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Early Investment in Oxnard, Calif.’s Broadband Buildout Begin to Pay Off

The city's fiber-optic network extends for over 35 miles and is used to connect traffic signals, city facilities and internal city services.

Eight years ago, when the city of Oxnard, Calif., was laying the fiber-optic infrastructure for smart traffic lights, IT Director Keith Brooks had a thought: “I suggested that since we were already trenching, we triple the amount of fiber we put in.”

Little did Brooks know that his prescient decision would bear fruit in the form of gigabit-speed Internet coming in the foreseeable future to Oxnard, whose 200,000 residents make it Ventura County’s most populous city. It also gives city leaders something to tout when trying to retain existing businesses and recruit new ones, Brooks told Techwire in an interview.

“This network will be the foundational infrastructure investment for the city that will provide high-speed Internet services for businesses and residents, as well as countless modern smart city initiatives,” he said in a city news release. City officials note that those developments could ultimately improve the city’s businesses, health-care institutions, education, economic development and the implementation of smart city and IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

Oxnard’s fiber-optic network extends for more than 35 miles throughout the city and is used to connect traffic signals, city facilities and internal city services.

This month, the city contracted with Denver-based Magellan Advisors to perform a market analysis and make strategic recommendations to the city on building out a high-speed fiber optic Internet overlay. Santa Ana-based Iteris will do a thorough inventory of city assets and advise on which of those assets can play a role in the fiber-optic expansion.

Once a financial analysis is done, the city will decide which way to go with its beefed-up digital capacity.

“The ‘every home and business’ approach is one way,” said Kevin Pisacich, the manager of communications and security systems for the city. “We’re looking more to the phase-driven approach,” beginning with businesses and institutions and then possibly branching out to a residential offering. We’re really excited about that approach.

“We’re looking at public-private partnership opportunities,” Pisacich continued. “We’re looking for a good design, a good model. … The focus is initially on business first, then economic development.”

Brooks said the eight-month Magellan study period will give city officials time to target potential first customers and to plan the rollout in phases. The city has several options.

“Some cities have taken the route where the city has become the ISP and charged for a connection. Some have an open-access model and partner with other ISPs,” he said. 

Between now and then, Brooks said, vendors might want to sharpen their pencils and stay tuned for RFPs.

“After eight months, we may need a design-build vendor when we get to the RFP stage,” he said.

This story was originally published by Techwire


Dennis Noone is Executive Editor of Industry Insider. He is a career journalist, having worked as a reporter and editor at small-town newspapers and major metropolitan dailies in California, Nevada, Texas and Virginia, including as an editor with USA Today in Washington, D.C.
Read by opinion leaders, policy makers, the vendor community and government IT workforce, Techwire.net has a well-defined audience focused on the public-sector technology industry in California. Our goal is to gather and publish news and information related to this community, and to document the efforts of those working to modernize California’s digital infrastructure and access to information.