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CCI is an employee owned, full service turnkey provider of engineering, mapping, construction, and integration services for converging Video, Voice, Data, Transportation and Utility networks.

Thomasville Case Study

Utility Company Expands Offering
Without Adding Equipment

SITUATION

Thomasville Utilities was operating four cable systems in Georgia when it began planning to expand into a fifth city and offer VoIP to all of its coverage areas. According to Marvin Golden, Networks Operations Director, the organization realized that before they could roll out the new offering, significant changes had to be made.

“We had been using Cisco Network Registrar (Cisco CNR) for several years but we were operating with the older version of the software,” he says. “We had equipment in place, but it was not optimally configured to offer VoIP services.”

Another obstacle was that each of the four cable plants had its own CNR server pair to manage. In addition, the servers were generating extra maintenance. “We knew that if we were to make the most of our resources and grow, we had to consolidate our servers.”

But Thomasville couldn’t do it alone, and identifying the professionals with just the right expertise was not as simple as it might seem. “We couldn’t find anyone who truly understood CNR.” So when CCI, who was working with Thomasville on a separate cable project, mentioned they could help, Thomasville listened.

SOLUTION

CCI recommended an on-site analysis leading to the consolidation and automation of the CNR provisioning servers and management processes. Golden was surprised, yet pleased with the plan.

“CCI’s solution didn’t focus on new hardware or software, it was all about their knowledge. They simply applied what they knew to the equipment and software we already had to make it work much better.”

CCI reconfigured the CMTS (Cable Modem Termination System), which comprises UBR7246 and multiple UBR7223 routers. They also switched Thomasville from Windows servers to Linux.

Thomasville asked CCI to finish the work in one week, but the project was completed in just two days. “It worked out great. We actually gained several days that we could use CCI on other tasks—and believe me, we used them.”

Customer Profile

Thomasville Utilities, through its Community Network Services (CNS) division, delivers cable television, Internet access, and telecommunications service in five cities in southwest Georgia. Its telecom solutions include single dedicated data circuits, state-of-the-art videoconferencing, and interactive distance learning applications.

RESULTS

Almost as quickly as the project was completed, results were seen. “Reconfiguring the network topology cut the amount of management networks needed for provisioning,” Golden says. "This saves us time and significantly reduces our operating cost by combining four networks into one.”

CCI also resolved Thomasville’s eMTA (Embedded Multimedia Terminal Adapter) issue. The eMTAs had not been properly ranging automatically. CCI developed a more automated approach for provisioning the eMTAs and reduced the time required for employees to configure the devices.

Another area CCI was able to address involved the network. “Now we can offer customers the choice of public IP addresses or private, something we couldn’t do before,” Golden says. As a result, Thomasville has improved customer retention.

“Knowing that a company like CCI is out there makes you feel a whole lot more comfortable,” says Golden. “If we run into something we don’t have time or expertise to handle, we know who to call.”