You found the fiber Now What

1
You found the fiber - Now What?

• Quilt Fiber Workshop
• June 21, 2004

2
Choosing the Process

• The obvious factors -
• Two or more providers make a better deal
• Knowing what you want/need
• Need to understand all associated costs
• Negotiate or RFP?
• A traditional RFP will NOT work
• This is difficult for procurement officers to
  understand!
• Negotiation gets the best deal

3
But an RFP is required!?

• CENIC used a modified RFP process
• RFP was used to identify viable providers
• Cost was not a factor in the RFP
• Footprint, willingness to sell/lease fiber
• Location of, Access to colocation facilities
• Open access at facilities 3rd party providers,
  ability to bring in new fiber
• Package best deal with selected vendor(s)

4
Making the Deal

• The best deal is made with the largest deal
• Lease or IRU - read the contract!
• Retain knowledgeable legal counsel for your first
  (and second) contracts
• Research and understand additional costs
• Today CENIC no longer uses RFP
• Uses consultant to identify solutions, providers,
  alternatives
• Negotiates directly with fiber providers

5
Making the Deal (continued)

• Use separate contracts for IRU and fiber
  maintenance (bankruptcy protection)
• Include sufficient power in base colocation costs
  (DC per rack30A for amplifier huts, min of 60A
  for terminal/add-drop sites)
• Watch the per-Amp additional charges
• Cross-connects within carrier facility,
  intra-building, 3rd party carriers (ILEC and
  CLEC), private fiber entrance fees

6
Making the Deal (continued)

• Access rights to colocation escorted or
  unescorted escort charges scheduled or
  on-demand manned or unmanned facility?
• Notice of outage How much notice will you get
  for planned outages? What rights do you have to
  request rescheduling?

7
The end results Did it Work?

• YES - it worked (and we learned A LOT)!
• CENICs selected vendor was Velocita
• Velocita?? Anyone remember them??!!
• Because of the process we were able to move to
  next providers - Level3 Williams
• We did not understand all cost factors
• Some of our colocation, power, cross connects,
  and private fiber charges are higher than could
  have been