Some call it a vision, others call it a dream-but no one will call it a project.

Perhaps then, the best word for the Syracuse Metropolitan Fiber-Optic Network (Symfony) is a plan which, in its current stage, envisions a city-wide community interconnected through fiber-optic and wireless network connections. The idea has existed in various forms since 2004, and there are many aspects of it that are yet to be clarified.

Part of this is because the plan never received funding. As a result, Symfony remains to be formalized, said Larry Page, technical director of the Syracuse MetroNet, a local network of not-for-profit organizations.

‘Symfony is kind of a grandiose idea to link various components of Syracuse together,’ he said.

The plan fits in with recent university efforts to develop the city, and several SU staff and faculty are involved.

‘We want to inspire people to move downtown to inspire the metropolitan area to grow,’ said Jenny Gluck, chairperson of MetroNet and network project manager at SU. ‘The assumption is that if we turn Syracuse into a hotbed of (information technology) services, then young college graduates would be more inclined to stay.’

For businesses, having an affordable high-speed Internet access and an extensive network with other local organizations is also attractive.

‘Something like this is an enormous untapped goldmine for developing high-tech businesses,’ said Murali Venkatesh, an associate professor in the School of Information Studies at SU.

Services the community network might provide, when given to not-for-profit organizations, might be passed on to those who do not have access to that technology, Page said.

‘Technology helps people compete and get ahead,’ he said.

The concept of a large-scale networked community is not a new one.

OneCleveland worked to create a community in Cleveland, Ohio in 2003 by using excess fiber-optic cables donated by companies there, said Pam Blossom, spokeswoman for the organization. It provides high-speed Internet and network infrastructure for not-for-profit organizations.

The organization, a not-for-profit itself, recently changed its name to OneCommunity, as it now covers ten counties in Ohio, Blossom said.

Syracuse’s MetroNet is similar to OneCommunity, though much smaller.

Made possible by a grant from the New York State Advanced Telecommunications Program, it connects not-for-profit organizations in the Syracuse area, including SU and other colleges, the Syracuse City School District and the Onondaga County Public Libraries, on a high-speed network.

Each organization can communicate with one another on the network. They also can use the network to access Internet providers located at the State Tower Building in downtown Syracuse.

Symfony would extend those services beyond the large not-for-profit organizations served by MetroNet to smaller not-for-profit groups, businesses and, perhaps, residential areas, Page said.

So far, Symfony’s most tangible manifestation is Symfony Video, a community-based system for sharing streaming media. SU’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management developed the system, which was the brainchild of Andy Covell, director of information technology for the school.

The broader vision of a connected community has yet to be realized.

‘For all practicality, the (fiber-optic cabling) should be laid and it should be ready for use,’ said Niles Leuthold, an independent technology consultant who worked on the plan before he moved on to other projects.

Leuthold said he helped conduct focus groups and set up a test Web site for Symfony.

‘I felt when I left Symfony, it was at a point where it was ready to go,’ he said, though the current vision for Symfony has changed since he last worked on it. ‘If you find someone who wants to spearhead it, I’ve got all of that market research … all of that stuff sitting in a file cabinet.’

However, fiber-optic cable is expensive, and Symfony would need the leadership and financial support of the city, Venkatesh said.

For now, the plan has been approached bit by bit; Venkatesh and Gluck are working on feasible and affordable ways to make Symfony a reality.

Gluck said she is looking at the possibility of having companies and businesses that own fiber in the city to connect to MetroNet, and has begun meeting with various groups. If more and more organizations are connected, MetroNet would expand its reach in the city.

‘There is fiber all around Syracuse,’ she said.

Another idea Gluck said she is considering is a neutral meeting point that outside service providers can plug into, gaining access to all of the community network’s members. A system like this is already in place for MetroNet.

An advantage of the meeting point is that as more providers use it, member organizations will have more leverage with providers, Venkatesh said. They can easily choose among a variety of service providers.

For his part, Venkatesh said he is experimenting with using wireless Internet to expand MetroNet. Students in two of his classes are working on installing wireless points at the Beauchamp Branch Library.

Though the library already connects to MetroNet through fiber, these points will do the same while providing wireless coverage to the entire building and an adjacent lot, said Patrick Rummel, a senior information studies major.

‘We’re getting close to being finished,’ he said.

Installing wireless Internet is much cheaper than building fiber-optic connections, Venkatesh said. If and when Symfony’s vision of a large-scale community network is realized, it will probably have to be connected through a combination of these two methods.

Venkatesh’s students’ project is part of an attempt to bathe a section of South Salina with wireless coverage. Without extensive funding, Venkatesh said he cannot expand his project beyond this area.

‘I don’t believe it’s all going to be realized the way we want to do it,’ he said. ‘We’ve decided to do what we can.’

Despite this, the community has been very receptive to the projects of Venkatesh and his students.

‘The climate is very amiable,’ he said.

Published on November 11, 2006 at 12:00 pm