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Northwest Open Access Network Oregon Taps Fiber Optic Lines for Broadband

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 06:00 CST

Mar. 17--With T-1 lines and other traditional broadband delivery methods lagging behind the demands placed on them, a new option has emerged in Southern Oregon.

Northwest Open Access Network Oregon, commonly known as NoaNet, has tapped into Pacific Power's fiber optic lines to connect Southern Oregon broadband providers to its high-speed network.

It means that companies like Hunter Communications, Rio Communications and Ashland Fiber Network can plug into NoaNet's system, which moves data 1,000 times faster than a T-1 line, and compete on a new level for broadband data service.

"It offers another source of competition, and competition is never a bad thing for the telecommunications customer," says Richard Ryan, president of Hunter Communications and Core Digital Services. His company provides mid- and last-mile service, while NoaNet provides the long-haul hook-ups.

NoaNet Oregon, a member-owned cooperative, has championed rural broadband access and economic development. Alliances with the Bonneville Power Administration and now with Pacific Power has allowed NoaNet to provide alternative broadband connections from Bandon and Tillamook on the coast to the Klamath Basin and Hermiston inland.

Pacific Power installed a 48-fiber bundle along a 273-mile transmission line between Eugene and Dunsmuir, Calif., for MCI in 1991. Pacific Power retained the right to use four fibers for internal data transmission. But, like BPA's network, Pacific Power's excess capacity was gargantuan.

By leasing the fiber from the power companies, says Guy Alvis, NoaNet's chief information officer, it levels the playing field for drawing companies outside the Willamette Valley. The cooperative's ultimate goal is to provide hospitals and health care organizations, educational systems, government agencies and large businesses the capability of transferring massive data files such as digital medical images from doctors' offices to hospitals in seconds.

"There's a ton of fiber out there, but it's been like a freeway with no access," Alvis says. "Bonneville and Pacific Power have provided the on- and off-ramps."

The additional access creates competition for major bandwidth carriers such as Qwest. NoaNet has a presence at Qwest's major central offices throughout the state, where its long-range fiber connects to local telephone networks.

Because NoaNet's technology isn't limited by some of the bottlenecks inherent in traditional telecommunications service, it can provide faster transmissions for less.

"It's the same kind of services as Hunter offers on its network," Ryan says. "If you merge the networks, you can offer Ethernet speeds and that's pretty ground-breaking. I don't know if the other providers can do that without drastically modifying or retrofitting their networks."

Although residential users won't be in the mix, Ryan says that NoaNet's presence should spur better pricing.

"We have Qwest with twister-pair cable," says Ryan. "We have Charter with a hybrid coax (cable) network, like the Ashland Fiber Network.

"The next generation will be a fiber-to-the-home model. There are communities in the U.S. that have that up and running and it replaces the copper (phone) and coaxial (cable) connections. Once that happens, you'll have unlimited types of services. You could put 10 cable companies' traffic on a fiber or 100 phone companies over a fiber."

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(c) 2004, Mail Tribune, Medford, Ore. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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