This article was orginally posted on The Standard Examiner's website on April 14, 2012 and can be found HERE.

By Antone Clark

LAYTON -- UTOPIA is getting closer to being a reality in this community.

Work crews from UTOPIA will lay down fiber optic cable in a preliminary move to eventually offer fiber-to-the-household network access for high-speed telecommunications services.

Scott Woolsey, a project manager for the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA), said over the next three months the bulk of the fiber backbone for this community will be installed. Most of the cable will be buried, but there will also be some aerial fiber installed. 

The fiber will link to hubs, or huts throughout the city, that will eventually allow work crews to extend fiber from those centers to neighborhoods and businesses. Woolsey said most of the hubs will be located on city property.

The city already had one hut on Gordon Avenue and Fort Lane that provides a service area in the central section of town, north of Gordon Avenue, west of Fort Lane and east of Hill Field Road. The service area also goes south along Antelope Road.

With fiber in place, access to new voice, video or data services could potentially be available to residents within two years, according to Woolsey. Fiber optic cable, or glass light tunnels, offer faster and more efficient transmission of signal than existion copper systems. He said the timing of exteding fiber to the households will depend on demand. 

City Manager Alex Jensen hopes for a faster timeframe to make high-speed telecommunications service available to residents. He said despite its financial struggles, the need for fiber infrastructure is more evident all the time.

"Fiber is the future," Jensen said.

In the planning stages for almost a decade, UTOPIA is a group of 16 Utah cities that teamed up to form a state-of-the-art fiber-optic network. Centerville and Layton are the only Davis County communities in the network.

The network has faced a number of financial struggles from the onset, but recently received $16.1 million in federal stiumulus money. Approximately $4.8 million of that will go to Layton.

UTOPIA is backed by 20-year pledges from its participating communities. Layton's pledge for the current fiscal year is $2,199,713, according to Tracy Probert, city finance director.

The pledge helps maintain a bond reserve for UTOPIA and varies each year. The city has been paying that pledge for the past two years, according to Jensen. The pledge is backed by sales tax revenue.

The following article was orginally posted on Deseret News on March 7, 2012.

The Valley Journals

MURRAY -- Bring up the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, and you're bound to get a variety of responses. UTOPIA is the group of Utah cities that banded together to create a fiber-optic network for residents and business owners. The network operates as a wholesale supplier, and allows subscribers to choose their own service provider from a list of companies including XMission, Veracity and InfoWest that offer Internet, television, telephone and other products.

Part of the problem is many people don't understand how UTOPIA works and, with some serious financial problems delaying construction several years ago, residents seem to be leery about signing up for the high-speed service. A survey done in 2010 showed 54 percent of Murray residents didn't even know about the fiber-optic network and, at the time, only 10,000 residents were using the system.

Long-time Murray resident Jenny Bates said she heard about UTOPIA a long time ago, but didn't hear anything else for several years.

"I know it's an Internet service," Bates said. "But that's about all I know. But I have noticed I'm seeing UTOPIA signs on the lawns in some of the neighborhoods around us."

Despite the confusion, Murray Mayor's Chief of Staff Jan Wells said the UTOPIA infrastructure continues to grow, and the Murray Fiber Committee is looking for ways to use the fiber already in place and provide more benefits to Murray residents.

"Right now, two-thirds of Murray has fiber in the roads or on the poles," Wells said. "People who live in the area where the fiber is available have the option to connect to the network. This speed is as fast as you can get."

UTOPIA is a big draw for businesses that want fast connection and greater clarity. Being connected to the network means customers don't share bandwidth because the fiber-optic line is attached directly to the business or home.

Murray city leaders are considering ways to promote the network so residents can see the benefits of using the system. Hot spots in Murray Park might be available in the future, and leaders are trying to connect as many city facilities to the network as possible.

At $3,000, the connection fee for the network might seem steep to the average homeowner, but Wells said the cost can be added into the monthly provider fee and paid out over several years. And with upload speeds up to 1 Gbps, Wells is sure fiber-optics will be the technology of the future.

"I'm excited about the work [UTOPIA] is doing," she said. "They're pulling in all the loose ends and creating a good, strong infrastructure."

Tom Haraldsen is the assistand managing editor of The Valley Journals newspaper group, and is currently president of the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Consumers will have more choice and be able to use UTOPIA's high-speed capabilities to "sling" video content to Internet-enabled devices, including phones and table computers

Salt Lake City (March 6, 2012) -- UTOPIA, the open-access fiber-optic network consisting of 16 member cities that joined together to provide critical telecommunications infrastructure to their residents, has added DISH Network to its roster of service providers. This will provide a greater variety of television channels and viewing options for UTOPIA customers who desire them. 

"We are partnering with DISH Network to provide more entertainment options to consumers through different mediums. DISH is at the forefront of recognizing that more and more people are changing the way they watch TV and that fewer of them are viewing their favorite programs on schedules determined by the content providers," said Todd Marriott, Executive Director of UTOPIA. "DISH Network is one of the best content delivery companies out there, and we're grateful to be doing business with them to offer content people want at a reasonable price."

Consumers signing up for DISH Network services through UTOPIA can enjoy a wide range of HD channels as well as DISH's Blockbuster Movie Pass, which offers movies, games and TV shows. Internet, phone and satellite-TV are being offered through UTOPIA's Triple Play, starting at $99 per month.

"DISH is pleased to work with UTOPIA in this synergistic relationship," said Amir Ahmed, senior vice president of sales at DISH. "As today's technologies move forward, more reliability is required of a network's capability. UTOPIA provides an optimal high-speed technology that will empower the changing desires of consumers' viewing habits. As entertainment needs evolve, together UTOPIA and DISH will provide the best entertainment options for consumers."

With this arrangement, customers will receive television services through a household satellite dish. Then, using UTOPIA's high-speed upload capabilities, consumers  wil be able to take advantage of DISH Network's many offerings that extend beyond the traditional delivery of content to their living room televisions. These include digital video recording (DVR) devices and apps that allow them to watch TV anywhere and at any time on personal computers and mobile devices such as tablets and phones. 

DISH Network's Sling® technology works by compressing the home television signal via an Internet-connected receiver and uploading it to the web thereby making TV programming available on consumers' mobile devices wherever they may be at any time. Because the receiver will be connected to UTOPIA's lightning-fast fiber-optic network, consumers can access all of the DISH Network offerings much more easily than if they were using a traditional copper wire infrastructure, which is limited in the speed and amount of data it can transmit.

Consumers who live in one of UTOPIA's service areas and wish to find out more information about DISH Network services can contact UTOPIA customer service at (801) 613-3870 or visit www.utopianet.org/lightspeed. 

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About UTOPIA

The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, more commonly known as UTOPIA, consists of a group of 16 Utah cities that joined together to form a state-of-the-art fiber-optic network and provide critical telecommunications infrastructure to their residents. The network offers fiber-to-the-premise technology allowing for faster services that are uninterrupted by copper wiring or shared connections with neighbors. Its open access model fosters competition among private sector service providers who offer Internet, television, telephone and other services, giving customers the freedom to choose their own service providers, the best prices and the best service. 

For more information on UTOPIA including member cities and business and residential service providers, visit www.utopianet.org.

About DISH

DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., provides approximately 13.967 million satellite TV customers, as of December 3, 2011, with the highest quality programming and technology with the most choices at the best value, including HD Free for Life. Subscribers enjoy the largest high definition line-up with more than 200 national HD channels, the most international channels, and award-winning HD and DVR technology. DISH Network's subsidiary, Blockbuster L.L.C., delivers family entertainment to millions of customers around the world. DISH Network Corporation is a Fortune 200 company. Visit www.dish.com. 

The following article was orginally published in the March 1, 2012 edition of The Salt Lake Tribune.

By Christopher Smart

"It's as fast as a Centerville wind."

That's what Centerville Mayor Ronald Russell said of his city's new fiber-optic network that is being installed by UTOPIA, otherwise known as the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency.

All areas of Centerville will have access to the high-speed network in the coming six months, allowing businesses and households to log Internet speeds up to 100 times faster than traditional connections, according to UTOPIA officials.

It's advantageous for businesses and households, Russell said. In both cases, the service aims to make a tremendous difference in Internet service.

UTOPIA is a consortium of 16 Utah cities that has developed and underwritten the fiber-optic network. The organization has had its share of problems since UTOPIA launched in 2002, including a halt to construction in 2007 because of financial shortcomings.

But it's on the move again, according to executive director Todd Marriott.

"We wanted to be here years ago," he said. "But now, Centerville is one of the most connected cities on earth."

The mayor hopes the fast Internet network will keep businesses in Centerville as well as attract new ones. One Centerville business, Digital Business Integration, has switched to the fiber-optic network with great results.

"Right off the bat, we have a tremendous reduction in cost and we get twice the bandwidth," said Devon Dorrity, president of Digital Business Integration. "And we have increased our productivity."

UTOPIA can provide speeds up to 800 megabits per second, according to Roger Timmerman, the agency's director of network engineering. UTOPIA officials say the fiber-optic network is competitive with other cable networks.

According to UTOPIA's Ladd Marshall, residential users can subscribe for a service that provides 20 megabits per second of upload and download capacity for about $55 a month. For about $60 a month, a residential customer can get 50 megabits per second. And for about $70 a month, the service jumps to 100 megabits per second.

"The real value is what residents say about it," Marshall said. "One resident said he's been connected for two months and hadn't seen the word 'buffering' once. It takes the hassle out of Internet."

The fiber-optic network in Centerville will be key to attracting "tech-type" companies, the mayor said, and, potentially, developing a business park west of Interstate 15 that will create jobs. 
 

"UTOPIA has had its struggles and we wondered if it would ever get to Centerville," Russell said. "But we feel fortunate that we're building-out now."

csmart@sltrib.com