CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
29 May 2008
Implementation Investments
Bentley’s Communications Products Help Hellas Online Speed Delivery of 450-Kilometer Fiber Network in Athens
Bentley Systems, Incorporated announced that Attica Telecom, a telecom provider recently acquired by hellas online, a leading fixed telephony and broadband operator in Greece, has selected and deployed Bentley’s communications software solution to design and build a 450-kilometer fiber network in Athens and other major cities in Greece, including Thessaloniki. The new network, which features a ring-based topology, will consist of more than 8,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable. The fiber optic rings are built out with spokes to key buildings and the conduit architecture is designed to handle a growing business through the addition of sub-conduits and incremental fiber optic cables after the initial build. Attica Telecom chose Bentley’s communications solution, including Bentley Fiber and Bentley Inside Plant, because of its ability to interoperate, help plan infrastructure of this scale, ensure design and build phases are executed at the lowest possible cost, provide easy access to all project data via a repository-based system, and create streamlined workflows.
Attica Telecom had started the design process with a number of different desktop applications, including Microsoft Access, Visio, Excel, and static CAD drawings. It soon became clear that this was not a productive approach. As Mr. Dimitris Nikas, head of GIS and fiber optic documentation at Attica Telecom, explained, “Initially we worked with a series of products that were not interoperable and most of the design workflows required printouts and paper-based transactions to move things forward. This soon became unworkable because of the errors introduced into the process and because it was almost impossible to keep the data up to date across all of these programs and file types.”
Attica Telecom searched for a solution that would deliver cable information, access point information, duct information, splice enclosure information, building enclosure information, documentation of the fiber distribution panels, full documentation of the inside plant inventory, and customer information. In addition, it wanted to display this information graphically and make it readily available to all of the designers and construction engineers on the project.
The system also needed to be repository-based, allowing comprehensive data queries with easy data import and export tools. Moreover, it had to have the capability to support the correlation of logical events with a physical location.
“We chose the Bentley communications solution because the products are based on mature, tried-and-trusted technology,” said Mr. Nikas. “In addition, there was no need for any form of custom development – all we needed to do was configure the products to handle our data. As soon as we had installed the products and completed the initial setup, we were able to begin importing the existing data from our Access database and from Visio. At that point we were ready to go.”
All design work for the network is now done using Bentley Fiber and Bentley Inside Plant. Bentley Fiber, in particular, is used by many members of the hellas online team, from designers to field engineers and those dealing with customer issues.
hellas online has plans to deploy additional products in the Bentley communications solution, including Bentley Geo Web Publisher for Communications. This product presents maps and diagrams in a Web browser environment for nontechnical users like customer service representatives. It also will deploy the ProjectWise collaboration system to take advantage of its comprehensive workflow and documentation management capabilities.
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