A number of players must work together to deploy a nationwide wireless network, including carriers, tower companies and equipment manufacturers, but there is a new kind of company on the rise that looks after that network and keeps it running efficiently after the main players have moved on.
Optasite Inc., based in Worcester, Mass., launched last summer with the intention of helping carriers and tower companies manage and maintain tower sites using methods beyond the traditional, freeing up carrier and tower resources for marketing, retention and technology development efforts.
“People have built networks and deployed them without forethought into how sites will be maintained long-term,” said Michael Matthews, chief executive officer and founder of Optasite.
Matthews said in the past, the best data collection tools were people going out to towers sites with a pencil and pad and conducting an audit, but Optasite can do the same thing digitally. Also, in the past carriers and tower companies dealt with site problems as they came up. This reactionary approach needlessly sapped financial and employee resources because often the problems could have been prevented, he said.
Optasite said it uses software that automates data collection, preventive maintenance, performance analysis, re-engineering and retrofitting. This allows carriers to run various models to determine how their network and equipment should be best maintained and staffed. The performance optimization system pinpoints training requirements of staff and higher failure rates in systems and repair times, Optasite said.
The company also operates a national call center and offers a handheld digital asset tracking system for data warehousing and updating.
“Carriers, the tower and rooftop management companies and OEMs are our customers, and each one of those have different needs … but our model can apply to everyone,” said Matthews. “We are a technology play with a service model.”
Matthews said Optasite bundles all its service to make the time a technician spends at a sight as efficient as possible. The company partners with contractors on a nationwide basis, then becomes the billing and front-end provider for carriers. Its customers are charged a monthly fee.
The company is currently beta testing its software with two of the top six U.S. wireless carriers, and two of the top five tower companies in the country.
The 17-employee company recently raised $3.2 million in a second round of funding.
