Upp Solves Skills Shortage with the Help of Comsof Fibre and GE Digital Smallworld Network Inventory

In the world of fiber optic design, it can take years of training and experience before a designer can independently produce high-quality network plans. This is made more difficult when experienced designers are in short supply.

Despite a shortage of fiber network designers in the region, UK-based internet service provider (ISP), Upp, reports that it has sped up its rollout process by 80% while at the same time providing job opportunities for the next generation of designers.

Upp is working with GE Digital and Comsof Fibre to design its FTTx networks. Comsof's auto design software, integrated with the GE Digital Smallworld Network Inventory solutions, enables Upp to automatically design an optimized, consistent and error free network, speeding up the rollout process and dramatically lowering build costs.

“This enables them to work independently in a matter of weeks rather than years, equipping them with a brand-new skill set to add to their CV. It’s fantastic to see the fast progress which is already being made to our build,” said Marshall.

Upp is deploying a full-fiber network to 1 million premises by 2025 in eastern England, offering Next Level Broadband to consumers and local businesses. The solution provided by Comsof and GE Digital means that Upp can roll out their network, unhampered by the shortage of fiber network designers in the UK.

Comsof Fiber is an automated fiber-optic network design software that delivers advanced calculations and output. Its AI-based algorithms, coupled with its flexibility, allow fiber-optic network planning to rapidly scale.

Part of GE Digital’s Smallworld Geospatial Asset Management suite, Smallworld Network Inventory provides a spatially-based, cross-technology, end-to-end view of the network. This comprehensive and integrated view combines the fully connected inside and outside plant of the physical network with the ability to integrate logical inventory to deliver an integrated inventory capability.

Katie Byne is a recent graduate who now works for Upp as a Planner.

“For someone like me who has dyslexia, the opportunity to join Upp as a Planner really appealed as I never enjoyed written subjects in school and didn’t want to go to university,” said Byne.

According to Comsof CEO, Raf Meersman, while Upp may be a newcomer into the operator field, the company recognized the importance of an end-to-end approach to the fiber network rollout.

“From the get-go, they looked at using Comsof Fiber for auto design in a fully integrated way with GE Smallworld, because they were already thinking in terms of inventory and design harmony,” said Meersman.  “We’re happy to see that Upp is embracing our Comsof Fiber tool and attracting enthusiastic, young workers into the industry. As we know, there is a designer shortage in the fiber network design industry and our tool helps to get more designers on their feet faster.”

"We are excited to work with Upp and Comsof to create solutions that enable the next generation of planning,” said Jim Walsh, General Manager for GE Digital’s Grid Software business.