Getting the presidential cell of approval

This week's inauguration to put Nextel technology to the test.

Driving around the nation's capital, it's impossible to miss the extensive preparations underway for President Bush's inauguration, which will be held at noon on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

A massive wooden platform has been erected on the front terrace of the U.S. Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony. Bleachers perch on the sidewalks along the 2-mile parade route. Barricades, temporary fences and police have blanketed the area between the White House and Capitol Hill.

Scattered across the National Mall and nearby streets are white vans and trailers topped by 40-foot poles, antennas and microwave dishes. These mobile cellular towers are loaded with racks of radios and other gear needed to support the needs of the 750,000 people expected to attend the inauguration.

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Driving around the nation's capital, it's impossible to miss the extensive preparations underway for President Bush's inauguration, which will be held at noon on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

A massive wooden platform has been erected on the front terrace of the U.S. Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony. Bleachers perch on the sidewalks along the 2-mile parade route. Barricades, temporary fences and police have blanketed the area between the White House and Capitol Hill.

Scattered across the National Mall and nearby streets are white vans and trailers topped by 40-foot poles, antennas and microwave dishes. These mobile cellular towers are loaded with racks of radios and other gear needed to support the needs of the 750,000 people expected to attend the inauguration.

Cellular carriers such as Nextel are spending millions of dollars and countless hours of engineering time to prepare its networks for four days of festivities.

For Nextel, the preparations involve doubling the capacity of its network in downtown Washington and adding redundant T-1 lines and back-up power generators. Nextel also built a special on-site war room for monitoring network performance.

"To prepare for events like this, you have to think big,'' says Jihad Hermes, Nextel's vice president for RF engineering and operations in the Northeast region. "It's like building a city overnight.''

Nextel is a key provider of cellular service to local law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service; Metro D.C., Police; U.S. Park Police and the FBI. Nextel anticipates a big spike in the amount of walkie-talkie traffic, cell phone calls and e-mails being sent by law enforcement personnel as well as its regular business customers.

"On the day of the event, we will have dozens of people watching every bit and byte and pulse that comes out of our network,'' Hermes says. "After the event, there will be analysis, presentations and celebrations.''

On an unseasonably warm afternoon a week before the inaugural festivities begin, Nextel demonstrates that most of its network deployment is done. Nextel's engineering team oozes confidence as it prepares for this high-visibility event. That's because handling big events such as the inauguration has become routine for it.

In the past year, Nextel has supported numerous events that attracted 100,000 or more people, including the G8 Summit, the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the dedication of the National World War II Memorial and former President Ronald Reagan's funeral.

Each time, Nextel has deployed a custom-tailored network in a matter of days, weeks or months and then torn it down afterward.

"We don't panic so much anymore,'' says Lalita Subramanian, a senior RF manager with Nextel. "We've gotten better and better at these events.''

Nextel's engineering and operations group has had the inauguration on its radar for a year, but planning for this network began in earnest six months ago. About 50 of Nextel's 600 engineering and operations staff in the Washington, D.C., area have helped get the company's network ready for the festivities.

The 2005 inauguration is the largest event Nextel has supported in the mid-Atlantic. Nextel's most-extensive support overall is at the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. It's also the event with the tightest security, placing unprecedented demands on Nextel for field engineers who are U.S. citizens with security clearances.