Titan Building says tenant needs dark fiber to continue work

MOSES LAKE - The companies Ask.com, Yahoo! and a business trying to complete a multi-tenant data center in Moses Lake are waiting for Grant County PUD to restart wholesale dark fiber sales.

Grant PUD Commission President Tom Flint said on Tuesday his goal is to go forward in the next couple of weeks.

"We want to meet the needs of the community and don't intend for this to be a road block," he said.

Flint added the commission is trying to perform due diligence and make sure it covers everything.

He said the intent was never in his mind to have the situation go unsettled for so long.

Dark fiber sales were stopped in May while the utility set new rates and was estimated to last two or three weeks, PUD General Manager Tim Culbertson said at the time.

But three months later, the moratorium hasn't been lifted. And Internet search engine Ask.com hasn't decided on its next step, said WSS Corporation President Lee Willis.

Willis heads the business management and operations company for the company that owns the Titan Building in Moses Lake.

At the Titan Building, there's work under way to complete a multi-tenant data center. Ask.com is one of the building's tenants.

"We're just trying to work out a new solution so the PUD can lift the dark fiber moratorium," Willis said. "We have some nice projects on hold. Once we get this worked out, we have some really nice things that will come to the county as well as additional positive investment."

Dark fiber doesn't contain equipment as opposed to lit fiber.

Some large companies prefer dark fiber because it allows them to better monitor, maintain and see the entire system, said Willis. Business technicians can't see if there's breakage if they're operating from a lit system that's maintained by another company, he added.

On Tuesday, Willis said he received a list of questions and sample pricing from the utility to review with the customers.

"They've been very proactive," he said.

Willis added that PUD staff is trying to come up with new fiber rates that work for everyone.

Flint said the PUD's staff is supposed to bring forth more information and an outline of a dark fiber lease. He called the effort "a work in progress."

"We are trying to get something that will work for everyone," Flint said. "We're committed to using standard business principles." He added the cash flow had to be positive for the district.

"I think the direction we're going is to probably have (wholesale) lit fiber and dark fiber available," Flint said.

A wholesale lit fiber program started a few weeks ago, he said.

He said Quincy data center owners Yahoo! and Microsoft use dark fiber and put their own electronics on their end.

Miller said he thought there may be more information about dark fiber at the next commission meeting on Monday.

Go to http://www.gcpud.org/ to review the meeting agenda before Monday's meeting.