----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Helms" <khelms@zcorum.com>
Here's the thing, over the time frame your describing you're probably going to have to look at more fiber runs just because of growth in areas that you didn't build for before. Even if you nail the total growth of homes and businesses in your area your chances of getting both the numbers right _and_ the locations are pretty slim. Also, you're going to have to replace gear no matter where it is core or nodes on a ring. Granted gear that lives in a CO can be less expensive but its not that much of a difference (~1% of gear costs). Having a ring topology is basically the best way we've come up with as of yet to hedge your bets, especially since you can extend your ring when you need.
In most cases that's true. My city, however, is built so close to 100% that I don't think it matters much. Over 2500 units per sqmi. The problem with gear in the ring isn't cost. It's OAM&P, and upgrades, and distributed emergency power, and, and, and... Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth Baylink jra@baylink.com Designer The Things I Think RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates http://baylink.pitas.com 2000 Land Rover DII St Petersburg FL USA #natog +1 727 647 1274