BellSouth Multimedia Internet Exchange, South Florida
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Analysis
BellSouth.net, a subsidiary of BellSouth Corporation, was an original participant in the consortium that worked to bring the NAP of the Americas, a Network Access Point that is slated to help connect the United States to Central and South America, to South Florida. However, in mid-2000, BellSouth.net decided to construct its own NAP in South Florida, using completely different wide-area metropolitan network architecture, with four nodes spread across a three-county area. BellSouth.net believed this approach would provide a more stable and reliable network that would allow its customers the option to choose where they wish to locate, rather than be limited to a single location. Once BellSouth.net began the effort to source locations for the individual nodes, the need for a project manager to coordinate the many facets of the project was apparent, and The Amend Group was retained as project manager of the BellSouth Multimedia Internet Exchange (MIX). The MIX is the most advanced optically switched NAP in the country, and consists of four separate node locations in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, Florida.
Site Analysis and Acquisition
At the time The Amend Group was engaged to provide Project Management (PM) services, the West Dade County location had already been selected, and the facility was designed and essentially ready to begin construction. The East Dade County (downtown Miami) location had been selected, but the terms of BellSouth.net’s occupancy were not finalized. A location in Broward County was being discussed, but the facility had not been permitted, and could have been up to a year from completion. Two potential sites were being discussed in Palm Beach County, but neither was capable of meeting the project’s requirements in the time available.
The node sites needed to be operational in a very short time frame, so the stage was set for a fast-track project without having all the facility locations secured. As the PM effort got underway, it became obvious that the schedule dates were in jeopardy and a full-scale site evaluation effort was needed to get the project back on track. In the meantime, an evaluation of the East Dade facility option by the PM team determined that the preferred site was inadequate and could not meet the project schedule, and was eliminated. The Ft. Lauderdale location was problematic due to its projected completion and the two Palm Beach County locations could not be developed into data center type facilities on a timely basis. Thus, the NAP had one location, with the other three sites unidentified.
At this point, BellSouth.net engaged The Amend Group to assist in re-examining the markets to develop options for the other three nodes that could meet the desired schedule. Since BellSouth.net had utilized CRESA Partners of Miami early in the process to research site options for the nodes, The Amend Group partnered with CRESA for the renewed site evaluation effort, which allowed The Amend Group to provide the strategic direction and oversight for the project, with CRESA providing local knowledge and insight on the market. After evaluating the available options in the context of the needs of BellSouth.net, and in particular the schedule, it became obvious that BellSouth.net would need to find options that would allow them to place the node into service immediately. It was at this time that The Amend Group began researching the availability of colocation facilities in each market, which could provide temporary connectivity and service, while still evaluating other options that would provide BellSouth.net the ability to construct permanent node facilities. Several colocation options were evaluated, including information on two different BellSouth.net customer locations provided by BellSouth.net, the Emergia Cable Landing Station in Boca Raton (Palm Beach County) and the ImpSat Fiber Networks USA Colocation Teleport Facility in Wilton Manors (Broward County). The Amend Group negotiated and completed colocation service agreements with both companies to house a MIX node at each location. In addition, through discussions with a tenant in a downtown Miami building at 36 NE 2nd Street, an agreement was reached to house the 4th MIX node in their space under a colocation agreement. The site later became a permanent BellSouth facility, with the space being reconfigured to meet MIX specifications. With the completion of these three agreements, BellSouth.net was able to complete all four nodes and meet its projected schedule to “light” the MIX network.
Project Management
The Amend Group’s project management team was engaged by BellSouth.net to provide project management services for the four individual node sites that were to comprise the Florida MIX. Since the node in West Miami was already designed, The Amend Group was given the assignment by BellSouth.net to oversee the construction of the West Miami site at Beacon Tradeport Center and to coordinate the efforts of BellSouth.net’s other consultants and contractors involved in the project. The coordination effort involved construction management through startup of the facility, bringing fiber to the building, installation of the relay racks, DC Power Plant and all interconnecting power and data cabling.
The Amend Group was also tasked to evaluate the potential permanent sites available in buildings in downtown Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Raton. It was determined that none would meet the startup schedule requirements due to permitting issues and extensive construction required to transform these available buildings into data center capability. It was during this evaluation that the recommendation was made to BellSouth.net to investigate facilities that were “rack ready” to be used as temporary locations until appropriate permanent locations could be found and developed.
The Amend Group’s project management team assessed the various temporary “rack ready” locations found by The Amend Group for the capability to meet BellSouth.net’s infrastructure requirements. These included adequate rack space, security, back-up power sources, DC power and HVAC considerations. From these reviews, three suitable locations were recommended to BellSouth.net in downtown Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Raton to go with the node already under construction in West Miami.
The project management team then coordinated the design and installation of the relay racks, DC power, fiber and telecom connectivity to each of the areas, keeping all involved participants on an aggressive schedule to meet the earliest possible turn up dates.