 iPaloAlto is comprised of community people dedicated to the healthy birth of a valuable new open access fiber to the premise network (FTTP) available to every business, home, school, church, nonprofit, and government building in town. The question: “Why Palo Alto?” and “Why Now?” will be answered by your study of this site; click around, see for yourself.
City Council leadership has been proactive in seeking an acceptable path to citywide FTTP. Mayor Sid Espinosa, Vice Mayor Yiaway Yeh and council members Larry Klein, Pat Burt, Greg Schmid, Greg Scharff, Karen Holman, Gail Price and Nancy Shepherd all have been engaged in a positive and constructive manner.
This project will be called “FiberPaloAlto™” until some other name proves more descriptive.
Breaking News — FiberPaloAlto™
June 1, 2011. Possible next fiber steps presented by utilities’ staff and two consultants were discussed by the Utilities Advisory Commission. Staff will make next step recommendations to Council in the fall.
May 17, 2011. Google Fiber adds Kansas City, MO (population 460,000) to the Kansas City, KS (population 146,000) award.
But wait, there’s more. Google makes it clear in its press release, “We’ll continue to talk to other cities about the possibility of bringing Google Fiber to their communities.”
Palo Alto is the place to really put Google Fiber to the test.
March 30, 2011. Kansas City, Kansas awarded Google Fiber first. Milo Medin, Vice President, Google Access Services is saying, "…over the coming months, we'll be talking to other interested cities about the possibility of us bringing ultra high-speed broadband to their communities.”
March 1, 2011. Palo Alto makes fresh pitch for Google Fiber, Palo Alto Online reports. City Manager Jim Keene keeps up the Palo Alto drum beat which could prove important to Silicon Valley and America.
December 15, 2010. Google delays naming Google Fiber city, appoints Milo Medin vice president, access services, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
December 1, 2010. Report to the Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) describing how and why ideas are being sought to develop a broadband business plan for Palo Alto. Palo Alto Online story.
October 21, 2010. Google to build a 1 Gbps fiber test network in the Stanford Campus Residential Leaseholders neighborhood. The Stanford Report; the Stanford Daily story. This Stanford residential neighborhood of 850 faculty and staff homes and condominiums is served by Nixon Elementary School in the Palo Alto Unified School District and is surrounded by the city of Palo Alto. July 18, 2011 Palo Alto Patch update.
Why Google should choose Palo Alto.
Logical next steps: Google expands their 1 Gbps fiber test area to include more of Stanford University and the entire Palo Alto community, thus creating a solid foundation for a world class Silicon Valley open fiber network.
July 13, 2010. Google launches a Fiber for Communities website to serve as a direct link to this game changing Google initiative and related topics. The City of Palo Alto has yet to receive any direct word from Google but today Google donated 350 wireless access points to the Palo Alto Unified School District (a hopeful sign), expanding WiFi coverage to every classroom on every school campus in the district. Students will be able to connect their personal devices to the network.
June 14, 2010. CMR 265:10 updates Council on high-speed broadband. The City is exploring how to best grow its existing dark fiber network. It has heard nothing from Google so far regarding the City response to the Google RFI.
March 26, 2010. Google received nominations for Palo Alto from individuals and groups beginning February 10. iPaloAlto was one of the sites where reports and calls to action on the Google initiative occurred. The City of Palo Alto submitted its impressive response just before nominations closed today. How impressive it all was to Google we hope to learn soon. Google says they ‘plan to announce a target community or target communities this year.’ Organizations continue to send letters of support to the City as noted in Support – Groups.
March 1, 2010. The Palo Alto planned response to Google (CMR 158:10) will emphasize ‘speed and efficiency.’ City appoints community volunteer to head public education and grassroots outreach.
February 22, 2010. Council unanimously concurred with the staff recommendation (CMR 147:10) to respond to the Google RFI on their Fiber for Communities initiative and to discontinue work on a federal stimulus bid. Moreover, staff was directed to plan and execute a public outreach campaign to get every computer and hand-held device in town, used by businesses and residents alike, to nominate Palo Alto for Google Open Fiber.
The Google offer of a blazing-fast open fiber network test in selected cities may mean about $50 million of leading edge infrastructure for Palo Alto. A Google Open Fiber partnership with the City capitalizes on Palo Alto’s renowned innovative assets, and there are many – residents, businesses, startups, educators, health care professionals, venture capital, professional services, families with students, and volunteers. Among the expected benefits are lower prices, ultra-fast Internet, reliability, and service choices. This is cleantech / greentech which enhances Palo Alto resource conservation and sustainability values. City risk approaches zero. When you study it closely, as I have, deciding to support Google Open Fiber becomes the biggest no-brainer in history.
From now to March 26, click the Google ‘Nominate your community’ button, this is civic engagement at its finest. A Google account is needed (see sample PDF form for help). On the nomination form ‘Get involved: Residents and community groups,’ fill in the *required blanks (for help and suggestions, see sample form – for residents/individuals or for community groups).
Palo Alto excited about Google Open fiber: City of Palo Alto press release, Palo Alto Online and Mercury News stories. Palo Alto Online - OpEd: How you can help Palo Alto win Google Open Fiber - Story: Palo Alto to woo Google for fiber network - Letter: Nominate Palo Alto - Palo Alto Weekly: We nominate Palo Alto to Google
February 10, 2010. The Google Game Changer: Fiber for Communities. “Google to offer fast broadband as a trial,” the New York Times says. “Google Jolts Telecom Rivals,” the Wall Street Journal headlined, as Google announces its plan to build and test open-access ultra high-speed broadband networks in a select number of communities. Apply by March 26 (Seattle will); selectees announced later this year. The Google proposal fits Palo Alto FTTP plans to a ‘T.’ Tell Google, nominate Palo Alto.
“Silicon Valley at risk”, Palo Alto Online reports, “valley losing federal ‘mega-investments’ race.” The news creates a renewed sense of urgency for Palo Alto to provide infrastructure leadership with Google help.
February 1, 2010. With a unanimous 9-0 vote, Council authorized an additional $50,000 for consultant help to prepare an NTIA broadband grant request due March 15, and to complete a business plan later. Staff agreed to return to Council with the grant request plan, which may provide a framework for the broadband business plan, for discussion and direction. Earlier, utility staff provided a broadband update (CMR 119:10). CMR 130:10 requested Council authorization to extend a consultant contract.
January 29, 2010. Palo Alto electric-car maker plans IPO, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Just weeks earlier, Tesla received a $465 million low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. “Tesla’s IPO brings with it great challenges,” SFGate says.
December 19, 2009. “Facebook significantly expands its Palo Alto footprint in the Stanford Research Park by signing a lease for another 265,000 square feet,” the San Jose Business Journal reported. “The buildings at 1050 Page Mill Road had been vacated by the medical diagnostic firm Beckman Coulter Inc. several years ago.”
“This marks the second move in a year for the social media company, which left downtown Palo Alto (in May 2009) for a 150,000 square foot building (1601 California Avenue) once owned by Agilent Technologies.” (See August 18, 2008 Breaking News)
“Parking woes may be reduced,” Palo Alto Online says, while the Daily News headlines “Facebook’s status: Getting a new office.” Meanwhile, with 400 million members, page views are growing as the new Facebook Connect enjoys success, and Facebook is now selling its own display ads.
November 30, 2009. Palo Alto recommends NTIA broadband grants be made to municipalities in high tech corridors like Silicon Valley. With a grant in the $10 million range, the City's existing fiber ring could be extended to connect more than 20 key anchor institutions in the City including public and private primary and secondary schools, several medical facilities, the JPA's media center, and City emergency and first-responder locations. Each of these locations would receive, at a minimum, 200 Mbps symmetric capacity. With a $45 million grant, Palo Alto would construct a FTTP network to 100% of the businesses and residences in town.
November 4, 2009. iPaloAlto endorsed all five winning City Council candidates who take office in January…Larry Klein, Karen Holman, Gail Price, Nancy Shepherd and Greg Scharff. Each took the time to familiarize themselves with iPaloAlto Broadband Facts and indicated that they SUPPORTED or STRONGLY SUPPORTED the envisioned open-access Fiber to the Premises network for Palo Alto.
August 18, 2009. Tesla Motors is moving its headquarters to 3500 Deer Creek Road, in Palo Alto’s Stanford Research Park. The 350,000 square foot 3-building Tesla complex will house 350 employees at first in buildings that have in the past been occupied by Hewlett-Packard and Agilent. "Silicon Valley and the Stanford Research Park are synonymous with innovation and entrepreneurship," Tesla CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk said in a press release. City Manager James Keene told the Palo Alto Weekly the city is "extremely pleased to welcome Tesla in Palo Alto" and noted that the city is committed to promoting sustainability and green technology. "Tesla's move is another indicator that Palo Alto is the place to be for the green tech and alternative energy companies that will help solve the daunting global environmental challenges of the 21st century," Keene said.
July 13, 2009. Council Broadband Study Session (CMR 307:09). Staff updated Council on the progress being made with the broadband grant request (‘Federal funds unlikely,’ Palo Alto Online headlined) and sounded out Council regarding a wireless component to an open citywide FTTP network. Council seemed cool to the staff idea of building 90 dark fiber nodes into residential neighborhoods. Invest Fiber Fund reserves, Advisors suggested, by building and lighting fiber in the commercial areas of Palo Alto to generate more revenue and thus speed the time when open citywide FTTP could become a reality. Overlaying the entire city with public safety service wireless for police, fire, and emergency response and/or 802.11 WiFi for public use should only be considered if wireless construction and on-going support is funded by grants and/or user fees. A Business Plan was promised by staff in September; Council suggested local experts be solicited to help with the Plan.
April 13, 2009. Council moving ahead with Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) on multiple fronts, Councilmember Klein four-part motion concurring with some staff recommendations in CMR 143:09, Palo Alto Online and The Daily News report. Palo Alto submits comments for broadband stimulus funds to NTIA; the State of California does the same.
March 14, 2009. Axia withdraws from FTTP negotiations, the Palo Alto Daily and Palo Alto Online report. Alternatives will be explored by Council at its April 13 meeting.
February 25, 2009. Palo Alto hopes for fiber network darken, Palo Alto Online reports. The Council Study Session on FTTP provided an overview of City staff negotiations with consortium member Axia NetMedia. They remain apart on financial terms. A possible tax might fund the project, the Mercury reports.
January 15, 2009. Economic crisis stalls Palo Alto fiber project, Palo Alto Online is headlining. Negotiations are ongoing with consortium members, but the pieces still are not fitting within the tight financial requirements laid down by the City. City Manager Jim Keene reports.
On a parallel track, the City is seeking federal stimulus funds for the high priority FTTP project and is beginning to gather a list of project supporters.
December 18, 2008. The Free Press Action Fund released two white papers suggesting action steps to the Obama administration which could be a road map to funding help for FiberPaloAlto™. The white papers: Down Payment on Our Digital Future; 2009 Media & Tech Priorities
October 24, 2008. Palo Alto fiber-optic project right kind of economic development, the Mercury News says. “Council instructed staff to try to reach an agreement (on Letter of Intent with consortium members), negotiations are still in progress.”
August 18, 2008. Facebook is moving to Stanford Research Park, 1601 California Avenue, early next year. Downtown Palo Alto “is part of the DNA at Facebook.”
August 4, 2008. Council authorized budget to prepare Letter of Intent and final Palo Alto Fiber to the Premise Agreement. See Events.
July 14, 2008. Council fast-tracks fiber on a unanimous vote; staff directed to expedite negotiations with Axia which results in a detailed Letter of Intent for construction and operation of a citywide open-access fiber to the promise network by September 2008. “Council approves ultra-high-speed broadband plan,” the Daily says. Click here for more FTTP press coverage.
July 7. 2008. Citywide fiber plan wins fans with no-cash plan, Palo Alto Online headlined. Axia's willingness to sink at least $30 million into building the necessary infrastructure "makes this a real possibility for Palo Alto," Councilmember Kishimoto is saying. Mayoral advisors Bern Beecham, Andy Poggio, and Bob Harrington led Council FTTP Study Session; their presentation.
July 3, 2008. CMR 304:08 accompanied by the Consortium Overview was publicly released today in preparation for Council meeting discussions on Palo Alto Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) July 7 and 14 (Events tab has details). The big news is that an experienced fiber network management company, Axia NetMedia Corporation, is willing to make the investment necessary to build, own and operate the Palo Alto citywide open fiber network, subject to negotiating acceptable agreements with the City (Proposal section has details). “The City dark fiber network may provide the key that unlocks the Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) treasure chest the community has sought for over a decade,” said Palo Alto resident Bob Harrington, one of three Mayor-appointed citizens advising on the project. The Consortium recommends negotiations begin promptly; staff seeks direction from Council for next steps.
June 25, 2008. There may be light at the end of the fiber, the Palo Alto Weekly editorial is saying. Fiber Internet finally making headway at City Council, a companion story is saying.
May 5, 2008. Former City Councilman Bern Beecham appointed Advisor to the Mayor – Broadband by Mayor Larry Klein, joining two earlier appointees Andy Poggio and Bob Harrington.
March 19, 2008. Hewlett-Packard considered moving world headquarters out of Palo Alto. Its 2,500 employees are staying for now, but Company leadership doesn’t feel Palo Alto has gone out of its way to make it feel welcome. Longer term, overseas threats may outweigh history and tradition going back to its 1938 founding in the HP Garage, as countries pour millions into building up electronic-communications infrastructure, in producing highly educated engineers, and in cultivating corporate executives, an HP official tells the Palo Alto Weekly.
March 11, 2008. DreamWorks’ Katzenberg sees ‘new era’ with 3-D, which will only be available in specially equipped digital theaters and homes with FTTH bandwidth. “It is nothing less than the greatest innovation that has happened for all of us in the movie business since the advent of color 70 years ago,” Katzenberg said.
Consumers getting cozy with fiber to the home, a Corning executive tells EE Times, but not the AT&T U-verse offering featuring fiber to the neighborhood (FTTN) with inferior video. Palo Alto staff (CMR 324:07) is calling for AT&T to abide by the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 by providing equal access and equal video quality to community, government, and educational video channels; so far, AT&T has not responded favorably.
January 17, 2008. The California Broadband Task Force Report makes the same points that iPaloAlto and the community it represents have advocated for the past decade…our state, our region, our city must greatly improve our broadband networks to remain vital and competitive in the twenty-first century.
January 12, 2008. Can the Internet save the planet? InformationWeek asks.The American Consumer Institute answers: Widespread adoption of broadband in the United States alone would cut energy use by the equivalent of 11% of annual oil imports. Overall, the Internet economy could help reduce growth in greenhouse gas output by 67% over the next several years.
December 17, 2007. Staff updates Council on preparation of the Ultra-High-Speed Broadband Plan. During the final phase of preparation, staff anticipates returning to Council to obtain direction on the level and type of contribution the City is willing to make to the project. This should occur during the second quarter of 2008.
November 25, 2007. Globalization is strengthening our Silicon Valley economy, and broadband is at the heart of it, the San Jose Mercury says. Yet, concern is growing as the US slips to 15th in broadband connections: US in the broadband slow lane.
August 29, 2007. “Americans invented the Internet, but the Japanese are running away with it.” The Washington Post reports on growing innovation in Japan, South Korea, and much of Europe because of their tremendous speed and cost-of-service advantages over the United States in Internet communications. While U.S. phone and cable companies, which control about 98% of the country’s broadband market, oppose virtually every proposal that is not a subsidy for them, the U.S. slips further behind in broadband innovation. Palo Alto and Silicon Valley can ill-afford to sit idly by and permit this to happen.
August 7, 2007. PacketFront acquires DynamicCity. PacketFront, one of the consortium members working cooperatively with Palo Alto staff to develop a business plan for the proposed open-access community fiber network, acquired DynamicCity and merged their operations into the US subsidiary of PacketFront, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. DynamicCity has a long-term agreement to manage the UTOPIA network, the largest open community fiber network in America.
July 12, 2007. Google is back. Google has just leased the 212,000 sq ft former Agilent headquarters building at 395 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto. The building is capable of accommodating about 850 employees. Google, which started in a Stanford dorm room and moved to a Menlo Park garage, first opened a Palo Alto office with eight employees on University Avenue in February 1999. The company quickly outgrew that space and, later that summer, moved to their current Mountain View headquarters campus. As of June 30, 2007, Google employed 13,778 worldwide and is now adding more than 500 new employees each month. Ed. Note: In early 2008 Google changed its mind by deciding to concentrate all employees in or near the Googleplex in Mountain View; the 395 Page Mill Road property was made available for sub-lease.
July 12, 2007. Fiber to the Home drives Telework, home businesses. Thirteen percent of employees work an equivalent of 7 days a month from home; others work from home full time, RVA Market Research says.
July 9, 2007. Preparation of an Open-access Ultra-High-Speed Broadband Business Plan was authorized by the Palo Alto City Council, at its meeting tonight. By a 5-1 vote, Councilmembers directed that plan preparation be a cooperative effort among City staff, advisors, and consortium members.
“World class support from Palo Alto’s world class institutions” is needed during this process, staff advisor Bob Harrington said in a memo introducing a summary of the last staff-consortium meeting June 28 prepared by Tim Scott of PacketFront.
June 26, 2007. U.S. Web speeds in the slow lane, California even slower, a San Jose Mercury article says. With the major communications providers to Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area, Comcast and AT&T, both planning to upgrade their closed networks only to hybrid fiber, the Bay Area may be shackled to slow speed for decades.
June 18, 2007. The Next Step. Preparation of a Business Plan for the proposed citywide open-access Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network is likely to be approved by Palo Alto City Council during their regular July 9, 2007 meeting. Thanks to all who sent emails of FTTH support to Council; your ongoing support is critical to best assure a good outcome for Palo Alto.
May 25, 2007. Norway’s largest power utility picks PacketFront for open-access Fiber To The Home (FTTH) network in and around Oslo. This is considered one of the most important contracts of the year in the Norwegian telecom sector. PacketFront is one of the consortium partners in the open-access FTTH proposal to the City of Palo Alto.
May 7, 2007. Silicon Valley is Stuck in the Slow Lane of the Information Highway, a San Jose Mercury editorial says. Disgraceful but true, telecom companies are stifling innovation exactly where innovation is the lifeblood of the economy, Silicon Valley. Customers deserve better; it’s time to work toward a better solution.
April 9, 2007. Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto appointed two members from the public, Bob Harrington and Andy Poggio, to serve as advisors to the Mayor as staff follows up on the Broadband proposal.
March 5, 2007. In response to CMR 156:07, the Palo Alto City Council directed staff to negotiate an agreement for a citywide open municipal fiber network exclusively with the 180 Connect consortium.
February 22, 2007. iPaloAlto is reporting that City staff today released the two broadband proposals, one from DynamicCity and the other from 180 Connect, received by the City of Palo Alto January 9th, together with City Manager’s Report (CMR) 156:07. The broadband topic will be on the Monday, March 5 City Council agenda for discussion.
January 10, 2007. Palo Alto received two broadband proposals by yesterday's 3 PM Broadband RFP deadline.
Background Information: This second major community effort to get an open fiber optic network working for Palo Alto began with a July 27, 2005 Colleagues’ Memo from Councilmembers Kishimoto and Beecham acknowledging the tremendous success of the four-year Community Center FTTH Trial. Responding to an October 24, 2005 CMR 398:05, and later CMR 111:06, the City developed a wish-list and some preferred guidelines with Council discussion of a January 17, 2006 motion. The motion passed 5-1 and formed part of the Broadband Request for Proposal (RFP) issued September 27, 2006.
Based on the wish list, FiberPaloAlto™ would prefer to employ an open fiber optic network strategy, since the economies of scale make an open fiber network and every service offered on it, very competitive – high reliability and security, faster and higher quality services, each at lower prices. A visit to the MSTAR site, a triple play service provider (telephone, video, and data) on both the iProvo and UTOPIA open fiber networks in Utah, will provide a pretty close approximation of the types of offerings FiberPaloAlto™ is expected to provide early in its existence.
FiberPaloAlto™ will unleash innovation, as Mark Heyer’s Community Benefits white paper outlined years ago. Palo Alto citizens are known for their intelligence and creativity. It will keep us competitive with other communities around the globe where open fiber networks are already the norm. It will help us maintain our leadership position in Silicon Valley, the most innovative region on the planet. And we keep more of our money home.
FiberPaloAlto™ is an investment that will be made by private business, yet the City earns an option to purchase the entire network and its ongoing business years from now for $1 by granting “rights to use” specific City dark fiber assets now. What a tremendous community asset both now and in the future. Just as the rest of our community-owned utilities have proven to be excellent investments for over 100 years, FiberPaloAlto™ will be the same. It will enhance libraries public safety, medical care; get traffic off our streets, on to fiber.
Best of all, FiberPaloAlto™ is a community builder; see for yourself by exploring this Västerås, Sweden site, become inspired. Palo Alto will have the opportunity to own FiberPaloAlto™ somewhere down the line. We can strengthen our own community, neighborhood by neighborhood – by taking two easy steps:
1. City Council action steps you may encourage:
- Vote Yes on Fiber to the Premise (FTTP)
- Assume modest risks
- Fiber technology is future-proof
- Customers love it
2. Insist on superior services with more competition which lower prices for:
- Rock solid reliable service from all providers
- Much higher (both up and down) Internet speed than cable or DSL
- Symmetrical Internet, same speed both ways
- Better TV/video quality with more HD choices
- Low-priced telephone with unlimited calling, international specials
- Fast 100-Megabit City intranet
- Telecommuting, telemedicine, videoconferencing and much more
Contact us for more information. Come back often to visit as the FiberPaloAlto™ story unfolds.
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