Creating Connectivity
Celerity Integrated Services, Inc. designs, builds, maintains and maps fiber optic networks
Whether it is Wi-Fi at a campsite or an updated fiber optic network for a major university, Celerity Integrated Services, Inc. designs and builds miles of fiber optic cabling to increase connectivity and create happy campers—and students.
For one campground near Sea Isle City, New Jersey, Celerity designed and built a private fiber optic network to increase capacity of the campsite’s Wi-Fi network. The company installed nearly 8 miles of fiber optic cable to 85 wireless access points, resulting in about 1,500 fiber optic terminations.
Celerity provides engineering, installation, servicing and maintenance of wireless and fiber optic infrastructure, says Celerity Vice President Deron Leight. “The way we do that is with quality craftsmanship in building the highway for high-tech communications regardless of content,” he says. “We pay attention to detail and prepare meticulous documentation of each job from initial proposal to closeout package. The most important part is our well-trained and dedicated employees.”
Information Highway
When Lehigh University needed a more reliable fiber optic network with increased capacity, Celerity stepped up with a design to create a robust and redundant network for the staff and students. The project’s challenges included working around an operational campus and dealing with steep terrain and extremely rocky soil conditions of the main campus, perched atop South Mountain in the Lehigh Valley, Deron says.
“It would prove to be the largest variable in construction schedules and associated costs. Fortunately, those obstacles would be overcome through the implementation of larger construction equipment and design changes that were quickly modified and executed in the field,” he says.
Other project challenges included limiting the impact of construction on student life and traffic. Celerity and Lehigh developed a working schedule and plan that limited portions of the construction activity to off-hour and weekend work. Pedestrian and commuter traffic plans were devised and executed through the use of road closures, sidewalk closures and safety fence placement. Open excavated trenches and affected areas were restored or temporarily covered at the completion of each workday, Deron says.
The project, completed in 2017, features some staggering numbers in the connection of three campuses—Mountaintop, Asa Packer and Murray H. Goodman: 20,000 feet of cables, 10,000 feet of 4-inch conduit, 60,000 feet of innerduct, 20 new underground cable vaults, 2,136 optical terminations, 2,880 fusion splices and 8,544 optical tests.
Another recent project involved designing and building a fiber optic line to each one of the single-family units in a senior living facility. The project provided connectivity to the residents, Deron says, and created a communication system that tied into a wireless system, acting as an emergency health alert system as well as providing internet and voice services.
Track Record
Ronald E. Leight Sr., company President, incorporated Celerity in October 2002 in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, with his sons Deron and Ronald E. Leight Jr., Vice President of Operations. The trio believed that global telecommunications would become a hybrid of both fiber optic and wireless systems. Realizing that the competition was focused largely on one technology, Celerity opted to offer design and construction of both fiber and wireless infrastructure.
“We started from scratch, but we had all been in the industry before. So, we reached out to our existing contacts,” Deron says. “Once we had a few projects, it just grew from there.”
The business grew steadily, and the firm’s success escalated with the award of a small service and maintenance contract from a local utility company. “The utility company became our largest customer,” Deron explains. “What started out small in 2003 has turned into a substantial contract and the introduction to other power companies, which led to other telecom companies, and the ball is still rolling.”
The majority of the firm’s customers are telecommunications carriers, with electric utilities a close second followed by schools, universities, health care facilities and health insurance companies. Celerity can design, build and maintain the infrastructure, doing as much or as little as the customer requires.
Fiber Audits
One of the specialties that has helped Celerity build its business is performing fiber audits. One of the company’s biggest projects was a fiber audit in California, in which the team assisted a municipality in the inventory and audit of its existing fiber optic system in an effort to build its data records.
“This is really a service to document the network. It can fall into disarray with changes that happen and evolve over the years, and if the recordkeeping isn’t kept up, it can be a mess where no one knows where cables stop or start,” Deron says.
For this particular municipality, there was no maintenance done as the fiber optic system was completed. For the audit, technicians went to each of the splice points to determine which fiber was spliced to what. Records were updated accordingly.
“What happens is that the cables leave the central office and spider out in different directions with cables added and then splitting into another direction. It is imperative to keep these records,” Deron says. “It can be a very time-consuming process to do that, but to come in and map the network after the fact is even more time-consuming. The California project had 424 cables audited, resulting in the documentation of 28,480 fiber optic fusion splices at 91 total splice points.”
Building Blocks
Celerity employees and their professionalism distinguish the company from competitors, Deron says. “Our tagline is ‘Well planned, well crafted, well done,’ and we can achieve that by the high standards we set for ourselves.”
The company also prides itself on its specialized equipment, which is rigorously maintained. Vehicles and equipment are inspected daily.
In addition, staff members get a rundown of what hazards they may face that day. “These are the things we do daily because we want everyone to go home with all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. We have built safety into the company culture so we know they will be able to come home safely at night. There is still some level of danger digging trenches and getting in a bucket truck, but we mitigate it with training and safety protocols,” Deron says.
Community Members
Celerity hosts two food drives annually to benefit the Zionsville Food Pantry. “Giving back to the community is something that everyone here can get behind. It is nice that the employees all contribute in a meaningful way,” Deron says.
Celerity sponsors a wide range of charities through causes that are important to clients, too. When customers ask for Celerity support, it is an easy decision, Deron says. Deron is personally involved with Hockey Fights MS, which raises money for research into the cause, cure and treatment of multiple sclerosis and to help improve the lives of those living with multiple sclerosis by supporting local rehabilitation centers.
Old-Fashioned Quality
“We believe in blending Old World craftsmanship with New World technology,” Deron says.
“There is an engineering aspect to dealing with a fiber optics advanced communications system, but there is still a craftsmanship that needs to be there. If you’ve ever seen the Norman Rockwell painting of the lineman on the pole, we like to think of that craftsmanship, but delivered at the speed of technology. We build it to last and document it well.”
Deron says that the Celerity technicians are his best sales force. “The majority of our business is repeat business; that’s because they take pride in their work. They send us pictures of their work because they want to show us,” he says.
The firm’s success is built on that quality work. “We owe a lot to our employees,” Deron says. “They have really helped build Celerity up by their hard work, long hours and often getting called out to work in the middle of the night. A lot of our technicians aren’t home every night because the work isn’t exclusive to downtown Quakertown. We can’t tell them thank you enough.”