In a behind-the-scenes look, we are talking to colleague Chris de Valck. Chris joined Speerworks in April 2020 and has since become one of our Cocon experts who are often seconded to our customers. In this case at Spie, a multinational company that is active in many fields and is a well-known player within the Telecom market where they are involved in the construction and management of fiber optic networks.

Chris: “I was asked at Spie to support in the many large engineering projects that came up in the last year and a half. Spie is our only client that uses Cocon to design FttH networks. Cocon was not initially developed specifically for this but this has been a fun challenge to delve into this aspect of network design. Finally, you learn the real practical work on-site at the customer.

During the first period, I was introduced to the Spie working method and their way of using Cocon. It’s fascinating to see how Cocon can be used for so many different purposes. My work ranges from checking pre-engineering in Cocon, processing new connections to delivery of completed projects via CifttH. I used to do this 40 hours a week and learned a lot of new things, such as the choices from engineering when to build or not to build a certain trajectory. Besides the work mentioned above, I was able to provide a lot of support answering technical questions about Cocon.

Meanwhile, the Spie team has acquired more people and added more structure, so I am now working 24 hours a week on the engineering of projects myself. This includes calculating the required capacity for your network, how you want to design the network, where the PoP locations will be, the placement of the enclosures, how many customers per enclosure will be connected, and taking into account such things as new construction plans within the municipalities. This assignment is a great opportunity for me to further develop my knowledge of FttH networks. As an extension of the department, I have done a lot of work in the meantime and, above all, learned a lot.

Finally, Chris concludes: “We like to work as partners with our customers, and in my current role I am happy that I can relieve and support the Spie team. We both benefit from the other advantages that this brings, such as making optimal use of Cocon and the knowledge that we can mutually share. With handy tips, everyone finds their way around Cocon faster. This creates a win-win situation. I take on tasks independently and proactively indicate what is interesting to do, such as delving into the CifttH delivery process in order to also manage those projects. I don’t rule out other things coming our way where I can support Spie like the use of routing or help with the deployment of new tooling.”