The City of Boulder (the City), the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the Department of Commerce Laboratories (DOC) have agreed to build an important fiber optic network that will interconnect the participating organizations. The project has been named "BRAN" - for Boulder Research and Administrative Network, and it can be reported that a high degree of cooperative effort between all the institutions involved has resulted in this exciting project.
BRAN will provide a significant, local, next-generation, fiber optic infrastructure that will give the public service institutions in Boulder, Colorado a competitive advantage in research, higher education, and administrative functions. The network links will greatly improve the ability of each of the partner organizations to conduct their business, as well as enhance their ability to serve the public.
The fiber network will be over eleven miles in length. The cable path will extend generally along a north-south corridor within the City, and the route of the network will link the partners' many facilities to capitalize on the network infrastructure already in place, to utilize rights-of-way and to transect properties that the partners control.
Approximately 30% of the infrastructure is already in place. The additional one-time cost of materials, pathway construction, and installation to complete the network is estimated to be $1.2 million. Annual operating and maintenance costs are expected to be small - less than 5% of the initial outlay. The total (i.e., existing plus out-of-pocket) BRAN project cost will be shared equally among the four partner organizations. The City's cost share will be contributed via the large, existing, infrastructure that it will bring to the partnership. BRAN provides the opportunity for a significant cost avoidance to be realized by the partners (for a level of service much less than that contemplated by BRAN). It is estimated that the project will be completed within six months from the project start date of July 9, 1999.