BellBoy,
>>What is meant by an engineering facility? That is my question? Do they have a building, equipment and people dedicated to it?<<
Short answer, an engineering facility is where a bunch of guys and gals who obtained college degrees in the arcane assemble to attempt to deploy principles of price-optimization and widget-assignment to a set of design parameters that were put together by the "network architects" and "designers."
It is here, once all of the market packaging and regulatory observances have been honored, that services and products are finalized for definition and ultimate shipment.
In another context, network engineering can be seen as the fast order cook cadre of a cafeteria kitchen where they put the actual assignments together to assemble the nuts and bolts of a carrier's services for deployment the next day... or month, as it were. They assign things like switch ports, copper pair loops, optional features, etc. Here, the label of "engineering" is a thrown in with the job to make the clerks and database administrators feel better about what they are doing from 9 to 5. Hey, it's an honest living.
You don't want to know the long answer.
Quite a few of the successful CLECs, new-age fiber barons like QWST and LVLT, and multiple system cable operators (MSOs) have for some reason made it their business to do their engineering centers in the Denver and Boulder areas, for example. In those instances the centers are parts of industrial parks, with well-appointed office spaces and office automation provisions.
On the other hand, there are those new-age orgs just getting off the ground in the ISP space who could have their engineering centers just about anywhere where the rent is cheap enough, and where they can get lines fast enough to support their thing in cyberspace... the virtual engineering organization. Don't knock it unless you've tried it.
The only equipment housed in these locations, where carriers and other media service providers are concerned, are the implements needed to do what I described above, with the possible exceptions of requiring some sample products by some engineers who are also doing r and d, or evaluating new products... but these are not equipment devices that would be used to supply services to live customers.
The "equipment [which] is located at one of the ISP Condos, Zoozs ect., " as you note, are the provisions that one of these companies would house in their live operating centers, not their engineering offices.
>>what is the break even in yearly MOUs required to offset the benefit of the engineering facility?...Where's the Big Profit margin to absorb all the overhead and everyone's profit along the way...It doesn't add up for me.<<
Damned if I know. I don't see how it could possibly "add up" since they have not made their actual five- and eight- year projected flows and their Memoranda of Intent by prospects available for viewing... at least not where I've looked, and I am not that inclined to start searching now, unless you know something that I don't and care to point me to it. IMO, it's virtually impossible to know if they are on or off course, without benefit of reviewing their entire plan and examining the core and fiber of their organization.
Nothing that I've seen concerning this company amounts to what I would need to see in order to make such an assessment, given all of the proprietary things that are likely taking place [in any company, for that matter] in the background that never get published.
And judging from the looks of things right now, I don't know whether I am inclined to investigate such a plan at this time, or not. By now the company must have caught wind of this thread. If they want me to see their flows, my email address is a part of my SI profile.
In any event, hope this has helped, and I'd like to wish you and all here a happy holiday season, and a prosperous new year!
The Best to All, Frank Coluccio |
