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In the Trenches
There are many smaller companies who haves important roles to play, and the success of the networks of tomorrow may well hinge on how well they perform. is just one of the supporting parts in the telecommunications spectacular that is 21CN. Russell t, its Operations Director, had this to say about it “Nothing of this magnitude has been attempted in modern day telecommunications, and so the task in hand must be more than a little daunting to all involved.” What really differentiates it from infrastructure deployments of the past is how it is being executed. In the past the incumbent carriers would have undertaken most of the work themselves, but now the compulsion to outsource these activities is too strong to ignore. In his opinion, “Historically speaking carriers such BT were providing a public service, and so they had huge numbers of staff and were totally self reliant, but over the decades this mentality has had to change. While in past they took care of all the structural issues in house, they now have to concentrate all their efforts on their key competencies, rather than being forced to spread themselves too thinly. That’s why they need the support of people like us.”
Frank White is Teligence’s Director of Next Generation Services, and concurs with his colleague. According to him, “Carriers like BT must now see themselves primarily as service providers, and so they have to worry about competing with the likes of Sky, and addressing the needs of the customer base, rather than trying to be a jack of all trades.” Because of the scale of the roll-out and the speed with which it is being carried out, a flexible work force is required. As White explains “There a going to sporadic bursts of activity in different parts the country over the next few years, it won’t be a slow, steady phenomena. Also, because once NGN infrastructure is in place, carriers won’t need so many people to maintain their networks, taking on even more staff now to complete the deployment simple doesn’t make any real sense.” “The manufacturers like Juniper, Ciena, Alcatel, etc, were always more comfortable with the outsourcing model, but it has taken a long time for some of the carriers to move to this way of thinking” he continues.
As White elucidates, “The carriers rely on their technology partners to deal with creating the equipment needed, and they in turn will look to offload the hands-on work onto companies like ours.” But he doesn’t see this as being mindless drudgery. He feels that they can make a major contribution to how well deployment of these projects fare, and add considerable value.
It is his view that, “Any manufacturer who produces telecom equipment would normally have knowledge of that specific layer of the network, and that makes them simply too specialised when you look at projects like 21CN. With such a fully integrated network which is dependent on various convergent technologies, there is a very apparent need to partner with firm’s who can address the whole thing in its entirety not just a single isolated part. It’s no longer enough to have an in-depth understanding of how one piece of equipment functions, you need to be able to appreciate how it effects everything else in the network.” “Development cycles will be far shorter, and this combined with rapid increases in consumer demand will put a lot of pressure on the carriers, as they may need to expand capacity or bring in new services quickly. This pace of change means that it is only the companies who can show a high degree of flexibility, and can be pre-emptive in their tactics, will really be able keep up with all this” he concludes.
“The subcontract firms, such as ours, are much more nimble” Wyatt adds “and thus better suited to dealing with sudden changes in requirements or schedule adjustments. The larger firms that partner with us have to contend with much longer lines of communication and tiers of management, and so they couldn’t respond in the fast, coherent manner that is simply second nature to us.” He also points out that companies of this creed are completely technology/vendor neutral, having had exposure of working will all of the different manufacturers’ equipment. “Customers don’t want to have demarcation points or technology gaps, they just want to make sure everything joins together harmoniously. If situations arise where the companies involved can argue about who is responsible then potentially everyone will lose out. By employing someone who can look at the whole thing, from end to end, the chances of this occurring are reduced immeasurably” he states.
The firm looks to engage in long-term partnerships, rather than what it describes as ‘purely transactional relationships’. It can cover a full range of services, including the racking, fibre testing/splicing, and integration of complete end-to-end systems. “We see the value in staying close to our customers, getting a good understanding of their problems, and learning how services can be improved, rather than just being passively involved. By engaging in this kind of symbiotic relationship” Wyatt explains “it will be possible to build these networks quicker and more efficiently.”