BT secures core network cables
"This is a logistics project on a massive scale." Dhillan Koya, Account Manager, Logica
Success Story
About BT
BT is one of the largest fixed line telecommunications and broadband Internet providers in the UK. It operates in more than 170 countries around the world.
What BT needed
The 21st Century Network (21CN) programme is the network transformation project at BT. It will see the UK’s current telephone network move from the present AXE/System X Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to an Internet Protocol (IP) system. BT had the roll-out of its nextgeneration 21CN IP-network on the cards. That’s when it decided to move from paper to electronic records for its core fibre cable systems. It would help to exactly locate BT’s cables and plan resilience checks on them. Especially when these cables had to be used in the first critical phase of the planned rollout.
The challenge
BT has 15,000 core fibre cables that transmit voice and data traffic across the UK. The problem was that all they had were paper records for these core cables. These records were spread across 44 BT offices around the country. Most of the core cable records were in place. Some were not. A few others were hard to find.
Our answer
Logica was selected to do a proof of concept. We showed BT how we would identify, verify and convert core cable records into an electronic format. They accepted and the deal was ours. Logica started the project on a time and materials basis. We worked with BT subcontractors to collect, verify and convert data.
BT and Logica decided to move into a fixed-price contract. A project team of 22 Logica consultants provided management expertise and thought leadership. Over 60 employees from three offshore software firms converted data. Many more subcontracted staff collected records in the field.
“This project has entailed a lot of hard work by BT, Logica and its partners. It is going well with results being delivered on time and to budget. I am delighted by the project’s reliably boring and predictable nature. It is improving efficiency and reducing BT’s costs significantly – aspects of the work that are praised by BT’s head of network design and planning compliance, Richard Newman - and this in turn will clearly benefit our customers.” Alex Taylor, Director of Access Management, BT OneIT
A Success story
BT now has electronic records for 10,000 cables captured on the system. More are being added as you read. We were able to help BT indentify core cables that were resilient and those that needed to be repaired or changed. When paper records could not be found for a core cable, we asked for a physical survey. These records made it possible for BT to plan the rollout.
Our work and forward thinking didn’t just save money for BT throughout the project. We helped avoid spending it in the first place BT had initially estimated that it would have to physically track 25+ percent of its cables. We reduced the rate to below 10 per cent by putting all the record offices on service level agreements and by searching harder for those missing records. That’s how we saved £3 million for BT.
Logica’s accurate record system has been a winner from the start. BT’s network is now more resilient,efficient and future-ready. And it’s saving them lots of money, too.
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