Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007 - (Page 15)

TECHNOLOGY Adding Value and Home Sales with Fiber Optics Developers are realizing that increased bandwidth has an immediate payback – and realistic profit opportunities – with fiber implementation. By David St. John I n the world of real estate development, master-planned communities have long been known as places where one finds “the good life,” including amenities such as golf courses, community swimming pools, park land, and tennis courts. While those features continue to be popular, developers are discovering that many prospective buyers are now craving a new type of amenity – and that is connectivity. Call it access to the latest communications technology – whether it’s fast internet, online gaming or Video-onDemand. From a developer’s perspective, it really means one thing – deploying high-bandwidth fiber networks all the way to each home in the communities they build. “Fiber has quickly become an amenity homebuyers are seeking out in communities across the nation,” says George L. Kiser, Managing Partner of Kellswater Bridge Development, which is creating a 400home community in Kannapolis, North Carolina. “In fact, one of the best sales tools we have is letting prospective buyers know that we have Fiber to the Home (FTTH). Buyers are impressed to be moving into a community that is ready for virtually unlimited bandwidth.” Recent improvements in the technology now make it possible to connect very high bandwidth fiber cable, at reasonable cost, directly to homes – thereby enabling transmission speeds 20 to 30 times faster than the fast speeds available today over copperbased DSL or cable modem. This is particularly true for greenfield developments where installation of fiberoptic networks is normally a simpler task than it is for overbuilding established neighborhoods. And the potential bandwidth for installed fiber is almost unlimited, as improved technologies keep finding ways to get more bandwidth out of the fiber. “We often refer to Fiber to the Home as ‘next generation’ broadband, but in reality there is no ‘next’ about it. This technology has already arrived, and consumers are loving it,” says Joe Savage, President of the Fiber-to-the-Home Council, an industry group. Indeed, nearly two million American households are now receiving internet, video and/or voice services over direct fiber optic connections. The number of FTTH households has doubled in each of the past two years, and is poised for further growth. While Verizon has received a great deal of attention for its leadership in FTTH through its Fiber Optic Service (FiOS), one of the leading markets for new FTTH networks has been in master-planned communities, like the one Kiser is developing in North Carolina. Kiser says an increasing number of potential homebuyers know that highbandwidth applications such as HDTV, Video-on-Demand, and online gaming mean that today’s networks are not going to be suitable for tomorrow – unless, that is, there is a fiber connection all the way to the home. www.LandDevelopmentToday.com 15 http://www.LandDevelopmentToday.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007

Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007 Contents Our Voice: Teaching and Learning Your Voice: Reader Response Editorial Board A 52-Mile Taking Fiber to the Front Doors of America Educators Incorporating Sustainability Land Planning: The Truth about Sprawl Irrigation: Communication Key Wastewater: Many Challenges Determine Sewer Options Regulation: Changing by State, Region, and Municipality Risk Management: Construction Defect Claims Recommended Reading Products/Services Showcase Advertiser Index Calendar Classifieds The Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - September 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.