ARRA Splicing/Testing
Background
A regional fiber provider was awarded an 1800 mile fiber optic build from an organization that received broadband stimulus money under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. In addition to the 1800 miles of build, the network linked nearly 60 universities and schools together on a common fiber network. When Celerity became involved with the project, a vast majority of the fiber had been constructed and spliced. However, due to tremendous time constraints and the vastness of the network, the customer experienced difficulties in final end to end testing on the network. The size of the network and time constraints were compounded by the need to remediate several high loss splices and sections of cable that had been damaged during or post installation. The project required significant manpower and a substantial equipment list to meet the project schedule. Celerity’s extensive list of owned OTDRs and our ability to offer field trained technicians to complete the testing made us a natural selection for the project.
The Challenge
One of the most difficult tasks to overcome at the onset of the project was the scheduling of manpower. In addition to Celerity’s normal workload, the project required enough manpower and testing equipment to complete the largest section of the project in the shortest amount of time. All in all, 19 different test locations representing 25 different spans of testing needed to be completed within a matter of 3 days. Further compounding the already tight timeline was the restricted access that was available to Celerity during the testing process. Access times and escorts required prearrangement and scheduling. Scheduling became problematic as Celerity was granted access during restricted windows.
The scheduling of exact meeting times required Celerity to accurately forecast both the time of the testing work at each location and the considerable transit time between each of the sites. Obviously, small delays in gaining access to both sides of a span, completing the testing or non-controllable events such as traffic would greatly impact the schedule by the end of the scheduled day. Unfortunately for our customer, several of the spans required remediation for out of spec splices or damaged sections of cable. The already tight timeline became an even greater push to retest the network following the completion of the repairs.
The Outcome
Celerity met the end customer’s deadline for completing and submitting the test results for the first segment of the 1800 mile network. Almost as quickly as the test results were submitted, subsequent segments of the network needed to be tested, remediated and submitted. Celerity continued to support the customer by providing both testing and remediation services through the entirety of the project, helping the customer to get caught up and on track with the timeline. The depths of Celerity’s skilled technicians and our extensive equipment list were truly tested on this project. Fielding the required number of properly equipped technicians combined with their tireless efforts to forge through every issue that arose is a testament Celerity’s mettle and our ability to overcome a challenge.
