Gail Leach Carvelli
When the bicsi Institute offers its class schedule this fall, attendees will notice the addition of three new courses--Wireless Telecommunications Networks, Fiber Optic System Design, and Telecommunications Project Management.
According to bicsi education manager Joe Jones, the courses were created in response to member requests. "We conduct an annual needs assessment, review the evaluation forms that are completed at our seminars, and we solicit feedback from our members," explains Jones.
This type of input led to the creation of the Wireless Telecommunications Networks class. "The idea for this class came from our needs assessment," he says. "Because this is such a competitive field, our members wanted to learn about in-building wireless applications, as well as microwave and cellular applications." The two-day course will teach the basics of radio telecommunications and high-level design issues for in-building lans and wide area networks (wans).
Fiber Optic System Design will focus on the latest methods for designing and installing fiber-optic distribution systems. The workshop will cover the theory and principles of optical fiber. Students will learn key elements for designing and installing optical-fiber networks all the way to the desk.
In the three-day Telecommunications Project Management course, bicsi will present the tools and techniques required to manage telecommunications projects. This intensive class will cover major knowledge areas and tools, such as the critical-path method and earned-value calculations. Students will put this knowledge to use by building a work breakdown structure, an organization breakdown structure, and developing a telecommunications project plan and budget. Also included will be "bid to win" techniques for developing a competitive bid, negotiation skills, and quality/customer value management.
bicsi is also planning to introduce three new data-communications courses--Advanced lan Design, Introduction to Wide Area Networks, and Designing Wide Area Networks. These classes are for those people who have attended the basic lan training courses (DA101 through DA104) or have equivalent experience.
Advanced lan Design, an intensive design and presentation workshop, will provide a real-world design course for enhancing and building lan design skills. The course will present students with sample jobs that require them to design a variety of network configurations: Ethernet, Token Ring, and Fiber Distributed Data Interface. Students will be required to provide technical solutions that include specific network equipment, and design a cable plant that will support the customer`s network requirements and meet the customer`s technical and business objectives.
In the Introduction to Wide Area Networks course, students will learn the basics of wan architecture, infrastructure, and services used to build these networks, as well as different topologies and technology options for wans. Some of the issues discussed in this two-day course include speed, bandwidth, and network reliability.
Designing Wide Area Networks is a three-day advanced course that will focus on designing wans and integrating them with lans. Selecting wan technologies and links, the size of wan links, and selecting wan equipment will also be on the agenda. In addition, students will learn how wans can be used to integrate multiple lans into a corporate enterprise network.
For more information about the bicsi fall conference and course listings, call (800) 242-7405 or visit the organization`s Web site at www.bicsi.org.