Robot Snakes Through City Sewers, Bringing Fiber-Optic Cable to Users
interactive.wsj.com
By JOHN DODGE
Special to WSJ.COM
Until consumers and businesses enjoy substantially higher bandwidth speeds, many advanced Internet applications such as broadcast-quality video exist only on a wish list. Slow speeds and Net congestion make watching Webcasts as satisfying as listening to a fading transistor radio broadcast, circa 1959.
The good news is that the transistor radio was perfected and its core component gave birth to the computer and communications revolution. We certainly are in the early days of bandwidth, and hopefully only years away from insanely great Internet speeds.
The question is how to bring high-speed fiber-optic cable into every structure without slicing into every street, further snarling traffic and wearing out roadways any faster than necessary. Much depends on what's happening below ground and prevailing over the most daunting bandwidth challenge known as the last mile of cable into the home or office building.
Think about it. What already exists below ground through which cable can be pulled arthroscopically instead of implanted surgically? It's the good old sewer system. But who'd be willing to crawl in them -- or small enough to work fiber through eight- to 24-inch pipes?
If you live in Omaha, Albuquerque and Indianapolis, cylindrical robots on wheels will soon be running through pipes as small as eight inches in diameter, snapping in stainless steel bands onto which a fiber-optic cable conduit will clip. The novel approach, vastly preferable to digging up streets, comes courtesy of CityNet Telecommunications Inc., of Silver Spring, Md. The closely held company was founded in 1999 and funded by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Crescendo Ventures and Telecom Partners.
"I've been thinking about the problem for 20 years. How do you attack the concrete and asphalt jungle? You need a clear pathway without ripping up the streets. The answer is the sewer. It's deep, protected and goes everywhere," says Robert G. Berger, CityNet CEO and chairman.
The robots were designed by Ka-Te System AG of Zurich and have been deployed in German cities such as Hamburg and Regensburg. Other CityNet partners for designing and running the fiber networks are Compagnie Financiere Alcatel, Carter & Burgess and CableRunner North America LLC.
CityNet has commitments on 53 systems and options on 47 more, according to Mr. Berger. They cost $750,000 per system, which includes a large and small robot, computers and a truck for housing the controls.
There appears to be almost no downside to the cities that have signed up. The only unanswered question is how well the fiber and sewers will get along with each other.
"Whenever a technology comes along that is so new and different, you have to be careful, particularly when sensitive fiber-optic cable is at stake. There's still the question whether this can stand the test of time. We should know within four to five months," says Matthew Davis, senior analyst with Yankee Group in Boston.
Beyond the handful of risks, there is a large upside for cities. Each gets 2.5% of the revenue CityNet earns from carriers such as Internet service providers, which will lease the high-speed network. Cities also get their sewers inspected, mapped and cleaned, free of charge, twice a year. And the City of Omaha got $50,000 up front for giving the CityNet access to its sewers.
"If there is a failure, it will be borne by CityNet," says Dennis Wilson, assistant to the Mayor for Economic Development in the City of Omaha. For CityNet's part, it claims the fiber can withstand a cleaning process known as jetting when a lead ball spraying a high-pressure jet of water makes it way through the pipe.
"It's really durable. We don't want to knock out our own network," says Mr. Berger. CityNet's promotional video illustrates installation from start to finish as well as jetting.
The biggest benefit of the high-speed network is the leg-up cities gain. While Mr. Wilson cannot recall an instance when Omaha lost a company for the lack of a fiber-optic network, he's sure it has happened.
"I can't think of a specific company, but bandwidth is always an issue. Not having it is certainly a strike against us."
Bypassing backhoes and excavators is no strike against a city. Lack thereof eliminates one the biggest of municipal headaches.
"We just passed a tax increase to invest in our street infrastructure. To lay cable right after repaving is a lot of aggravation. When you repave, the streets look like hell," says Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca. "Digging also shortens the lifespan of a street."
Yankee Group's Mr. Davis estimates cutting trenches for cable costs between $200,000 and $500,000 a mile in an urban area. "And that isn't New York City, either. These guys claim they can cut the cost in half and double the speed of laying it." CityNet, which will take a full year to wire up Omaha, claims laying cable using the robots is 60% faster.
Omaha's Mr. Wilson pegs digging at $150 a foot -- or more than $35,000 for a 250-foot city block. Bear in mind, using robots doesn't get rid of digging entirely because manholes and access points are required to get the devices into the sewers.
All that's left to cinch the Indianapolis deal is the mayor's signature, which is expected, according to D.J. Sigler, special projects manager with the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank. About 3% to 5% of the city's 3,000 miles of sewer lines will be wired up.
"Part of it is dependent on the conditions of the sewers. If a sewer line is in bad shape, they are not going to go there," he says.
Another big beneficiary will be office landlords, who will pay nothing for CityNet to run the fiber into their buildings. There's nothing to stop the carrier from charging the landlord, but it's more likely the tenant will pay for the higher bandwidth. Regardless, a higher bandwidth building usually attracts better clients and higher rents.
Could sewers be the primary conduit for fiber-optic cable in all American cities? Mr. Berger says another 15 cities are in the prospect pipeline. "This is a pure win-win. It gives cities end to end broadband. We share revenues with the cities and we're not sacrificing the roadways. And, we take over city sewer maintenance." However, older sewer systems and densely packed eastern cities, for instance, present a much bigger challenge than newer municipalities such as Omaha and Albuquerque
So now all it has to do is work. And if it does, the next Webcast you watch could be coming in via a sewer near you.
One thing still bothers Albuquerque's Major Baca, though. "The biggest question I have is who cleans the robots. CityNet told me it has a very unique intern program."
E-mail John Dodge at jdodge@interactive.wsj.com. |
