Central Texas Telephone Cooperative (CTTC) was a customer that Jeff Santos brought to Cerent from his Texas sales calling area. This was a time when Jeff called on Independent Telephone Companies (IOCs), as did Eric Clelland, [1] Cerent’s first sales representative for Terry Brown.
Jeff had already secured an order for a point-to-point OC-48 system equipped with twenty-four DS3s, which was scheduled for an early December delivery, a date about four weeks later than the customer wanted [2]. But demand for the Cerent 454 was skyrocketing and delivery dates had to be closely managed.
Jeff had already secured an order for a point-to-point OC-48 system equipped with twenty-four DS3s, which was scheduled for an early December delivery, a date about four weeks later than the customer wanted [2]. But demand for the Cerent 454 was skyrocketing and delivery dates had to be closely managed.
In October 1998, CTTC received an order from one of their customers for more bandwidth. This translated into providing optical connectivity at the popular OC-3 rate on their existing OC-48 system order. CTTC immediately called Jeff.
Jeff wrote in a company E-mail, “Central Texas has been awarded an OC-3 contract and needs to expedite the delivery of their order.”
CTTC’s urgency was impressed upon Cerent’s order management team. Jeff relayed, “Due to the recent contract award, they now require us to go back to our original ship date of early November, but they have added five OC-3 modules to the equipment order.”
CTTC’s urgency was impressed upon Cerent’s order management team. Jeff relayed, “Due to the recent contract award, they now require us to go back to our original ship date of early November, but they have added five OC-3 modules to the equipment order.”
As salesman for both CTTC and Valley Telephone Cooperative, another Texas-based IOC, Jeff interceded on CTTC’s behalf: “Ron,” he wrote to Ostrowski, “you will receive an amended purchase order Monday 10/26. I suggest we acknowledge that order on Monday, with a product ship date of 11/6 for all equipment, except the OC-3 cards. This should not be a problem because we can move Valley Telephone’s shipment [3] out to the first week of December.”
Jeff, a former marketer, knew the importance of meeting service dates while at the same time gaining PR for these multiple wins: “Let's do whatever we can to meet Central Texas’s requirements. I want to be able to use these folks as a reference moving forward.”
The Wiring of Rural America and Becoming RUS-Listed
Much of rural America, especially the south, was wired – for both electricity, first, and then telephony – with financing by the U.S. government through the Rural Electrical Administration [4]. This federal agency came into existence on May 20, 1936 as a result of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. Its initial objective was to provide federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems for rural America. This funding was provided to cooperative electric power utilities, most of which still exist today. These cooperatives purchase power on a wholesale basis and distribute it across their network of electric transmission and distribution lines.
In 1949, the REA became authorized to provide loans to rural telephone cooperatives as well, which spawned companies such as CTTC (established 1951) and Valley Telephone (established 1952), both located in Texas. Then in the early 1990s, the REA was absorbed by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), as part of the Department of Agriculture’s Reorganization Act of 1994.
The Wiring of Rural America and Becoming RUS-Listed
Much of rural America, especially the south, was wired – for both electricity, first, and then telephony – with financing by the U.S. government through the Rural Electrical Administration [4]. This federal agency came into existence on May 20, 1936 as a result of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. Its initial objective was to provide federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems for rural America. This funding was provided to cooperative electric power utilities, most of which still exist today. These cooperatives purchase power on a wholesale basis and distribute it across their network of electric transmission and distribution lines.
In 1949, the REA became authorized to provide loans to rural telephone cooperatives as well, which spawned companies such as CTTC (established 1951) and Valley Telephone (established 1952), both located in Texas. Then in the early 1990s, the REA was absorbed by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), as part of the Department of Agriculture’s Reorganization Act of 1994.
Eric Clelland and Rob Koslowsky both knew that it was important for Cerent to have its equipment become RUS-listed. This would allow for any projects the telephone cooperatives had ready to build, eligible to purchase the Cerent 454 for the optical transport portion of the federally-funded capital expenditure. Without an RUS listing, the Cerent 454 could not be used on such rural projects.
Success was rapid.
In less than a year, on June 17, 1999, Rob let the sales team know that the Cerent 454 was “Now RUS Listed!” It was on this day that the upstart startup received written notification that Cerent was eligible for federally-funded telco projects. The Technical Standards Committee “A” Telecommunications group had accepted the Cerent 454 transport system for inclusion in the Rural Utilities Service list, and for all configurations and all optical line rates.
Cerent found its place in history by helping to build America’s telecommunications infrastructure, one optical link at a time. Oh, and, both CTTC and Valley Telephone received their equipment to meet their critical service dates at the close of 1998.
[1] Terry Brown would soon announce a sales reorganization that removed geography as the arbiter for customer ownership, as the Cerent sales force scaled to address the multiplicity of opportunities available. Eric Clelland would call on all of the IOC customers, while Jeff Santos would shift his focus to call on the “new” service providers, which were CLECs, Utility operators, Cable companies, small interexchange carriers, and more. Terry would soon also hire a new sales director, John Colvin, to call on the national carriers (such as AT&T, MCI/Worldcom, and more) and the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs such as US WEST, Bell South, and Ameritech). Cerent set it sights high in terms of customer engagement.
[2] Cerent was trying to ramp up production to meet the growing demand for its Cerent 454 (Release 1) hardware. However, the company was very competitive on responding to customer orders as it was doing much better than its competitors who were providing delivery dates on the order of 12 to 16 weeks further out than Cerent’s guaranteed five-day after receipt of order delivery intervals (at least this was the promise initially).
[3] Valley Telephone had an order almost ready to ship for five sites of Cerent 454 equipment, some of which could be diverted to service the new CTTC order for two sites.
[4] The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War, Robert J. Gordon, 2016, Princeton University Press, N.J., p.318.
[5] In January 2016, the FCC dealt with an “Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Capability to All Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and Possible Steps to Accelerate Such Deployment Pursuant to Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as Amended by the Broadband Data Improvement Act.
Success was rapid.
In less than a year, on June 17, 1999, Rob let the sales team know that the Cerent 454 was “Now RUS Listed!” It was on this day that the upstart startup received written notification that Cerent was eligible for federally-funded telco projects. The Technical Standards Committee “A” Telecommunications group had accepted the Cerent 454 transport system for inclusion in the Rural Utilities Service list, and for all configurations and all optical line rates.
Cerent found its place in history by helping to build America’s telecommunications infrastructure, one optical link at a time. Oh, and, both CTTC and Valley Telephone received their equipment to meet their critical service dates at the close of 1998.
[1] Terry Brown would soon announce a sales reorganization that removed geography as the arbiter for customer ownership, as the Cerent sales force scaled to address the multiplicity of opportunities available. Eric Clelland would call on all of the IOC customers, while Jeff Santos would shift his focus to call on the “new” service providers, which were CLECs, Utility operators, Cable companies, small interexchange carriers, and more. Terry would soon also hire a new sales director, John Colvin, to call on the national carriers (such as AT&T, MCI/Worldcom, and more) and the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs such as US WEST, Bell South, and Ameritech). Cerent set it sights high in terms of customer engagement.
[2] Cerent was trying to ramp up production to meet the growing demand for its Cerent 454 (Release 1) hardware. However, the company was very competitive on responding to customer orders as it was doing much better than its competitors who were providing delivery dates on the order of 12 to 16 weeks further out than Cerent’s guaranteed five-day after receipt of order delivery intervals (at least this was the promise initially).
[3] Valley Telephone had an order almost ready to ship for five sites of Cerent 454 equipment, some of which could be diverted to service the new CTTC order for two sites.
[4] The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War, Robert J. Gordon, 2016, Princeton University Press, N.J., p.318.
[5] In January 2016, the FCC dealt with an “Inquiry Concerning the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Capability to All Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion, and Possible Steps to Accelerate Such Deployment Pursuant to Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as Amended by the Broadband Data Improvement Act.