Fiber Connect 2022: Render Ready to Feast on Rapid FTTH Uptake with Network Construction Platform Additions

The News: Render Networks announced the expansion of its Network Construction Platform to include three solutions: Render Scale, Render Connect, and Render Redline — designed to reduce the time and effort required to manage all sizes and types of network builds. Read the Render Networks Press Release here.

Fiber Connect 2022: Render Ready to Feast on Rapid FTTH Uptake with Network Construction Platform Additions

Analyst Take: Render Networks’ expansion of its Network Construction Platform capabilities swiftly positions the company to capitalize on fast growing broadband deployments and investments, especially including the addition of 10 million+ FTTH connections projected by the end of 2023. The U.S. Federal Government authorized an additional $62 billion in grant dollars in addition to the $38 billion in pre-pandemic grants allocated for broadband Internet buildouts aimed heavily at closing digital divides and broadband shortages across rural areas.

Render Networks’ three new portfolio additions include Render Scale, the company’s geospatial construction solution for managing large-scale deployment, Render Connect, aimed at fast starting the management of small or high-volume builds with efficient digital construction processes, and Render Redline, a redline change solution aimed at helping construction teams streamline their redline change process with real-time GIS data capture and management. To boost the new products, Render touts that its customer portfolio has witnessed production rate increases of up to 30% and direct project cost and schedule benefits of 20%.

These programs include the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) Infrastructure Broadband Equity Access and Development (BEAD) program with $42.5 billion set aside for last-mile broadband deployment and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) with Phase II funds of $11.2 billion. As such, I anticipate that Render Networks is well-positioned to help drive overall fiber deployments, including FTTH, by directly addressing the digital divide and fiber build objectives of the U.S. federal government fueled by robust government funding as well as state and local funding initiatives.

I recently had the opportunity to join Render Networks’ CEO Sam Pratt on the “How to fast-track connectivity for electric cooperatives by 30%” panel at the FBA’s 2022 Fiber Connect event in Nashville, TN. The panel was particularly pertinent to Tennessee, where up to 71% of the land mass and 28% of the population are served by electrical cooperatives.

Fellow panel members included Patrick Reams, Director, Technology & Communications, Irby Utilities and Billy Gordon, VP, Technical Operations, Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Cooperative (STEMC). They both provided valuable insights and details on how Render’s portfolio played an integral role in enabling their network and construction teams, including subcontractors, to accelerate their build times and unlock new efficiencies throughout their build-out processes.

For example, STEMC’s Billy Gordon detailed how their grant funding spanned two counties and required on-time builds or lose the grant. Primarily through Render’s geospatial network construction platform, STEMC was able to transition swiftly from high-level design to turning their customers up with two million feet of fiber in only ten weeks.

Overall, I believe Render Networks’ addition of Render Connect and Render Redline addresses the expanding array of fiber network construction demands, encompassing initial deployments, customer connection drops, and ongoing maintenance requirements. And Render’s new Redline change management solution can allow network operators and construction teams to access Render, lowering barriers to entry. From my view, Render Networks has now strengthened its platform proposition to render fiber network deployments easier and more cost-effective to rapidly advance.

Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.

Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.

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The original version of this article was first published on Futurum Research.