Press Release

Communication Infrastructure Corporation Improves Survey Utility Application

CIC Enhances Microwave Survey Utility Output Options to Speed Response Time

NEW YORK, January 26, 2014 -- Communication Infrastructure Corporation (CIC), a leading microwave engineering, site acquisition, construction and project management firm to the communications and enterprise marketplace, announced today an upgrade to their proprietary Survey Utility Application.  The CIC Survey Utility application automates the collection, organization and report creation of Path and Site Survey data for Microwave engineering customers.  This new release automates the generation and delivery of survey and audit results in custom, customer defined formats to meet the high quality, quick turnaround requirements of communications and enterprise clients.

Path Surveys and Site Audits have been the primary focus since the inception of CIC’s proprietary Survey Utility Application. CIC employs the National Spectrum Managers Association (NSMA) standards for survey methods and offers an error-free, 100% guarantee while meeting the short response timeframes critical to microwave planning and design.  CIC exceeds industry requirements with a 99.994% success rate in physical surveys since 2003. This enhanced tool allows for advanced planning and project changes to be made at a moment’s notice.

“CIC consistently invests in proprietary IT development to meet the quality and response requirements of our customers.  This enhancement allows our customers to receive site and path survey results faster and in their exact format, which supports faster planning and implementation of network upgrades.” said James Snyder, President and CEO of CIC.

“In 2013, CIC received strong ‘score card’ grades from our largest survey and audit customers and this investment is our effort to anticipate our customer’s needs, exceed our customer’s standards and attain perfect scores in 2014.” said Randall P. Muench, Chief Operating Officer. 

About Communication Infrastructure Corporation

Founded in 1999, Communication Infrastructure Corporation (CIC) is an industry leader and single source provider for microwave point to point and point to multipoint radio networks. The CIC team has over 1,000 years of collective microwave radio experience in applications for wireless backhaul, ultra low latency High Frequency Trading (HFT), oil & gas, rural broadband, mobility, and wireless point to point communication links. Using it’s proprietary PathDesigner™ engineering tool, CIC provides microwave engineering, regulatory, site acquisition, site and network construction and project management to build or augment a microwave network.  CIC also provides contracted network maintenance via on-demand and scheduled maintenance services.  CIC conducts business in North America, Europe and the Caribbean. In 2013, CIC was recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the top 100 fastest growing telecommunications company in America, with a 262% 3 year revenue growth rate; a unique position for a 14 year old company.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Caitlin Snyder, Marketing Coordinator

csnyder@cicusa.com

(805) 698-5308

www.cicusa.com

Press Release

Communication Infrastructure Corporation Completes 30,000 Microwave Links

CIC an Expert in Microwave Engineering and Implementation

NEW YORK, January 6, 2014 -- Communication Infrastructure Corporation (CIC), a leading microwave engineering, site acquisition, construction and project management firm to the communications and enterprise marketplace, announced today that it has reached a new milestone – completing 30,000 microwave links since the company’s inception.

“CIC combines our unique PathDesigner™ software with experienced engineers and progressive engineering processes to be a most trusted microwave engineering firm to the communications industry,” said James Snyder, President and CEO of CIC. “This significant milestone illustrates the substantial experience and capabilities of our team.”

While fiber is the most commonly recognized medium by the general public for carrying communications signals, microwave equipment and services continue to grow because of demand from the communications market and unique applications for specific communications requirements best served by microwave.

“CIC continues to grow because of our focus on the communications industry and our industry leading position of designing and installing low latency microwave networks between major trading exchanges”, said Randall P. Muench, Chief Operating Officer.  “Microwave will continue to play a key role in these businesses’ effort to meet the requirements of their business models and CIC will capture an increasing portion of that opportunity.”

Microwave Links, Chicago IL

About Communication Infrastructure Corporation

Founded in 1999, Communication Infrastructure Corporation (CIC) is an industry leader and single source provider for microwave point to point and point to multipoint radio networks. The CIC team has over 1,000 years of collective microwave radio experience in applications for wireless backhaul, ultra low latency High Frequency Trading (HFT), oil & gas, rural broadband, mobility, and wireless point to point communication links. Using it’s proprietary PathDesigner™ engineering tool, CIC provides microwave engineering, regulatory, site acquisition, site and network construction and project management to build or augment a microwave network.  CIC also provides contracted network maintenance via on-demand and scheduled maintenance services.  CIC conducts business in North America, Europe and the Caribbean. In 2013, CIC was recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the top 100 fastest growing telecommunications company in America, with a 262% 3 year revenue growth rate; a unique position for a 14 year old company.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Caitlin Snyder, Marketing Coordinator

csnyder@cicusa.com

(805) 698-5308

www.cicusa.com

FIELD BREAK: My Experience as a Technical Assistant

Guest Contributor: Steve Lord, Technical Assistant

I have been a Technical Assistant at CIC for over a year now. This year has taught me more than I never knew about Microwave and the way a telecom company works; since coming into my position, I had no background working in the telecom industry. CIC provided all the required training for me to do my job well, including a basic understanding of microwave and its purpose.

After several months of being with the company, I noticed my attitude shifting towards my understanding of Microwave, and I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn what the science was behind it, how CIC was using it to build communication networks, and essentially what can we do with Microwave going into the future. When the opportunity arose for me to fly to Georgia for Microwave Training with one of CIC's top microwave guys and the chance to step out into the field first hand, I couldn't resist. Coming from a non-proficient background in the wireless industry, I knew this opportunity would be a great asset for me, as I continue my journey into the microwave world.

Basic Field training day!

After the intense initial training for the skills needed for my current position, this crash course into Microwave was exactly the next step to ensure what I would be up to par with the industry standards and terms. Not only would this provide me with a wealth of information, but it would allow me to do my job better with the understanding of how CIC’s systems work! During the Microwave Fundamentals Training Course, not only did I learn what a “frickle” was (it’s a fried pickle!) I learned more about microwave and how important is has been and continues to be in our daily lives. At the end of each day, take home exams were given out as homework assignments to drive the points we learned in class home. 

The other CIC employees who attended the training were extremely well versed in the industry, which just meant I had to work that much harder to learn new information and keep up, as they say, with my co-workers. They were suspiciously patient and helpful in assisting me to further my understanding of microwave. Their knowledge and their desire to teach me encouraged our work relationships. Taking EMF (electric and magnetic fields), the Fresnel Zone and antenna types to bed, helped me keep up in the following days. The days were long and jammed packed with valued knowledge of microwave and beyond. The training also encouraged meeting and interacting with my co-workers who I would otherwise not be able to interact daily with because of our distributed work force.

Now, I continue my journey behind my desk at home, in front of multiple computer screens, with more knowledge of the industry and hungry for more. The use of Microwave continues to be a staple in our day to day lives and I look forward to watching the industry grow and evolve even further into the future and what it will look like for large corporations and individuals like me.


Steve Lord has been on the Microwave Department team as a Technical Assistant for over a year. If you are interested in becoming part of our team, visit us for current career opportunities.

Microwave Transmissions: Are They Reliable?

Guest Contributor: Marty Snyder, President

One of the biggest questions I get about microwave has to do with how reliable it is.

Most people are generally unaware that Microwave has been a “staple” technology in the quiver of telecom companies for decades. In fact, most people are unaware that the onetime Telecom giant, MCI’s name stood for “Microwave Communications Inc.” If you make a long distance telephone call anywhere on earth, there is a decent chance part of your call will be carried over microwave. Those chances increase if the area you are calling from or to is more rural. Microwave transmission plays a major role in cellular phone companies where the connecting of thousands and tens of thousands of cell sites would not be possible without it. In the United States about 20% of all cell sites are served by microwave transmission. Outside of the US, those percentages increase in many areas of the world with less cable infrastructure. The reliability of microwave has been well understood by industry professionals. Most telecom operators in the world use microwave transmission in some form or another, so how reliable is it?

First of all we have to recognize that microwave transmission uses various frequencies in the available spectrum. Every country has established spectrum policies and many follow comparable standards. Many different frequency bands are reserved for microwave use and not all frequencies have the same characteristics. For frequencies in the lower bands such as 6, 7 & 8 GHz, climactic conditions have little effect on transmission. As you get into the higher bands, signals can be impacted by rain and weather much easier. But just because transmission can be effected by rain does not mean it won’t be reliable. The trained Microwave Transmission Engineer has many tools in his/her quiver to address and overcome those issues, and allow for reliable use of any band as long as it is designed properly. Just as it is difficult to build a bridge over the San Francisco Bay, does not mean it cannot be done reliably. It just means that the engineer must follow design guidelines to achieve the desired reliability.

Designing microwave links for Ultra Low Latency requires a different thought process and therefore a different set of steps than designing microwave for other telecommunications purposes. When reducing latency is the goal, reliability can be sacrificed. While the equipment is different, so is the engineering approach. Network reliability, throughput and latency become the levers that must be understood in order to design a proper Ultra Low Latency Link. Moving one lever often negatively impacts the other. Ultra Low Latency is a function of understanding those levers, how they interact with each other, and striking the right balance that matches your low latency strategy. Selection of equipment is just as critical as the techniques employed, and goes hand in hand with the design strategy employed.

There are also outside factors that come into play in the design process such as available sites, frequency congestion, and project timeline. These outside factors also play into the design strategy to employ. Not understanding how these factors affect each other can cause the designer to develop a sub-optimal system that does not perform as desired or may take much longer than anticipated causing the stakeholders to wonder why they got into the microwave game. The outside factors often drive the overall network latency more than the engineering itself. For example, one might assume that using the fewest number of sites is the best way to design an ultra low latency network. However, site selection can be limited by multiple outside factors, making it next to impossible to select the optimal number of sites or the desired sites requiring a compromise if the network is to be completed. All of the technical factors must be balanced with real world circumstances and the real world circumstances more often than not work against the objectives of designing the best possible network.

Knowing when to compromise and when not to requires experience to understand the nuances of each of these factors and how they will directly impact your success of developing the ultimate Ultra-Low Latency microwave network.


Marty Snyder is president and founder of CIC. Founded in 2002, Marty has been in the Telecom world for over two decades. Constantly looking to the future and technology to advance our communications world. Click here for Marty's complete bio.