Sample Consulting Engagement

The following scenario is based on a composite of actual Stratum Broadband engagements.

A city or town is interested in implementing a broadband wireless data network for various city personnel, including first responders. The committee knows what they want the network to do and who they want it to serve, but has no idea how to begin building it. They must design, build, and deploy the network, select equipment vendors and wireless carriers, and determine the software platforms needed. They need to know how to pay for the network. They need help!

The city engages Stratum Broadband to provide the technical expertise to get the project done. Stratum Broadband assesses the requirements and defines the project’s scope and feasibility. Their objectives are to design the appropriate high-level architecture for the wireless network, present a general budget for building and maintaining the network, and provide an implementation plan for deploying the network. Stratum Broadband employs a tested methodology to successfully get through all the steps involved in implementing the city’s new wireless network.

Stratum Broadband begins with a kickoff meeting for key stakeholders, such as the wireless project committee, the city CIO, and representatives of the police, fire, and EMS departments. The meeting creates an atmosphere of participation and buy-in to the process by:

• Clarifying the scope and objectives for the wireless network project.
• Describing the activities for the project and listing the overall schedule of events.
• Outlining the interview process and defining the data types that need to be gathered – either by survey or by copies of relevant engineering drawings, documents, or listings.
• Clarifying the dependencies on the stakeholders.

The kickoff meeting also fine tunes the process and provides the sensitivity awareness needed for smooth operation of the project.

After the kickoff meeting, the Stratum Broadband team conducts interviews and surveys to gather all necessary information to design and build the best network solution. To work out any gaps and misunderstandings, the team makes quick calls or sends email requests for clarifications or additional information. Now, Stratum Broadband is ready to answer the city’s questions.

The team determines the city has the necessary infrastructure to implement either a WiFi Mesh or a WiMax network topology. The city must make a decision on how to proceed. Research indicates that the nearby university already has the wireless licenses necessary for an efficient WiMax implementation. However, partnering with the university would add complexity to the project. Research also indicates that a WiFi Mesh would be significantly less expensive to build (although both topologies have about the same net present value over five years). Since supporting first responders is crucial to the city, they decide against unlicensed WiFi and in favor of a partnership with the university to use its licensed WiMax.

With the decision in place, Stratum Broadband returns to the university to learn more about their requirements in the partnership. They want to provide intranet access to students that live off-campus. After factoring in the equipment required to support the campus users, it appears that the proposed system will be able to offer ISP service to a large portion of the city’s residents. Stratum Broadband can now create financial models based on the city wholesaling service to a local ISP.

Stratum Broadband presents their findings to the city in a written document and as a presentation to the wireless committee and other interested parties. The presentation explains why partnership with the university is the city's best choice, presents the high-level architecture for the WiMax network, and defines the budget for deploying it. In addition, the presentation shows that some additional components can be added to the system to support disaster recovery in the face of a natural or manmade catastrophe. The additional cost of such components is explained. Stratum Broadband also describes how offering wholesale services to an ISP can be incorporated into the implementation plan. The team recommends how to provide proper quality service to first responders while supporting wholesale operations and how to incorporate disaster readiness upgrades into the implementation plan. The presentation also outlines a schedule for completing the network buildout and describes the next steps in the process.

With the architecture and budget in place, Stratum Broadband is ready for the next steps in implementing the city’s new wireless network – interviewing the interested equipment vendors and carriers, building a pilot network to demonstrate the required capabilities, and completing the construction and implementation phases of the actual network.