HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/20/1998, 4 - WIDE AREA NETWORK IMPROVEMENTS council MbD�io-�_��
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CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
FROM: Bill Statler,Director of Finance w2i;
SUBJECT: WIDE AREA NETWORK HAPROVEMENTS
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Continue implementing the City's fiber optic communication network strategy and improving
the wide area network by:
■ Installing conduit that will allow fiber optic connections from the Headquarters Fire Station
to the Corporation Yard, Fire Station No. 4, and Laguna Lake Golf Course, and provide
for future traffic signal interconnections from Madonna Road west to the City limits on
Los Osos Valley Road,by authorizing the CAO to:
• Enter into a cooperative use agreement with WorldCom in the amount of $30,000
plus use of the City's 5 inch conduit across the Elk's Lane Bridge in exchange for
sharing their trench and installing City conduit. This is similar to the cooperative
agreement we recently entered into with GST/Call America, and will provide conduit
from Beebee at South Street to the western City limits on Los Osos Valley Road.
• Amend the contract recently awarded to Leo Tidwell Excavating (Specification 97-06)
for installing traffic signal monitoring system interconnect conduit by$11,339 to install
fiber optic conduit from the Headquarters Fire Station to Beebee at South Street.
• Enter into an agreement with WorldCom, Tidwell or other vendor in an estimated
amount of $5,000 for installing conduit from Elk's Lane at .Prado Road into the
Corporation Yard.
■ Authorizing the CAO to approve and issue bid and request for proposal (RFP) documents
for installing fiber to the Corporation Yard, Headquarters Fire Station, Fire Station No. 3,
Fire Station No. 4, Golf Course and City/County Library, and upgrading data
communication management equipment system-wide; and to award contracts if within
budget.
■ Appropriating $220,500 for installing supplemental conduit and fiber funded as follows:
General Fund—$172,800; Water Fund—$13,000; and Sewer Fund—$34,700.
REPORT-IN-BRIEF
The 1997-99 Financial Plan includes$200,000 in fimding to make a variety of improvements to the
City's wide area network. However, based on unique opportunities and needs presenting
themselves at this time, we recommend taking a more comprehensive approach than we originally
planned.
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Council Agenda Report—Wide Area Network Improvements
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What are these opportunities and needs?
■ Conduit installation. WorldCom is installing a major intercontinental fiber line from
China to America. This will come ashore near Montana de Oro, and ultimately connect to a
major communications port located along the railroad right-of-way near the Brickyard
Shopping Center via Los Osos Valley Road and other streets in San Luis Obispo. As part
of this project, we have an outstanding opportunity to cooperatively work with WorldCom
in installing City conduit to a number of key locations at a very low cost. However,
WorldCom is ready to do this work now, and needs a timely response from the City.
Additionally, we recently awarded a contract for conduit installation as part of a traffic
signal interconnection project. We have the opportunity to add conduit.installation as part
of this project at a very reasonable cost that will provide other critical conduit connections
in conjunction with the WorldCom project.
Provided in Exhibit A is a map showing the proposed conduit and fiber installation project.
■ Data communications management equipment We have funding for upgrades to our
data communications management equipment and on-site cabling — but we need to know
what kind of"backbone" they will be connected to in order to best design and configure it:
fiber, telephone lease lines, radios or other links. This argues for completing as many fiber
connections as possible before going forward with this equipment upgrade. Timing is also
critical in this case because of"Year 2000"vulnerabilities in our existing equipment.
■ Public safety system. We recently completed installing our new public safety system.
While "Phase 1"of this project focused on police applications,there are a number of ties to
all of the fire stations via the dispatch system. Building on this, we plan to implement the
new fire applications as "Phase 2" of the public safety system in the first quarter of 1999
(and again, there are Year 2000 concerns here, as well). This means we need secure,
reliable, and fast data communications to all of our fire stations over the wide area network.
■ Most efficient,cost effective approach. Coordinating all the contracts and players for this
type of project is a very complex undertaking. Planning, designing and.scheduling this
work will simply done much more efficiently — and cost effectively — the more pieces we
put together at one time.
DISCUSSION
Background
The City's wide area network We are very fortunate to have a reliable wide area network that
connects six local area networks, 250 workstations and 350 users at fifteen City facilities. There
are a number of productivity benefits as a result. Through electronic mail, scheduling, and
sharing of reports and other documents, it significantly improves communication by seamlessly
bringing together staff located at sites spread throughout the City. It also makes it possible to
share other key data throughout the organization from our land use, GIS, public safety and
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financial management systems. The wide area network also serves as our entry point to the
Internet for most City staff. In short, the wide area network is the"infrastructure backbone" that
makes a truly organization-wide information system possible.
Future requirements. A reliable, secure and fast wide area network will be even more important
in the future as its use by City staff increases and we implement planned improvements in our
GIS, public safety, financial management and records management systems. This is especially
true for data-intensive graphic applications like GIS and our planned document imaging system.
Components of the wide area network. As summarized below, there are three basic components
to the City's wide area network: local area networks, data communication links, and data
communications management equipment.
■ Local area networks. This includes the local file server, network software and on-site
cabling that ties workstations together at the site. We currently have six local area
network file servers located at City Hall, 955 Morro, Police Station, Headquarters Fire
Station, Parks & Recreation Administrative Offices and the Corporation Yard. Other
sites are directly connected to the wide area network through one of these file servers.
■ Data communication links. Each local area network needs a data communications link
tying it to the other local area networks. The most simple link is a modem connected
over regular phone lines. For our wide area network, however, we need data links that
are faster, more reliable„and in the case of our public safety applications, more secure
than a simple modem connection would provide. Our wide area network uses three direct
data communication links—fiber, leased phone lines or radio—summarized as follows:
Sites
Direedy Connected to the Wide Area Network
Connected Via Fiber Connected Via Leased"T-1"Pbone Lines
• City Hall • Headquarters Fire Station
• Utilities Resource Conservation Offices • Corporation Yard
• Computer Training Room • Water Reclamation Facility—See Note
• 955 Morro Connected Via Radio("SreezCom")
• Palm and Marsh Street Garages • Fire Station No.2
• Parking Administrative Offices • Fire Station No. 3
• Police Station • Fire Station No.4
• Parks&Recreation Admin Offices • Swim Center—See Note
1w Note: The water reclamation facility(and other shops and buildings)is connected to the corporation yard via f ber;
however,since these connect to the wide area network via the corporation yard,its connection is really via the Pacific
Bell T-I lease line. Likewise,the swim center has a fiber connection to Fire Station No. 3,but this site is connected to
the wide area network via the "BreezCom"radio system.
It is important to note that as a system, the wide area network is no stronger than its
weakest link. For example, even though City Hall is connected to the wide area network
via fiber, no site will have communications with any of the fire stations if the T-1 line to
the Headquarters Fire Station goes down. As indicated above, sites are "daisy-chained"
together, and communications are no better than their primary tie to the system.
Council Agenda Report—Wide Area Network Improvements
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At this time,our weakest links in the system are the BreezCom connections—they are not
stable, and often go down several times each day. This means rebooting workstations
each time this occurs. While the T-1 connections are generally reliable (but still subject
to Pacific Bell downtime), they have significantly lower speeds than the fiber or
BreezCom connections. As discussed below, from a performance and ongoing cost
perspective, fiber connections are the preferred data communication link.
■ Data communications management equipment. Electronic components are needed to
manage data communications over the site connection links. These can include hubs,
switches and routers that manage and segment traffic flow— for example, ensuring that an
email message sent from the Corporation Yard correctly arrives at the intended
workstation desktop at 955 Morro. Similarly, these electronics can also manage the on-
site local area networks, and this requires configuring the equipment to match the speed
and capabilities of the on-site cabling plant. This equipment also allows monitoring and
system back-ups at all sites from one central location. This also means more cost
effective and timely resolution of system problems, as technical staff can diagnose
problems from the computer room — and often prevent or solve them depending on the
circumstances—rather than losing time(and productivity)traveling to other sites.
Other sites not directly connected to the wide area network. There are a number of City sites
with computer workstations that are not directly connected to the wide area network. These
include the water treatment plant at Stenner Canyon, whale rock reservoir, downtown police
office and golf course. However, remote access via modem is available to the wide area network
from these sites as well as by other authorized users.
The City's fiber optic communication network strategy. As noted above, fiber is the preferred
data connection link for our wide area network. Over any other option, it provides the most
reliability, highest performance, fastest speed, lowest ongoing cost, and most flexibility for other
uses(such as voice or video communications). On the other hand, it is usually more expensive to
initially put in place.
Installing fiber entails two distinct steps: installing conduit and pulling fiber. Both steps can be
done at the same time; or phased — first installing conduit (perhaps as part of another trenching
project), and then returning at a later time to install fiber.
Recognizing the importance of fiber connectivity — and its related costs— in May of 1996 the
Council adopted a strategy for creating a City fiber optic network (Exhibit B) that sets forth an
important concept: by identifying key City facilities that should be part of the City's fiber
backbone, we can enhance our ability to coordinate work with other City projects and with other
private and public sector agencies. This is especially critical in installing conduit. As noted
above, we can always pull fiber later,but an open trench for other work—that is going where we
want a future fiber connection—is a unique cost-saving opportunity.
To date, our efforts in following this strategy have been extraordinarily successful. Virtually all
of our conduit installations have been built as cooperative projects, summarized as follows:
Council Agenda Report—Wide Area Network Improvements
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■ City projects. Fiber connectivity to the Police Station,Parks &Recreation Administrative
Offices, Parking Administrative Offices, parking garages, Swim Center and Water
Reclamation Facility has been made possible by coordinating with water, sewer and
traffic signal projects.
■ Cable TV. Fiber connectivity to 955 Morro, and conduit installation to the City/County
Library, have been made possible by working with Sonic Cable.
■ GST/Call America. The conduit connecting the Headquarters Fire Station to 955 Morro
(which makes possible all of the other fiber connections recommended in this report) was
installed as a cooperative venture with GST/Call America. As authorized by the Council
in September of 1997, GST/Call America installed City-owned conduit in their trench
along this route (see Exhibit A) as part of major community-wide fiber project they were
undertaking at that time. The cost to the City was $59,000.
While the adopted strategy does not preclude sharing fiber owned by others, there is a bias for a
City-owned system for several reasons:
■ Data security. This is especially of concern for our public safety applications. While
there are hardware and software solutions to mitigate data security concerns, these have
both initial and ongoing cost implications.
■ Cost sharing, ongoing support and data management. While not impossible to resolve,
sharing fiber with others introduces added complexity in determining "fair" cost sharing,
ongoing system management, and added hardware and software that will be needed to
manage the shared system. This decision needs to be made on a case-by-case basis,
weighing the benefits and the costs—both initial and ongoing.
At this point, it is important to note that we are very close to completing our fiber network: most
of the conduit and fiber — or funding for planned improvements — are already in place. With
approval of the proposed workscope in this report, there will be very few sites remaining that
will not be connected by City-owned fiber to our wide area network.
Proposed Workscope Overview
There are three distinct projects proposed in this report as part of the overall workscope:
■ Installing conduit Conduit is already in place for the Headquarters Fire Station,
City/County Library and Fire Station No. 3. The proposed conduit work would add
conduit for the Corporation Yard,Fire Station No. 4 and Laguna Lake Golf Course.
■ Pulling fiber. Using existing and proposed conduit installations, this work would pull
fiber to the Headquarters Fire Station, City/County Library, Corporation Yard, Fire
Station No. 3, Fire Station No. 4 and Laguna Lake Golf Course.
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■ Upgrading data communications management equipment and on-site cabling. These
system-wide improvements have already been approved in the 1997-99 Financial Plan.
Once we know the "backbone" they will manage, we can better design and configure
these improvements.
The following provides additional information about each of these projects.
Installing Conduit to the Corporation Yard,Fire Station No. 4 and Golf Course
As outlined in Exhibit A, we have an excellent opportunity to install conduit for future fiber
connections to three City sites at a very low cost by combining this work with other City and
private sector projects: Corporation Yard, Fire Station No. 4 and the Golf Course. Additionally,
this will provide us with future traffic signal interconnection opportunities from Madonna Road
west to the City limits on Los Osos Valley Road.
As detailed below,there are three sub-projects in making these conduit connections: cooperative
project with WorldCom, contract amendment with an existing conduit project, and a minor
project that will be needed to complete the conduit work.
WorldCom Cooperative Project
Background. As noted above, WorldCom is undertaking a major intercontinental
communications project connecting China to the United States, with San Luis Obispo as the
American tie-in point. As part of this project, WorldCom is proposing to install City-owned
conduit in their trench at a total cost of $30,000. Specifically, as shown in Exhibit A, their
proposal will install conduit over 5.5 kilometers (3.3 miles) from Beebee at South Street to the
western City limits on Los Osos Valley Road. This is a very low cost of$5.50 per meter ($1.75
per foot). To do this as a separate City project would cost about $275,000. In exchange, they
want to use the City's 5 inch conduit located on the Elk's Lane Bridge. There are no conflicts
with City plans in allowing them to do so. In addition to the WorldCom cost for installing
conduit, the City must provide our own pull box boxes (8 to 10 will be needed) at a cost of about
$1,500. WorldCom is ready to start this work; they are waiting for authorization from us to
include our work in their specifications.
Recommendation. This cooperative approach will allow us to make significant progress in
implementing our fiber strategy at an extremely low cost using an approach previously approved
by the Council in a similar agreement with GST/Call America. Accordingly, we recommend that
the Council authorize the CAO to enter into an agreement with WorldCom in the amount of
$30,000 plus use of the City's 5 inch conduit across the Elk's Lane Bridge in exchange for
sharing their trench and installing City conduit from Beebee at South Street to the western City
limits on Los Osos Valley Road, subject to similar terms as provided in the GST/Call America
agreement.
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Traffic Signal Interconnect Project
Background. On July 7, 1998, the Council approved plans and specifications for a traffic signal
monitoring system interconnect conduit along State Highway 1 (Santa Rosa), State Route 227
(Madonna, Higuera, South, Broad) and other City street locations per specification No. 97-06.
At that time, the Council also authorized the CAO to advertise for bids and to award the contract
if the lowest responsible bid was less than the engineer's estimate of $203,000. The CAO
awarded this contract on September 16, 1998 to Leo Tidwell Excavating in the amount of
$183,730.
Conduit to corporation yard — bid alternates. In accordance with our adopted fiber network
strategy, Public Works designed a fiber optic conduit route from the Headquarters Fire Station on
Santa Barbara Street to the Corporation Yard on Prado Road as alternate bid items on this
specification. Two alternates were identified, which were developed before the WorldCom
project came to our attention through the encroachment permit process:
■ Alternate A-1 would run from South at Broad (the Headquarters Fire Station) to Beebee
at South. This follows the same route as the interconnect project. Since this is a State-
grant funded project, we were not allowed to share conduit, but we were allowed to share
trenching. The cost of this alternate is $11,339.
■ Alternate A-2 would trench and install additional conduit continuing from Beebee at
South down South Higuera to Elk's Lane into the Corporation Yard. The cost for this
alternate segment is $42,330, or $53,669 for the entire conduit connection from the
Headquarters Fire Station to the Corporation Yard. However, this would duplicate the
conduit installed under the WorldCom agreement from BeeBee at South to Higuera at
Elk's Lane.
Recommendation. Most of the work under Alternate A-2 is duplicated by the WorldCom project,
and as such, is not needed. However, Alternate A-1 is required to complete a segment of this
project not covered by the WorldCom proposal. Accordingly, we recommend authorizing the
CAO to amend the contract recently awarded to Leo Tidwell Excavating for installing traffic signal
monitoring system interconnect conduit by $11,339 to install fiber optic conduit from the
Headquarters Fire Station to Beebee at South Street.
Minor Project—El Mercado @ Elk's Lane to the Corporation Yard
Background. With a combined WorldCom/Tidwell project, there will still be a small section
remaining of conduit to be completed (about 250 feet) from Prado Road at Elk's Lane into the
Corporation Yard. (This work would have been included in Tidwell's Alternate A-2.)
Completing this segment will cost about $5,000. Depending on cost and their interest in doing
this work, either WorldCom or Tidwell is a likely vendor to do this work, and we would
approach them first for contract amendments. In the event this does not work-out for some
reason,then we would let the contract separately to another contractor.
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Recommendation. We recommend authorizing the CAO to enter into an agreement with
WorldCom, Tidwell or other vendor in an estimated amount of$5,000 for installing conduit from
Elk's Lane at Pradq Road into the Corporation Yard.
Installing Fiber and Communication Management Equipment
Installing fiber. With approval of the proposed conduit installations,we will be able to make fiber
connections to a number of key City facilities:
• Corporation Yard • Fire Station No. 4
• Water Reclamation Facility (via its • Swim Center(via its connection to Fire Station
connection to the Corporation Yard) No.3)
• Headquarters Fire Station • City/County Library
• Fire Station No. 3 • Golf Course
The 1997-99 Financial Plan includes funding in the amount of$50,000 for the Headquarters Fire
Station and City/County Library component. Included in this amount is $12,500 for a data-
secure "fire wall" allowing us to directly connect to the County's information systems. As
summarized below, the total estimated fiber installation cost is $172,000; adjusting for the cost
of the fire wall, an additional $134,500 will be needed to complete all of the work.
connectedFiber Route site Distance
• Fire Station No.3 to RR tracks(Laurel to Orcutt); Fire Station No. 3 and 7,900 39,500
RR tracks to Headquarters Fire Station(Orcutt to Swim Center
Broad)
• Headquarters Fire Station to Corporation Yard Corporation Yard and 9,600 48,000
(South to BeeBee to Bridge to Higuera to Elks Water Reclamation
Lane to Prado) Facility
• Corporation Yard to Fire Station No.4(Prado to Fire Station No.4 7,400 37,000
Elks Lane to El Mercado under Fwy to Madonna)
• Fire Station No.4 to Laguna Golf Course Golf Course 3,100 15,500
(Madonna to LOUR)
• Headquarters Fire Station to City Hall(Broad to Headquarters Fire 5,900 29,500
Chorro to Palm to 955 Morro) Station
• City Hall to City/County Library(Cross Palm) City/County Library 500 2,500
Total Fiber 172,000
"Fire Wall"Connection to County System 12,500
Available Funding (50,000)
Net Cost $ 134,500
Installing data communication management equipment As discussed above, in addition to the
conduit and fiber, electronic components are needed to manage data communications over the
fiber backbone between sites. These electronics — along with the on-site cabling plant — also
manage the on-site local area networks.
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Funds are available in the 1997-99 Financial Plan in the amount of $150,000 to make
improvements to the City's data communications equipment and on-site cabling, and no
additional funding.is needed for this work ($100,000 in the 1997-99 capital improvement plan
and $50,000 in the Information Systems operating budget). There are three main reasons why
upgrading our data communications equipment and on-site cabling system-wide was approved in
the 1997-99 Financial Plan:
■ Our current equipment and cabling configuration was installed in 1993. There have been
huge changes in wide area network technology over the last five years, and we need to
stay compatible with these changes.
■ While our 1993 investment has served us well, our use of the wide area network has
increased significantly since it was installed; and as discussed above, even greater use is
on the near horizon. We need to do this upgrade to accommodate both current and future
data traffic demands.
■ Because of the age of our current equipment, we have Year 2000 vulnerabilities in a
"mission-critical"part of our wide area network infrastructure. This upgrade will address
this concern.
However, before we can best configure the equipment for this upgrade and prepare RFP
documents, we need to know how it will be connected to the wide area network — fiber,
telephone lines, BreezCom or other connections. With a Council decision on additional conduit
and fiber,we will be able to move forward on this project.
Bid and RFP process. Because it is unlikely that the same vendors will do this work,the fiber and
equipment installation will be let as separate contracts, although we will process them concurrently.
The fiber portion will be a relatively straightforward bid process, and Public Works and
Information Systems will work closely together on this. Because of the technology issues involved,
the data communication management equipment portion will use an RFP process where we will
consider factors other than price in determining the best overall value to the City in awarding the
contract.
Recommendation. Making these wide area network improvements in conjunction with each other
will achieve Year 2000 compliance in our data communications infrastructure, and result in
improved system performance and reliability in a cost effective manner. As such, we recommend
authorizing the CAO to: approve and issue bid and RFP documents for installing fiber
connections to the Corporation Yard, Headquarters Fire Station, Fire Station No. 3, Fire Station
No. 4, Golf Course and City/County Library, and upgrading data communications management
equipment system-wide; and to award contracts if within budget.
Why Should We Move Forward at this Time?
As discussed above, there are several reasons why we should not defer this work to the mid-year
budget review or 1999-01 Financial Plan process:
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■ We are ready to go forward with upgrading our data communications equipment and on-site
cabling,but we need to know the wide area network"backbone"before we can proceed.
■ We have a unique window of opportunity to "partner" with WorldCom and amend our
current contract with Tidwell that will significantly enhance our wide area network, at a
very low cost,but we need to act now to do so.
■ Our new public safety system—especially as we bring on the fire applications to all stations
in the first quarter of 1999—requires secure,reliable and fast data communications.
■ We need to promptly address Year 2000 vulnerabilities in our wide area network.
■ Integrating all of these aspects into one project concept is the most efficient, cost effective
approach.
Future Connections
There are a number of options for connecting other sites to the wide area network in the future.
For example, fiber optic conduit is included as part of the major transmission line project
currently under construction to Cal Poly; this will provide for future fiber connectivity to the
water treatment plant. There may be cooperative opportunities similar to the GST/Call America
and WorldCom projects for other sites, and our Cable TV franchise may provide us with
additional connectivity options. And given its closeness to City Hall, we will probably want to
install a fiber connection to the new Utilities Offices on Morro Street. These will be considered
as part of the 1999-01 Financial Plan and as cooperative opportunities present themselves.
Opportunities to Share the Fiber System and Recover Costs
There may be opportunities to share our fiber system and recover some of our costs. We have
already received a request. from ZiaTech (who is located near our existing fiber conduit
connecting the Swim Center to Fire Station No. 3 along Southwood) to do this, and we plan to
present a recommendation to the Council on this as a"one-time issue"within the next month.
Based on our initial review of this in light of ZiaTech's request, and our preliminary assessment
of practices in other cities, this is a very complex issue, and raises a number of major policy and
technology issues, including:
■ How entrepreneurial do we want to be? Do we want to compete with the private sector?
Would we limit access to just other governmental agencies? How about non-profits?
■ If we share,how do we ensure that we retain adequate capacity for the City's needs?
■ How do we market or determine access to the system?
■ Technologically,how viable is this concept, and how would we manage it?
■ Considering the costs of managing the system — and the risks — does this really make
sense?
We believe these are important questions to ask, but we also believe they are best answered
within the context of a broader telecommunications plan. For example, with a strong fiber
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backbone, it may make sense for us to explore installing our own phone switch rather than
paying monthly charges for Pacific Bell Centrex lines. While there are a number of operational
advantages of using Centrex over a City-owned system, the cost of the off-premise phone lines
we would need to seamlessly connect all of our City locations via a City-owned switch has been
a major cost advantage in using Centrex. This may no longer be the case once the proposed fiber
improvements are in place.
Since our current information technology master plan covers four years (1995 to 1999), the
1997-97 Financial Plan calls for updating this plan in 1999 as part of 1997-01 capital
improvement plan. Because of this, it is likely that we will be proposing this update as part of
the 1999-01 Financial Plan. If approved by the Council at that time, our telecommunications
strategy— including opportunities for sharing our fiber network and cost recovery — will be part
of this update.
CONCURRENCES
The MIS Steering Committee and Public Works concur with these recommendations.
FISCAL EMIPACT
Project costs. As summarized below, $200,000 has already been approved in the 1997-99
Financial Plan to install fiber to the Headquarters Fire Station and City/County Library, and to
make other wide area network improvements. We recommend supplementing this amount by
$220,500 in order to connect the Corporation Yard, Water Reclamation Facility, Fire Station No.
3, Fire Station No. 4, Swim Center and Golf Course to the wide area network via fiber,
summarized as follows:
Available Funds Project Cost Variance'
Conduit Installation
Corporation Yard 47,800 47,800
Fire Station No.4 and Golf Course - - -
Fiber Installation
Headquarters Fire Station 35,000 29,500 (5,500)
City/County Library(Including"Fire Wall") 15,000 15,000
Corporation Yard/Water Reclamation Facility - 48,000 48,000
Fire Station No.3/Swim Center - 39,500 39,500
Fire Station No. 4 - 37,000 37,000
Golf Course - 15,500 15,500
Data Communications Management Equipment 150,000 150,000 -
Total 200,000 382,300 182,300
Contingencies @ 10% - 38,200 38,200
Total $ 200,000 Is 420,500 S 220,500
Project funding. Based on the water and sewer users at the Corporation Yard and Water
Reclamation Facility, and the $105,400 cost of installing conduit and fiber to this site ($47,800 for
the conduit, $48,000 for the fiber, and 10% for contingencies), we recommend funding
supplemental project costs as follows:
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Pro'ect Fundinz Summmy
Corporation YardlWater Reclamation Facility Other
System Users Penoanrt Cost Allocation sites Total
Water 9 12% 13,000 13,000
Sewer 24 33% 34,700 34,700
General Fund 40 55% 57,700 115,100 172,800
Total 73 100% $ 105,400 1 $ 115,100 1 $ 220,500
Ongoing cost savings. The proposed project will save $4,300 annually in lease line costs. As
noted above, while fiber is more expensive to install, one of its advantages is low ongoing costs.
Each T-1 lease line costs $180 per month. (This was recently reduced from $1,200 per month.)
We currently lease two lines from Pacific Bell for the Headquarters Fire Station and Corporation
Yard. In short, while the purpose of the proposed work is to improve wide area network
performance,it will reduce ongoing costs.
Impact on fund balance and working capital. Adequate fund balance and working capital is
available in the General, Water and Sewer Funds to fund the proposed work and retain balances at
policy levels.
ALTERNATIVES
■ Do not proceed at all. Funding has already been approved for installing fiber to the
Headquarters Fire Station and City/County Library, and upgrading data communications
management equipment and on-site cabling. At a minimum, we should move forward on
these improvements. However, there is some risk to this approach, since we would
design and configure the new equipment around our current wide area network backbone.
■ Proceed with only with currently approved projects — defer consideration of all
other improvements to mid-year or the 1999-01 Financial Plan process. This would
mean missing a unique opportunity to partner with WorldCom and amend our contract
with Tidwell in installing important pieces of our fiber conduit backbone. Additionally,
as noted above, there is some risk to this approach, since we would design and configure
the new equipment around our current wide area network backbone.
■ Reduce the scope of the proposed supplemental works. There are several ways to do
this: limit the supplemental work to just the conduit components; or limit fiber
installation to fewer sites. However, given the unique opportunities to significantly
improve our wide area network at a very low cost, and the cost-effectiveness of doing this
as one project,we do not recommend this option.
EXHIBITS
A. Map showing proposed fiber optic routes
B. Adopted fiber optic network strategy
G:MIS PoliciesVide Area Network Improvements—Council Agenda Report
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Exhibit
council R
j aGEnba nEpoin
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
FROM: Michael McCluskey, Public Works Director
SUBJECT: Fiber Optic Communication Networirs
CAO RECONEM ENDATION
Conceptually approve a strategy for creating a City Fiber Optic Network
DISCUSSION
In August of 1993 the first fiber optic network line was installed connecting City Hall with 955
Morro Street,the parking garages at Marsh and Palm, and the Parks and Recreation Department
at 860 Pacific Street. As a result of that connection, substantial increases in communication
speeds and efficiency were achieved by all employees and operations so connected. Additionally
cost savings occurred, in that existing phone systems which had previously been used for
communications systems connections were discontinued.
From that beginning, a very elementary form of fiber optic master planning was initiated. It was
realized that a fiber optic network which connected all City facilities would allow instantaneous
communication amongst all voice and data communications, with the ability in the future to add
video transfer capabilities. While the initial installation was done in a joint trench with a City
owned water line project, it was also realized that other City capital improvement projects would
be forthcoming at which time the opportunity would arise to place fiber optic conduits during that
construction project. By selecting key capital improvement projects for installation of fiber optic
conduits, a network of conduits could be in place that would eventually connect all City facilities.
During the summer of 1995, contacts were made with the San Luis Obispo Unified School
District. The School District wished to have a fiber optic network interconnecting all its school
facilities and volunteered to work with the City in a cooperative manner, and likewise the City
volunteered to work with the School District in a cooperative manner to allow the same conduit
to interactively connect School District facilities and City facilities.
At the same time as staff contacted the School District, initial contact was made with officials
of San Luis Obispo County. The County felt an advantage to being connected to the City Hall
from its Courthouse facilities, but that no other advantages could be realized with the remainder
of its facilities. Thus, City staff began working cooperatively with School District staff to
formulate ideas and plans linking capital improvement projects with fiber optic conduit
placement. The School District has since negotiated a fiber optic contract with Sonic Cable
Company. City staff learned of this contract only after the District and Sonic's plan became
public. In a followup contact with School officials,they have indicated their intention to involve
other agencies once the proposal with Sonic is fully resolved.
105_1 ��
Council Agenda Report- Fber Optic
Page 2
To date a number of installations have taken place with various projects, and a number of
installations are either planned or in the planning stage for installation. A complete network is
nearly planned. Some "gaps" in the network have been identified, as some areas of town simply
do not have upcoming capital improvement projects. Until specific fiber optic.projects are built
or capital improvement projects are identified, these will remain as gaps in a future network.
A map showing the existing and proposed fiber optic conduit locations, is attached as Exhibit A.
Existing conduits are shown, as well as future conduit installations associated with known capital
improvement projects. Areas where no known capital improvement projects are located, where
fiber connections will be needed, are identified as "gaps". A description of the existing conduits
and future known conduits is also shown on Exhibit A and are marked I-22; a description of the
gaps identified are described by letters A-E. As can be seen from the timing associated with the
known projects, it is anticipated that major City facilities would be linked via fiber optics by the
year 1998. However due to the remaining gaps which would be in existence at that time, all City
facilities would not be totally interconnected. Although not requested or anticipated at this time,
certainly at some future date there will arise the need for a specific capital improvement project
to complete specific gaps in order to complete the network and tie all City facilities together.
Future connections to other government bodies such as Cal Poly, Caltrans,Water Quality Control
Board, etc. should be a goal of a future community-based network: A great benefit of such
interconnection, besides easier communication, would be the sharing of GIS files which are very
large and often redundant. However, careful attention will need to be directed to assure each
agency full security of its information and data before such connections are made.
Staff believes that the City is pursuing a wise policy of slowly and steadily adding other City
facilities to the fiber network as economically as possible,via combining fiber optic conduits with
selected capital projects. There is no need for an immediate connection, but a general recognition
that this is the communication pathway of the future and the City needs to plan for it.
No formal Council action is requested at this time, other than to concur with strategy and
philosophy to date. At some future date, funding for a specific fiber capital project to close an
identified gap may be requested.
FISCAL IMPACT
Making a fiber optic system operational involves three components: a) conduit which carries
fiber cable; b) fiber cable from site to site; and c) equipment at each site to transmit and receive
the information. Due to the incremental approach/philosophy, the cost of conduit installation is
usually just the cost of the conduit itself, as trenching, backfill and pavement repair costs are
borne by the main project. Because sites are added one at a time, the amount of actual fiber
cable (and its cost) are minimized and only one send/receive unit is needed since that site is tying
into an established system. Most costs to date have been borne by the general fund, while
significant contributions have been made by the waxer, sewer, and parking enterprise funds.
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105-3
L E G E N D
OI CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF LAUREL @ JOHNSON SIGNAL PROJECT SUMMER 96
O2 CONDUIT -EX-PART OF JOHNSON PARK PROJECT SUMMER 95
OCONDUIT -NEW-PART OF SWIM CENTER REDO SUMMER 96
OCONDUIT -NEW-UNKNOWN
O CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF SCHOOL DISTRICT REDO SINSHIEMER SCHOOL
O6 CONDUIT -EX-PART OF PHONE CO. PROJECT TO SCHOOL MAINTENANCE FACILITY
O CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF BIKE PATH PROJECT SUMMER 96
O CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF JENNIFER STREET BRIDGE SUMMER 96
O9 CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF SIGNAL INTERCONNECT PROJECT C/T SUMMER 96
30 CONDUIT -EX-PART OF ELKS LANE PROJECT JAN. 96
11 CONDUIT -NEW-PRADO RD. OVERLAY SUMMER 96 OR 97
12 CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF DOWNTOWN WATER PROJECT 1994
13 CONDUIT -EX-PART OF P a R ADMINISTRATION BLDG. WINTER 95-96
14 CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF SIGNAL INTERCONNECT PROJECT C/T SUMMER 96
IS CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF U.D. #13 SUMMER 97
16 CONDUIT -NEW- PART OF WATER TRANSMISSION PROJECT SUMMMER 97
17 CONDUIT -EX-DATE UNKNOWN CALIF. MILL TO MONTEREY
IB CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF CITY/SHA SIGNAL INTERCONNECT PROJECT SUMMER 96
ALTERNATE: FROM MILL TO GROVE
19 CONDUIT -NEW- PART OF TK ANNEXATION -TIME: UNKNOWN
20 CONDUIT -NEW-PART OF WATER RE-USE PROJECT SUMMER 1998
21 CONDUIT -NEW- PART OF WATER RE-USE PROJECT SUMMER 1998
22 CONDUIT -EX-NEW PLACEMENT OF FIBER BY IS STAFF SUMMER 96?
■ CITY FACILITIES AL SCHOOL FACILITIES • OTHER PUBLIC FACILITIES
C
FACILITIES GAP ® CONDUIT EXISTING CONDUIT PLANNED
O HIGHLAND GAP-POSSIBLE SPECIAL PROJECT NEED C/P OK
OB P 8 R TO FS kl GAP-ROUTE UNKNOWN-POSSIBLE U.D. #14 BROAD ST.
CO FS 441 TO BIKE PATH GAP -ROUTE UNKNOWN
OD HIGUERA GAP-POSSIBLY DO WITH CITY FORCES?
y OE BIKE PATH PHASE II GAP =- CONNECT TO TRANSIT CENTER?
a
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105-4 ��/�