News October 14, 2002 Telephony Magazine A PRIMEDIA Property Volume 1, Number 3 Reporter's Notebook San Isabel Telecom taking fiber to the mountains by Jim Barthold Some Eagle Valley, Colo. residents living in the Rocky Mountain shadows will get a bigger dose of fiber than they can currently digest, thanks to an arrangement between San Isabel Telecom www.sanisabel.com, a competitive service provider and Optical Solutions www.opticalsolutions.com. San Isabel is using Optical Solutions' fiber-to-the-home gear to serve up a triple play of voice, video and data to 3,000-plus residents of Gypsum, a community located about 35 miles west of Vail, Colo. in Eagle Valley. "We offer basic dialtone, data services and we are currently building a headend for cable TV," said Brian Wagner, San Isabel's operations vice president. "Video is going to be a great way to help us pay back the infrastructure costs." Those costs are higher than normal because San Isabel is installing a passive optical network [PON]. "The cost was not prohibitive and it was a way to differentiate ourselves," he said. "We're not going to have to worry about bandwidth 10 years down the road and have the same problems our competitors are going to have with copper." Higher bandwidth opens up new service vistas for the company. "We don't see it as overkill because it allows us to do things like cable TV, to offer more revenue-generating products with only one connection to the home," he said. "We can give as much bandwidth as people want." His words are music to Open Solutions Chairman-CEO Darryl Ponder's ears. The economic slump, coupled with carriers cap ex cutbacks, makes it more difficult for edgy technologies companies such as Optical Solutions to hit the ground running. But, Ponder remains optimistic, noting, "Optical Solutions is growing nicely in the midst of a telecom depression, so we must be making some impact somewhere." The triple play makes the difference. "It's just not all that difficult to offer converged telecom services," Ponder said. "The phone companies thought it was difficult to offer cable TV; the cable TV companies thought it was difficult to offer telephony. Data came out and I guess nobody thought that was too difficult. It's not too difficult to do any of the three, so you have people now in the telecom space and we're seeing some nice growth." Primarily, Optical Solutions' business comes from CLECs like San Isabel, a CLEC, municipalities and municipal utilities, and developers in greenfield environments. Ponder's still waiting for the ILECs. "The phone companies have a big weakness when it comes to that [installed] twisted pair. They have to have a system they can put in to rehabilitate that copper--and they will do some of that--or just replace the infrastructure. If you have to go pick a network, fiber-to-the-home is very appealing," he said. Appealing, but not necessarily an overnight success. "Fiber-to-the-home is not going to be something that goes to 50% of the homes next year. It's an ongoing situation for the next 15 or 20 years," he said. "I revel in it. I think it's fantastic because we're looking right into the future and we understand what the future direction is." FIBER TO THE MOUNTAINS Optical Solutions Awarded Contract from Colorado CLEC MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - (September 19, 2002) - Residents outside of Vail, Colorado will have a new attraction in store for them later this year, as local San Isabel Telecom prepares to launch an all-optical voice, video and data communications system from fiber-to-the-home equipment leader Optical Solutions, Inc. San Isabel Telecom, a service provider serving portions of the Eagle Valley, is using Optical Solutions' FiberPath® 400 solution to wire three new developments in Gypsum, a community of 3,000+ residents located 35 miles west of Vail and 120 miles west of Denver. The developments include Chatfield Corners, Buckhorn Valley and Valaqua. "Gypsum has become one of the fastest-growing communities along the Front Range and Central Rockies, and newcomers to the area are ideal candidates for state-of-the-art communications services," said Brian Wagner, vice president of operations at San Isabel Telecom. "Our subscribers will receive a complete package of voice, video and data services, including multiple phone lines, Internet access, and hundreds of channels of analog or digital television." Construction of the passive optical network (PON) has already begun, and service will be available to Chatfield and Buckhorn later this month. Valaqua will follow in 2003. "Fiber-to-the-home is a win-win for everybody," said Darryl Ponder, chairman and CEO of Optical Solutions. "San Isabel will gain a significant competitive advantage in its service area, and residents will gain the many rich, life-enhancing benefits of a true broadband connection - from telecommuting and video conferencing over high speed Internet connections, to on-line gaming and access to blockbuster Hollywood entertainment." About Optical Solutions, Inc. Since 1996, Optical Solutions, Inc. has been leading the FTTH industry with its patented FiberPath® fiber-to-the-home solution, which incorporates a passive optical network (PON) for broadband delivery of voice, video and high-speed data directly to the home and broader community. Now in its fourth generation, Optical Solutions' systems can be found live and fully operable in communities throughout America and Canada. Optical Solutions' customers are facilities-based service providers including independent telephone companies, competitive and incumbent local exchange carriers, utilities, municipalities, and housing developers. For more information, please visit www.opticalsolutions.com.