Technicolor to lease more of Glendale’s bandwidth

Technicolor will tap more of Glendale’s fiber optic network, generating $54,600 in annual revenue for the city.

The Glendale City Council on Tuesday approved the Technicolor contract that adds two fiber optic strands to the four already leased by the company.

Technicolor, which has been leasing strands at its Railroad Street facility for two years, will use the additional bandwidth at its new facility on Flower Street.

Various types of data are sent through the fiber optics both within facilities and between them.

Leasing the existing four strands will generate $33,600 annually for the city, and the two additional strands will bring in an extra $21,000. Installation and connecting the strands at the new location will cost about $27,000, which will be reimbursed by Technicolor, said Ramon Abueg, assistant general manager of electrical services at Glendale Water & Power.

The new two-year agreement has an option to extend it annually for three years for a total of five years.

Walt Disney Co. leases about 30 fiber optic strands, generating about $85,000 annually for the city, Abueg said, although they are much shorter than the ones leased by Technicolor.

In 2007, Glendale Water & Power installed the fiber optic system to tie together its electrical substations, water facilities and dispatch center. The original plan was to have 48 fiber optic strands, but city officials decided to expand that to 144 and make them available to other city departments and by lease to private businesses.

The system’s price tag was $5.5 million. Of that total, the extra fiber optic strands cost only about $48,000, Abueg said.

“Labor is the biggest component of the total price,” he said.

The city leases only “dark,” or inactive, strands, which are then activated by the companies, Abueg said.

Glendale Water & Power currently uses about six strands for its electrical system. But when the utility’s smart grid goes online, an additional 18 strands will be used, Abueg said.

For the city, 12 fiber optic strands connect the libraries, police stations, fire stations and some park facilities.