BellBoy,
>>Just where is the Engineering facility in Richardson,Tx? Is it co-located at SBC's Central office or another Carriers Central office?<<
I would tend to doubt that an "engineering facility" would be colocated within an ILEC central office. The square footage in COs is horrendous enough for switching purposes, much less housing a group of.... engineers.
Perhaps their switching entity is, if they have one, but I would tend to seriously doubt that their engineering site would be in an SBC location.
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Incidentally, I've not had personal contact with anyone in this company since over a year ago, when they were called by a different name. At the time I visited one of their foreign customers' sites which was in a colo situation in the WTC district of NY City. That was last October or November some time. And the gear that Sattel was pushing then, while good enough for its intended uses, was actually not what I was looking for for my client.
That's one of the reasons why I was encouraged earlier this year with their "renewed focus" and suggestion of an about face, when I opened up this thread. It wasn't only encouraging to see "them" do it, but it was further evidence that the direction which we plotted last year was being reinforced, and in a way vindicated, by yet another industry player.
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An "engineering center" doesn't tell me too much on the surface. In a general sense, if I had a desk that was large enough to hold a slide rule, I suppose that I could then call that my engineering center if I so chose. OTOH, it could also be a twelve- or a fifty-story building.
AS A POINT OF GENEAL INFORMATION: The following is generic in nature, and is not necessarily tied to any of the realities of the company after whom this thread is named.
There have been numerous telecom co-los for many different purposes popping up around the country, especially in densely populated areas, to meet the space and other environmental demands fostered by the Communications Act of '96, and the growth of the Internet in general. Many of these fall outside the realm of ILEC-owned facilities.
These sites fall under the headings of Private NAPs, Carrier Hotels, Zoos [named appropriately after the cage arrangements found therein], ISP Condos, POPs, etc., and most of them are owned by a new breed of technolgy-oriented facilities management companies.
These techo-FMCs will do a build-out of an entire computer or switching floor [or an entire building] per tenant specifications prior to move in.
There are sometimes three or more levels of leases and subleases involved in these situations, whereby the primary tenant may sublease real [or virtual capacity] spaces and racks to second tier tenants, and so on down the line. In some cases "space," for the purposes of gaining virtual colocation to a facility, is actually defined by "channel capacity" that is being picked off of the cloud and diverted to a sub-tenant, who in many cases is, in fact, off premises.
I am only offering this as an explanation to those who may be uninitiated in this new carrier motif, for general information purposes.
I'm sure that this doesn't help you much, but it may give you an idea as to why the name on the front door of a primary tenant may not always be the same as that which is found on the building permits in city hall. And for secondary and tertiary sub-tenants? I wouldn't even bother looking for their names on the door at all. Maybe on a relay rack or equipment cabinet, tho.
Take care, and good luck, Frank C. |
