Re: Muni fiber: L1 or L2?

[Owen DeLong <owen () delong com>]

I would put it differently.

I believe that the entity (muni, county, state, special district, or whatever) should
be required to make dark fiber patches available.

I believe they should be allowed to optionally provide L2 enabled services of various
forms.

I believe that they should be prohibited from engaging in L3+ services.

I believe they should be required to offer more than a MMR type facility in order to
enable cost-effective utilization by smaller providers. There are a number of ways
this can be accomplished without necessarily requiring the muni to get into anything
complicated.

Owen

On Jan 29, 2013, at 6:51 PM, Leo Bicknell <bicknell () ufp org> wrote:

> In a message written on Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 12:54:26PM -0500, Jay Ashworth wrote:
> > Hmmm.  I tend to be a Layer-2-available guy, cause I think it lets smaller
> > players play.  Does your position (likely more deeply thought out than 
> > mine) permit Layer 2 with Muni ONT and Ethernet handoff, as long as clients
> > are *also* permitted to get a Layer 1 patch to a provider in the fashion you
> > suggest?
>
> No, and there's good reason why, I'm about to write a response to Owen
> that will also expand on why.
>
> There are a number of issues with the muni running the ONT:
>
> - Muni now has to have a different level of techs and truck rolls.
> - The Muni MMR now is much more complex, requiring power (including
>   backup generators, etc) and likely 24x7 staff as a result.
> - The muni-ont will limit users to the technologies the ONT supports.
>   If you want to spin up 96x10GE WDM your 1G ONT won't allow it.
> - The optic cost is not significantly different if the muni buys them
>   and provides lit L2, or if the service/provider user provides them.
>
> The muni should sell L1 patches to anyone in the MMR.  Note, this
> _includes_ two on-net buildings.  So if your work and home are connected
> to the same muni-MMR you could order a patch from one to the other.
> It may now be max ~20km, so you'll need longer reach optics, but if you
> want to stand up 96x10GE WDM you're good to go.
>
> -- 
>       Leo Bicknell - bicknell () ufp org - CCIE 3440
>        PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/