1. Network (traffic) Planning Cross country and local traffic planning

2. Metro Applications

3. Source: http://art.freeshell.org/tools/ds0-ds4_bandwidth.html 1- OC48 = 38,800 phone calls 1-OC192=4xOC48=156,000+ phone calls

4. Intercity Traffic

5. How do you plan Sales gathers information Hands information to planning and to the Network Architecture team to design the network and do a cost- benefit analysis. (i.e., will it pay for itself and make us profitable?) Submit request to finance for approval. (Business plan approval) Back to Planning once approved to finalize the design. Then to the Network Engineering to implement, test and turn up the equipment. Completed design goes into system so that its capacity can be sold, provisioned and monitored.

6. Sales gathers information from customers and from survey’s, etc. and determines a demand. Network Architecture works with the vendor to test equipment and get pricing contracts signed. Planning works with Network Architecture, the vendor to get right equipment for lowest cost and to get delivery estimates.

7. Network Traffic Planner Verifies with other planning groups before submitting the plan. Facilities planning – is there space for the equipment? Power planning – Is there sufficient power? Can the equipment be timed and monitored? Do we have sufficient fiber between the cities to support the equipment (OSP – Fiber). Are we able to drop where the customer wants us? Provide information back to these groups for forecasting.

8. What does the planner have to know? How does the equipment work? (all of the equipment) How do you protect that traffic in case there is a network failure? They have to know the financials- Is this the best cost solution or is there a cheaper way to do this without spending money? How long with this build last – when will we need to do the next overbuild based on trending? How to monitor the network – how can I see how fast we are growing or when I should plan for the next build?

9. What skill-sets do you need? Attention to detail Database knowledge is a real plus. (Access, SQL, etc. – know how to use them. You will be analyzing a lot of data and this makes it easier). As in anything – hard work