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Electrical Engineering Consultants
Five electrical engineering / telecom consulting firms that offer consulting services related to telecom infrastructure projects, and specialize in fiber optics design, high power transmission lines design, and/or long-distance data transfer cable design are Black & Veatch, Parsons Corp, HBK Engineering, Electric Lightwave/Allstream, and Affiliated Engineers.
Black & Veatch, Inc
- Black & Veatch has offices all over the world; they are headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, and can be contacted at (913) 458-2000. They are employee-owned and showed $3.5 B in revenue in 2018.
- One of Black & Veatch’s industries-of-focus is telecommunications, and they are considered a “global leader in building critical human infrastructure in Energy, Water, Telecommunications and Government Services.” The company “designs, builds, and connects communication networks and digital infrastructure to evolve energy, transportation, community, and business capabilities.” They provide turn-key services, including “wireless, wireline, and IP networks,” and provide IT and OT (operational tech) systems “for secure information sharing, monitoring and control, and data analytics.”
- The telecommunications sector of Black & Veatch’s business was “ranked No. 1 by Engineering News-Record for the eighth year” in a row in 2018.
- One example of a recent telecom project is the company’s partnership with Atonix Digital to “bring smart city technologies to underserved areas of” San Diego. They also publish a detailed annual report on creating stable infrastructure power grids for data centers.
Parsons Corp
- Parsons has offices worldwide; they are headquartered in Centreville, Virginia, and can be contacted at (703) 988-8500.
- Critical infrastructure for intelligence and cybersecurity are key sectors of Parsons’ business. They offer process analysis and strategic consulting solutions, as well as design and life-cycle planning for network infrastructures. According to their website, they “are uniquely qualified to deliver cyber/converged security, technology-based intellectual property, and other innovative services to federal, regional, and local government agencies, as well as to private industrial customers worldwide.”
- In 2017, Parsons was recognized as a “CIO 100 Honoree” for the company’s “Dubai Design District (d3) Smart City Information Communications Technology (ICT) solution.” For the last 10 years, they’ve been “named to the Ethisphere Institute’s list of World’s Most Ethical Companies.”
- One of their most recent notable achievements was winning a “prime position on the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) $7.5 billion, multiple award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity Systems Engineering, Technology, and Innovation (SETI) contract.”
HBK Engineering, LLC
- HBK Engineering has 13 offices across the US; they are headquartered in Chicago, IL, and can be contacted at (312) 432-0076.
- HBK’s services span a wide range of sectors, including electrical engineering, security infrastructure design, and telecommunications design. According to their website, “HBK Engineering has extensive experience in fiber optic and electric transmission route development and feasibility studies in urban, suburban and rural areas.”
- The company states they’ve worked on telecommunications system infrastructure projects with “numerous telecommunications companies such as AT&T, Verizon Business and Level3 Communications.”
- Current and recent notable telecommunications projects in the electrical utility infrastructure design sector include a utility relocation management project in Oak Brook, Illinois; two notable projects in the telecommunications systems infrastructure design sector are the Iowa Communications Network and the Iowa City Melrose Fiber Improvements.
- In 2018, the firm was named to the #24 spot in the “Regional Midwest Ranking,” and to the #98 in the “Regional MidAtlantic Ranking.” In 2019, they were named to the #21 spot for the “Trenchless Technology Top 50 Design Firms” and to the #235 spot on “ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms”.
Electric Lightwave (Allstream/Zayo)
- Electric Lightwave is now part of Zayo, which is part of Allstream, “a leader in business telecommunications working with customers throughout the United States and Canada.” They are headquartered in Vancouver, Washington and can be reached via email at UScustomerservice@allstream.com or by phone at (888)288-2273.
- According to LinkedIn, the company’s specialties are “Networking Infrastructure, Telecom Communications, BCDR, Connectivity Solutions, Fiber Network, Cloud Connectivity, Dark Fiber, Wholesale Networking, Metro Fiber, Fiber Optic Networking, Unified Communications, Cyber Security, UC Cloud Voice, and Data Centers.” To-date, the company has laid “8100+ route miles of long haul fiber, 4000 route miles of metro network on our fiber, and 100+ data centers on our fibers,” that includes 3200+ buildings. According to their website, they are the “leading independent communications infrastructure provider with broad geographic reach throughout North America and Western Europe.”
- Their Fiber Network Map explores the depth and range of their fiber network, as well as detailing projects on which they’ve worked in different states.
- Electric Lightwave and Zayo do not have Better Business Bureau ratings, but Allstream does, though the issues center mainly around telephone business (or billing/collection) issues rather than telecom cable/connectivity issues. For these, they’ve address six customer complaints through the BBB.
Affiliated Engineers, Inc
- Affiliated Engineers has 18 offices around the globe; they are headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, and can be contacted at (608) 238-2616.
- Affiliated Engineers’ areas of expertise span “16 integrated areas of expertise,” including electrical engineering and projects, and technology consulting and design.
- This firm has won numerous awards, including five in 2019 and eleven in 2018.
- Featured electrical engineering projects include Stanford University energy system innovations and the US Department of Energy energy systems integration facility. Within their technology services sector, one featured project was at the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology.
Research Strategy
These companies were identified through a search for electrical engineering firms located in the US with extensive experience in telecom-infrastructure work, and which have won awards for their projects or have expansive networks and/or capabilities. As stated in our initial research, no pricing information is available for consulting firms; interested parties must contact the firm and discuss project scope to get this information. Note, there are only a small number of firms headquartered in the US that are electrical engineering firms specializing in telecom infrastructure projects. To that end, the last two companies (Electric Lightwave/Allstream and Affiliated Engineers) may (or may not) meet all of the requirements; our best estimate is that they do.