BRAN Technical Committee Meeting
August 18, 2005
Attendees:
Fabian Guerrero, NCAR
Alex Hsia, NOAA
David Lindblad, CU
Marla Meehl, NCAR
John Reilly, City of Boulder
Paul Williams, City of Boulder
1. Disaster Planning
a. Spare parts for the BRAN network were ordered on May 16 and Anixter has them now. Guarantee Electrical Contracting, Anixter, and the City will coordinate delivery to the 75th St Waste Water Treatment Plant in the next couple weeks.
b. Emergency Repair Contract between City of Boulder and Guarantee Electrical Contracting was finalized during the 1st week of July. Contract and emergency contact information for Guarantee are posted on www.branfiber.net.
2. City of Boulder Spur at 47th and Valmont
a. Splicing is scheduled to begin August 28th at 6:00 AM. Entire BRAN cable will be cut and respliced to resolve the tangle of fiber cables in the handhole. Only the NCAR white buffer fiber strands will be spliced on Sunday. Estimated down time for NCAR on these strands is 6 hours. The remainder of the cable will be spliced during business hours beginning Monday morning.
b. Guarantee will install a rack/step on the wall of this handhole, neatly coil the BRAN cable and secure the splice enclosure, install the ‘ATTENTION’ BRAN sign, and take digital photos.
c. Guarantee will perform OTDR and power meter tests in both directions on all strands. John Reilly will see that Guarantee has a copy of our splicing loss standards.
d. NCAR will have equipment lasers turned off and/or have equipment disconnected from fibers while splicing and testing are underway. NCAR will have staff available to provide access to the NCAR Foothills Lab and Mesa Lab for testing. NCAR will give John Reilly the staff contact information as needed. Guarantee will be instructed to call Fabian when they are ready to begin testing.
e. To eliminate the need for access to the CU UMS facility on Sunday, NCAR will install patch cables in advance to loop back their strands in the white and red buffers that terminate there. This will allow testing from the NCAR Foothills Lab.
f. Testing of NCAR fiber strands will be conducted to/from the Foothills Lab from/to the far end of the fibers as used today including patch cables.
g. CU will obtain a door card and/or instructions for Guarantee’s access to the CU Telecom facility from 6 AM to 5 PM on Sunday and contact John Reilly with information.
h. BRAN partners are asked to review the termination documentation for the NCAR Foothills Lab to verify that the correct far end locations (next patch panel) and panel positions are correct. Access to the following testing locations will be needed at some point:
i. NCAR Foothills Lab
ii. Yards
iii. Public Safety Building
iv. CU UMS
v. ICG POP
vi. CU CINC(585)
vii. CU Computing
viii. CU Engineering
ix. NCAR Mesa Lab
x. CU Telecom
i. The City will send updates to at least daily beginning Sunday to communicate status to BRAN partners.
3. Fiber Locates
a. The contract with FPS for locating BRAN (and City of Boulder) fiber expires on 2/1/2006.
i. We believe we’ve been frequently double-charged by FPS for locates of multiple cables in the same location.
ii. We have had problems with locates not performed by FPS.
iii. FPS lacks data management infrastructure.
iv. FPS lacks adequate staff.
b. City distributed a draft RFI for selection of a new locator along with a list of locate companies to be invited to respond. Edits have been made based on feedback received to date.
c. City will contact prospective locators for interest in responding to our RFI.
d. City will work with our City Attorney and determine what is the best approach to timing the termination of FPS and beginning the RFI process and hiring of a new contractor.
4. BRAN Build-out Options
a. City made available some preliminary route information for hypothetical north and south loops to be added to BRAN.
b. South loop would provide better redundancy for City, NOAA, and NCAR and connectivity to CU South Campus.
c. South loop could be implemented as a shared WDM link to avoid having to install new fiber along the whole path.
d. Need cost estimates. Generally $42/ft for 8 X 1.25 in conduit, $32/ft for 4 X 1.25 in conduit, not including man/handholes. Approx $5/ft for fiber installation, termination, testing. Table Mesa Dr/Moorhead Av to South Boulder Rd/55th St is approx 4100 ft (~ $130,000 - $200,000 for 4 X 1.25 in conduit). 55th St to 57th St along the railroad is approx 1500 ft (~ $40,000 - $100,000 for 4 X 1.25 in conduit). Fiber along the entire route from Broadway/Table Mesa to 47th/Pearl is approx 30,500 ft (~ $150,000 - $200,000). Total project of fiber from Table Mesa/Broadway to Pearl/47th is $320,000 - $500,000.
e. Generally, there was consensus that while this south loop is an interesting idea, the need for it is not urgent in light of the cost approaching $500,000. There’s likely not enough interest to complete a project of this scope/cost. With the exception of connecting via a spur to CU’s south campus (cost not included in the estimate above), this south loop project would be purely backup for the BRAN partners. None look at this new fiber leg as a necessary network capacity upgrade. Technologies like 10-Gigabit Ethernet and WDM make capacity a non-issue. P2P wireless, even as it has shortcomings, can be more cost-effective in a backup role in many cases.
f. The City will ask Public Works whether any transportation or utility project will facilitate conduit installation along Table Mesa Dr between Moorhead and 55th St in the next 3-5 years.
g. It was noted that new conduit installation along the RR from 55th St to 57th St would be expensive with extra charges and hassles imposed by the RR.
h. It was noted that BRAN funds would not necessarily be the only source of funds if some BRAN expansion project comes about. BRAN partners may have money to contribute. City may be able to contribute conduit and/or existing fiber in lieu of money.
5. BRAN cable relocations at Broadway/Table Mesa and on Pearl between 28th and 30th
a. City of Boulder will still intends to process updates to BRAN CAD drawings to reflect small changes.
6. Reminders:
a. BRAN partners aware of construction or maintenance activities that could directly or indirectly affect the BRAN infrastructure should use the email list liberally to notify others of dates, times, and details.
b. All BRAN partners should verify that the Emergency Contact Information at http://www.branfiber.net/protected/tech.emergency.contacts.html is correct. Corrections should be sent to NCAR.
Next scheduled meeting:
Thursday, October 20, 2005 – 10:30 AM
City of Boulder Atrium Building Conference Room (1300 Canyon Blvd)