Design considerations for broadband community area networks

During the last few years, a number of community area networks (CAN) have been launched in North America and Europe. Contrary to other telecommunication infrastructures, these networks are sponsored and financed by local governments and operate according to business considerations and are based on business models that are different from a classical telecom operator, requiring therefore a tailored business and technological solution. Main CAN customer groups include (i) telcos and ISPs, (ii) business customers, (iii) public sector institutions and (iv) residential users. The two main product groups are fiber and wavelength products offered to wholesale customers and data, voice and video services offered to public sector institutions. Although the individual technologies to be deployed within these networks are no different from those used in the advanced telecommunications systems operated by public carriers, community networks can be more creative in using leading edge broadband core and access technologies and in providing advanced services. The main objective of the paper is to demonstrate that CANs, if properly designed, implemented and managed, represent a viable business model as well as the right technology basis for providing e-government services, in particular, and for contributing to the development of an e-society, in general. A preliminary design of a province network in Northern Italy has been carried out by the authors and serves as a case study for this article.