HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-07-13 City CouncilCity of Palo Alto
City Manager’s Report
TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT:UTILITIES
DATE:JULY 13, 1998 CMR:256:98
SUBJECT:FIBER-TO-THE-HOME TRIAL
This is an information report and no Council action is required.
BACKGROUND
On February 4, 1998, the City Council authorized staff to solicit proposals from entities
interested in accelerating the provision of advanced telecommunications services to every
address in Palo Alto through the expanded use of the City’s existing assets, including the
fiber optic backbone (CMR:458:97). Staffis now contemplating an improvement to this
process that would involve a near-term deployment of a fiber-to-the-home network on a
trial basis. Such a deployment would, however, require the Universal Telecommtmi-
cations Service Request For Proposal (UTS-RFP) to be deferred until after the trial has
been completed.
DISCUSSION
The purpose of the proposed UTS-RFP process was to solicit proposals from companies
interested in working with the City to make affordable, advanced telecommunications
services available to every address in Palo Alto. The focus was on high speed data
transport and Internet access, although voice, video, and other services were also of
interest. A first draft of the UTS-RFP has been nearly completed.
The draft UTS-RFP was designed as a "wide open" RFP intended to solicit a broad range
of proposals. This approach, while ensuring an impartial process, would likely make it
very difficult to effectively review the competing proposals. This is partially due to the
disparity between the lack of detail that could be expected through such a process and the
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high level of detail needed to evaluate such proposals. In addition, the costs and
capabilities associated with the various technologies is at best a "moving target," making
it difficult to assume that the top-ranked proposal would remain the best option
throughout the negotiation process.
While preparing the RFP and evaluating potential approaches for the purpose of
benchmarking proposals, a preliminary fiber-to-the-home network design has emerged as
a particularly promising option. Over 30 households from the Community Center
Neighbors Association have already proposed to pay approximately $1,200 each to share
the initial cost of demonstrating such a fiber-based data transport network in their
neighborhood.
Such a trial project would extend the City’s existing fiber backbone from switch locations
to each participant’s home. (Note that "home" is used to collectively refer to all types of
dwellings, including single family homes, duplexes, townhouses, condominiums, and
apartments.) Standard office-grade Ethernet switches and network interface cards can be
used in conjunction with low cost optical/electrical signal converters for the provision of
high-speed data service. (Ethemet, invented in Palo Alto at Xerox PARC in 1973, has
emerged as the preferred standard for corporate and campus data networks around the
world.)
Over the course of the next two months, staff will invite other neighborhood associations
to express their interest in participating in a trial of such a network. Potential services tO
be demonstrated include high speed Internet access, telecommuting, video conferencing,
distance learning, and video on demand. ~-
Staff will return to Council in September with a recommendation on a project for a fiber-
to-the-home trial project. This report will include the estimated cost and schedule for the
trial.
RESOURCE IMPACT
The preliminary investigation of potential trial areas will be completed using resources
available in the existing budget.
PREPARED BY:Van Hiemke, Telecommtmications Manager
Tom Habashi, Assistant Director of Utilities
Resource Management
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DEPARTMENT HEAD APPROVAL:
Director of Utilities
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
Manager
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