In an effort to serve the Northern Virginia area and have facilities in place for future upgrades, Cox Communications has established a site in Burke for its sixth hub in Burke Village II.
Right now, a trailer occupies the site, housing temporary cable facilities until ground is broken for the 4,500-foot, one-story structure.
"This part of Fairfax County is going to be upgraded in and to late spring," said Alex Horwitz, Cox Communications director of public affairs.
Cox has its main communications hub off Gallows Road in a space previously occupied by Media General, when it was the area's cable supplier. To complement the main input location, several transitional sites are spread throughout the area, which house the switchboards that feed directly into the houses. This transitional site, called the Fairfax Station hub, will house 155 nodes, each of which serves about 350 houses. Other hubs are in Gunston, Rose Hill, Dranesville, Merrifield, Tysons Corner and Fair Lakes.
Although the additional site will be funded entirely by Cox, the expense will not be reflected in current cable customers’ fees, said Horwitz.
"We don't have plans to raise prices in 2003. It's part of our $500 million upgrade," he said.
Although the facilities in the current trailer will be transferred once the building is complete, the facility will be only partially filled. The remaining empty space will be utilized when new facilities are introduced.
"It will have some empty space. Only half is being utilized right now. Half is for future services," said Lyn Ganschinietz, director of government affairs for Cox.
Chris Nicolai, central system technician, is ready for the addition. "It will be made for future growth," he said.
Future services include telephone, home networking and video on demand. It was too early to elaborate on any of those systems.
THE DESIGN of the building will be in conjunction with the surrounding structures so that it won't stick out. This has been successful in other locations.
"We try to blend in with the neighborhood. Our Tysons Corner one looks like a townhouse," Ganschinietz said.
Increasing efficiency is another goal. According to Peyton Onks, staff assistant in Supervisor Elaine McConnell's (R-Springfield) office, the number of complaints has decreased in past months, although some still come into the supervisor's office. In July 2003, she recorded 26 complaints, 15 in September and an average of five to eight now.
Springfield resident Jack Sfara is a Cox customer. Although he isn't convinced cable is a necessity, he has seen improvement in the signal.
"I remember there was a time when they stopped carrying Fox Channel 5. Every once in a while, their signal goes down," he said.
"There's been a sharp reduction in customer-service issues. You have your growing pains," Horwitz said.
SINCE TAKING over, Horwitz is involved with the transition, with 75 to 80 percent of the upgrades complete. Compared with the national average, the customers in Fairfax County are subscribing to the Internet and high speed cable systems offered by Cox at a higher rate. While the national average is 20 percent subscribing to the higher technological services, it is up to 50 percent in Fairfax.
"People around here want the latest and greatest technology," Horwitz said.
Cox is a nationwide company based in Atlanta, Ga. Horwitz is a transplant from their largest market in Phoenix, Ariz. Fairfax is in the top 10 Cox markets for number of customers, with 230,000.