This article originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY

Fear of the unknown continues to plague the minds of many in the United States today. Some live in fear of 2012, the Mayan calendar prophesies and the supposed end of the world. Although a cataclysmic event for the entire Earth is not totally out of the question (on a limited basis just ask the people in Fukushima, Japan), there is something more probably realistic that will end and that is the end of a way of life.

Americans of the current and most recent generation have lived in a bubble of being the leader of the world as a superpower their entire lives and do not know what it is like to live any other way. Most have forgotten what it took to get the country to where it is as if it is all just boring history now. What the investment was back then is what we live off of now. We have reached a peak, and it is time to invest again. We should not be afraid of action, only inaction. To know the future just study the past. What investments were made by countries over the course of numerous years to create true world leaders?

There are four main components that apply to all great nations.

1. Currency – the strength and acceptance of a nation’s currency in the world gives that country stability and power. The United States has been the reserve currency of the world for decades. This is being challenged every day and is on the brink of changing as it faces the new economic power and model of China and the Yuan.

2. Military – the size, and more so the technological capability, of a nation’s military and its ability to defend its own country as well as those of its allies and trading partners has made certain nations in history world leaders. The United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy (the Romans) and many more countries before them have held this position in the past, with the United States currently in the lead, but soon to be challenged by China for the top spot.

3. Transportation & Utilities – an absolute essential component of any great society and nation are its transportation and utilities systems. Everything that comprises transportation including roads, waterways, rail, and airlines as well as electrical power, water and natural gas all exist to support the gross domestic product. The economic output of a nation is hinged on its ability to conduct business like a well-oiled machine.

4. Communications and Technology – having the best communications and technology infrastructure has always been a strategic differentiator. In times of war and peace a well run communications operation is paramount to success. The United States enjoyed the top spot in the world for several decades due to its first-class telephone system (the PSTN) given the size and population of the country.

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The author, Hunter Newby, is the Founder and CEO of Allied Fiber

Last month the “Why of Broadband” was covered. There are several motivations for investing in a real broadband network, but the state of North Carolina did everyone a favor by spelling out with clarity the financial implications to the state if the investment is not made. The reality for North Carolina in analyzing an investment in broadband was not the return on the investment that would be realized in terms of dollars and revenue generated as a result of the effort, but rather that if the investment is not made the state stands to lose everything it already generates in tax revenue.

It is a matter of protecting the base that is the justification for the investment. Only from that vantage can the investment be understood and authorized. Once the reasoning for the investment is understood the proper network system, including the design as well as the business model, must be created and implemented. The model is not as simple as just “building a dark fiber network” and must be taken seriously for the outcome to be positive. There are three major components to how a broadband network for a community should be built to increase the probability of success. They are:
1. How the model works (philosophy, product, pricing)
2. How it gets financed
3. How it gets built (the design and construction itself) Just as in the case of the why, it is best to use examples of what others have already done to prove out to the interested and willing what path they should follow.

The simple reasons for this are that no one typically ever wants to be first, and they always want someone else to blame if anything goes wrong, but also as a function of nature there are patterns and these patterns are typically of those things that came before and actually worked successfully, so there is real merit in following.

Although there are several good examples around the U.S. and world, Axcess Ontario serves as a starting point for an outstanding model for others to follow.

Axcess Ontario is a public benefit corporation that built, owns and operates a 200-mile, open-access, dark fiber ring around Ontario County, N.Y. It is affiliated with The Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corp., a not-for-profit development corporation. Axcess Ontario leases dark fiber to network operators of all types. It has agreements with at least eight network operators including Iberdrola USA, which owns the Rochester Gas & Electric utility company; the Ontario Telephone company, which is the ILEC in the area; Verizon Wireless; Time Warner (News  - Alert) Telecom; as well as others. Lease terms range, but for example the Iberdrola deal was for 20 years. Axcess Ontario’s startup costs were originally budgeted at $7.5 million. This capital commitment was generated through the Ontario County Office of Economic Development/Industrial Development Agency, a quasi-government agency created by the state to generate economic activity. Businesses in Ontario County pay the agency for various services, the revenue from which pays for initiatives like Axcess Ontario.

Through an agreement with the ILEC, Ontario Telephone Co., worth approximately $2 million. Axcess Ontario was able to justify the construction and actually come in under budget at $5.5 million. Axcess Ontario received no state, or federal funding.

What motivates buyers of dark fiber and to specifically use the Axcess Ontario network?“This investment will allow Iberdrola to provide improved services to businesses and residents throughout the community,” says Dan Hucko, director of media relations at Iberdrola USA.“The agreement also allows our company to hold the line on costs. If we did not have access to the fiber ring, we would either have to invest in the infrastructure ourselves, increasing our capital costs, or see our monthly telecommunications costs rise dramatically.” These factors are identical to those that motivate all operators of various network types that seek dark fiber to control costs and improve services.

Where the customers, needs and business model all fit the dark fiber networks should and must be built. With the right mix of the ingredients above the investment makes sense.

Ontario County clearly understood the issue the county faced in trying to maintain its base and also provide a platform for growth. The solution was the creation of Axcess Ontario. Its existence has caused the creation of revenue in a non-competitive manner with network operators, but creates competition between them for network service offerings which improve the quality and price that the businesses and end users in the county are provided. This is the chemistry of the best possible solution.

Hunter Newby, CEO Allied Fiber writes the Infrastructure Peering column for TMCnet To read more of Hunter's articles, please visit his columnist page

What a great report! There are so many different pieces of information, but the answers tell the story of the questions that were asked and what the motivations of the state were to ask them. North Carolina's primary motivation, and really that of any state, country, etc., is to protect the tax base by maintaining and even increasing the value, attraction and magnetic strength of the land. If the actual percentages in each bullet are put aside, as we can assume that the responses from other states would be the same, the truth comes out about the hopes and fears of the state.The fear is the bad side, of course.

* New job creation is not only as a result of broadband Internet access, but also a requirement for the job.

* Home businesses heavily rely on broadband Internet access.

* If there was no broadband Internet access, the people and businesses would leave.

* If they leave so goes the tax revenue and then the value of the land.The hope is the good side and rationale for investment.

* People and businesses with broadband Internet access will stay where they are.

* Once a business is in operation it is disinclined to move.

* All of this increases the tax base.

This insight into the thought process of the state is a key indicator as to what motivates it and keeps its managers up at night. It is very encouraging to see the way being paved by these thought leaders.

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All around the United States there are many examples large and small of states, counties, cities and communities that are building dark fiber infrastructure to support network and ultimately application demand. They are often open access systems that encourage network service providers and carriers of all kinds to come and light the fiber. This model creates an even playing field through competitive pricing, terms and product offerings through control of the underlying physical fiber and interconnection process.

Collectively these open systems form a fragmented picture of similar, yet disparate pieces that all seek uniformity. In as much as they gain benefits from creating their own local system they need and would benefit more from cross connecting their respective systems. The entire process is a journey, and each piece needs to be seen and understood for what and where it is. It is essentially the re-creation of the public Internet, but at the physical layer.

Many of the builders and operators of these projects in the United States are not even aware of each other. This is both good and bad. It is bad because they could all benefit from the economies of scale that are derived from co-builds, best practices, bulk buying, etc. It is good though in the sense that it shows that many people out there know what needs to be done and are just going out and doing it. Go! 

Soon there will be a clear picture of how these disparate systems can plot a course for interconnection with each other to form that cohesive system that is required, like the interstate highway system that makes A to Z transport a reality between just about every meaningful point in the United States. Between now and then there is a lot of work to do, and opportunity is abound.

One such local project is Axcess Ontario.

Click here to see the full article on Axcess Ontario

For more information about building dark fiber networks visit the
Dark Fiber Community

To make matters worse, no one can really have an educated opinion about the subject since everyone has been so misinformed for so many years. Being told the untruth repeatedly by the mass media that VoIP means voice over the Internet, and actually believing it, has contributed to our disastrous present reality. Internet protocol is not the Internet. The Internet is not your broadband cable connection. Your cable provider provides you access to the Internet. If you are an end user consumer, you may not have many, or any, choices so therefore you are subject to your providers’ discretion. This discretion is now what is in question with the FCC, but that is not and should not be a question of the Internet itself.

If “you” are a business, you might have other options, and if high-speed access to the Internet is something that your business requires to operate optimally then you will seek the best possible connection even going to the extent of moving your office location to a building or state that has a greater number of better, more economical options for access. The issue is that both consumers and businesses are connecting to the same Internet, but rules being created to supposedly help one group, the consumers, will have an impact on the other group, the businesses, or basically anything that is not a consumer. Unless….

Here are the Top 3 of 5 reasons why I made the change

1. There is quite a bit of network infrastructure that goes in to supporting VoIP and VoIP peering. I do not believe that everyone fully understands and appreciates this. One example is the relationship between Ethernet (both wired and wireless) and VoIP. There are real costs in the lower layer elements that tie in to cost, QoS and other factors of VoIP and VoIP peering.

2. VoIP is not the only application for IP that gets peered. As INTERNET TELEPHONY parent company TMC (News - Alert) itself opens up to covering more layers including dark fiber, wireless backhaul, cloud computing, etc., it makes logical sense to address many IP applications – video, HPC, financial trading, media, etc., and not just VoIP.

3. I have been involved in VoIP since its commercial inception at ITXC and VoIP peering since the creation of the Voice Peering Fabric and have tracked the growth, creation of new businesses, models, etc. There is still a lot going on in the world in this regard, but I do not want to limit editorial coverage to just that. VoIP is becoming more inherent in things like video and gaming, and as I have written many times, it is becoming much more difficult to justify voice as a standalone business. Not that the application needs to be a standalone business to get coverage, but technical and business implications of all applications should and will be considered.

To see all 5 reasons read the full article....

Thanks to all who have followed my VoIP Peering article and blog for so many years. Your kind words of support and encouragement have always been inspiration and are a big part of my decision to expand the column and blog to be inclusive of all of the elements necessary to enable VoIP Peering.

The network building activity is covered in the Dark Fiber Community blog. The subsea and terrestrial fiber networks being built all over Africa are bringing real positive change to the economies, health care, education and standard of living for the countries within the Continent.

A real sign of the times is Voxbone's addition of South Africa to their global DID service.

from the press release

"The South African market is one of the most advanced in Africa, and therefore one in which international businesses desire a local presence," said Voxbone CEO Rod Ullens. "We expect business customers to welcome the chance to create sales and service footholds in South Africa without opening new offices. And for existing Voxbone business and carrier customers, South African DIDs are just one more convenience in Voxbone's one-stop, online shop. Our self-service site will provision South African numbers, along with those of all 49 other countries, in real time."  

Ullens noted that the 50th-country addition is well timed with the FIFA World Cup events beginning June 11 in Johannesburg. Thousands of visitors may be dialing Voxbone's DIDs to access international calling services. 

This is a very meaningful advancement as it adds South Africa to the on-net world that is growing. It shows the way for many others to follow and drives the underlying need for and value of IP transport and the public Internet.

GO Rod! GO Voxbone!

From their announcement The IP-Peering Federation will:

"..establish a multilateral peering federation, which will offer operators advanced VoIP and next-generation network (NGN) peering capabilities via an in-country interconnection hub. The federation will provide a simple, cost-effective means for exchanging traffic within South Africa and globally."

Crossing the chasm of fixed, mobile and web 2.0 VoIP is tricky business. Emerging markets have more to do with this than a lot of places that carry legacy infrastructure due to the sheer size and dominance of the legacy systems. This includes supporting Skype VoIP and Video and the ability to bring other network users in to this environment over their Internet Access networks.

As the island of legacy networks continues to exist and the islands of wireless and web continue to be developed the need for an application bridge to connect these islands becomes greater.

The ATP always puts on great events and Atlanta is a terrific market for technology development and raising capital for ideas that turn in to products and successful businesses. The culture there is of a breeding ground for innovation. From Ron Hutchins, CTO at Georgia Tech to George Eichelberger, Director of Technical and Marketing Services at Norfolk Southern Railway to Paul Haddad VP & GM at Concurrent - there is a lot going on in every layer of the stack in Georgia!

In as much as VoIP Peering is real technical possibility and services by this name have been created and operated successfully and profitability for many years the incubation of new ideas, services, products, revenue, etc to be built on top of what has been done will most likely require capital to grow. 

If you are an entrepreneur with a company, or an idea and you need to raise capital, or build a plan, or both you can go just about anywhere to try and get it done. You probably will not have the same results as if you looked to where there are those ready and able to help though.

Atlanta Technology Angels is a good starting point if you are looking for people with experience in all aspects of early stage investment.

From their website

"ATA is not an investment fund, but rather, a network of investors who make individual investment decisions after working together to evaluate candidate companies. Investments are made through single-purpose LLCs made up of ATA members who wish to make an investment."

If you are already in Atlanta, or the area then you are that much closer to getting involved and getting to the next level of your business. If not, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport is one of the biggest in the world, so it's not that difficult to get there. What you need is the will, energy, and intellect to make it happen. If you've got all of that then let nothing stop you in your quest to improve VoIP communications - or any other type of communications innovation!!

From the announcement:

"XConnect's growth last year - including a doubling of revenue and a surge in traffic - speaks directly to the next, essential phase of VoIP migration: interconnection among service providers. Such interconnection helped the PSTN attain its near-universal reach. Now inter-carrier interconnection is key to adoption of next-generation IP communications, which are enabling high-definition voice and other advanced services. As a catalyst for cross-network IP communications, XConnect is driving and benefiting from this trend."

Intercarrier interconnection is, has been and will continue to be a criticial issue and a great place to add value and build a solid, profitable business. This opportunity exists at not only the application layers, but also at transport and the physical layer as well. Non-carrier, enterprise networks will increaseingly see a need to interconnect on all layers as well and this will drive huge growth in the years to come.

This is ironic for several reasons

1. In the 2003 Triennial Review the FCC gave the RBOC's Broadband Relief in return for allowing the CLEC's to still have access to UNE.

2. As FCC Chairman Martin stated

"This relief will enable AT&T to have the flexibility to further deploy its broadband services and fiber facilities without overly burdensome regulations," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement. "The relief afforded to AT&T is consistent with and similar to the relief provided in Commission decisions regarding broadband services, packet switching and fiber facilities."

3. This allowed AT&T and the other ROBC's to invest in fiber and not have to share it with thier competitors. They have all invested in fiber, fiber-to-the-home specifically, in the names of U-verse and FiOS.

4. A few months later the RBOC's took away UNE anyway

5. As soon as that happened the RBOC's and the FCC signed the PSTN / POTS death notice. There would no longer be any investment in copper, but from 2003-2010 the RBOC's could continue to pull revenues out of the PSTN and POTS until their new fiber networks were sufficiently built out.

So, for those that did not see this coming and think that the AT&T request to the FCC is "news" you are totally lost. This is and has always been a plan.

What should have been negotiated for were the Rights Of Way that the RBOC's have had since the 1800's and not the copper facilities that are now being retired. The RBOC's argued that copper and fiber are different media types and carry different technologies and therefore require separate investment. This is correct. Without the protection of relief of sharing with competitors the RBOC's would not make the investment in fiber because there would not be a reasonable return for their investors/shareholders. That is a fair argument.

Hopefully the FCC is looking out for all of us and keeps the communications network "franchise" at the license and Right of Way level. That is the ultimate trump card to play in order to get fair and open access once the RBOC's have finished making all of their investments in the new fiber infrastructure in the US.

With the unobstructed ability to invest in fiber to the home the RBOC's will also have the best wireless service coverage. Yes it is true, fiber and wireless compliment each other and wireless actually does not work at the high broadband speeds and densities without it. FTTH was actually not just for movies in the home, but for FTTT for mobile cell arrays (LTE) on the "telephone poles" in every neighborhood. The RBOC's will rule in the home and out.

Now the only thing they'll need is the new long haul fiber to tie all of their markets together, but for that they will only need a dozen pairs of fiber or so each.

With all of this said one thing is FOR SURE - the move to fiber, DWDM, Ethernet, IP, VoIP and ultimately VoIP (and all IP apps) Peering is set.