Terman Library in the Terman Community Center, 661 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA
Keith Cooley spoke on the existing networks and their capacity, specifically the existing phone network including DSL, ADSL and HDSL, cable, and wireless network which is just coming into widespread service,. He'd like to have fiber directly to the home or curb. Transport technologies to carry the data also differ.
Paul Pease noted there also is Direct Broadcast Satellite. Scalability of cable for data service is unclear yet. Can it serve every household? Phone lines are almost universal, but the switching capacity for cable still is lacking.
Keith said our goals are universal access, high capacity both downstream and upstream and low cost, etc.
Imsong asked about the status of cable modems. Where are they in service and what is the status? Since most of the people are from Cable Co-op we should focus on them.
Tom Passell noted that all options should be laid out and discussed. We have to depend on ourselves to decide, especially since there's a strong political component in the decision. Brad Anderson, Cable Co-op CEO/GM, said there are 25 second generation Com 21 modems in service now. Plans are to install 50 third generation Com 21 modems in service this month, plus there are other modem manufacturers interested in working with Cable Co-op. Modem service capability for the system can be scaled up in the range of hundreds to thousands now.
It's not clear how many modems can be used and what parts of the system best accommodate them. It's also unclear how many modems can be used effectively on each trunk. Speeds of the present modems are 1 Megabit/sec. downstream, 80 Kb/sec. upstream. The next generation modems will have a capacity of 27 Megabit/sec. downstream and high data rates upstream.
Bob Moss noted that it's not just modem speed, it's the network capacity. His wife tried to download a 1 megabyte file from Sierra-on-Line all weekend, and couldn't connect. When she finally got in via a different server, the file downloaded in a few seconds using the Com21 modem. The same problem occurs with other sites. He couldn't get any detailed election returns from the NY Times this morning because it was plugged. (An article in the San Jose Mercury on 11/6 noted that many sites posting election results were very hard to access because of all the Internet traffic).
Louis Bookbinder (Booky) noted that LANs, such as at Stanford, provide better links, but it's expensive and not the sort of thing others can depend on. The more links there are, and the more users, the more complicated it gets. It may be necessary to add other links, like phone lines, to cable or other high-speed lines, to take up some of the demand. Adding lines and links to the system also adds cost. The City probably can't afford the cost of installing a totally high capacity system.
Jay Thorwaldson noted that for medical information they use the Internet because it's available and works, but it does have capacity problems.
Keith noted that part of the problem is the cost of the service. Since it's very low, there's high demand.
Bob said he suggested pricing the service according to bandwidth. Keep low rates for current ISP bandwidth, but charge much more for 10 or 30 mbps service because it's worth more, and we want to limit demand to those who need and want the capacity.
Jay pointed out the advantages of a locally owned co-op, and the great desirability of working with the city and avoiding sale to just another big cable company. He would like to keep the community ownership focus of Cable Co-op, which itself is very valuable. A local company is more responsive. He'd like to see more effort to work with the city and keep local control.
Brad discussed the problems of upgrading to fiber to the home. The existing capacity of the system is 550 MHz, with 12 MHz upstream. Changing the capacity means changing the electronics and the spacing of the electronic equipment. What is done for upgrading depends on what people need and what they will pay for. Costs would be over $10 million, maybe $15 million to upgrade the existing system significantly. The B cable is available. At least 75% of the B cable is usable, but it needs additional electronic hardware to activate. It offers more symmetry, but at a cost.
Telephony has it's own requirements. The system has 510 miles of cable, and passes about 56,200 addresses in the total service area.
Bill Yundt of Web TV discussed their plans, and how the industry is affected by what's occurring. The hype of building fiber to every home has been retracted. Those who have done it found there's not much need for it, plus it's expensive both to build and operate. Wide bandwidth really isn't needed to carry video and other information.
They think it will take a long time to upgrade cable and other systems for full high bandwidth capacity. ISDN is available now, but is relatively slow - only 128 kb/sec. ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Loop) is more promising. The problem in cable plants is in split in bandwidth; the guard band gets larger, and there's a fundamental noise problem in the reverse direction (upstream).
Fiber plant to clustered neighborhoods seems to be of the most interest both technically and financially. It eliminates noise back to the head end and allows locating nodes where the demand is. In the existing Cable Co-op system the topology seems suitable for fiber to the main trunk amplifiers, with lower level distribution as needed. Distributed computing is a similar version of what is happening in communications. By using distributed systems it reduces the need to push high bandwidth all the way back up to the head end. They use a proxy server to receive requests and reply. They have one server now, but will add more. It is used to cache pages and store them until needed. This allows management of the overall system with a low data rate. File transfers are done only as needed. With fiber to distributed nodes, they can install proxy servers and not plug the trunks with unwanted data.
Booky asked if the proxy server is usable for video or MPEG. The answer is sure. Store the repetitive stuff locally, and put lots of storage in the device, such as the set-top box for local storage, and use the idle time to deliver data, as over night. The WEB doesn't support full motion video now. Vertical blanking interval can be coupled to individual channel streams, so a particular channel can include URLs.
If someone wants to move to another spot or get data they can click and move to a specific site, then click and go back to the TV. Caching data allows the experience of full motion video without needing all the bandwidth. High bandwidth to neighborhood nodes is the best way to go.
Web TV is very interested in the downtown area fiber. The City plans now don't provide all the capacity that's desired, due to a lack of resources now. Palo Alto can become a Mecca for a very clean industry which will be extremely valuable if they provide an enhanced communications network.
Hank Magnuskin and Jay complained about the difficulty in getting high bandwidth capacity locally. Hank would like to have about 20 "sandboxes" set up all over the service area for general access. Jay noted that having a T-1 line at PAMF allowed a particular doctor to get vital information about an unusual problem that a patient encountered in 20 seconds. That made a huge difference in how effective he was and his ability to solve real medical problems. High bandwidth communications makes the area much more desirable. Jay asked about the need for adressability for 2-way services. Isn't there experience with it on the existing system?
Brad noted that pay-per-view is a very small part of the service, maybe 3% of total revenue. The system is built to handle 2-way communications now, on a limited basis. There is a potential for pay-per-transaction service now. We're working with Wave Interactive now on a pay-per-use test.
Van Heimke of Palo Alto Utilities reported on the status of construction of the city fiber ring. The fiber is on order, and installation will begin by the end of the month. Mar. 31 is target completion date, with lease agreements before then. They have 3 letters of intent to lease parts of the fiber trunk - TCG, IGT and Brooks Fiber all are very interested. A policy on use of the fiber will go to the Council in a few months. Additional infrastructure development also may be proposed if it makes sense. Going the last mile is a big risk and not justified now.
Marvin Lee noted that Cable Co-op offers local control of the system and operations, plus the last mile. Bob pointed out that Cable Co-op has the last mile in now, is local, has a community of interests, and is relatively inexpensive to upgrade. Also we've had lots of experience with new and advanced technology and worked with a number of companies testing advanced services.
Paul Pease asked about the politics involved in enhancing the system performance. Van replied that it is very political, and gets complex.
As for relative costs, Palo Alto can build a fiber/coax system including head end serving just Palo Alto for about $15 million. There also is a question about the rapidly changing technology, plus the issue of taking on debt to buy the Cable Co-op system, and not knowing how to manage the system. The city is very reluctant to operate a cable system and to take any real risks.
Margaret asked how PACOMNET can help or work with the City on the telecommunications system. Van is concerned about bringing in the new fiber system within cost and at budget. He thinks they will get more than they planned originally. They also need lease agreements in place to show it will pay for itself in a short time. Once it is clear that there are real customers, and that the fiber leases can pay off the construction cost fairly fast, it will make it easier to convince the Council to pursue more options. Any movement to invest in Cable Co-op would benefit from a grass roots efforts to show support for the idea, and especially to support any City funding. A draft of the revised plan for the fiber system was sent around. It shows significantly more fiber trunk than the original plan.
The next meeting can't be on the regular day of Wednesday Dec. 4, as the meeting room is taken. Next meeting will be TUESDAY DEC. 3 at the Terman library. Be sure to note the change in date.
Program chairs for the December meeting will be Keith Cooley, Paul Pease and Joe Villareal. The topic will be on political implications and various choices for enhanced telecommunications.
Kathryn Johnson noted that we all wished to offer our thanks and best wishes to Berny Strojny who left the City a few days ago to become City Manager in Campbell.
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 AM
Submitted by:
Bob Moss