POWELL, WYOMING - Can you imagine getting fiber optic connected to your home for free? Fiber can deliver download and upload speeds hundreds of times faster than most high speed internet services, and every home in Powell will have it soon.

It’s a city owned project. A machine dug an underground trench in a Powell neighborhood, then pulled pipe through it. The pipe will soon hold fiber optic lines. It’s the beginning of a very big project.

MasTec Project Manager Jerry Hamilton said, "Every place that has underground systems we pull pipe through the ground, and that will do the same from the pipe into the house. We’ll have over 200,000 feet." Hamilton said the homes with overhead lines nearby will get their fiber optic that way.

Powell Councilman Timothy Sapp said, "Every home in Powell will have fiber to the home." That means every person in the town of 5,500 will have access to fiber delivered Internet, TV, and phone. The project, called PowelLink, was rolled out at a public luncheon at the Powell Commons Wednesday.

Powell Mayor Scott Mangold explained, "What we are trying to do is answer the questions that people have. One of the questions is have you spent taxpayer dollars, no we have not." The project’s $6.5 million dollar tab is being paid by an investor, the Internet service by a Northwest Wyoming company, Tritel.

Organizers say this public/private system is the first of it’s kind in the nation, and other communities are watching. Mangold said, "Once we have shown that there is success and people are signing up for it, then you’re going to see some other communities stepping forward. The problem is there aren’t that many security companies. We’re in a nice place. We got here first. This is a great benefit to the community as a whole as an economic tool to bring businesses in, to bring people in. And for our people here jobs for the future where they stay at home and still work.”

City officials say people who sign up for the city owned fiber optic services will pay rates that are competitive with other service providers in the area.

We hope Verizon (VZ) boss Ivan Seidenberg doesn’t get his business news from French newspaper Le Monde, or he might have had a small stroke this week. In an article about French cable operator Numéricable, Le Monde apparently reported that Verizon was going to halt its $24 billion FiOS fiber-optic project because it was too expensive and too slow to roll out. Dug up today by DSLreports, and translated by Fiberevolution:

Comcast, the biggest cable-operator in the US, remains faithful to this hybrid fiber-cable architecture, while telecoms operator Verizon has just announced that it would stop installing optic fiber to the end-customer. Too slow, too expensive. Recruitment cost of a single subscriber was estimated at 5 000 dollars (3 170 euros) but valued only at 3 400 dollars.

Yikes! Verizon, of course, is still building out its fiber-optic network as planned, and is well on the way to getting approval to sell FiOS TV service in New York City, the biggest U.S. TV market. At the end of Q1, Verizon had 1.2 million FiOS TV subscribers.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Assessment of Broadband Access Networks, finds that fiber optic networks, despite their high capital expenditure, are looking as an increasingly viable long-term solution for providing a sustainable customer experience without straining the network.

If you are interested in an analysis, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants with an overview, summary, challenges, and latest coverage of the assessment of broadband access networks, send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications, at mireya.castilla@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state, and country. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

“The availability of rich multimedia content and services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is driving the growth of broadband services across the world,” notes Frost & Sullivan Technical Insights Research Analyst Zachariah Thomas. “Governments and policy makers are actively adopting broadband-friendly policies and offering incentives across the board to improve their standings in broadband league tables.”

Governments across the world have begun to view the Internet and the access to it as a positive influence on their populace and the economy in general. Local loop bundling policies adopted by governments have seen the emergence of new participants and increased competition in the broadband market. This has resulted in lower prices and hence, higher user uptake.

The availability of flat rate pricing models has largely influenced the adoption of broadband services. While this was a good move in the early days, it has become a challenging proposition with the growing need among users for greater bandwidth. This is putting pressure on access networks, both from an operational and financial perspective.

“The services and applications the consumers use on their broadband service have changed from activities such as web browsing and e-mail to more latency-intolerant applications such as streaming video and VoIP,” says Thomas. “This has had a negative impact on the variable costs of service providers without providing additional revenue.”

Going forward, the success of broadband access services will depend on their ability to support and monetize the increasing demand from bandwidth-intensive applications such as peer-to-peer (P2P) and streaming video. Broadband service providers must be open to innovative business models and pricing schemes to survive the challenges posed by these trends.

Assessment of Broadband Access Networks, a part of the Technical Insights program, provides a technology overview and outlook for broadband access services. Furthermore, this research service includes detailed technology analysis and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants. Interviews with the press are available.

The ink was hardly dry on the 10Gbase-T (10 gigabit Ethernet over UTP) standard and the industry discussion swung to the next big thing – 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet. While the latest technology being developed always makes for interesting discussion, it is the deployable technology that exists today that receives the most day-to-day conversation. To that end, we are only just beginning to see 10 gigabit Ethernet actually being deployed in local area network (LAN) environments.

The IEEE standards organization recently ratified the IEEE802.3an-2006 reference standard defining 10GBase-T allowing for 10 gigabits per second data transmission over Category-6a unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling at up to 100 meters distance. Since this standard is relatively new and coupled with the fact that the fiber standards and interfaces continue to be refined, I thought it may be beneficial to review some of the different copper and fiber standards and interfaces associated with the different 10GBase standards.

In the table below, you will find the 10GBase standard listed along with the media type and maximum distances supported:

As you can see from the table, the 10GBase-T standard is not supported on Cat 5 or Cat 5e cabling. In fact, it requires Cat 6 or better cabling to be in place to minimize the effects of crosstalk and to provide adequate distances to reach most links within a data center. I found an interesting article discussing the challenges the IEEE overcame in writing the 10GBase-T standard. Even though the 10GBase-T standard was ratified in late 2006, the general market availability of the silicon and associated switches is not expected to arrive until mid-2008. In addition, since most end users are looking at a cabling upgrade when moving to 10G, many are seriously evaluating the potential of fiber optic cabling rather than replacing their Cat 5e with Cat 6a.

As you can see from the table above, the 10GBase-X fiber standards have been around for a few years. These interfaces have been undergoing tremendous change and while they have been pluggable devices from the outset of 10G, they have seen reductions in both size and cost over the last few years.

Most 10Gb fiber deployments in use today utilize the XENPAK modules, however, the most recent deployments have begun using the XFP, a much smaller optical interface approximately 1.5x the size of the current 1000Base-X SFPs generally available on the market today. SFP+ holds the most promise for the future as it will be the same size as a current 1000Base-X SFP, however, the cages that hold the SFPs will not be backward compatible to 1000Base-X. In addition, since some of the electronics contained within the XFP and XENPAK modules is being removed to reduce the form factor, this functionality must be incorporated into the 10Gbase silicon chips. That requires additional lead time for actual switch and/or media converter designs based on SFP+ to reach the market. The advent of the SFP+ is expected to reduce the cost of the optics to a slight premium over the current 1000Base-X pricing on the market today and holds promise for the beginning of mass-deployment of the 10Gbase-X technology. It is good to note that the SFP+ technology is being worked on by a number of transceiver manufacturers, however, it is not an approved industry standard and there is not a complete consensus on the design, even among the vendors with current 10G fiber solutions.

The actual deployment of this latest and fastest Ethernet standard has been slow at best to date, with aggregated switch fiber uplinks being the most common installation. We will see the growth of 10G ports continue to expand exponentially in the coming years with most applications in the data center or vertical risers, however, don’t expect to see 10 gigabit to the desktop any time soon. Once SFP+ becomes an industry standard and the lower per-port pricing that will come along with it, we will start to see the true market acceptance of 10 gigabit Ethernet.

As the surge for additional convergence technology and increased-bandwidth continues, CWDM Ethernet-over-fiber seems to be a viable solution for service providers.

CWDM involves both sides of the equation. That is, reducing operating costs and increasing revenue. As the traditional service revenue declines, service providers shift their focus on finding new sources of services to develop. The continuation of high-speed services, HDTV, IPTV, VOIP and video-on-demand are all areas designed for revenue growth.

Price elasticity of bandwidth shows that a decrease in the price (from P1 to P2) drives an increase in the quantity demanded (from Q1 to Q2). By lowering the price of high-speed services, and legacy features, service providers can tap new markets and expand their addressable market.

Coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) is a technology which multiplexes multiple optical carrier signals on to a single optical fiber by using different wavelengths (colors) of light to carry each individual signal. Combining several optical channels, which are separated by a wide spacing and a channel separation of 20 nm. The benefits of using CWDM include increased capacity on routes with fiber exhaustion and a more affordable alternative to installing more fiber or leasing additional fibers.

CWDM can be used in conjunction with a fiber switch and network interface device to combine multiple fiber lines from the switch over one fiber. CWDM is optimized for a cost conscience budgets in mind, with low-cost, small-powered laser transmitters enabling deployments to closely match guaranteed revenue streams..

Service provider networks can be classified into four segments: edge, access, metro, and long-haul. The edge consists of a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) device with low cost multiplexers. The local aggregation office terminates the CPE equipment, and aggregates signals to be transported to a Central Office (CO). The access-facing portion of equipment in the CO is dominated by Add/Drop Multiplexers. On the outbound links, COs within an area are interconnected, and the long-haul portion of the network is dominated by a DWDM for transport.

CWDM has the advantage in enabling a low-cost solution to transport several services simultaneously without adding additional fiber, and increasing additional capacity on routes with fiber exhaustion.

More and more products are being released with single mode single fiber optics and can be perceived as being very expensive, but are they?

What is single mode single fiber?
The answer is that it is possible to transmit and receive using one strand of single mode fiber. This is achieved by using two different wavelengths - one end will transmit at 1550 and will receive at 1310 and vice versa for the other end. By using these wavelengths the signals will never collide.

How does this help?
In large networks where uptime is required for mission critical applications, throughput and bandwidth are extremely important. Utilizing and getting the most of your existing network is also very important. Take the following as an example: I have a pair of fibers using Gigabit speeds. By using the Gigabit port on your switch connected to an optical mode conversion media converter which has single mode single fiber technology I will only use one strand of fiber to achieve the same result. This allows me to save money and free up fibers for other applications.

If I want to increase bandwidth I can use two ports of my switch. Again, using single mode single fiber products and the LACP feature of the switch to group two ports together to appear as one, I have now increased my bandwidth from 1 Gigabit to 2 Gigabit. While only using 2 fibers.

Another advantage is if one strand of fiber was to fail the link would not go down. The speed would be reduced to 1 gig thus making sure your mission critical applications and uptime were guaranteed.

Although the initial outlay of the single mode single fiber products may appear to be more expensive, when reviewed against the benefits of increased bandwidth, less downtime and the utilization of your fibers it appears that in the long run it will be cheaper.

Following the launch last year of CasaLight, an ITU G657-compliant bend insensitive fibre, Prysmian has introduced CasaLight Plus, an enhanced performance design that further reduces the minimum working bend radius to exceed the recommendations of G657.B.

Prysmian says that while CasaLight will remain a standard fiber choice for FTTH applications, the availability of CasaLight Plus for extreme bend applications will strengthen the company’s overall offering. 

Now available in all of Prysmian’s FTTH cable products, CasaLight Plus maintains full compliance with standard equipment, connectors, and fiber already installed in accordance with ITU Recommendation G 652.

Prysmian notes that it uses a fluorine-free production process for CasaLight Plus, as with all of its other fiber products.

Qwest Communications International, Inc. launched two super high-speed fiber-optic Internet services including Qwest Connect Quantum which provides DSL connection speeds up to 20 Mbps. This premium service is being introduced to residential and small business customers in 23 of Qwest’s top markets.

Qwest Provides Fastest DSL Speed

In response to customers’ requests for higher Internet speeds, Qwest’s Quantum plan is the fastest DSL time offered by any major U.S. phone company. The plan will allow subscribers to download a two-hour movie in as little as six minutes or 30 songs in as little as one minute, and surfing the Web should be as fast as changing channels on a television. The cost for this premium service is $104.99 per month, or $99.99 per month when bundled with Qwest’s local phone service.

Qwest Fiber-Optic Cable

In addition to its Quantum service, Qwest also introduced Qwest Connect Titanium with a connection speed of 12 Mbps for $51.99 per month or bundled for $46.99. These faster DSL speeds are possible in areas where fiber-optic cables have been installed near homes. By bringing optical fibers into neighborhoods and installing them as close to homes as possible, the copper phone lines carry signals over shorter distances, allowing higher connection speeds.

Qwest’s High-Speed Internet Commitment

In a company press release, Qwest stated that it plans to spend up to $300 million to accomplish its FTTN (fiber to the neighborhoods) upgrade making 20 Mbps speeds available to an estimated two million Qwest customers by the end of the year.

Students in teacher David Killius’ fourth period advanced physics class at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent were visited Friday by a man who has already changed their lives in ways they might take for granted.

Peter Schultz was 28 in 1970 and a researcher at for Corning Inc., the glass company in Corning, N.Y., when he and two other researchers discovered the process to create fiber optic glass wire that would one day revolutionize communication technology. And with the help of a simple vacuum cleaner, no less.

On Friday, the 65-year-old inventor spent 45 minutes with Killius’ students explaining how he came to be a 1993 inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, the holder of at least 26 patents for fiber optic glass wire and a successful consultant to the fiber optics and materials science industries with offices in New York and the Virgin Islands.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Schultz paid his way through Rutgers University in New Jersey by caddying at golf courses. The first member of his family to go to college, he received a National Science Foundation fellowship and had his doctorate in ceramic science by 1968.

The laser had been invented in the early 1960s, and researchers had discovered “you could get more information packed closer and closer together” using lasers to send it, Schultz said. But lasers were impractical means of sending information through the air and the process for manufacturing fiber optic wire resulted in impurities in the wire, no bigger or wider than a human hair.

Impurities would “absorb light,” and for “every 10 feet (of fiber optic wire) you’d need an amplifier. It just wasn’t practical,” Schultz said. So Corning was trying to figure out a process to create pure fiber optic cables.

Schultz and his colleagues discovered they could make pure glass “like you distill water.” Using silicon trichloride, and vaporizing it in a flame into silicon dioxide, they hooked up a vacuum cleaner — “We burned through a lot of those,” Schultz joked — to the opposite end of a glass tube and drew the glass vapors through it, where they stuck to the sides as “high purity glass particles.”

Coupled with a laser, the breakthrough made it possible to send laser signals through fiber optic wire “with the same transmission capabilities” of copper wire, using far less wire. More than 600 million miles of fiber optic line has been installed since 1987, with 100 million miles more expected to be installed in 2008 alone, Schultz said, and the level of impurities in modern fiber optic wire is now “less than one part per billion.”

And “the more (wire) you put in, the more it’s used. The more it’s used, the more you need to put in,” he said.

He also reminded the students that they would not have the Internet today were it not for personal computers, user-friendly software and fiber optics.

“These three things, developed parallel to each other, mean we can get any information we want, from anywhere in the world in an instant,” Schultz said.

Schultz was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2001 by President Bill Clinton, the highest award for contributions to science given by the U.S. government. Killius said he thought Schultz made a connection with the advanced science students in the class, and Schultz said he hoped he had.

“If I can spark one of them …” he said.

Verizon Communications Inc. said its first quarter profit climbed by 9.8 percent due to strong growth in sales of domestic fiber-optic services.

The company’s net profit rose to $1.6 billion or 57 cents a share from $1.5 billion or 51 cents a share in the previous year quarter. Its net revenue rose 5.5 percent to $23.8 billion.

The company competes with rival telecom companies like AT&T, Sprint for wireless customers however with the inclusion of FiOS TV fiber-optic service, it has also started competing with Comcast and Time warner.