World Trade Center, Site-Wide “Last Mile” Network Infrastructure Project

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) builds, operates, and maintains critical transportation and trade assets. Its network moves millions of people annually and transports vital cargo throughout the New York/New Jersey region. PANYNJ also owns and manages the 16-acre World Trade Center site.

The re-built World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan consists of multiple stakeholder buildings. Burns designed the final stage or “Last Mile” of a Site-Wide Network (SWN) for information sharing among the stakeholder buildings for situational awareness and operational purposes. The “Last Mile” – a phrase widely used in the telecommunications, cable television and Internet industries – refers to the final leg of the telecommunications networks that deliver telecommunication services to end-users.

Burns coordinated with multiple entities to create a detailed infrastructure design. The SWN is being designed and installed to connect 5 World Trade Center (WTC) buildings, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, the new Transportation Hub, Vehicle Security Center, Central Chiller Plant, WTC Property Management Facility, Situational Awareness Communications Center and other supporting facilities. Burns designed the final hardware connections required to create a unified site-wide network and created the overall network architecture for the site-wide network to ensure cybersecurity, reliability and network efficiency.