Kitsap Public Utility District Chooses COS to Manage Open Access Network

KITSAP COUNTY, WA — Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD) has been using COS Systems’ demand aggregation software COS Service Zones to survey the county, create community engagement and understand the desire for the deployment of a utility owned fiber optic network connecting the residents with gigabit speeds. “We know there is a need for better broadband in our community, and after all positive responses we’ve received in COS Service Zones, we are confident that investing in high-speed broadband network expansion is necessary for our community," said Bob Hunter, general manager at KPUD.

KPUD is one of 28 Public Utility Districts in Washington who have jointly built a fiber ring reaching almost every corner of the State and KPUD has continued to expand their fiber backbone within the county. “With our extensive fiber backbone we are flexible in where we can deploy to residents, however, we need to understand where there is need and demand. Our approach using COS Service Zones splits the county up into small buildable neighborhood zones where we will set a target number of people to sign up in each neighborhood. If there are no technical difficulties, as zones reach the target we will extend our network in the order that is most cost effective and which will bring fiber first to those who want or need it most. At the same time this approach ensures that we deploy where we have a reasonable business case. We plan to spend our money wisely, “ said Hunter.

Open Access Model
When moving into the residential market KPUD will do it with an Open Access model, which means they will provide the infrastructure while the services will be delivered by independent service providers, driving competition to the good of the residents. “If you’re not happy with your current service, just go to the web portal and pick a new provider," comments Paul Avis, superintendent of Telecom at KPUD. In broadband, Open Access is almost synonymous with Sweden where fiber networks have been deployed on big scale since the '90s and where this model is dominating the market. “Since we’re doing Open Access we found it natural to choose a partner who has been doing this on the most established market in the world for 10 years," said Avis. “The complexity in network operations increases dramatically when you open it up for multiple providers, but with the right system you can actually increase your efficiency. It’s all about ensuring a high data quality with built in validations and keeping track of all the moving parts, which our system COS Business Engine does extremely well," said Bjorn Wannman, international business developer at COS Systems.

September Launch
The system is planned to be launched to the public in September, when residents in connected areas will be able to go to the website and shop for their Internet services as easy as buying apps on the Appstore.

“We have a big number of COS Service Zones customers in the US, but for us it’s a very important milestone when we now bring our network management solution to the market. We hope and believe our long experience in Open Access and our system COS Business Engine will play a significant role in their success as KPUD now moves into the FTTH arena,” said Isak Finér, chief marketing officer at COS Systems.