Hutchinson selects BBT platform: Minnesota Independent among first to deploy FTTC system

Hutchinson Telephone, a 12,000-line Independent located 60 miles west of Minneapolis, will deploy a fiber-to-the-curb system to bring telephone and high-speed data service to its 10,000 customers.

In announcing the system, Hutchinson became the first Independent to commit to deploying BroadBand Technologies' FLX platform. Hutchinson also said it does not intend to do a trial with the system and will move directly to deployment in select areas.

BBT's FLX system consists of a host digital terminal (HDT) in the central office and an optical network unit that serves 16 to 24 homes. An OC-3 typically connects the HDT to an asynchronous transfer mode switch or Ethernet router, depending on the service, said Don McCullough, director of marketing for BBT.

At maximum speed, the platform will let Hutchinson deliver a data stream up to 51 Mb/s to end users. However, the telco more likely will offer service at a much slower access speed, said Tom Dahl, director of engineering for Hutchinson.

"We're going to try to blend it with frame relay, so we'll start low, maybe 56 kb/s. It will increment up, though, depending on the customers' requirements," he said.

Initially, Hutchinson will deploy service using BBT's NetFLX Ethernet modem, which operates as a self-contained 10BaseT adapter. For higher-speed service, BBT has co-developed a card with Intel called StarFLX, which can pull data through the network at 51 Mb/s.

Hutchinson now provides Internet access service on a dial-up basis and through ISDN connections. Because Hutchinson's territory includes large commercial customers such as 3M and Hutchinson Technology, a disk drive parts vendor, the telco will roll out high-speed data services relatively quickly.

"We've got all kinds of things we think we can use it for. The sky really is the limit on this," said Chief Executive Officer Walter Clay. He declined to say whether the telco would deploy video services over the same network. Should Hutchinson opt to provide video, though, much of the required network infrastructure would be in place.

For BBT, Hutchinson's commitment signals a new beginning for the FLX platform, said McCullough. Previously, most industry analysts pegged the system as a solution only for big telcos. BBT did little to dispel that image, using its high-profile trials with Bell Atlantic as an example of the platform's capabilities.

"We saw [Hutchinson] as vindication that it wasn't just big companies like [Bell companies] that could make a go of it," said McCullough. In fact, BBT now is producing the FLX platform to serve increments of 1000 homes, he said.