Fiber Optics - The New
Rural Electrification
This article, which was written by Manager of Technical Services Beth Anderson, is an introduction to Island Network, a new division of OPALCO. Beth’s responsibilities include managing the Island Network project, and she is also a member of the senior management team of OPALCO. Telecommunications Technician Rick Van Eeckhout performs all splicing and testing of the fiber optic system, and Information Systems Specialist Brian Longworth, oversees and monitors all equipment associated with the fiber optic network.
Contemplating
Orcas Power and Light Cooperative’s future during the late 90s, the management
staff envisioned branching out into an automatic meter reading system, deploying
computers in line trucks, providing real time pricing for electricity, operating
an automated load management system and eventually replacing the existing truck
radio system. We realized that in the next five to fifteen years, our communication
needs would expand greatly, and we could either end up with six to eight different
(and potentially incompatible) communication systems if we followed the path
of least resistance, or else we could standardize into a single communication
system. For several years, we struggled to discover a single comprehensive communication
solution that would fit OPALCO’s needs. In 2000, fiber optic technology rose
to the top as a robust solution that would meet OPALCO’s communication requirements.
In January 2001, the OPALCO Board of Directors approved the installation of a fiber optic system to upgrade the cooperative’s telecommunications infrastructure. The investment in this fiber optic system was estimated at approximately $2 million, which would be recovered over a ten year period. This is a great return on investment, since the fiber system infrastructure has a projected life span of thirty years. The board knew that a fiber optic network was important to OPALCO in order to improve voice and data communications between the Eastsound, Friday Harbor, and Lopez offices and also to establish a solid and reliable communication link to OPALCO’s eleven substations and six submarine cable terminals. They also recognized the future need of additional network capacity to support new computer applications, voice over network, and video conferencing. In addition, the board envisioned building excess capacity into the fiber optic system to establish a high-speed communication backbone for the future of San Juan County.
In July 2003, the OPALCO Board of Directors unanimously approved the use of excess capacity in the OPALCO fiber optic backbone system for public “use,” utilizing a Grow Slow and Pay As You Go business strategy, which will protect the core electric business from any undue risk. This strategy essentially means that OPALCO will build out secondary fiber lines to subscribers only after a payment for actual construction costs has been secured. Board approval was based on broad community support for OPALCO to enter into the fiber optic business. A small pilot project called Island Network marked the beginning of public “use” of the fiber system by building a small fiber network in the Town of Friday Harbor in order to offer “intranet” connectivity to public, educational, and wholesale entities.
Island Network, a separate division of OPALCO, will offer wholesale services to private business such as internet service and retail service providers, who will then offer additional internet and communication transport services to local businesses and homes. The Island Network will enable the service providers to expand their range of services and give a non-invasive boost to the San Juan County economy. Future plans include expanding Island Network to Lopez, Shaw, and Orcas communities.
High-speed data access via a fiber optic backbone will become a universal enabler similar to electricity. A fiber optic system will assist San Juan County residents, who are also OPALCO member/owners, in gaining high-speed data access that is becoming more and more necessary in today’s world. In this millennium, high speed voice and data communications are essential and a prerequisite for business development. Demands for large bandwidth capacity will continue to grow in San Juan County as more organizations insist on faster and cost effective telecommunication solutions. OPALCO’s fiber optic network will meet this need by providing high speed access to educational, governmental, and medical facilities in San Juan County at cost based affordable rates. School districts, universities, and community colleges throughout the county will be connected to each other and, in the future, to the internet via a high speed fiber optic system. Enhanced health care will become a reality by connecting rural medical centers to major medical facilities. This connection will provide the ability to instantaneously transmit digital images of x-rays and CT scans to an expert for consultation. Advances in fiber optic technology have allowed a telecommunications revolution to begin.
This revolution has changed, and will continue to change, the way in which we communicate, conduct business, buy and sell services, learn, and receive health care - essentially it will change the very nature of our lives. For many years, high-speed telecommunications has not been available in rural Northwest communities. Primarily because it was more lucrative for large telecommunication companies to serve the more densely populated urban centers and ignore rural areas. Today, electric utilities have taken the lead of installing fiber into the rural areas that the big telecom companies did not want to serve.
Hey! If you are thinking that this
sounds extremely similar to the rural electrification program, you are right!
Publicly owned electric utilities are extending high speed telecommunications
to underserved rural areas in the same manner as they did sixty years ago when
they extended electrical lines. I will be just as excited to have a fiber optic
connection to my home as my grandfather was when electrical service was extended
to his Montana farm in 1947.
