Very high-speed broadband: SIEA chooses SPIE to renew its active equipment

Cergy, 27 November 2020 – SPIE ICS, a digital services subsidiary of the SPIE group, the independent European leader in multi-technical services in the areas of energy and communications, has been chosen by Syndicat Intercommuncal d’Énergie et de e-communication de l’Ain (SIEA) to roll out its fibre optic network (FTTH) throughout the department of Ain.

A major project for the digital transformation of the départment

SIEA has put in place an ambitious plan to roll out its fibre optic network between now and 2022. In view of the strategic challenge for a territory that places digital transformation at the forefront of its objectives, the infrastructure operator in Ain has chosen SPIE ICS to upgrade its equipment (some of which dates back to 2011) and implement new facilities. “The experts at SPIE ICS have been able to adapt to the existing architecture while adding an evolutionary and innovative dimension to it. At present, the department’s fibre optic covers 253 municipalities and the work carried out is a key step in covering the 393 municipalities included in the project”, explains Matthieu Flye Sainte Marie, Director of Operations at SIEA.

A customised task

About fifteen SPIE ICS employees are working on this project. Working alongside the SIEA teams, they are involved in two phases: First, in identification and preparation from July 2019, then in integration and commissioning from March 2020.

The first phase consisted of a mock-up of the equipment, transfer of knowledge of the network and “blank” tests of the equipment offered by SPIE ICS. This time of training on existing devices and alignment with the work method proved to be key to the success of the implementation phase.

Secondly, the SPIE ICS technicians moved ahead with the changes and the installation of the equipment. This operational phase of the project took place over a short period, partly during lockdown, and involved 150 sites (550 switch boxes^[1]).

“This strategic project required a great deal of rigour in its execution and considerable ability to adapt to take into account the specific features of a territory concerned with providing a service that respects the constraints of end users”, declared Céline Keat, business engineer at SPIE ICS.

Key equipment to facilitate new uses

Through this upgrade and the increase in the bandwidth of its network, the SIEA will be able to offer its citizens preferential access to new services on the public network in the municipalities of Ain.

Companies can look ahead with new possibilities for the cloudification^[2] of applications, hybridisation^[3] of architectures and Artificial Intelligence. People in Ain will also be able to access very high-speed digital media (streaming, high-quality images, video conferencing, etc.)

“This new stage is a further step towards digital for companies, administrations and households on our territory. Not to mention that fact that access to a very high-speed network facilitates access to remote working for our end users”, says Matthieu Flye Sainte Marie.

_{[1] The switch or network changeover switch is a multipoint bridge used to receive and redistribute information from the network.
Once the information has been received, the data is then routed to the appropriate ports on the device.}

_{[2] Cloudification of applications: ability to accommodate applications outside of the company while securing access to and interaction with data}

_{[3] Hybridisation: Use of various platforms in several locations}