Comcast spatialNET User Training Program

Comcast Cable provides cable television, broadband internet, and VoIP phone service under the Xfinity brand to over 45 million subscribers in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Over the last several years, Comcast has invested $10’s of millions of dollars in migrating its network maps to a single enterprise Geographic Information System (eGIS) platform using Synchronoss’ spatialNET tool. This investment is designed to enhance virtually every facet of Comcast’s business operations including the ability to proactively monitor cable plant to detect route failures, managing the Field Service Process, calculating serviceability and measuring the distance to plant, and managing network assets and their deployment, recovery and re-allocation. And, while it is anticipated that the investment will save millions in annual operating expenses, the real payout is the company’s ability to dramatically improve customer service. With this much at stake, it is easy to understand why Comcast hired TrueNet, a spatialNET Gold Certified Partner and one of Comcast’s Top 2 network design engineering companies, to play an integral roll in accelerating system-wide implementation of the tool.

Scope of Work

During the initial roll-out, Synchronoss provided end user training on their spatialNET tool. While the training familiarized Comcast’s internal network engineers and designers with the tool’s capabilities, it was not specific to Comcast and as a result, did not address Comcast’s network design standards.  Early on, TrueNet had also recognized this limitation and developed their own spatialNET training program – Comcast National Design Standards for spatialNET Users – that overcame these limitations and more.  Course material is covered in either a 5 or 10 day training track. While each training track covers Comcast National Standards for both Coaxial and Fiber Networks, the 10 day track includes Comcast standards for Metro E and Cell Site Fiber and provides more hands-on real-world training exercises designed to ensure student mastery of the subject matter. Intrigued, Comcast hired TrueNet to deliver this training to their internal resources (see Training Curriculum – spatialNET) and quickly expanded the program to include other network design vendors as well.

Results

TrueNet currently provides spatialNET user training to over half of Comcast’s Markets and to its 5 network design engineering contractors. All training is in a classroom environment at the client’s location and is led by an experienced TrueNet Communications instructor. The target audience is CATV Coax and Fiber network planners, designers, and engineers who need a thorough understanding of spatialNET as it relates to Comcast National Standards for RF and fiber network design, drafting and naming conventions.

Comcast has expanded the initial SOW, hiring TrueNet to develop a formal certification process for all spatialNET users and developing additional course materials and training manuals.  We currently have multiple trainers working on a variety of training manuals and topics including: FTTP Design, Node Split Design, Deep Fiber Architectures Design, BAU (Business-As-Usual) Functions, and spatialNET Troubleshooting.

Comcast is on-track to complete the migration to SpatialNET by mid-2016.