BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
Issue link: https://bbcmag.epubxp.com/i/138991
BroadBand deployment ASU Implements Advanced Fiber Network Arizona State University modernized the telecommunications systems on its four campuses by pushing fber deep into the network. By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities W ith more than 72,000 students enrolled at four campuses, Arizona State University (ASU) is the largest public university in the United States. As at every university, the students, faculty and administration are intensive users of telecom services, and the university is responsible for meeting their voice, video and data needs. In 2010, the university decided to upgrade the cable networks that served its administrative ofces, stadiums, dormitory rooms, dining halls and common areas. Te new system would replace all the video services on the four campuses and about one-third of the data services. Te university had several goals for the upgrade: It wanted the new system to be technologically advanced, it wanted to own and control the system and it wanted to pay for the upgrade without a budget increase. ASU issued a request for proposals in 2010, using its Best Value RFP process. Tis process, which the university also licenses to other organizations, has supported the successful procurement and management of 1,600 projects, many of them large and complex. Nichol Luoma, the university's director of procurement and chief procurement ofcer, explains, "Te proprietary process, which was developed by ASU's Performance Based Studies Research Group, focuses on fnding the best available expert for a particular requirement. Te process does not stop at contract award; 18 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com instead, it focuses on continual process improvement and cost competitiveness." Te selected vendor was Satellite Management Services (SMS), a Phoenixbased broadband video and data solutions provider that supports more than 650 multiunit properties. (SMS was recently awarded a similar project for the University of Arizona.) SMS began work on the project in September 2011 and has nearly completed construction for the existing buildings. Over the course of its fveyear contract, it will also manage the network for ASU. Don Bowen, CEO of SMS, says that, though his company owns the other networks it manages today, separating network ownership and management is not new for the company – in fact, it harks back to SMS's original business model in the 1980s. "We went to apartment owners back then and said, 'We'll build the network, you own it, and we'll manage it.' We built the company doing that in 1985. So we took a step back to our roots to do this deal." DEEp FIBER Te path to upgrading the system was straightforward, if logistically complex: Install more fber. To unify communications and to support demand far into the future, SMS's network design replaced much of the existing coaxial cable with fber pushed as deep as possible into the plant. When the project is complete, | May/June 2013