Why Google Fiber for Communities should choose Palo Alto: 

1. FTTP Open Fiber Leadership. Community-driven political leadership has long favored a citywide open access Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) network. Well more than a decade ago, Palo Alto took the first step in its quest to become an “Open Network City” by building its own open dark fiber backbone, the critical infrastructure to support a 21st Century local and regional economy.

2. People. Success always revolves around people. Synergies in Palo Alto may be unique in the world. A world renowned community growing as a valued neighbor to Stanford University, Palo Alto is home to those who seek a quality community with high educational values…innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, engineers, business pros, managers, medical specialists, homemakers, retailers, professionals, professors, venture capitalists, families and students—all of whom, and more, are good candidates to use, and innovate with, a 1gigabit Google Open Fiber network. 

3. Community Support. The Google Fiber for Communities initiative excited and energized Palo Alto citizens and fans worldwide. With total City support, a broad-based grassroots education program was rolled out to acquaint everyone with the Google Open Fiber opportunity and to let Google know how welcoming Palo Alto will be. Over 2,500 Facebook fans signed up. Individual Palo Alto nominations went directly to Google, as did the City's response.

4. Political Will. The Mayor and City Council have developed both a deep understanding of the possibilities of open fiber and a clear vision of Palo Alto’s open fiber future. Council votes have consistently favored fiber initiatives. Google Open Fiber would enhance our vision and assure its timely arrival.

5. Lessons Learned. Recently, the City worked to develop an open fiber network public/private partnership with a sophisticated private partner prospect. Many legal and political issues were worked through making the City much better prepared to act quickly and effectively with the emerging opportunity potentially offered by Google Fiber for Communities.

6. City Commitment – Fast and Efficient. Under City Manager leadership leveraging the full portfolio of municipally owned utility assets, procedures are in place to fast-track City processes for a public/private partnership project like this. Staff is empowered and resolved to help make joint Google/community goals achievable fast and efficiently.

7. Dark Fiber Palo Alto has significant relevant infrastructure in place—41-miles of dark fiber with nearly 200 connections along with a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) trial neighborhood. The City offers an opportunity to ‘fast start’ Palo Alto residences.
   • Fiber advocated by the community beginning in 1993, dark fiber network launched in 1997.
   • Today over 50 major customers with nearly 200 connections on the open access dark fiber network.
   • Fiber Optic Fund reserve now totals about $9.0 million and is growing about $2 million annually.
   • FTTH Trial conducted successfully 2001-2005 in Community Center neighborhood. Offers opportunity to ‘fast start’ Palo Alto residences. Some testimonials and comments from Trial participants.
     
     
8. Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX) hosts over 70 Internet service providers in downtown Palo Alto, and the City has a presence in PAIX to facilitate connections to the Internet. An interchange point for a significant portion of Internet traffic today, for Palo Alto, PAIX is one hop to the world.
   
   
9. Utilities. City operates all its own utilities (electric, natural gas, water, wastewater collection, wastewater treatment, storm drains, fiber optic, refuse and recycling [outside contractor])
   
   • Municipally owned utilities since 1896, only California municipality that owns all utilities.
   • Pole rights, assets, and access everywhere in the city; fast deployment assured.
   • The City Utilities Department has the ability and experience to partner in building and operating services that connect residents and businesses to the fiber optic backbone.
   • Smart Grid, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), and a myriad of other utility applications to conserve precious resources may be tested.
     
     
10. Time to Market. City owns all rights-of-way and utility pole attachment agreements. Mentioned above in Utilities, this is such a major advantage in terms of ‘time to market,’ it merits its own bullet point.
    
    
11. Leadership. Palo Alto is well known internationally, is a municipal leader in Silicon Valley and a leader among municipal utilities nationally.
    
    
12. AAA Rating. Fiscal responsibility is a hallmark of Palo Alto, and the City has the highest credit rating possible to prove it. Only three other California communities merit a AAA rating.
    
    
13. Emergency Services. Palo Alto is served by high quality Public Safety, Fire and Paramedic services as well as several coordinated emergency service programs. The Citizen Corps Council, neighborhood emergency services, the PANDA program are just some examples of community involvement.
    
    
14. Industry. Palo Alto is home to many world renowned enterprises, development labs, start-ups, professionals, and venture capital firms whose assets go home at night. Hewlett-Packard, Varian Medical, VMware, Facebook, Xerox PARC, EPRI, AOL, Tesla Motors, and Better Place are just a few high-profile examples. See Palo Alto Economy. Over 150 firms indicated their support for the City response to Google. Chamber of Commerce membership is strong in Palo Alto.
    
    
15. Location, Location, Location. Stanford University is the nexus for Silicon Valley with neighboring Palo Alto providing municipal leadership and services. The Googleplex is right next door in Mountain View, minutes from Palo Alto City Hall.
    
    
16. Stanford Campus Residential Leasehold neighborhood. Google announced it will test a 1 gigabit per second fiber network in this Stanford residential neighborhood located at one corner of campus. About 850 Stanford faculty and staff own their homes and condominiums on individual lots leased from Stanford. The city of Palo Alto surrounds this neighborhood which is served by Nixon Elementary School in the Palo Alto Unified School District. 
    
    
17. Google Employees. Many Google employees, their families and friends, live in Palo Alto. 
    
    
18. Venture Capital. The 20-minute rule. “If a start-up company seeking venture capital is not within a 20-minute drive of the venture firm’s office, it will not be funded,” venture capitalist Craig Johnson says in a New York Times article. In 2009, 40% of all U.S. VC investments were made in Silicon Valley ($7 billion). Palo Alto/Sand Hill Road is ground zero for venture capital in America. 
    
    
19. World Class Health Care. Stanford Hospital and Clinics (supporting Palo Alto’s response to Google), Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital(supporting Palo Alto’s response to Google), the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (Sutter Health) (supporting Palo Alto’s response to Google), Kaiser Permanente and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System will be invited to participate in an open fiber network in ways comfortable, acceptable, and beneficial to all. 
    
    
20. Educational Excellence. Stanford University (supporting Palo Alto’s response to Google) certainly provides a world stage for educational excellence. The City nurtures a long and close relationship with the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD)  (supporting Palo Alto’s response to Google) which itself enjoys a well-deserved reputation for excellence. Google donated 350 wireless access points to PAUSD in July 2010. The Palo Alto campus of Foothill College and several private schools also contribute to the educational fabric of the city.
    
    
21. Libraries. New libraries under construction present a golden opportunity for ‘Library of the Future’ elements including blazing-fast broadband applications. 
    
    
22. Non-Profits. Philanthropies, charities, service clubs, and non-profits proliferate. The Lucile Packard Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the Moore Foundation, the Noyce Foundation, Rotary, Optimists, Kiwanis, Gamble Garden, and Canopy to name a few.
    
    
23. Neighbors. Stanford University, Sand Hill Road, East Palo Alto, Mountain View …all, and more, could become part of any Palo Alto/Silicon Valley network with a commercial partner involved like Google. 
    
    
24. Keep Local Traffic Local. Because all intranet traffic (traffic within the network) moves at the maximum ‘speed of Google,’ determined by the telecommunications equipment and lasers which "light" the fiber, this traffic never need go through a gate to the Internet. Service and content providers can offer best services by locating ‘within the Palo Alto cloud.’
    
    
25. WiFi Overlay/5-bar Palo Alto. Nearly everyone today carries a hand-held device. Yet communicating with that device can be problematic, particularly in an emergency. The explosion of wireless network demand, inadequate cellular tower sites and anemic network capabilities are cited as root causes for most carriers delivering less than 5-bar service throughout Palo Alto. A pro-active ‘fiber to the tower program’ and ‘5-bar Palo Alto’ to help cellular carriers achieve 5-bar service everywhere in town would be welcome Palo Alto initiatives as would joining with the Google WiFi for Mountain View network.
    
    
26. Economy-size. The Palo Alto resident nighttime population is about 64,400, just 12% of the people Google Fiber for Communities hopes to serve. But wait, there’s more — our daytime population about doubles, more ‘bang for the buck’ for Google. Palo Alto has about 29,000 total premises, 24,000 residential and 5,000 commercial. Our 26-square mile land area includes nearly 1/3 in parks and open space.


27. Testbed. Palo Alto is the ideal FTTP testbed for Google Open Fiber and for many applications to come. Together, let’s make it happen.