In this article, I want to talk about my experience working on a fiber optic network for the city. This network is designed to provide high-speed internet and telecom services to all public services in the city.

Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work with different organizations in the telecommunications field. I have worked at the Networking and Communication Center (NCC) of the local university, as part of the ICT team in the Municipality of Heraklion (one of the larger municipalities in Greece), and as an independent telecom consultant.

In all these roles, I have been involved in an ongoing telecom project in my city that has had a significant impact on the entire community.

This project is the municipal fiber optic network, which aims to provide broadband internet and telecom services to all public services in the city.

In this article, I will share my experience with various aspects of this project, including some factors that go beyond just the technical aspects.

My many hats

The city of Heraklion, where I live, was chosen to have one of the largest fiber optic networks implemented as part of the municipal fiber optic network initiative. The initiative started in the early 2000s and is still in progress today. European funding was obtained to establish fiber optic Municipal Area Networks (MANs) in 40 cities across the country.

A project like this lasts for many decades, which is considered a very long time in the telecom industry. Because of this, I have been able to be a part of it in different ways at different times.

In a way, I have played different roles or had different responsibilities in my involvement.

As a result, I have had the chance to observe how such a big, long-term project works from the viewpoint of a designer, someone who carries out the plans, a customer, someone who manages it, and also from the perspective of the end user, both in the public and private sectors.

The fiber optic MAN

The creation of a fiber optic Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is the outcome of a European project to link public services together in a single communication network that is not reliant on commercial telecom companies.

This network encompasses various facilities such as city buildings, schools, hospitals, libraries, and other government offices and services. Each city's MAN is then linked to the National Public Administration Network, which provides internet, telephone, and various other network services to all connected public offices and entities.

Designing hat

I became involved in this project in the early 2000s while working with the university's NCC. Our team, as part of the university, had the responsibility of designing the network and making sure it met all the necessary requirements.

This meant more than just making sure we had enough equipment and cables. It also involved:

- Deciding on the best route for the fiber optics to:

    - Cover as many schools, hospitals, and public services as possible

    - Allow for future expansion of the network

    - Follow existing paths like roads and underground conduits to minimize installation efforts and costs

- Planning where to place the physical nodes, including:

    - Finding locations that could serve the most buildings

    - Providing power, environmental control, and security for the nodes

    - Deciding on the best places and working with stakeholders to host nodes and related equipment

- Designing the conduits that connect the nodes

- Making sure there were enough fiber optic pairs between nodes for current and future needs

- Ensuring there were enough empty paths to install new fibers between nodes in the future, even if there were other excavation projects happening

- Providing redundancy, resilience, and high availability for the 99 km of installed fiber optic cables.

The list mentioned above only covers the basics of what needs to be considered. Now, picture having to work together with all the parties involved in the project. 

This includes local governments, school districts, hospitals, and other relevant government offices. Additionally, collaboration is needed with organizations that oversee existing underground infrastructure, such as telecommunication, power, and waterworks companies. They must be consulted before any cables or pipelines can be installed. 

To put it simply, about 80% of the effort during the design phase is dedicated to ensuring that all stakeholders and affected parties cooperate smoothly.

Customer and administrator hat

After graduating from NCC University, I had the opportunity to join the ICT department of Heraklion municipality, where I would eventually be in charge of managing the MAN. 

As the person responsible for the municipality's telecommunications, it was my job to make the most of the completed MAN for the municipality's needs. 

In the early 2010s, I had control over the data and telephony services for the city's municipal services, schools, and hospitals. 

In fact, the very fiber optic cables that carried these services ran right behind my desk. So, if I held those cables in my hand, it would literally be true that I had control over all these services. I must admit, it made me feel powerful! 

As the person in charge of utilizing the MAN for the municipality, it was my responsibility to ensure that the infrastructure was being used effectively. So much time, effort, and money had been invested in building this infrastructure, and it would be a waste to not make the most of it. 

During this time, I gained valuable knowledge and experience in networking. I had a network the size of a city at my disposal, and I spent the next few months connecting the eight major buildings of the municipality.

Add to this the over 5000 public servants and 18000 students directly affected by the interconnectivity of schools, hospitals, and other public institutions beyond just the municipality itself. 

From this, you can quickly see this single telecom project’s impact on the city.

An important milestone during this time was an expansion of the original MAN, where additional cabling runs were installed, bringing the network physically closer to many more municipal facilities. 

The expansion added 41 km bringing the total cabling path of the MAN to 140 km.

End user hat

Currently, I am not only providing similar services to the city but also working as a telecom consultant for the city's cultural and conference center. This center is a collection of buildings that offer top-notch facilities for conferences, concerts, theater, and exhibitions with potentially thousands of participants.

These facilities have modern communication systems that can stream Ultra HD videos, conduct video conferences, and promote collaboration. They can also provide high-speed wireless internet access to thousands of local users.

The cultural center is a customer of the city's fiber optic network, but it has become quite demanding. One interesting thing about this customer is that it has quickly exceeded the capacity of the network.

The network was designed over 15 years ago and currently only provides GigabitEthernet speed links to each customer. Although the project is advanced, some parts of it are still a bit slow. This is expected when a project like this involves many different stakeholders from the public and private sectors.

Currently, there is a third initiative to upgrade the network and improve the speeds for end-users to around 40 and 100 Gbps. However, it will take about a year for these upgrades to be implemented. In the meantime, alternative providers have been arranged to meet the center's bandwidth needs until the upgrades are completed.

Conclusion

It is uncommon for someone in the telecom industry to be able to participate in a project from different perspectives and aspects for such a long time.

I consider myself very lucky to have had the chance to work on the fiber optic MAN and still be involved with it in some way.

Working with others on this project as part of different teams, and the interactions I've had, have taught me a lot about telecommunications, but even more about how telecom affects a city's inner workings and its citizens' daily lives.

One of the most impactful lessons I've learned from this project is that the size of a telecom project has less to do with the technology and more to do with the stakeholders involved and their interests.

Managing so many variables while implementing a technologically advanced project is not an easy task and often requires understanding beyond technical issues.

That's why I believe that telecom is an exciting field with many opportunities for those interested in pursuing a rewarding and fulfilling career.

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