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To: asenna1 who wrote (28634)	7/18/2001 1:25:36 PM
From: KailuaBoy	Respond to of 29970

Do you really want to start that tired old argument again? Can't you engage that pinhead of yours and come up with something interesting? Please?

To: asenna1 who wrote (28634)	7/20/2001 11:27:11 AM
From: asenna1	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29970

Sempra says it has key to high-speed Net access July 19, 2001 Sempra Energy's communications unit says it has figured out how to use natural gas lines to deliver high-speed Internet access to office buildings, eliminating the need to rip up city streets. The patent-pending technology actually will place fiber-optic lines inside natural gas pipelines to solve the so-called "last-mile" dilemma that has hounded the telecommunications industry, said Michael Allman, president of Sempra Communications in San Diego. The last-mile problem refers to the difficulty of extending fiber-optic networks to actual residences and office buildings. The irony is that constructing a long-distance fiber-optic network is relatively easy, but the last-mile build-out is fraught with obstacles. Tearing up streets in order to lay fiber is time-consuming and costly for both companies and cities. The result is that the thousands of miles of fiber-optic networks, which provide high-speed Internet access and high-quality voice service, remain unused. Industry watchers have compared the last-mile quandary to building a highway without any on-ramps. "We need to have more fiber in the metropolitan areas because that's where the real bottleneck is," said Chris Fischer, an analyst with Raymond James. Allman said gas pipes are a perfect conduit because they run through 95 percent of any given city's streets. Companies that use Sempra's technology could save as much as 30 percent on last-mile costs, he added. While many natural gas companies use their right-of-way routes to piggyback fiber-optic cables in the same trenches, none has proposed putting the fiber in the actual gas pipeline. Sempra's technology uses the gas line's own pressure to thread the fiber through. "What you end up with is a pipe within a pipe," Allman said The company said it will launch service in a small North Carolina town in August and will begin looking for natural gas companies to partner with on the initiative. Sempra plans to market the technology through a new subsidiary called Fiber Links. Fischer said that while Sempra's offering is intriguing, it has plenty of competitors. "As far as the technology being new, it is," Fischer said. "But is it a gee-whiz-bang technology? Not necessarily." Several water companies and even a sewer company plan to use their pipes to extend fiber-optic networks in metropolitan areas. San Diego itself is home to several companies that want to use the airwaves to provide high-speed Internet access in urban cores. AirFiber, Ensemble Communications and LightPointe all use different wireless technologies to extend fiber-optic networks to office buildings. signonsandiego.com