1. Quilt Optical Fiber Workshop Boulder Research and Administrative Network (BRAN) Experiences/Lessons Learned By Jim Van Dyke

2. 6/22/04 - 2 BRAN Introduction  Four Partners: NCAR/UCAR, City of Boulder, NOAA/NIST, CU at Boulder  Boulder metro installation to connect partner sites  A 96 strand SMF-28 fiber from end to end  Nodes are spliced and pigtailed

3. 6/22/04 - 3

4. 6/22/04 - 4 Development  Initiated by technical side, not management side  Four partners mean: cooperation, politics, serving special interests  Management and technical folks had to work together to develop project  RFP process with detailed specifications

5. 6/22/04 - 5 Specifications  Identify lead party to develop and champion specifications  Do not compromise quality  Document and confirm the details  Have other parties review specs and proposals

6. 6/22/04 - 6 Construction  Electrical contractor won the bid with a communications subcontractor  The contractor underestimated the complexity/cost of the installation – it is called “Boulder” for a reason –Hit countless big rocks –Hit at least 2 water mains –Locates/paths under busy intersections difficult –Working with railroad RoWs difficult

7. 6/22/04 - 7 Prepare for Setbacks

8. 6/22/04 - 8 Installation  Assign lead party to manage installation  Spend time with the contractor/installer up front  Verify quality of fiber installers/splicers prior to installation

9. 6/22/04 - 9 Acceptance Criteria  Quality components  Bend radius  Pulling tension  Splice quality  Connector quality  100% fiber strand verification  Make sure your expectations are clear up front –Verify quality early and often

10. 6/22/04 - 10 Connector Faces

11. 6/22/04 - 11

12. 6/22/04 - 12 Phased implementation  Specifications should allow turning up links in the path without having the entire project done

13. 6/22/04 - 13 Maintenance: Do you maintain or outsource?  Coordinate outsource management –Locator –Manhole verification - annuallyManhole verification –Repair  We maintain –Emergency parts –Contingency fund

14. 6/22/04 - 14 Maintenance – annual manhole verification

15. 6/22/04 - 15

16. 6/22/04 - 16 Expansion  Collocated at local PoPs  Have a common bundle of fiber go to every new node/spur and be terminated for route testing

17. 6/22/04 - 17 Questions?