IBM Fiber Optic Search
A $1 Billion multi-year IBM outsourcing opportunity, hereafter called “Darcor”, for an enterprise required the use of mirrored data centers. These centers were about 15 miles apart. The Darcor enterprise already had a privately constructed optic fiber link between the two sites. However, for reasons of resiliency, another path which was physically separate from the first fiber link was required.
The separate path could be attained by either laying a separate private “trench” for a separate backup optic fiber path or finding existing dark fiber that could be purchased or leased between the two sites. The estimate for the private path was obtained. It was in the range of $9-10 million. This seemed prohibitively high and would probably cause the loss of the bid. The second alternative was to find either a private firm with dark optic fiber close to the sites or to find a public carrier that had dark optic fiber close to the sites. IBM realized that each of the Carriers have quick access and knowledge as to whether they have terminations points at the addresses of the sites. However, it is difficult to locate who those carriers are. Nonetheless, a few weeks were used up calling power companies, public and private carriers to no avail. They found no one that met the requirements of the separate path between sites. They were running out of time since the bid was due in a week.
At this point they called, IBM’s Global Services’ Dr. Joe Hawranek (retired), who called GeoTel Communications, LLC, gave them the two addresses and asked them to do a search. They did so and had the first results back within 24 hours.
The net result was that a carrier was identified that had dark fiber at both sites and was chosen as the vendor to provide the alternate path between the two and further saved the enterprise approx. $6 million USD, due to GeoTel.
As a result, GeoTel has a master agreement in place with IBM over the last 4 years and renewed again in October 2009 for another 2, to provide IBM’ers in the comms practice infrastructure data when doing research for their enterprise clients or in preparation for their RFP’s.
Hudson County, NJ Cyberdistrict Planning Study
The high-tech economy begins with local communities. The New Jersey Redevelopment Authority recognized this fact by issuing over $12 million in local planning grants for Cyberdistrict Feasibility studies in thirty communities throughout the state. The purpose of these grants was to identify existing and potential corridors within the state for future high-technology economic development.
Hudson County’s 12 municipalities banded together and received one of the largest Cyberdistrict planning grants to develop a county-wide planning strategy for the digital economy. Hudson County is the most urbanized county in New Jersey, and is unique in both its proximity to Manhattan’s central business districts and the diversity of its multi-ethnic population. Assessing Hudson County’s readiness for the digital economy proved to be a daunting task, as traditional sources of economic and infrastructure data simply did not reflect the digital reality lurking beneath the county’s streets and roads. To draw a more accurate picture of the county’s telecommunications infrastructure, planning consultants Wallace, Roberts, and Todd of Philadelphia obtained geospatial data on telecommunications infrastructure from GeoTel Communications, LLC (www.geo-tel.com) of Orlando, Florida. GeoTel is a telecommunications research and GIS mapping firm, which researches and provides data sets in the United States and telecommunications data worldwide. GeoTel’s body of expertise includes leading experts in economic geography, GIS and telecommunications.
GeoTel’s Director of Government and Public Affairs, worked closely with Scott Page and other planners from Wallace, Roberts, and Todd to produce the necessary results for the study. According to Page, “We have never had this comprehensive and accurate a picture of local telecommunications infrastructure. The data we obtained from GeoTel had an enormous impact and contributed greatly to our client’s improved understanding of its competitive infrastructure assets.”
