POWERGRAMS

7 Two decades ago, a systemwide team of engineers came together at Alabama Power's Corporate Headquarters to test the feasibility of a revolutionary new wireless radio communications network, a technology that would lead Southern Company into uncharted territory outside the electric utility industry. Since 1994, SouthernLINC has grown into one of the largest wireless communications companies in the Southeast, covering about 126,000 square miles across Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida. "In 1993, the four operating companies were looking for a better way to communicate during hurricanes, tornadoes and other catastrophic storm events," said John Heerten, Central Switching Center manager at SouthernLINC's Southlake Parkway Office in Hoover. "Each operating company had a different radio system. That meant when employees from one operating company were dispatched to help another, the radio in their trucks had to be replaced, or at least tuned to a different frequency. It was a time-consuming job that could take three or four hours." Ed Murray said the explosion of the cellular industry at the time was another factor that caused Southern Company to take a close look at this new market. "Southern Company realized that our radio systems would soon saturate the network," said Murray, SouthernLINC LTE Site Construction manager. "The company said, 'Why can't we build a radio communications system for ourselves and sell the excess service?'" Murray was chosen to represent Alabama Power on a four- member team charged to develop the specifications for this new venture. "We were asked to step out of our current jobs and begin working on a project outside of our line of work," Murray said. "But we believed in what we were doing and we believed it would work." On Oct. 15, 1994, Murray, Heerten and LTE User Equipment Manager John Blackwell conducted their first wireless software test on a tiny cell tower on the roof of the Alabama Power Corporate Headquarters. Their goal was to see if wide-area two-way radio communication was feasible. The first IDEN (integrated digital enhanced network) wireless cell site went live at Alabama Power, allowing wireless communication across a limited area. The network was expanded with a cell tower at the Georgia Power Virginia Avenue Building. The four operating companies were finally connected into Southern Company's first wide-area network when towers were built at the Gulf Power Pace Boulevard Office and at Mississippi Power's Plant Watson. A distinctive feature of the system, said Heerten, was that the SouthernLINC network was designed with higher standards than commercial networks. Resiliency and network availability have always been a key requirement for all of Southern Company's networks. The same standards were applied to the SouthernLINC two- way radio system. Backup power generation was installed at the LINC cell sites, along with a company-owned and maintained microwave network, to help ensure that two-way radio and cellular communication across the company's service territory could continue under severe weather conditions. After studying radio systems in the retail market, the company chose the Motorola IDEN system because of its unique capabilities. It was the first handset that coupled push-to-talk technology with the ability to use the device as a cellphone, Murray said. "One of the significant advantages of the Motorola IDEN system was its ability to improve our 800 MHz frequency usage," Heerten said. "IDEN allowed us to aggressively reuse the frequencies, allowing us to carry more traffic than a traditional two-way radio system." The Securities and Exchange Commission approved SouthernLINC in December 1994 but the launch of the commercial business came two years later. "My role was to build and manage the mobile switching operation and the regional switching operation centers," said Heerten. "Each operating company had their own go-to person who was in charge of building the network and bringing in customers. We were all in competition to build our site and get as many customers as possible. The competitive attitude was actually a good thing because it pushed us to get the system built more quickly." SouthernLINC's first "big hurdle" came in June 1996 –four months after it entered the commercial market – when it was asked to provide radio communication for security personnel at the Atlanta Olympic Games, Murray said. Since then, SouthernLINC has provided service to police and fire departments, ambulance services, paramedics, state emergency management organizations, government agencies, businesses of all sizes and residential customers. The system has worked successfully during many ice storms, tornadoes and hurricanes. Most notably, SouthernLINC proved its value during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when it was the only network that continued to operate in south Mississippi. Today, the SouthernLINC wireless digital network has grown to more than 800 cell sites across the Southeast. The company provides more than 30,000 lines of data and voice service to the four operating companies and serves another 100,000 commercial customers. "At SouthernLINC, we are happy to be celebrating this anniversary, but we also look forward to a bright future with a new network," said SouthernLINC President and CEO Don Horsley, who is retiring April 1, 2015. "Now that the IDEN system is nearing the end of its life, SouthernLINC Wireless is building a new hardened network, which should meet the mission-critical needs of the operating companies for years to come. Construction of this new network will also offer the opportunity to continue providing commercial revenue, which can offset a significant portion of our operational costs." By Carla Davis SouthernLINC moves from humble start to national presence in wireless industry MILESTONE Heerten and Murray took part in birth of Southern's wireless radio communications network. Photos by Nik Leyman

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