Oct 19, 1998 12:00 PM,

Frontier partners with TTC in network expansion

Hanna Hurley

Frontier is strengthening its centralized test management systems with an integrated suite from Telecommunications Techniques Corp. Purchased for about $2 million, the TTC suite allows Frontier to test its circuit switches while expanding its network. Frontier is building an 18,000-mile fiber optic network scheduled for completion in early 1999.

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The TTC suite allows carriers to provision new circuits rapidly, resolve network problems quickly and reduce operating costs by decreasing unnecessary dispatches. One benefit of the TTC suite is that emerging carriers can use the tools before the network is fully deployed, said Gary Mayerick, president of TTC's systems and software division. "You can test and provision the circuit at a central office before the network operations center is operational," said Mayerick.

Jim Watts, Frontier's director of transmission engineering and network development, said, "We chose TTC because of the products' abilities to connect to our legacy products and work in the newer networks that are being developed."

Frontier has been using TTC's Centest 650, a remote test unit, to troubleshoot the network. In November the company will install NetAnalyst, test operations support system software that manages the remote Centest 650, and other portable test devices. NetAnalyst will perform DS-0 (64 kb/s), DS-1 (1.54 Mb/s) and DS-3 (44.7 Mb/s) testing. The TTC test equipment is currently installed at 14 of Frontier's switch sites. Final deployment will include 32 sites.

Frontier is developing a footprint that includes about 280 sites, said Jim Crocker, a transmission engineer serving as project manager at Frontier. Centralized testing will play a major part in the network's growth. "As we grow the network and deploy cross connects, we rely more heavily on centralized testing to reduce mean time to repair," he said. "We plan on growing the centralized testing for all the major and minor test sites."

Frontier's agreement with TTC also includes professional services and support.