Have questions? Call or email us concerning your commercial fiber service needs.

Commercial Fiber Account Manager
City of Palo Alto Utilities
Phone: 650-329-2241
E-mail: darkfiber@cityofpaloalto.org

Tell us where you are and where you'd like your Fiber to go! Please complete and return this Fiber Investigation Form. (Notes: 1. for internet connectivity write "PAIX" as your destination. 2. Please see our rate card for pricing BEFORE submitting this form. This commercial service is typically suited for very high bandwidth users.)

KEY BENEFITS

With the Palo Alto fiber backbone, the City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) offers an extensive fiber optics infrastructure to serve your business telecommunications needs. CPAU adds a new dimension to Palo Alto's telecommunications marketplace in the form of an unprecedented level of competition and direct fiber access available to all.

The CPAU fiber backbone is capable of meeting all of your advanced telecommunications applications requirements. Individual fibers are available exclusively as dark fibers, meaning that the fibers are available without any light transmitters, receivers, or associated electronics attached to them by CPAU. You, or your service provider(s), are free to attach the advanced telecommunications applications requirements of your choice to light the fibers and transmit information between locations that you designate.

With the fiber backbone, you can gain direct fiber access to your Internet service provider of choice. You can interconnect communications systems or computer networks across multiple Palo Alto locations. You can connect directly to your local and/or long distance carrier(s) of choice for a full range of communications services. Or you can provide redundant telecommunications connections for enhanced reliability. In short, the fiber backbone can meet your needs.

Some of the key benefits of connecting to the fiber backbone include:

• Competition - With CPAU's fiber backbone, you have access to your choice of service providers. No longer are you limited to a single source for your telecommunications services. With a number of service providers competing for your business, you stand to benefit.
• Reliability - The ring-based design of the fiber backbone allows for highly reliable network configurations, pushing service reliability to new levels.
• Flexibility and Control - With CPAU's commercial fiber, you are in control. You design your network, install your own choice of equipment, and provision the network to meet your needs.
• Flat Fee without Bandwidth Limitations - You pay a flat fee for the fibers you license, regardless of how you use them. The only bandwidth limits are those you impose with the hardware you choose to attach to the licensed fibers. This benefit will become even more valuable as your bandwidth needs escalate.

WHAT'S NEW

Welcome to the City of Palo Alto Utilities' Commercial Fiber new developments page. Things are always happening with Commercial Fiber. Click here if you would like current information on new fiber-ready properties, new backbone segments and splice points on our network and other system improvements.

Commercial Properties    Agent                                     Contact
925 Commercial             Kevin Cunningham                   650-322-2660
                                    Cornish & Carey Commercial

2650 E. Bayshore           Dave Conklin                            650-461-2202
                                    Hanley Properties

167 Hamilton Ave           Dan Scruggs                            408-298-7474

151 University                John Goldman                          650-329-7988
                                    Premiere Properties

420 Florence                 Cherie Wittry                            650-322-2600
                                    Cornish & Carey

335 Bryant                     John Goldman                           650-329-7988
                                    Premiere Properties

 
As new backbone and splice points become available to serve you better and reduce drop cable construction costs, we will update this section.

• Splice point CT in the 3100 block of Porter Drive
• Splice point CU in the 3100 block of Park Boulevard
• A new splice point CS in the 400 Block of California Avenue

Note: The City does not endorse or recommend the listed properties. The properties are listed here as a service to potential tenants desiring access to the City's commercial fiber network. For specific information about the properties listed above, please call the agent.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

All fiber optics infrastructure and related support infrastructure installed by CPAU is the sole property of CPAU. CPAU and the customer are each responsible for performing splice work and fiber maintenance activities within their respective facilities. No rent or other charge shall be made by the customer against CPAU for placing or maintaining any necessary infrastructure on the customer's premises. The customer is responsible for securing any necessary easements on the customer's premises.

The City will custom configure fiber optics pathways on the backbone as requested. A vast array of fiber backbone configuration options are available. Several examples are shown below:

• Point-to-Point - This configuration can be used to directly connect any two points in Palo Alto. The other four options are variations of this basic configuration.
• Route-Diverse Ring/Single Drops - With the proper network equipment, this configuration can be used to enhance reliability. Two diverse paths are available on the backbone to prevent service interruptions even if the fiber backbone is damaged along one of the two paths.
• Route-Diverse Ring/Dual Drops - With the proper network equipment, this fiber configuration can be used to further enhance reliability. Two diverse paths are available end-to-end to prevent service interruptions even if the fiber backbone and/or the drop cable are damaged along one of the two paths.
• Star Configuration -This configuration can be used to establish a single location as a hub from which individual point-to-point connections can be made.
• Hybrid Configuration - Options 1-4 may also be combined for a custom-tailored network solution consisting of a hybrid of the other configuration options.

A key benefit of CPAU's fiber backbone is that you have access to your choice of service providers (Internet, telephone and video). No longer do you need to be limited to a single source for your telecommunications services. With a number of service providers competing for your business, you stand to benefit.

Palo Alto is fortunate to be the home of the Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX). PAIX hosts many internet service providers (ISPs) www.paix.net Please call 650-566-4509 or email darkfiber@cityofpaloalto.org to find out how the City's fiber and the presence of PAIX can benefit your business.

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS

With roughly 100 Internet service providers, Palo Alto may already have the highest number of Internet service providers per capita of any city in the world. Downtown Palo Alto is also home to the Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX.Net), a facility where Internet service providers exchange data between their networks. PAIX.Net is a combined switching and commercial data center that is independent of any one Internet service provider or telecommunications carrier affiliation. A portion of CPAU's fiber backbone is located within PAIX.Net, thus allowing you to gain direct access to the Internet service providers located there. Additional information about PAIX.Net, including a list of participating Internet service providers and telecommunications carriers, is available at www.switchanddata.com/Solutions/PAIX/Customers.

For Detailed Map Please Contact Commercial Fiber Account Manager 

GLOSSARY

• Buffer Tube - A plastic tube containing a bundle of fiber strands within a fiber optics cable. Most of the cables on CPAU's fiber backbone have 144 fiber strands contained in 12 buffer tubes, each with 12 fiber strands. A substantial price discount is available if all 12 fibers in a buffer tube are licensed simultaneously by a customer. (See also Fiber Optic Cable and Fiber Strand.)
• Commercial Fiber - A fiber strand without any light flowing through it. With CPAU's commercial fiber, customers may attach their choice of voice, data, and/or video equipment to the ends of their licensed fibers to "light" the fibers and transmit information between locations.
• Drop Cable - A fiber cable that is used to connect a customer location to the fiber backbone. CPAU's standard drop cable consists of 12 strands of singlemode fiber.
• Easement - The right to use another party's property, typically for a specific purpose, such as to locate a fiber optics cable to be used for telecommunications services.
• Fiber Backbone - CPAU's network of commercial fiber, consisting of 144 or more strands of singlemode fiber along most of the 28 mile route. (See the Palo Alto Fiber Backbone Route Map for more details).
• Fiber Optic Cable - A cable containing a bundle of fiber strands.
• Fiber Optic Pathway - A physical pathway within a fiber strand through which pulses of light may be transmitted. Two or more fiber strands may be spliced together from end to end to extend such a pathway.
• Fiber Strand - An individual glass fiber, roughly the thickness of a human hair that is capable of carrying a distinct signal transmitted in the form of pulses of light. A single strand of fiber is capable of transmitting over a million simultaneous telephone calls, or nearly 80 gigabits of digital information per second (80,000,000,000 pulses of light per second), using commercially available telecommunications equipment.
• Interconnection Work - The activities CPAU must perform to establish fiber pathway(s) between two or more locations.
• License - An agreement between CPAU and the customer that defines the rights and obligations of each party in relation to the customer's use of a portion of CPAU's commercial fiber infrastructure.
• Multimode Fiber - A type of fiber cable suitable for use with telecommunications equipment that is typically less expensive than that used with singlemode fiber; however, maximum transmission distances are much more limited than with singlemode fiber. While CPAU's fiber backbone does not include any multimode fiber, CPAU will consider requests for custom multimode fiber cable installations.
  (See also Singlemode Fiber.)
• On-Net Building - A building into which CPAU has strategically extended the fiber backbone upon mutual agreement between CPAU, the building owner, and the building occupant. The Digital Equipment Corporation's Palo Alto Internet Exchange is one such on-net building. (See Service Providers for more information about the Palo Alto Internet Exchange.)
• Route-Diverse Ring - A fiber network design in which fiber pathways along two different routes are used to connect two or more locations. Because different routes are used, a problem along one route, such a fiber cut, need not interrupt a signal sent from one location to another because it can also be sent via the other available fiber pathway if the proper network equipment is used.
• Singlemode Fiber - A type of fiber cable capable of transmitting light over longer distances than multimode fiber. CPAU's fiber backbone consists exclusively of singlemode fiber. Equipment that is designed for singlemode fiber must be used by the customer.
  (See also Multimode Fiber.)
• Splice Points - Locations on the fiber backbone at which CPAU will splice fiber cables. Segments of the fiber backbone are interconnected to each other at these locations. Drop cables are also connected to the fiber backbone by CPAU at these locations.
• Splice - A physical connection between the ends of two fiber strands.

COMMERCIAL FIBER LICENSING SERVICES (PDF)

COMMERCIAL FIBER SERVICE CONNECTION FEES (PDF)

Please call with any questions. Thank you for your interest in CPAU's Commercial Fiber Optics.