Selecting your SD-WAN technology is just one step of your WAN transformation. Getting your DIA and broadband circuits installed requires good planning, communications, and time. You might have received quotations from carriers stating installation time frames of 90 to 120 days, but that is not always the case.
The clock often starts to tick later than you think.
Of particular importance is collecting the installation data that will be needed, before the order is placed. This avoids what could be a two-week delay at the onset. At every location, you’ll need name, email, cell phone number of a local contact. If you’ve gotten that information in the past be sure that it’s current. With large companies, staff change all the time and sometimes you might not know it.
In addition, you’ll need certain Information. Location of the MPOE (Main Point of Entry) for telecom circuits is critical. The main point of entry is the point at which a telecommunication provider’s wiring crosses or enters a building. This often occurs in a box on the outside of the building, or possibly in the basement or first floor.
The person to best identify the MPOE is the property manager. You’ll want to speak with him/her, in any case, to verify the necessary permissions for a carrier to install a circuit.
You’ll also want to verify that all the necessary forms are in order. In Europe, for example, a Wayleave agreement is needed to do any work on the premises. The wayleave grants the telco access to install, maintain or repair equipment on a customer’s premises. You don’t want to find out on the day of installation that the carrier is turned away for lack of the proper permissions.
Gathering the necessary information and access rights may take longer than you have time for. If you have a tight deadline between shutoff of an MPLS circuit and installation of dual internet circuits, hedge your bets. Be sure to have a contingency plan. LTE with a Cradlepoint or similar LTE router can be a stop-gap measure if your bandwidth requirements are not too high. To high might be 10Mbps or 50Mbps, depending on the quality of LTE service in a particular location.
How important is having a plan in place? Let me put it this way. One customer of mine knew they wanted to leave MPLS but neglected to order their Internet circuits. I kept at them, encouraging them early on to at least get the process going even before they settled on their SD-WAN solution. But they didn’t listen and waited. As such, when they were ready to move off of MPLS, their Internet circuits were yet to be deployed. The bottom line? They had to pay $250,000 more in MPLS charges until their circuits were deployed and they could cut-over.
And this wasn’t the first company that’s had that problem. It doesn’t have to be your organization, though. Start the circuit ordering process once you know you’ll need them. Or contact us to manage the process for you.
