CHATTANOOGA ENGINEERS CLUB
http://www.utc.edu/~engrcs/cec/cec.htm
Volume L October 18, 1999 12:00 NOON
Number 37 The Loft, 328 Cherokee Blvd.

THIS WEEK____________________________________________________________
Bill Chapman, Vice-President Operations of EPB Telecommunications will discuss development of the telecommunications business at EPB. He will also discuss the overall entry process and business strategy to enter the telecommunications market as well as the technology that will make EPB unique in this marketplace. Bill Chapman has over twenty years of experience in the telecommunications business.

LAST WEEK____________________________________________________________
Mike Moeller, VP of Sales for East Tennessee at US LEC, presented "Building a Telephone Company." This presentation covered key steps in starting and building a new telephone company in Chattanooga. US LEC is a North Carolina headquartered CLEC competing with BellSouth and other CLECs in the Chattanooga area for customers with 15 or more phone lines for local and LD telephone/data service. US LEC's goal is to have three percent of the $102M market that Chattanooga alone will support. (Times 15 for Atlanta.) They are using BellSouth's copper plant to reach customers with their new Lucent 5ESS 2000 all-digital switch. This switch is unique because it is an integrated Local/LD Toll Switch. Mr. Moeller stated that what will make a company unique in the telecommunications market is customer service and pricing. US LEC has been serving Chattanooga since March 1999. US LEC has been a publicly held company since April of 1998 with $6M last year $80M this year and projected $200M worth of business for next year.

COMING PROGRAMS___________________________________________________

October 25 - Joint field trip with AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) Chattanooga
Local Section for a tour of the Center for Laser Applications at the University of
Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) in Tullahoma, TN.
Please email (copeland@cstcc.cc.tn.us), phone (697-3212), or fax (697-3325) in
your reservation by October 18 to Lulu Copeland.
November 1 - Jim Thames, Blue Star Communications, new CLEC in Chattanooga.
November 8 - Freddie Wilkerson, E Commerce Account Manager, UPS, Nashville.

BRAIN TEASER___________________________________________________________
Here's one that will get you thinking. There really is a valid answer to this one. Pretend for a moment that you are an electrician hired to determine which one of three switches downstairs operates a light bulb in a closet upstairs. Continue to pretend that you are incredibly lazy (physically not mentally) and wish to only make one trip up the stairs to verify the status of the light bulb. How would you determine which of three switches will operate the light upstairs with only making one trip upstairs to the closet? You have to be 100% sure, no 50-50's allowed. Answer in next weeks bulletin or given at the October 18th meeting.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Brad Baucom
Planning and Network / Engineering Division

EPB
P.O. Box 182255
Chattanooga, TN 37422-7255

(423) 629-3582
baucombe@cepb.com


1999 Officers
President Greg Sedrick
697-4456 (fax 697-3131)

1st VP Ed Chapin
Program Chairman 266-9720 (fax 266-9737)

2nd VP Lulu Copeland
Membership Chairman 697-3212 (fax 697-3325)

Treasurer Uwe Zitzow
756-4321

Secretary Phil Kazemersky
755-5311 (fax 755-5229)

Bulletin Editor Brad Baucom
629-3582 (fax 629-3261)