IQGeo’s webinar hosted in partnership with Fierce Telecom explored how Brightspeed is revolutionizing the industry by accelerating time to market and creating a unified and reliable view of its fiber network lifecycle.
Jay Cadman, Senior Vice President at IQGeo, summarizes the key takeaways from the discussion with Sherry Hessenthaler, Vice President and Head of Operations Strategy, and Nilesh Shroff, Vice President, Technology, at Brightspeed.
Who is Brightspeed?
Brightspeed has swiftly emerged as a dynamic force in the telecommunications industry since its formation in October 2022. Boasting a workforce of more than 4,000 employees, the company has cultivated a customer base of 6.4 million users and growing, positioning itself as a key player dedicated to providing accessible, high-quality internet. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Brightspeed strategically concentrates its efforts on an ambitious mission—to expand fiber optic infrastructure across its 20-state footprint, ultimately reaching 3 million homes. With a $2 billion investment earmarked for this transformative initiative, Brightspeed has already initiated deployment in 17 states, demonstrating a commitment to aggressively expanding its fiber network.
The company's cloud-centric approach underscores its dedication to creating seamless, end-to-end workflows that have helped them become a leader in innovation and connectivity. Brightspeed's vision is clear: to shape a future where cutting-edge technology becomes a driving force for progress and prosperity across the United States.
How Brightspeed is meeting their ambitions fiber deployment goals
The Brightspeed team approached IQGeo with one of the most ambitious visions in the industry. With a focus on market entry, they aimed to establish a singular, comprehensive platform for their fiber network inventory, a strategy that would significantly reduce the number of systems and integrations while streamlining every facet of the fiber rollout process. Brightspeed's vision signaled a paradigm shift, reflecting their commitment to efficiency, integration, and innovation. The company's audacious blueprint set the stage for a transformative journey in the broadband industry, proving their dedication to pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
IQGeo started developing geospatial network inventory software for telecom network operators over a decade ago, targeting a mobile-first approach and emphasizing a rich network model to digitize and automate telecom business processes. The challenge Brightspeed grappled with was how to seamlessly transition not only their fiber network infrastructure but their entire operational framework. The solution was a paradigm shift towards a 100% cloud-native telecom tech stack, an ambitious endeavor that aimed to redefine the way they operate in the digital landscape. The primary objectives were twofold: to significantly reduce operational overhead costs and, simultaneously, to establish the flexibility to scale operations up and down in response to the dynamic demands of the business environment. This strategic move reflects Brightspeed’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to not only optimize efficiency but also to position themselves at the forefront of innovation within the telecommunications industry.
Integrating IQGeo’s end-to-end fiber network lifecycle solution
As Brightspeed faced the monumental task of expanding into 3 million homes, the question that emerged was: How could they leverage IQGeo from end to end? This question became a driving force behind their strategic initiatives and technological advancements.
Traditionally, the fiber planning stage involved the complexity of multiple systems, often managed through spreadsheets, and shared across various teams and platforms. In construction, processes like redlining, inventory management, and invoicing added further layers of intricacy. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive solution, Brightspeed initially implemented IQGeo as an automated fiber design tool, achieving an impressive 55% end-to-end functionality. However, the journey didn't stop there. Working with IQGeo, they constantly refined and customized the platform, creating a solid foundation for future enhancements.
Brightspeed has now transitioned to a simplified, 100% cloud-native tech stack for fiber business operations, leveraging IQGeo’s platform for a streamlined end-to-end workflow. The partnership with IQGeo has reduced handoffs between various stages of the network build process, enhancing functionalities from planning to budgeting asset management and vendor procurement. Collaboration efforts between Brightspeed and IQGeo focus on contractor-friendly interfaces for efficient field work and system integrations. The ongoing development includes the introduction of modules for managing both fiber and copper networks, aiming for a single comprehensive inventory system.
Brightspeed’s commitment to flexibility and a fully cloud-native approach is now evident throughout their entire operations, extending from fiber infrastructure construction to customer lifecycle management, all seamlessly integrated into a cloud-based environment. At the core of their technology stack is IQGeo, playing a pivotal role in orchestrating Brightspeed’s operations and ensuring a cohesive approach.
Network expansion and revenue modeling
The future focus for Brightspeed is on revenue generation, highlighting the need for a comprehensive model of physical network assets and services to capture revenue effectively. Brightspeed is employing pre-designed features in planning new market deployments, utilizing IQGeo’s network planning module for designing and verifying high-level network architecture. Additionally, they plan to continue streamlining existing fiber network processes and to collaborate on ongoing development for future expansion goals.
To hear more about the Brightspeed and IQGeo partnership, visit the customer story page.
How Brightspeed is accelerating time to market with a single, trusted view of its fiber network
The collaboration between Brightspeed and IQGeo represents a forward-looking approach to efficiently managing and expanding fiber networks, focusing on innovation, streamlining processes and revenue generation in the dynamic telecom industry landscape. Brightspeed’s aggressive hyper build program has enabled them to:
- Deliver project design scenarios in hours rather than months
- Rapidly identify the most profitable build areas
- Automatically create material orders and send for fulfillment
- Integrate construction management to monitor progress
During the pre-construction phase, Brightspeed leverages the fiber design bill of materials to automatically create material orders and send them directly to SAP for fulfillment. After the design is modeled and finalized, Brightspeed uses integrated construction management and mobile capabilities to enable vendor partners as well as monitor and verify key stages of the construction process.
To learn more about some of the topics discussed, check out the webinar hosted in partnership with Fierce Telecom.
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