Charles described some of the areas he has worked in, and his extensive computer and network-related experience. He is very interested in working with Palo Alto in a field trial of advanced high bandwidth communications using fiber to the home. He and his staff set up a presentation about his organization and their goals, which are to provide very high speed access to everyone - businesses and homes. He introduced the other members of his company,some of whom were at the library by 5:30 this morning to help get the equipment ready. Services to be provided on the fiber ring include broadcast video, data, telephone, near video on demand, interactive games, teleconferencing,distance learning, telemedicine, etc.
A table of bandwidth demand for various delivery services was shown, with satellite, near video on demand and cable TV needing 4 MB per channel, HDTV needing 19.2 MB per channel, but phone is only 64 KB.
Home access to the Internet now is by analog modem, ISDN, ASDL, cable modem, and terrestrial wireless. Graphic comparisons were given of bandwidth capacity for each of the delivery systems, showing the limitations of most present delivery methods, and the advantages of fiber and the newer technologies.
The Palo Alto dark fiber ring provides 37 access nodes or breakout points for all homes and businesses in Palo Alto. The plan is to establish service centers for distribution of high speed communications. Each service center can serve 20,000 homes which subdivides into 10 to 20 block nodes, with each block node serving 1000 homes. The service center is where the long distance carrier or cable company taps in and provides service. The service center ties into the Palo Alto fiber ring at a single breakout point. A complete service center requires a room about the size of the Terman meeting room for equipment racks and facilities. The existing ISPs can provide access between the local loop and the general Internet world. The owner of the service center can be the city or it can be run by anyone else, including renting space in the DEC facility downtown if it's available and reasonable.
Keith Cooley asked how the proposed system ties in to existing networks. Charles said it works satisfactorily with any of the current external service providers. Data packets are auto detected and sent to the appropriate location - data, video, etc. This allows multiple types of data to be sent and received together. They use wave division multiplexing to transmit the signals. Digital video needs 1 light wavelength of capacity on the fiber. Near video on demand needs 2 wavelengths on the fiber, and data at 1.28 GBPS needs 11 wavelengths. One fiber = 15 wavelengths, so a single fiber can carry all the digital video, video on demand, and more than 1.2 gigabits of data on 1 fiber. Maximum capability of the equipment is 40,000 homes serviced with 1 fiber and 1 operating plant. The system and equipment is scalable and could serve even more users if necessary. Serving more users requires increased service center space and an additional fiber pair for each 40,000 connections. In any case there should be several fibers used to provide redundancy in case the fiber bundle is cut by construction or damaged.
Projected usage fee of the tie into the fiber loop is $1320/year residential, $12,000/year business, and $120,000/year for commercial customers. Fees could be for unlimited use any time, different rates at different times, based on the number of bits sent, the time on the system, or some combination of any of these. Luminous Networks doesn't set prices for the user, nor do they urge any particular fee structure, so these prices are just an educated guess. They are not in the business of directly providing service. What they do want to do is to supply the equipment needed to provide high quality, high speed Internet access with data, voice, video, and off-air programs to everyone.
Home access is provided by Luminous Networks with a separate Home Access Panel which would tie in much like the cable boxes do now, with connections for video, phone, power monitoring, etc. Residential service is asymmetrical, 10 MBPS down, 1.5 MBPS up. Equipment cost is $1500/home, plus $1000/home for fiber connections from the fiber node. The present box is not weatherproof and mounts in the garage or similar inside space. Future boxes could be made weatherproof and mounted externally if necessary.
Luminous Networks provides the access services - telephony, video, internet, any others. Broadband access equipment is what they would offer - a service center, curbside nodes, home access panels, but they would not provide set top box or descramblers. They would not provide billing or collection services for customers, or get involved in setting the rates for different kinds of services. It also is up to the actual service provider whether to rent or sell the equipment and how to structure charges and rates. They can work with either sale or lease of the equipment.
The provision of high speed 2-way bandwidth will change the way that people live and interact. It will have a revolutionary impact on society.
Charles then showed the equipment used for the demonstration. A TV, computer and phone were set up and tied into the home access panel. The panels aren't approved for full production yet - it probably is a year away from significant commercial introductions. Beta testing of the equipment is possible within 6 months. Presently the panels must be mounted indoors, but eventually it will be able to be mounted externally and will be much smaller than the demo unit.
Block nodes at all locations will have an AT switch, gigabit switches, video re-multiplexers, and wavelength division multiplexers. Present box design of the functional block node model is about 2x3 feet. It is served outside on the curb, like a utility box. Maximum distance to a user that can be fed from the block node is 5 KM but 2 KM will reduce transmission cost. Almost all homes and businesses in Palo Alto are within 2 KM of the block nodes. The maximum distance that signals can be sent from the service center to the block nodes is 80 KM. Optical parts used in the system are standard, off the shelf, and cheaper than telephone company optics parts. Home access panels can be used for internal networking of up to 10 PCs. Luminous Networks also provides scrambling and encryption services.
Margaret Cooley asked if the regulation issues relate just to voice and video. If we stay with just data, can we avoid regulatory problems?
Charles said there is no real difference in cost or service complexity between the voice and video. and since the capacity is there it's better to offer all services. Convergence allows all services to be provided over a better network. Existing networks are designed for single purposes and while they do it well, they are less flexible. The new network and service delivery presents interesting and unresolved tax issues.
(Note: The AT conference was held the same day in San Jose. Stagg Newman of the FCC was the featured keynote speaker. He discussed the difficulty of separating out taxable and non-taxable transactions on the Internet. Provision of classic phone traffic vs. data and voice over data lines blurs the tax and regulatory picture. Determining how to collect taxes from people who are engaged in normally taxable transactions but who are using the untaxed Internet is a perplexing problem. It is difficult to regulate this market, and easy to lose control since there are faster or cheaper alternatives to the present phone system. The FCC is having a very difficult time deciding what to tax and regulate, and how to do it effectively. The model is tending towards the computer industry which is unregulated, not taxed directly, very innovative, and changes rapidly.)
The system is always on, but charges for things like phone or Pay Per View only occur when the service is used.
The question was asked, who does the billing?
Charles said this is a very good question. It could be any of a number of users. The charge structure is set up to be billed per the amount of bandwidth used, hopefully in a single bill. The details and billing method depends on the service center. Any ISP could be tied into the service center and provide service and bill. No discussions have been held with any ISPs yet about service. The system will not provide lifeline service like the phones since the fiber can't carry power. Energy use is very low, especially compared to ISDL service. (webmaster asks: anyone venture to identify "ISDL"?)
Imsong had to leave at 8:30, and Margaret Cooley took over chairing the meeting.
Another question was asked: are they being courted by big companies like MCI? Will they be able to stay independent?
Luminous Networks is not being courted because they want to concentrate on developing the technology first. Further, Luminous would prefer to stay independent because the big guys don't have the same outlook and goals.
Luminous Networks wants to work with cities and power utilities to set up and use the fiber loop because they already have the rights of way and are interested in the services.
David Harris asked about the potential savings from power metering.
Charles said utilities in England offer rebates of as much as $35/month for the right to put power management equipment in homes. It is very likely that the utility will pay users to put meters on the house and be able to have the utility control power time-of-use.
It's possible to wire the neighborhood as a local network and tie phones together so that people without phones still can make calls or communicate by tapping into the local fiber services network.
Margaret reported on the next meeting, a presentation by Dr. Brian Reid of the DEC Network Systems Lab, June 11 at 7 to 9 PM at Walter Hays school. He will talk about community communications infrastructure. Margaret passed out an information notice on the meeting. Notice also is posted on our web site.The talk by Dr. Reid will complement today's meeting very nicely.
Emily Harrison reported that Van Heimke plans to present the plan for the demonstration local fiber service to the City Council on June 29, but it may be delayed by possible CEQUA problems if it is scaled to 250 homes. There was no issue with environmental impacts at the 60 homes level. (webmaster: CEQUA?)
Next meeting will be July 22 as a July/August meeting which also will cover the status of the City RFP and demonstration project. As usual 7:30 AM at the Terman library.
Respectfully submitted by Bob Moss