{
  "meta": {
    "name": "Petabit Scale — Canonical Brand Summary",
    "version": "1.2",
    "generated": "2026-04-18",
    "purpose": "Machine-readable snapshot of the canonical brand facts — palette, typography, voice attributes, messaging framework, vocabulary rules, and logo asset paths. For programmatic access by agents, tooling, and integration pipelines. Human-readable source of truth: .claude/brand-voice-guidelines.md",
    "source_of_truth": ".claude/brand-voice-guidelines.md",
    "owner": "Petabit Scale (team-level source of truth)",
    "update_cadence": "Living document — edit when the brand learns something new; track evolution via git"
  },

  "identity": {
    "company_name": {
      "display": "Petabit Scale",
      "urls_handles": "petabitscale",
      "forbidden": ["PetabitScale (camelCase)", "PETABIT SCALE (all-caps in prose)", "Petabit, Scale"]
    },
    "one_line_description": "We architect, build, and supply large-scale network infrastructure.",
    "primary_value_proposition": "Hyperscaler-grade expertise, strategy, and pricing — for the unique challenges of operating networks at massive scale.",
    "pitch_ladder": {
      "10_second": "Carrier-grade network infrastructure at hyperscaler economics. That's Petabit Scale.",
      "30_second_format": "Petabit Scale brings hyperscaler-grade expertise, strategy, and pricing to the unique challenges of operating networks at massive scale. We architect, build, and supply — vendor-independent, operator-led. See brand-voice-guidelines.md Section: Messaging Framework for full version.",
      "2_minute_format": "Opening (3 pain points) · Positioning · Credentials · Close. See brand-voice-guidelines.md Section: Pitch Ladder for full version."
    }
  },

  "pillars": [
    {
      "number": 1,
      "name": "Carrier-Grade Expertise",
      "anchor": "Trust",
      "core_idea": "We operate at the engineering standard actual carriers set. Our team has run networks at that tier; our advice and the gear we supply meet the reliability bar a five-9s operator would demand. Battle-tested, not theoretical.",
      "domain_depth": [
        "Optical systems of every kind",
        "400ZR / 800ZR coherent transmission",
        "LR4 / FR4 short-reach optics",
        "PAM4-based high-speed Ethernet",
        "Long-haul fiber-optic networks",
        "Packet + EVPN-VXLAN fabric",
        "DC interconnect"
      ]
    },
    {
      "number": 2,
      "name": "Vendor-Independent Architecture",
      "anchor": "Integrity",
      "core_idea": "We're not captured by any one OEM. You get the right design, not the one that pays us best."
    },
    {
      "number": 3,
      "name": "Hyperscaler Economics Without the Hyperscaler",
      "anchor": "Value",
      "core_idea": "Pricing leverage and supply access that usually requires Fortune-100 purchasing power.",
      "supply_chain_depth": "Direct manufacturer relationships; can procure and deliver cutting-edge components in massive volumes, including on-allocation SKUs, in timeframes other channels can't match."
    },
    {
      "number": 4,
      "name": "Architect, Build, Supply",
      "anchor": "Execution",
      "core_idea": "Same team owns design through BOM through ship. No handoff.",
      "operational_style": "Nimble problem-solvers. Small team, short decision paths. Adaptive when plans change, suppliers miss dates, or specs need to shift mid-project."
    }
  ],

  "voice_attributes": [
    {
      "we_are": "Carrier-grade",
      "meaning": "meets the engineering bar actual carriers set; credibility earned in production, not in slideware",
      "we_are_not": "Theoretical / consultant-flavored",
      "not_meaning": "no hand-me-down best practices, no frameworks without receipts"
    },
    {
      "we_are": "Candid",
      "meaning": "we say the inconvenient thing plainly",
      "we_are_not": "Evasive or falsely modest",
      "not_meaning": "no weasel words, no hedging expertise to seem humble"
    },
    {
      "we_are": "Independent",
      "meaning": "not captured by any one vendor's roadmap or inventory",
      "we_are_not": "Beholden / single-vendor",
      "not_meaning": "no recommendations engineered to move stock"
    },
    {
      "we_are": "Dense with substance",
      "meaning": "every sentence earns its place",
      "we_are_not": "Hype-padded or performative",
      "not_meaning": "no next-gen / cutting-edge / transformative filler"
    },
    {
      "we_are": "Peer-facing",
      "meaning": "operator-to-operator, equals",
      "we_are_not": "Vendor-to-target",
      "not_meaning": "no qualifying checklists, no condescension, no gatekeeping"
    },
    {
      "we_are": "Witty when warranted",
      "meaning": "dry engineer's humor; sharp observation",
      "we_are_not": "Goofy or marketing-clever",
      "not_meaning": "no pun-of-the-year, no LinkedIn-performance energy"
    },
    {
      "we_are": "Formality-flexing",
      "meaning": "same voice; register climbs for legal, drops for peers",
      "we_are_not": "Tonally rigid",
      "not_meaning": "not formal everywhere, not casual everywhere"
    }
  ],

  "personality": {
    "archetype": "The opinionated engineer",
    "if_we_were_a_person": "The veteran infrastructure operator three beers into a NANOG afterparty — generous with expertise, allergic to performance, unafraid to disagree with the consensus, funny without trying, trustworthy because they've been burned by the things you're about to be burned by.",
    "core_values": ["Candor", "Precision & craft", "Independence", "Peer-respect (implicit)", "Real customer outcomes — solve real problems, deliver when no one else can, save customers meaningful money along the way"],
    "customer_feeling_after": ["Reassured", "Educated"],
    "deliberately_not": "We do NOT promise 'Challenged' as a customer feeling. We keep the opinionated posture but the reader's takeaway should be relief + enlightenment, not being put in their place."
  },

  "vocabulary": {
    "preferred_terms": ["operator", "hyperscaler", "build", "buildout", "fabric (training/compute)", "spec (verb + noun)", "architect (verb)"],
    "preferred_gear_terminology_examples": ["400ZR", "800ZR", "QSFP-DD 800G-FR4", "LR4", "EVPN-VXLAN", "coherent optics (ZR / ZR+)", "long-haul fiber-optic transmission", "PAM4"],
    "banned": [
      {"word": "solutions (as filler)", "reason": "Vendor-bingo; almost always deletable", "use_instead": "architectures, hardware, work, advice"},
      {"word": "transform / transformation / revolutionize", "reason": "Hype-cycle filler", "use_instead": "rebuild, redesign, migrate"},
      {"word": "mission-critical", "reason": "Overused to meaninglessness", "use_instead": "Name actual stakes: production networks, revenue-carrying traffic"},
      {"word": "journey (corporate sense)", "reason": "MBA Mad Libs", "use_instead": "project, buildout, engagement"},
      {"word": "synergy", "reason": "Says nothing", "use_instead": "Name the actual mechanism of value"}
    ],
    "use_with_caution": [
      {"word": "next-generation", "ok_when": "Actual successor standards (e.g., 'next-gen 1.6T optics')", "not_ok_when": "Empty modifier"},
      {"word": "cutting-edge", "ok_when": "Rarely — if an edge exists, name it", "not_ok_when": "Almost always"},
      {"word": "industry-leading", "ok_when": "Only with a metric and citation", "not_ok_when": "Default use"},
      {"word": "scalable", "ok_when": "If we describe the axis and limits", "not_ok_when": "Vague reassurance"},
      {"word": "carrier-grade", "ok_when": "Canonical brand term — voice attribute #1 and Pillar #1 anchor. Free to use naming the engineering standard we meet ('carrier-grade networks', 'carrier-grade reliability', 'carrier-grade by default')", "not_ok_when": "As empty marketing filler attached to vague nouns ('carrier-grade solutions')"},
      {"word": "ecosystem", "ok_when": "Specific technology ecosystems (optics ecosystem, vendor ecosystem)", "not_ok_when": "Vague abstraction"}
    ],
    "customer_mirror_policy": "Use our canonical term; note theirs parenthetically on first use (e.g., 'direct-attach copper (DACs)'), then move on"
  },

  "positioning_guardrails": {
    "we_never_claim": [
      "We're the people hyperscalers hire (we do not sell to hyperscalers; we bring their grade of capability to operators who need it)",
      "We have identical commercial agreements to hyperscalers (we have direct manufacturer relationships; we deliver the grade of pricing normally reserved for the largest buyers)"
    ],
    "we_do_claim": [
      "Hyperscaler-grade expertise, strategy, and pricing — made accessible to operators",
      "Direct manufacturer relationships (can source in volumes other channels can't match)",
      "Battle-tested at scale (our team's collective operator CV at hyperscaler-tier networks)",
      "Specific optical systems expertise (400ZR, 800ZR, long-haul fiber, coherent transmission)"
    ]
  },

  "tone_by_context": [
    {"context": "Website (home / about / services)", "formality": "Semi-formal", "energy": "Medium", "technical_depth": "Medium-High", "principle": "Plain declarative; no marketing polish"},
    {"context": "Customer email — technical", "formality": "Semi-formal", "energy": "Medium-High", "technical_depth": "Very High", "principle": "Peer-to-peer, opinionated; this is the canonical source voice"},
    {"context": "Customer email — procurement", "formality": "Semi-formal", "energy": "Medium", "technical_depth": "Medium (SKU-fluent)", "principle": "Tight, transactional, respect the buyer's time"},
    {"context": "Community content (NANOG / LinkedIn / blog)", "formality": "Semi-formal", "energy": "Medium", "technical_depth": "Very High", "principle": "Substantive teacher; generous long-form"},
    {"context": "Proposals / SOWs", "formality": "Formal", "energy": "Low-Medium", "technical_depth": "Very High", "principle": "Binding precision; scope-tight; voice stays ours"},
    {"context": "First-touch / intro", "formality": "Semi-formal", "energy": "Medium", "technical_depth": "Medium", "principle": "Warm opener, credentials quickly, respect clock"},
    {"context": "Social (LinkedIn posts)", "formality": "Semi-formal", "energy": "Medium-High", "technical_depth": "Medium-High", "principle": "Op-ed energy; substance per post; no thought-leader performance"}
  ],

  "palette": {
    "primary_teal": {"hex": "#4A7876", "rgb": [74, 120, 118], "role": "Primary brand color; headings, UI accents, links", "css_var": "--ps-primary-teal", "scss_var": "$ps-primary-teal"},
    "forest_green": {"hex": "#375E4E", "rgb": [55, 94, 78], "role": "Secondary accent; dark-mode surfaces; secondary headings", "css_var": "--ps-forest-green", "scss_var": "$ps-forest-green"},
    "bronze": {"hex": "#C59E79", "rgb": [197, 158, 121], "role": "Tertiary accent; subtle emphasis; warm callouts", "css_var": "--ps-bronze", "scss_var": "$ps-bronze"},
    "deep_bronze": {"hex": "#A7815B", "rgb": [167, 129, 91], "role": "Lower-value warm accent; hover states; footer chrome", "css_var": "--ps-deep-bronze", "scss_var": "$ps-deep-bronze"},
    "warm_sage": {"hex": "#A19680", "rgb": [161, 150, 128], "role": "Neutral warm accent; dividers, subtle backgrounds", "css_var": "--ps-warm-sage", "scss_var": "$ps-warm-sage"},
    "cream": {"hex": "#FDDCA4", "rgb": [253, 220, 164], "role": "Highlight / warm-light accent; use sparingly", "css_var": "--ps-cream", "scss_var": "$ps-cream"},
    "charcoal": {"hex": "#1F272B", "rgb": [31, 39, 43], "role": "Dark surfaces; text on light; dark-mode primary", "css_var": "--ps-charcoal", "scss_var": "$ps-charcoal"}
  },

  "typography": {
    "display": {
      "family": "Raleway",
      "format": "variable",
      "axes": ["wght (100-900)"],
      "location": "assets/fonts/raleway/",
      "files": ["Raleway.ttf", "Raleway-Italic.ttf"],
      "use_for": "Hero lines, major display headers, section banners"
    },
    "headers": {
      "family": "Lato",
      "format": "static",
      "location": "assets/fonts/lato/",
      "files": ["Lato-Light.ttf (300)", "Lato-LightItalic.ttf", "Lato-Regular.ttf (400)", "Lato-Italic.ttf", "Lato-Bold.ttf (700)", "Lato-BoldItalic.ttf"],
      "use_for": "H2-H4, navigation, UI chrome, pull quotes"
    },
    "body": {
      "family": "Open Sans",
      "format": "variable",
      "axes": ["wdth", "wght (300-800)"],
      "location": "assets/fonts/opensans/",
      "files": ["OpenSans.ttf", "OpenSans-Italic.ttf"],
      "use_for": "Running text, captions, labels, inline UI"
    },
    "tier_selection_rule": "When unsure, pick the less-expressive tier — Lato over Raleway for headings, Open Sans over Lato for running text. The brand voice favors substance over showiness; typography should reinforce that default.",
    "license": "All three are Google Fonts / SIL Open Font License"
  },

  "logos": {
    "lockups": ["horizontal", "stacked", "mark"],
    "variants": ["color", "on-dark"],
    "notes": {
      "no_silhouette": "There is no white-silhouette or charcoal-silhouette variant. The wordmark stays teal + bronze on dark. The canonical dark-background treatment is the original design from Petabit-Scale-logo2.pdf: color facets on a charcoal plate.",
      "variant_selection": "Use 'color' on light / cream / controlled-charcoal surfaces. Use 'on-dark' on photography, gradients, or any surface where the charcoal plate needs to be baked in."
    },
    "file_paths": {
      "svg_base": "assets/brand/svg/",
      "png_base": "assets/brand/png/",
      "favicon_base": "assets/brand/favicon/",
      "vector_masters": "assets/vectors/masters/ (designer .ai / .eps / .pdf — authoritative, read-only)"
    },
    "naming_convention": "petabit-scale-{lockup}-{variant}[@{scale}x].{ext}",
    "raster_scales": ["@1x", "@2x", "@3x"],
    "base_widths_at_1x": {"horizontal": 800, "stacked": 400, "mark": 256},
    "minimum_sizes": {
      "horizontal": {"web": "120px", "print": "1 inch"},
      "stacked": {"web": "80px", "print": "0.75 inch"},
      "mark": {"web": "32px", "print": "0.4 inch"}
    }
  },

  "public_references": {
    "live_website": "https://www.petabitscale.com/",
    "public_client_roster": ["GTT Communications", "Deft", "CoreSite", "Ziply Fiber", "Vultr", "Kentik"],
    "additional_clients_permission_gated": ["SambaNova", "CoreWeave", "Lambda", "Voltage Park", "IMC", "Equinix"],
    "note": "Public client roster is citable in new content without additional permission work (already public on the homepage). The permission-gated list came from discovery + customer-email evidence but hasn't been publicly acknowledged yet — requires explicit sign-off before external use."
  },

  "build_commands": {
    "dependencies": "pip install reportlab PyMuPDF Pillow",
    "regenerate_visual_assets": [
      "python3 scripts/build-brand-assets.py",
      "python3 scripts/extract-mark-svg.py"
    ],
    "regenerate_brand_guide_pdf": "python3 scripts/build-brand-guide-pdf.py",
    "output_pdf": "output/Petabit-Scale-Brand-Guide.pdf"
  },

  "hard_rules_summary": [
    "Never edit generated files (assets/brand/{svg,png,favicon,palette}). Edit vector masters and rerun scripts.",
    "Never claim we are 'the people hyperscalers hire' or imply we have identical pricing agreements to hyperscalers.",
    "Never recolor the mark's facets. Never create a white or charcoal silhouette variant.",
    "Never use banned words in copy.",
    "Always use 'Petabit Scale' (two words) in prose; 'petabitscale' in URLs.",
    "Always pick the less-expressive type tier when unsure.",
    "Always prefer specific gear terminology over generic nouns (QSFP-DD 800G-FR4 beats 'optics')."
  ]
}