For the past three years I've been with the Utah Education Network and for each of the past three years I've attended just one conference. This is the Next Generation Networks (NGN) conference sponsored each autumn by Business Communications Review and John McQuillan.

My first year was 2000 and I returned totally excited about what I'd learned. The 2001 conference was a bit of a letdown. It concluded just 2 months after the 9/11 attacks and the atmosphere was very subdued.

If that conference had been my first this would likely be a different story. I thought it over and decided to give it at least one more chance in 2002. That turned out to be a good decision. But I'm probably just a bit ahead of myself.

In the 2000 conference there were several sessions that discussed the advantages and disadvantages of both SONET and Ethernet services. These were explored on three levels: Core, Metro and Last Mile.

Perhaps the presentation that caused the most thought and excitement was given by the Worldwidepackets.com CEO. I was completely unfamiliar with the company at that time. Perhaps I was too naive. However, the message was very cool.

Here was a company preaching the doctrine of Ethernet for everyone at a sub $500 per month range for the gigabit variety. Wow! I bought into that story.

Another presenter drew the cost analogy along these lines. A SONET circuit cost about $180,000 to configure. A GigE circuit could be configured for about $5000. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!!!!

One question considered how the carriers with imbedded investments would fare in this environment. In situations where costs are sunk, it was likely that the carriers would resist any changes, opting instead to attempt to recover the costs of these investments. No brainer.

McQuillan, in the conference close, declared Ethernet the winner in the Last Mile and Metro network segments. The only question left was regarding the core. The questions remained: Could SONET lite reduce costs and buoy the SONET segment of the industry? Would MPLS or some other technology enable Ethernet to provide reliable QoS? Would investment dollars move to Ethernet? How would the carriers react?

In retrospect it was a good thing that the 2000 conference was my first. I returned home and immediately called my Qwest Sales Rep. I gave him a data dump of the Ethernet story, insisting that this was the future and that Qwest should get on board.

His first reaction was one of skepticism. No way was Ethernet a player. I sent him some information and kept pushing. He read and thought and researched his own sources. Within a month he was sending me information on Ethernet solutions. Disappointingly, Qwest didn't make any move to provide an Ethernet play.

I did receive enthusiastic support from my staff at UEN. We found friends in the carrier business at XO and AT&T Broadband (now Comcast). By fall of 2001 we circulated an RFP for Gigabit Ethernet services between Orem and Salt Lake City. We later awarded contracts to both XO and Comcast. Sadly, Qwest didn't even submit a bid.

We also began negotiations with rural telcos in Utah. Uintah Basin Telephone Association (UBTA) was the first LEC to embrace the UEN vision. We negotiated a contract to provide Gigabit Ethernet services for 9 sites in Vernal and Roosevelt, Utah. The contract was signed in early 2002 and installation was completed in September. Our cost per month per circuit is $635.

Other LECs in Utah have negotiated equally cool GigE contracts with us. We are planning to turn up these services, depending on Legislative funding, in the next 6 to 18 months.

Best of all, Qwest saw what was happening and has approached us with a pure Gigabit Ethernet solution. I'm under NDA right now and can't disclose any details. It's important to note that our Qwest team has the vision and has been able to sell that story to the corporate powers.

I'm glad that we started this process 2 years ago. We've been able to see some unlikely successes in a difficult environment. Perhaps it is the technology recession that has created this opportunity.

Or perhaps our enthusiasm would have been dampened had we begun this process now. Either way it has been a fun ride and who can tell where it will lead.

That's all for now......
10:56:25 PM    comment []