Posts Tagged “redundant fiber”

The biggest news at Broadband Forum IV so far was just announced by Gregg Foster of Lost Coast Communications (owners of KHUM, KSLG and the Point). Apparently a company called IP Networks plans to have an alternate fiber line completed by the 1st quarter of 2009. IP Networks partners with PG&E for these kinds of things and it looks like the line will use the PG&E path east-west. PG&E has had a big interest in getting this done for their own purposes, but the new fiber will also sell space wholesale to other providers such as Suddenlink. This is great news!

Technorati Tags: alternate fiber, pg&e, redundant fiber, suddenlink

The Redwood Technology Consortium has invited Rich Ryan, CEO of Hunter Communications from Southern Oregon to speak at the monthly meeting tomorrow, March 13 at 5:30 PM. Ryan has built fiber networks in Oregon and is very interested in finding solutions for the North Coast.

Topics discussed will include:

* Hunter Communications background and current composition

* Development of fiber networks and the implementation of the Rural and
Metropolitan Area Network in Southern Oregon

* Vision for the Northern California Coastal Region and what a
regional fiber network could mean for businesses, municipalities and
other groups

* Hunter’s Plan for our region and how it fits in the “big picture”

Hunter Communications’ formed a creative public-private partnership model that leveraged pre-existing, school budgeted telecommunications funds to build a network infrastructure capable of handling regional demands, and currently servicing over 90 sites. Hunter’s efforts have resulted in unprecedented new communications and connectivity resources for a number of previously disregarded rural communities.

The meeting this month is at the Humboldt Area Foundation Conference Room. 373 Indianola Rd., Bayside.

Technorati Tags: alternate fiber, fiber, redundant fiber, Redwood Technology Consortium

A cable (perhaps several) cut by one or more ships anchored off Egypt in the Mediterranean has reduced Internet access in to India and other countries in the Middle East to a crawl. The quote in the article from the Register says the services may be out for 10-15 days. With so much work being outsourced to places like India, this could really cause some havoc. We have connections with a company in India and we haven’t heard from them in 2 days. Fortunately, the work isn’t crucial or too time sensitive.

It’s just another reminder that stuff happens and we need to do everything we can locally to protect our stuff from the stuff that happens. More and more of our economy, education, government services, and health care are becoming dependent on reliable broadband service and connections to the world.

Technorati Tags: fiber, redundancy, redundant fiber

The Redwood Technology Consortium maintains a discussion mailing list that anyone can subscribe to whether you’re a member of RTC or not. Since the latest fiber outage there has been lots of heated discussion on the list, many people are saying, it’s about time we get this (alternate, redundant, ok second) fiber line built. What’s the hold up? Let’s “git ‘er done!” These are all great sentiments. But in fact the RTC has been advocating and pushing for this second fiber line since the first one finally got completed. Back then the possibility of four outages in a year seemed remote. I can remember an AT&T representative at the first Broadband Forum saying that in spite of a dozen close calls, an actual break was unlikely. And if by some chance something did happen they had their microwave towers as back up. “Ahem”. So much for corporate assurances.

So it’s great that there seems to finally be more people energetically speaking up about how the telecommunications infrastructure needs to be upgraded for economic stability, growth and overall public safety. Even Rob Arkley is busy posting to the RTC list and rousing the rabble.

But channeling the energy engendered by this latest fiber outage remains elusive. It’s a multi-million dollar project that no one is going to invest in unless there’s some reasonable expectation of a return. Still, some people are working on it. Perhaps public officials can be pressured (encouraged?) to support this private effort through a streamlined regulatory environment, low cost loans, etc.

In the meantime an established wireless provider from southern Humboldt is planning on expanding to cover more of the county. It’s a temporary solution and only one for those who can afford to pay two ISPs simultaneously in case one goes down. But if they can pull it off, and some can take advantage of it, more power to them.

Technorati Tags: alternate fiber, fiber, redundant fiber, Redwood Technology Consortium