On a Roll - Greenfield FTTH in Middle Tennessee

Williamson County, TN has plenty to be proud of, in addition to being a neighbor of Nashville, it is ranked among the “Top 100” fastest growing counties in the country and the 15th wealthiest on a per capita basis. Growth and money, two primary ingredients for economic development and innovation, are something that Williamson County offers in abundance.

One of those innovators is Crystal Clear Technologies (CCT), a FTTH system operator based in Franklin, TN. Established in 2005, Crystal Clear Technologies is a joint venture of Carbine Development, a leading middle Tennessee residential developer, and Jamie Spurlock, an area technology entrepreneur. CCT was created to deliver the area’s first FTTH service within a local Carbine Development community, but has since expanded to several other communities.

“Crystal Clear combines the resources and market position of a professional real estate developer with the expertise needed to create and manage a technology-based company. This combination provides us the unique perspective to understand FTTH from both sides of the network. While the company was initially formed to solve the technology needs of Tollgate, our vision has since expanded to include other Carbine properties and partnerships with other developers,” states Spurlock.

Tollgate Village

Aerial view of Tollgate Village (Phase 1)

Crystal Clear’s first project was Tollgate Village (www.tollgatevillagetn.com), a TND (Traditional Neighborhood Development) project that creates a work/live/play environment; Tollgate Village combines approximately 700 homes, including a variety of single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes, with over 70 acres of retail property.

Tollgate Village is located in an area of middle Tennessee that has a rich Southern heritage, part of which has provided the community with its name. The community is located on the site of one of the original tollgates on the Franklin and Spring Hill turnpike. These tollgates were similar to today’s tollbooths, but for horse and buggy. As an early step toward removing barriers to economic development, the Williamson County Government removed the tollgates in 1924 to accelerate trade and travel.

Tollgate Village technology center and headend

Fast forward to the 21st century and CCT has continued to “remove barriers”, this time for telecommunications versus transportation. By building the area’s first FTTH network, CCT has delivered the future to Tollgate Village.

CCT and Carbine Development’s FTTH leadership at Tollgate Village has earned it numerous types of recognition from several articles in local and national publications, to a Broadband Properties Cornerstone Award in 2006 that recognized it as the “Most Visionary Traditional Neighborhood Development with FTTH.”

Carbine Development created a vision for FTTH based on what it would bring the community. “We were looking at offering FTTH as a differentiating factor…we treat community technology as another amenity, similar to the pool and community center – it increases the value of the houses and sets us apart from the competition,” says James Carbine, President, Carbine Development.

Based on feedback from Tollgate residents, this vision has been rewarded with acknowledgement that FTTH and a “technology amenity” has led to more than one home purchase decision. The bottom line is that the FTTH experience at Tollgate Village has been positive enough to convince Carbine and CCT to install FTTH wherever possible within other residential projects.

General’s Retreat - FTTH meets the 18th century

General's Retreat

A great example of CCT’s commitment to FTTH can be found at General’s Retreat (http://www.retreatatfranklin.com), a 51-unit upscale condominium retreat nestled in historic Franklin, TN. With history dating back to 1799, Franklin boasts a wonderfully restored downtown district that has helped earn it recognition as a “Top 10” tourist destination by TripAdvisor.

These factors are significant assets for the community, but they present a couple of challenges for Crystal Clear – integrating technology into a historic district and supporting FTTH for a project size of only 51 units. Most FTTH business cost models would require a property of 200 or more units to justify the cost and effort required to support triple-play FTTH. However, Crystal Clear is not a typical operator – they were able to be creative and leverage existing systems to support most of the services for General’s Retreat. From an electronics and infrastructure standpoint, CCT relied on AFL Telecommunications to assist with providing cost-effective solutions. AFL recommended a DIRECTV® video solution utilizing the MFH1 RF Video architecture, which provided an elegant and cost-effective solution. This was the single largest factor that maintained the “per door” cost within budget requirements. “General’s Retreat presented our team with a unique challenge – a small community that demanded a full-service FTTH amenity. Fortunately, our team and vendor partners came up with a great solution through a combination of leveraging our existing voice and data infrastructure, DIRECTV’s MFH1, and a cost-effective fiber network,” stated Spurlock.

General’s Retreat consists of 17 buildings, each of which has three living units. AFL and CCT designed a network that delivers 100 Mbps symmetric bandwidth to each building along with 100% of DIRECTV’s content package.

Bridgemore Village

Bridgemore Village main entrance

CCT’s most recent project is Bridgemore Village (www.bridgemorevillage.com), a 500-home master planned community that, in addition to the FTTH amenity, boasts over 250 acres of green space, including community parks and extensive walking trails.

Always ready to embrace advances in technology, CCT has worked with AFL Telecommunications to design Bridgemore as an IPTV deployment utilizing DIRECTV’s new MFH-3 platform. Delivering IPTV has presented significant benefits to CCT – most notable is the approximate 30% reduction in cost-per-home. While enjoying a significant “per door” cost reduction, CCT’s FTTH network offers a 100 Mbps symmetric bandwidth path (upgradeable on a per home basis) and equipment scalability that matches the growth rate of a greenfield community. In addition to the physical network advantages, a “100% IP” network for voice/video/data/security services offers numerous “back office” benefits that streamline customer provisioning, network operations, customer support, and back office support.

Phase 1 of Bridgemore Village currently has over 45 homes under construction, with the first residents expected in August 2007.

The Crystal Clear Advantage
In addition to selecting the best industry partners to assist with FTTH technology, CCT and Carbine Development have taken special effort to present the advantages offered by FTTH as a valuable and accessible amenity to the community homeowners.

CCT has made it a point to have on-site technicians that are highly visible to the homeowner – even going the extra mile and assisting with “front door” service calls that include turning-up of services, fielding technology questions and seeking out other opportunities to delivery a high level of customer service. “A key part our business strategy is what we call Red Carpet service – basically our team works with the customer from ‘model home to move-in’ to help them understand and utilize the benefits of living within a connected community. We have found the little things add up, like having their services operational prior to move-in and having a community-based technician available. In addition to what happens outside the home, Crystal Clear can also assist clients with every aspect of home technology, from design to implementation,” adds Spurlock.

Video and data services are bundled into the homeowner’s dues, saving the hassle of separate billing. Voice service is optional and includes a variety of packages. In addition to the FTTH network, CCT has plans to offer WiFi service in various common areas throughout the community.

From creation of a new business venture to providing FTTH services in multiple communities, Crystal Clear Technologies has delivered on its vision, continuing the rich heritage of success and innovation in middle Tennessee.

Call our Access Solutions Team at 864-433-8072.