberNet Monticello project have gone forward successfully on schedule including network engineering, construction planning and negotiating a management contract.

The goals of the FiberNet project remain the same: choice of service provider; competitive rates; local service; local ownership; economic development and economic returns to the community. We will need the continued support of the citizens of Monticello to overcome the legal obstacles TDS/Bridgewater Telephone is placing in the path of FiberNet Monticello.

The City of Powell has built a public-private partnership with network service provider TCT; and municipal-broadband- network facilitator U.S. MetroNets (USM) to build PowelLink - municipal Fiber-to-the-Home network.

The network will provide high-bandwidth advanced IP services to both residents and businesses, and will serve as a magnet for this community of 5,500 residents in northern Wyoming. USM is managing the service, the City is providing access to the network and TCT will be providing services.

It will be great to see how this works out. It sounds like a viable strategy to me. USM has been able to obtain private funding.

"Our new FTTH system will not only service existing residences, businesses, and schools but also help retain our young people and attract new residents and businesses. So many communities are struggling to remain competitive in an information-intensive economy. This network will ensure that the city will have state of the art infrastructure, while embracing the involvement of private service providers," said Powell Mayor Scott Mangold.

CincoDias, citando fuentes próximas de la operadora, asegura que se trata de una exigencia de gran complejidad técnica que “necesitaría más de un año”. Por eso consideran imposible tenerlo listo para septiembre. El problema para Telefónica es que mientras no lo haga, la CMT no le permite comercializar sus primeros productos sobre fibra.

Los últimos planes de la operadora eran lanzar un trio FTTH con voz, acceso a internet a 30 megas e Imagenio en la segunda mitad del año, promoción que ha quedado aplazada.

Telefónica esta desplegando fibra en toda España, pero pierde sentido el continuar haciéndolo si no puede comercializarla. Es por eso que ha recurrido las últimas medidas cautelares y mientras la CMT estudia sus alegaciones, lanza un aviso. Esta dispuesta a paralizar el despliegue de la fibra si las medidas no le son favorables. La CMT publicará su decisión en julio.

öö + (Ver más) CincoDias.com

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Their investment in Pakistan hasn't stopped though, because Wateen and Warid see tremendous growth potential over the coming years. Their CEO, Marwan Zawaydeh, and Chief Commercial Officer, Thomas Yeo, recently announced that they would be investing a further $1.5BN in infrastructure development in Pakistan over the next 18 months. Some of this money will be used to double their cell towers to 5,000 sites by end of 2008. Good going Warid! Quotes from a news story and a link to the article after the break.

Warid Telecom Pakistan further investment to reach one point five billion by end of year
Thursday, 22 May 2008 20:01 Pakistan Daily
  
The Warid Telecom's total investment in Pakistan will touch $1.5 billion by the end of this year while the company will further increase its investment in the telecom sector by $1 billion by the end of 2009.

Warid Telecom Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Marwan Zawaydeh, disclosed this while addressing a news conference organised here Wednesday to share the company's achievements, recognitions and future plans after completing three years of successful operations in Pakistan. Warid Telecom Chief Commercial Officer Thomas Yeo also spoke on the occasion.

It just illustrates the simple yet enduring concept that 'every story is local'. I remember this from my TV news days when we were constantly striving to bring the news down to the local level where it could have greater impact. One striking example, 9-11.  I was running the newsroom that day (I'm sure everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing). It was one of the longest days of my professional career - 15+ hours. When I told my family they asked - 'Why so long, that didn't happen here... what could you possibly have been busy with?' But as you know, no matter what town or city you lived in - that story was local. And that is the case more often than not.

In the particular instance from today, it's the national alarm bell being sounded about the rapidly growing broadband needs nationwide.  As the Associated Press story noted, we have all this great technology, but traditional home wiring can’t and won’t be able to handle it. It will impact not only entertainment needs, but telecommuting and news consumption. The way we are consuming information and communicating is changing at a rapid pace. But the access to the technology needed may not be keeping up.

The local tie? I’m working with a tech company in the Treasure Valley that is addressing the very issue – future proofing (don't you love that word) communities against the projected needs and those not even known yet by providing fiber-to-the-home in new communities in the Valley.  Zial Networks is the first company building dedicated point-to-point FTTH networks in the Western US - right here in the Treasure Valley.

Just another feather in the Valley's cap - with forward thinking companies keeping an eye on future needs and ensuring we are ready.

-Jessi

Peter Walsh, Project Coordinator

Project Update

May 21, 2008

The new news is that we have been playing with our IP Video with two-way audio.  Not quite video conferencing but quite workable.  The fiber connection between the two sites really enhances performance.  When I ran the same configuration via the cable modem the delay was objectionable but over the fiber it was almost non existent.  My next step is to train a staff person and her supervisor so they can conduct some supervision via the IP video.  We also intend to experiment with a real video conferencing solution.  We will get to that next month.

The staff training is in its final stages and we are just rounding up our stragglers so we can have attained a uniform base level of competency.  It is so encouraging to hear the staff verbalize their satisfaction and to have them reinforce the importance of everybody getting the training.

We now have eight sights implementing our eFile program.  We have four sights fully implemented, four about 75% implemented and we have another two just starting the process.  This system enables a program to go completely paperless with all of the required documentation and standardizes all the forms and templates across all programs.  Another side benefit that we just realized was how much it reduced training of existing employees who transfer from one program to another.  We just had one staff who had been using the eFile switch to a new program and there was no lag time at all as the eFile was the same in her new program.

Our remote monitoring program is progressing slowly, but progressing.  We have now solved our IP Intercom problem and by the end of June we should have full duplex audio streaming out of our test facility.  This is quite a robust application and we are anxious to start testing other facets of it.

The Blandin Foundation is supporting four standout broadband programs through the Light Speed program. The program's purpose is to stimulate the deployment of bandwidth intensive applications that connect local institutions to area resident's home. This post comes from a Light Speed community leader.

• At the end of 2007, U.S. broadband companies had 69.9 million subscribers, making it the largest OECD country by total number of subscribers, and represented 30 percent of the total OECD subscriber base.
• The United States ranks 15th with a broadband density of 23.3 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.
• Denmark has the highest broadband density at 35.1 percent.
• Fiber-based broadband (FTTH/FTTB) is now 8 percent of the total OECD installed base, making it one of the fastest growing broadband technologies. Japan has 40 percent of its connections on fiber. Korea comes next with 34 percent.
• Luxembourg is the fastest growing OECD market by per capita subscriber growth, followed by Germany and Ireland. The three countries added 5 subscribers per 100 inhabitants.
• Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Korea and Sweden all have broadband densities of more than 30 percent.
• The average speed of advertised connections increased from 2 Mbit/s in 2004 to almost 9 Mbit/s in 2007 with prices coming down 16 percent for cable and 19 percent for DSL in that time frame.

Por hacer un pequeño honor al leitmotiv de este blog, “una visión industrial de las telecomunicaciones”, me gustaría referirme a una cuestión, estos días de actualidad ( Expansión, viernes 9 de mayo de 2008 ) y omnipresente en los últimos años en las consideraciones sobre inversión en infraestructuras de telecomunicación; me refiero a la obligatoriedad o no de compartir la red.

Por simplificar podemos decir que en telecomunicaciones (excluyo TV y redes privadas) hemos tenido tres grandes oleadas inversoras. La primera, dilatada en el tiempo, fue la creación de la red telefónica básica, red de cobre, fija, al amparo de un monopolio. La segunda, la red de telefonía celular, en régimen de “competencia regulada” y la tercera, ahora en sus inicios, la red de fibra óptica. El impacto de las dos primeras en la industria y en la sociedad ha sido tremendo y el estudio de sus estructuras jurídicas de propiedad y régimen de explotación han creado cuerpo de doctrina al respecto y excede sobradamente el propósito de un post entrar en ella, aun así, quiero destacar que la experiencia y conocimiento adquiridos habrían de ser suficientes para configurar un tercer despliegue sin los errores del pasado, despliegue cuyo impacto no ha de ser menor que los anteriores. ¿Vamos por el buen camino?

Para mí, la cuestión nuclear es como compaginar el derecho al acceso a los servicios de comunicación con los derechos de propiedad privada.

La noticia a la que me he referido es: “La CMT obligará a Telefónica a alquilar su nueva red de fibra óptica a los competidores”. Para mí los interrogantes y paradojas que ante esta noticia aparecen son muchos. Por citar alguno de ellos; entiendo paradójico el hecho que al obligar a una empresa a compartir sus inversiones en aras de garantizar el acceso universal a los servicios básicos (la consideración de servicio básico es otro de los elementos clave) de comunicaciones, puede hacer que nadie invierta en esos servicios, viéndose privados todos los ciudadanos del acceso a ellos. Pero no todo hay que verlo desde el punto de vista de la intromisión de otros en las instalaciones de uno. El operador que despliega la red lo hace utilizando elementos comunes de infraestructura civil (caminos, accesos, servicios, etc.) que si bien satisface una tarifa por ello podría desembocar en un caos “urbanístico” y en la ineficiencia económica si todos los operadores desplegasen elementos redundantes de red. Todos en cierto modo tenemos derecho a beneficiarnos de esos elementos comunes, no solo quien decide invertir, con ello no pretendo legitimar al can. ¿Es de aplicación en este entorno el modelo seguido en televisión? Esto es, una red común, explotada por una empresa, RETEVISION, que da soporte a diferentes operadores, TVE, A3, T5, C+. Ciertamente tiene sus ventajas pero, con la excusa de las restricciones técnicas, se mantiene un monopolio en infraestructuras. Huyendo del “dicotomismo”, las cosas no tienen porqué ser blancas o negras, se pueden considerar propuestas “mixtas” como a la que desea acogerse Telefónica, basada en la “segmentación geográfica” en función de la competencia que exista en cada zona.

Por terminar con la reflexión en el ámbito de la regulación, quiero enfatizar la trascendencia que tiene la declaración que haga el organismo competente sobre los servicios de fibra óptica respecto a su universalidad e inexistencia de una red alternativa que pudiera proporcionar unos servicios comparables.

¿Porqué es la fibra óptica la tecnología en el punto de mira? Porque al permitir a día de hoy anchos de banda dos o tres órdenes de magnitud por encima de otras tecnologías, se adivina como el candidato preferido para que los servicios emergentes como la realidad virtual (second life, telemedicina, televisión bajo demanda, televisión de alta definición, computación en red, inteligencia artificial distribuida) y un largo etcétera se conviertan en una realidad cotidiana.

¿Y la industria que tiene que decir? El conjunto de inversiones que se comprometen, la mano de obra de todo tipo de cualificación que se involucra, nos permiten referirnos al hecho en los términos utilizados al principio del post, “oleada inversora” de gran impacto directo en la industria de infraestructuras de telecomunicación.

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Attualmente, le reti di telecomunicazione in Europa utilizzano le fibre ottiche, ma i collegamenti tra la centralina e le singole abitazioni restano quasi interamente basati su cavi in rame

Un progetto europeo, che impiega la fibra plastica e componenti disponibili sul mercato, potrebbe rendere l'utilizzo della rete ottica così accessibile e semplice che l'utente potrebbe provvedere da solo all'installazione, rendendo effettivamente più rapida la tecnologia Internet.

Attualmente, le reti di telecomunicazione in Europa utilizzano le fibre ottiche, ma i collegamenti tra la centralina e le singole abitazioni restano quasi interamente basati su cavi in rame. Nonostante il grande impegno delle società telefoniche per sfruttare al massimo le potenzialità del rame, attraverso la tecnologia ADSL a banda larga e le infrastrutture per la TV via cavo, portare la fibra ottica direttamente nelle case dei consumatori sarebbe l'unico modo per soddisfare le loro richieste di connessioni sempre più veloci.

Tuttavia, eliminare il rame sostituendolo con la fibra ottica sarebbe un intervento eccessivamente costoso e per questo ritenuto impossibile.

L'obiettivo del progetto POF-ALL finanziato dall'Unione europea è trovare una soluzione tecnica al crescente costo della realizzazione di una fibra ottica che arrivi direttamente nelle case dei consumatori.

I partner del progetto hanno deciso di concentrarsi sul cablaggio all'interno degli edifici, che di norma inciderebbe per il 30% sul costo della posa delle fibre ottiche dalla centralina all'abitazione. Questi ultimi 100 metri circa sono noti come «rete finale».

«Abbiamo capito di poter ridurre il costo di quest'ultimo tratto di installazione utilizzando una tecnologia più semplice», dichiara Alessandro Nocivelli, amministratore delegato della Luceat SpA, uno dei partner del progetto. «Se si potesse utilizzare una tecnologia talmente semplice da poter essere installata da chiunque, per le società telefoniche il costo dell'accesso alla rete si ridurrebbe del 30%, ovvero di diversi miliardi di euro, se si considera l'Unione europea nel complesso».

Per gli ingegneri coinvolti nel progetto, la soluzione per una rete finale più semplice ed economica è la fibra ottica plastica e non la fibra comune realizzata in vetro, per una serie di ragioni.

Innanzitutto, le fibre di vetro impiegano un'innocua luce laser a infrarossi per trasmettere il segnale più rapidamente e sono resistenti. Le fibre plastiche hanno uno spessore maggiore rispetto alle fibre di vetro, di almeno un millimetro, e possono essere maneggiate senza strumenti o tecniche speciali.

Secondo i partner del progetto, POF-ALL sta già producendo dei risultati. I partner hanno realizzato un sistema che utilizza la luce verde per trasmettere 100 Mbps su una distanza di 300 metri, ossia la velocità che le società telefoniche si augurano di offrire ai propri clienti entro cinque o dieci anni, nonché una connessione 50 volte più veloce della tradizionale ADSL a banda larga.

Il secondo obiettivo, raggiungibile utilizzando la luce rossa, è quello di decuplicare ulteriormente la velocità di trasmissione (1 Gbps) su 30 metri di fibra. Entro la fine del progetto, giugno 2008, i partner prevedono di estendere questi risultati su 100 metri.

«Successivamente, ci concentreremo, è ovvio, su distanze maggiori», afferma il dottor Nocivelli. «Abbiamo già dimostrato che la fibra plastica sarà l'elemento del futuro, non solo per i prossimi 10 anni, bensì per i prossimi 30. Con una simile velocità in casa propria, si potrebbe scaricare un intero DVD in soli 30 secondi.»

I benefici che l'Europa trarrebbe dalla fibra ottica plastica sarebbero immensi. Oggi, il mercato della tecnologia di rete ottica è dominato da società statunitensi e giapponesi, ma secondo il dottor Nocivelli le aziende europee possono cogliere l'opportunità e prendere l'iniziativa come nel caso dei telefoni cellulari.

«La norma GSM, elaborata in Europa, è stata adottata in quasi tutto il mondo: questo è il tipo di successo che stiamo cercando di ottenere», ha dichiarato.

Per ulteriori informazioni consultare:
http://www.ist-pof-all.org/default.aspx

Existing Internet providers were well represented, including Farmers Mutual Telephone Cooperative, Frontier Communications, Farmers Cooperative Association and MVTV. Representing Blandin Foundation through Community Broadband Resources, I provided some background information on broadband technologies and the issues that rural communities are facing.

We talked extensively about the mix of existing service providers within the county and learned about some planned improvements. For example, Farmers Mutual Telephone Cooperative will have FTTP to every subscriber in its service area by the end of 2009. Frontier Communications is upgrading their backbone pipe into the region which will enable more capacity to the end-customers. They are also beginning to extend DSL services into the more rural parts of their exchange. The wireless providers talked about their ability to reach into the countryside.

People understood that this will require an incremental approach. Two first step needs emerged from the discussion – better understanding of what is available where and the need to education consumers, especially businesses, about the power of broadband and broadband applications. I look forward to meeting again with this motivated community.

Clearwater
With support from the Blandin Foundation, the Clearwater Economic Development Authority is assessing their community’s telecommunications environment as they are not sure if their existing services are meeting the current and future needs of their community. (http://tinyurl.com/6k92zp)

Cook County
Cook County Higher Education and the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund held a class for business owners on Web Site Magic. (http://tinyurl.com/57hjp7)

Duluth
The Duluth Public Library is reopening with an expanded computer lab of 14 computers with Internet access. (http://tinyurl.com/5bmxwa)

Iron Range
Gary Fields (who has worked with the Blandin Foundation on broadband projects) and Tim Nulty (who led the lauded effort in Burlington VT) have been hired by Iron Range Community Fibernet to make presentations to the 11 FiberNet communities to talk about their plans to develop a financial plan and move forward to design and implement fiber to the home (FTTH). (http://tinyurl.com/6pokcp)

Itasca State Park
State parks across the nation are installing WiFi. In Minnesota the effort is starting in Itasca State Park. (http://tinyurl.com/5muaxd)

Marshall
Staff members at the Prairieland Genealogical Society and the History Center at Southwest Minnesota State University are embracing technology both as a way to store information on genealogy records and a way to reach patrons. (http://tinyurl.com/6k25a5)

Minneapolis
WiFi is up and running throughout Minneapolis but the speeds are not consistent. Buying a WiFi booster from US Internet will help users get better speeds. (http://tinyurl.com/5qxbcq)

Monticello
Progress continues on FTTH in Monticello as reported by the Monticello Fiber Optic Committee in Mid April. (http://tinyurl.com/6jx4e5)

New Ulm
A young entrepreneur in New Ulm makes a living by selling hand-sewn bags online using a web site called Etsy, which specializes in handmade items. (http://tinyurl.com/55qybx)

North Dakota
Candidates in North Dakota are already taking the campaigns to the Internet with Facebook and MySpace pages. (http://tinyurl.com/6coowe)

Red Wing
The Red Wing City Council and the Red Wing Port Authority approved Lookout Point Communications to conduct a FTTH feasibility study for Red Wing (a recipient of Blandin Foundation Get Broadband funds).

Staples
Lakewood Health Systems (a Blandin Foundation Light Speed funded program) is researching a telemonitoring purchase option. Their report on patients who currently avail of some remote monitoring services indicates that the advantages are clear. (http://tinyurl.com/6g9z2t)

Twin Cities
Comcast announces big broadband service in the Twin Cities. With the new service, subscribers will be able to download at speeds of up to 50 megabits per second and upload at speeds of 5 megabits per second. (http://tinyurl.com/5pnyqw)

Waseca
The Waseca County Public Library offered a free class called Senior Surf Day, designed to teach the ins and outs of modern technology. (http://tinyurl.com/5gvmsa)

Willmar
Kandiyohi County Economic Development Commission (a recipient of Blandin Foundation Get Broadband funds) recently approved payment to Bonnema Surveys Inc. to create a web-based mapping system for all the high-speed Internet coverage areas in Kandiyohi County (http://tinyurl.com/65sp79)

Winona
Home and Community Options Inc (a Blandin Foundation Light Speed funded program) is pleased with the response of care facility staff regarding training to use e-file system and with installation of remote monitoring systems. Unfortunately cold weather has slowed the actual installation of fiber. (http://tinyurl.com/5649h7)