CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
6 February 2007
Implementation Investments
MonCre Telephone Cooperative Chooses Bentley Communications Software to Build for Future
Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced that the MonCre Telephone Cooperative, which serves members in a 500-square-mile rural area of Alabama, has selected Bentley communications software to support its new fiber infrastructure. By providing more accurate real-time data, the software is making it easier for MonCre's teams to do scenario planning, model future demand, and provide accurate reports to management and the board of trustees.
Commenting on the benefits of the new software, Thomas Tapley, an engineer at MonCre, said, "We have made a positive step forward in deploying a system that makes us more nimble, more knowledgeable, and more effective. We will continue to build on these initial successes until all of our network assets are documented, viewed, and manipulated in a single environment."
Prior to deploying the Bentley communications products, MonCre had been struggling with multiple sources of data based on CAD files, Excel spreadsheets, and a variety of documentation. As Tapley explained, "We had an overriding objective of going beyond static CAD-based documentation to introduce an intelligent network engineering system. This means that we would move from having several conflicting views of the network to a single source of data that all users would share. We decided to start with the newest part of our network, the fiber backbone, which connects 35 fiber wire centers."
Unlike many rural communications organizations, all of MonCre's copper and fiber plant is direct buried. This helps the cooperative provide a high quality of service with few service interruptions due to storms. However, managing buried assets can be a challenge.
Bentley communications products are used to support streamlined workflows for circuit assignment and provisioning of this underground cabling. "As a result," said Tapley, "it is now easier for us to distinguish between our optical circuits for DSL versus circuits for telephony and to be sure that we are fully utilizing our fiber assets." This is important because every user across MonCre's 500-square-mile territory has the option to access broadband services.
MonCre knew that the process of migrating from CAD-based printed outputs to an intelligent network model would require careful evaluation. As Tapley pointed out, "Although the benefits of moving from our old systems to the Bentley solution make enormous sense, we were careful to do our research before we made this decision. We looked at eight or nine different vendors before opting for Bentley. The key for us is that Bentley offers a solution that is comprehensive, does not require customization, and is not dependent on any third-party components."
Richard Zambuni, global marketing director, Bentley Geospatial, said, "Bentley is committed to providing world-class solutions for intelligent network engineering to rural communications service providers. Though many of these organizations are small, they still must offer their customers a wide range of services of the highest quality and level of performance. This means they need software solutions that provide advanced functionality at an affordable total cost of ownership."
Added Zambuni, "We are gratified that the MonCre Telephone Cooperative has joined the growing number of rural communications service providers that are taking advantage of Bentley's intelligent network engineering software solutions to meet their customers' demands while operating their businesses cost-effectively."
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