Professional Services

Broadband Planning Studies

NoaNet understands the practical considerations of building broadband infrastructure and providing services for the public benefit as we have been doing it for more than 20 years locally.  Instead of approaching planning from a pure consulting perspective, we will leverage your planning dollars to create a Road to Broadband document with practical considerations and actionable steps to connectivity. In addition to working with your organization to explore different approaches to facilitate broadband deployment, we’ll create shovel-ready projects with all of the information you’ll need to apply successfully to state and federal funding programs. Let us help you build a strong path forward for your community’s connected future.

NoaNet staff with work with you to:

• Facilitate Broadband Committee Meetings and engage your community,
• Conduct end-user mapping of survey and speed test data to gain a clear understanding of the user experience in your area,
• Identify and map existing broadband infrastructure as well as planned infrastructure so you can target your efforts in the areas of highest need,
• Map existing available services and their prices to understand how the market is functioning in your community,
• Communicate with your local and regional service providers to explore collaboration,
• Create a digital inclusion plan to ensure that ALL barriers to access and adoption are addressed, and
• Identify infrastructure gaps and design, price out, and understand the permitting needs to build a network to fill them.

Network Engineering

We are here to support every aspect of your network engineering needs. NoaNet’s engineers develop innovative solutions for network architecture to maximize bandwidth while fitting within a project’s budget. Whether you need full-service engineering or just a consulting review of your plans, our staff can be a resource for your organization. Some of the services our engineering team performs are:

• Network architecture design,
• Design review and verification,
• Migration planning,
• Test planning,
• Network integration planning,
• Technical workshops for staff training,
• Electronics design and configuration,
• Middle-mile and last-mile network design to the end-user premise,
• SD-WAN integration and management.

Fiber Optic Network Design

NoaNet’s design engineering and outside plant teams have the expertise necessary to evaluate and provide insight into existing facilities and design and implement a new fiber-optic broadband network to complement existing assets. Our agile and creative team will deliver robust facility and engineering solutions to meet the needs of your network.

Wireless Network Design

Wireline infrastructure is not always practical due to terrain or the cost of deployment. Our dedicated wireless network engineers can bring cutting-edge wireless solutions to fruition for your community.

Make-Ready Project Management

Sometimes nothing stacks up to experience. With more than two decades of on-the-ground experience in Washington State, our team has invaluable knowledge of preparing for and managing a successful network deployment. We have in-house staff to create asset databases, develop one-touch make-ready plans, file permits, pole attachment applications, and more. Bring our experience to your project to help things run smoothly.

• Utility pole and field data collection,
• GIS database creation,
• One-touch make ready management,
• Pole attachment applications, and
• Make-ready inspections and audits.

Grant Writing

Whether you’re new to the grant writing process, are not winning as many grants as you’d like, or have too many grants to write in too little time, the NoaNet Grants Assistance Program is here to help.

NoaNet’s Grant Assistance Program

NoaNet’s grant writing team is here to help bring broadband funding to Washington’s communities. In addition to supporting our clients in their demand aggregation, business planning, engineering, and outside plant management, we can seamlessly coordinate grant writing efforts to secure the much-needed funding to make it all happen.

The Grants Assistance Program can manage all aspects of state and federal grant applications, from opportunity alerts and grant writing to ongoing funding reporting and project management services. With programs often having very short application windows, this partnership allows organizations and communities who don’t have the personnel time to dedicate to a grant application to access the sizeable federal funding programs for broadband deployment.

The NoaNet Road to Broadband toolkit, now complete with the Grants Assistance Program, is a start-to-finish resource you want on your team.

Construction Management

RFP management

Our Outside Plant project management team can work with you to develop and post requests for proposals (RFPs) for qualified entities to support your network construction.

Construction management oversight

NoaNet’s construction management oversight processes will ensure compliance with statutory, administrative, and regulatory requirements. Oversight begins early in project implementation, usually at the time of preliminary engineering. We will also monitor projects to ensure they are on time, within budget, and according to approved plans and specifications. We also provide design reviews, change order reviews, and value engineering as part of this process.

Inspections

Our engineers and outside plant professionals can provide site inspections for your project during various stages of construction to verify that the work being performed under the permit complies with the codes as adopted by the State, City, or Local government.

Cutover management

The successful implementation of the detailed cutover process from old to new systems requires meticulous cutover planning. Our team’s main objective when developing a cutover plan is to minimize disruption to your network. We will plan for the unique characteristics of your network to ensure a smooth cutover implementation with minimal downtime.

Business Planning

Pro Forma Creation Based on Anticipated Take Rates

Following a robust market analysis where we engage directly with your community, NoaNet’s broadband network planning consultants make informed estimations on the expected take rates (service subscribers) in your project area. This allows for an accurate and reliable pro forma to be created for your proposed project. When understanding the financial feasibility of a network deployment, understanding your specific market conditions couldn’t be more critical. We’ll make sure you have the information you need to make informed decisions.

Migration from Outsourced Employees to In-House Management

As with any new business, revenues typically take time to build up enough to support an entire staff in-house. NoaNet was created by public utilities in Washington to bring scale to this particular issue for their separate telecommunications networks. NoaNet has the staff to help get your project off the ground until you can bring on your employees in-house… or not! Some communities have chosen to keep NoaNet on the job to keep their internal staff counts minimal. Whatever your organization’s vision, we will help you evaluate when and how you can develop your employees to support your growing network.

Business Model Evaluation and Comparison

In Washington, there are many successful different models of making the finances work for community networks. One aspect of this equation comes from the type of network you choose to deploy, another from how your organization chooses to fund the project, another from your staff and project size, and there is absolutely NO one-size-fits-all answer. We’ll help you wade through the many successful ways broadband businesses can be achieved and find what makes sense for your organization’s goals.