Projects

CityFibre celebrates latest milestone in Portsmouth full fibre rollout

Internet users across the south of Portsmouth are now able to connect their homes and businesses to the fastest and most reliable broadband infrastructure available, thanks to progress made by CityFibre. CityFibre has now made the majority of homes in the Southsea, Fratton, Milton, Eastney, Copnor and Burrfields areas of the city ‘ready for service’, which means residents can choose to connect to the full fibre broadband services on offer in their area. Customers can sign up to UK launch partner Vodafone, TalkTalk, IDNet, Digital Homes and Giganet, with other providers expected to join the network soon. The rollout is now progressing into new areas in the north of the city with construction well underway in Hilsea and Anchorage Park. Last year, CityFibre laid 315km of full fibre digital infrastructure beneath the streets of Portsmouth, enough to go round Portsea Island 15 times. Once the rollout reaches completion, almost every home and business locally will have access to full fibre services from a choice of internet service providers. Jon Russell, CityFibre’s City Manager for Portsmouth says: “CityFibre is making great progress in Portsmouth. Residents, businesses, and community groups I’ve spoken to have been amazed at just how much fibre we've put down in the last few months. Reaching this latest milestone means residents can now start to benefit from this digital investment that will future-proof their connectivity for decades to come.” Unlike copper-based ‘fibre broadband’ and co-axil cable services available today, full fibre networks use 100% fibre optic cables to carry data at lightning speed all the way to and from the home and the point of connection. This gives users consistently faster speeds for upload and download (up to 1,000 Mbps), with near limitless bandwidth so everyone at home can work, study, stream or game simultaneously, while providing connectivity users can depend on. Construction is being delivered by CNN Communications on behalf of CityFibre. The team is using a range of construction methods while working in close partnership with Portsmouth City Council and local communities to deliver a fast rollout while managing potential disruption.

Custodian supports sustainable digital transformation at business park

Custodian Data Centres has become the lead technology partner for Crossways Business Park, in Dartford, Kent. As the business park’s only data centre operator, Custodian’s 10MW, DA2 facility will provide low-latency connectivity, resilient power, and foundational critical infrastructure for local businesses. As such, the technology partnership will directly enable local digital transformation efforts and create opportunities for organisations based within the Bluewater, Crossways, Dartford, Lakeside and Swanscombe vicinities to drive growth and future business developments. Crossways Business Park is situated in the heart of Kent Thameside. With high-speed domestic travel links to London and immediate access to the M25, it is a premier destination for enterprise, logistical and retail businesses. Custodian’s DA2 data centre will provide resilient power, dedicated dark fibre connectivity and dynamic technical expertise, offering key benefits to the residents of Crossways Business Park. The partnership, for example, will enable businesses in Crossways to future-proof their operations and capitalise on new technological developments, such as advanced robotics and automation within retail and logistics. By providing access to dedicated, on-site and agile mission-critical infrastructure, Custodian’s presence on the park will not only support current business owners’ digital transformation ambitions, but will provide a key point of differentiation for Crossways, allowing room for further technological expansion and the arrival of new customers. A spokesperson from Crossways Management Company states. “Having a sustainable data centre partner in Crossways will provide key ecological, operational and technological benefits to the owners and occupiers based in the Crossways business park. By partnering with Custodian we can offer unparalleled technical support and access to cloud connectivity as customers embrace new technologies to drive growth. Further, by partnering with a brand that’s equally as eco-conscious, we can work together to transform the business park sustainably and raise awareness of Crossways as a premier location for today’s businesses.” “At Custodian, we want to empower businesses to grow and we do so by offering them agile mission-critical infrastructure combined with dynamic technical service,” says Rowland Kinch, CEO, Custodian Data Centres. “Our new DA2 data centre at Crossways will allow us to directly support businesses based locally and those looking to relocate outside of the City with sustainable, environmentally conscious infrastructure. As the lead technology partner for Crossways, we’re delighted to have a partner whose ethos echoes our own, and to be supporting their digital transformation efforts.”

Cisco and Real Madrid team up to power Europe's most connected stadium

Real Madrid and Cisco have announced a multiyear global partnership during which they will deploy the largest WiFi 6 stadium network in Europe to date that will make Santiago Bernabéu Stadium one of the most technologically advanced sporting venues in the world. As an official technology partner of the Club, Cisco will outfit Santiago Bernabéu Stadium with an end-to-end deployment of its technology, all built on a single, converged, intelligent Cisco network. The 85,000 seat multi-purpose stadium will feature the latest in WiFi 6 for connectivity to power the ultimate fan experience. More than 1,200 WiFi 6 access points in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium will deliver faster speeds for more immersive experience applications, as well as more bandwidth and higher reliability than the previous Wi-Fi standard. Stadiums utilising Cisco’s WiFi 6 technology have seen record-breaking levels of data traffic and fan consumption, consistently reaching levels of engagement only previously seen at the largest sporting events in the world. “Thanks to this collaboration agreement with Cisco, a leader in connectivity and content management, the new Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ensures that it can take data, voice and video to any point and thus guarantee the widest range of services and an unrivalled spectacle in the world of football," says Emilio Butragueño, Director of Institutional Relations at Real Madrid C.F. Optimised experiences and operations Through this partnership, Real Madrid will leverage not only the full breadth of Cisco solutions – from enterprise networking and security to data centre, digital signage and more, but also its expertise in working alongside the largest sporting organisations, leagues, teams, and venues in the world. On the back of a single, converged Cisco network that is inherently secure, fast, and reliable, Real Madrid will be able to enhance gameday operations as well as provide innovative experiences for their fans in the venue and around the world. More than 1,000 screens powered by Cisco’s end-to-end IPTV solution (which combines high-definition video delivery with state-of-the art digital signage) will allow the Club to drive incremental revenue, activation, and fan engagement throughout the complex. “Real Madrid is one of the crown jewels of football,” comments Wendy Mars, President, Cisco EMEAR. “We are thrilled to add a club with such a rich history to Cisco’s global portfolio of sports partnerships and look forward to uniting the collective power of our two global brands to drive a more connected and inclusive future for this sport.”

A pumping station powered by Delta is delivering irrigation in South Africa

Agriculture is the largest branch of the economy and an important source of income in many parts of Africa. As a result of climate change, however, many regions are experiencing more irregular and ever decreasing rainfall. One dairy farm in South Africa needed a pump system to access ground water from wells and ensure a reliable and cost effective water supply. The farm’s owner commissioned the implementation of a suitable system from a family firm of electrical installation planners, Pienaar Elektries, which specialises in agricultural operations, for example in areas such as irrigation, refrigeration, feed processing and solar power generation. Low-resource irrigation system using gravity The planned irrigation system was to comprise two reservoirs at different heights, which would be filled with water by a total of six underground well pumps overnight, when the energy costs were low. A transport pump is used to transfer water from the lower reservoir to the higher one. The height difference allows the sprinkler system to be operated using gravity alone during the day, making it particularly efficient. The farm animals and the dairy can also take their water supply from this irrigation system. The key requirements of the project were cost efficiency and low energy consumption, and it also needed to be very reliable and easy to maintain. Following an in-depth planning and consultation process, Pienaar Elektries opted for a number of automation products from Delta, attracted by the diverse portfolio of powerful yet economic solutions. User-friendly thanks to automation Five low-energy Delta CP2000 frequency drives drive the six underground well pumps and ensure that the water brought to the surface is transferred on to the higher tank. The CP models feature a PID controller with feedback that allows the water level in the tanks and boreholes to be monitored and corrected. This is done by alternating between the different pumps and continually monitoring the flow: If the borehole level falls below a minimum predetermined by the user, the PLC control switches to the next the borehole and prevents the pumps from being damaged. The system has various Delta DVP series programmable logic controllers (PLCs): three DVP04AD PLCs monitor the sensors in boreholes and keep the water level above the predetermined value. Five DVP16SP PLCs regulate the motors. One DVP12SE PLC monitors the water level in the top reservoir and the animal watering stations, while a further DVP controller manages the sprinkler installation. Two human-machine interfaces (HMI) from the DOP-100 series are used to display all of the processes in the system and show system information and warning indicators on a 7 or 15in touch screen. A multilingual input function means that Delta’s HMIs are the best solution for any location. In-house software also allows the time configuration and energy costs to be monitored remotely. Users can also monitor the entire process via the DOP-100 VNC server. Precisely tailored pump action for efficient energy and water usage The team from Pienaar Elektries values Delta as a flexible partner that offers good service and a range of powerful automation solutions that are easy to integrate. “In this project it was important to tailor the action of the individual pumps to each other, to optimise the available water, and avoid damaging the pumps,” explains Martien Heesterbeek, Delta Product Manager. “Our DVP series PLCs are ideal for this since they ensure very fast communication with the CP motor drives and allow the irrigation system to be controlled reliably.” The system is working without any issues and supplies both livestock and crops with sufficient water, even during periods of low rainfall. “We are very happy with the efficient energy consumption of the low-cost pump and water storage solution,” says Paul Pienaar, owner of Pienaar Elektries. “The HMI allows us to configure the system to only pump water up at night, keeping the energy costs low. Simple maintenance, monitoring and remote troubleshooting save us lots of time and effort.”

Kao Data expands Harlow campus with second 10MW data centre

Kao Data has announced the expansion of its Harlow data centre campus, with construction now underway on its second 10MW facility, underpinning infrastructure in the UK innovation corridor. Following a recent investment from Infratil (and the launch of its Slough data centre last month) the new facility, named KLON-02, will build upon the company’s infrastructure, energy efficiency and sustainability capabilities, providing customers with a reduced carbon footprint and low Total cost of ownership (TCO) over the lifecycle. KLON-02 will offer up to 10MW of capacity and provide an energy efficient home for almost 1,800 racks of IT equipment across 3,400m2 of technical space and via four Technology Suites. Once fully operational, the facility will be NVIDIA DGX-Ready data centre certified and OCP-Ready, enabling High Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and enterprise computing users to scale quickly and efficiently by deploying pre-populated OCP Accepted racks, or bespoke high density architectures within its hyperscale-inspired design. In similar fashion to KLON-01, the new carrier-neutral data centre will benefit from access to resilient, low-latency connectivity via major multiple networks including BT Openreach, euNetworks, Jisc/Janet, the London Internet Exchange (LINX), LUMEN and Vorboss. Furthermore, Kao Data's continued partnership with Megaport will deliver high-performance connectivity to all major Tier I and Tier II cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Alibaba Cloud. Central to the design and build of KLON-02 will be the highest sustainability features, from ensuring the new architecture is BREEAM ‘Excellent’ certified and both its Technology Suites and related cooling infrastructure configure to hyperscale design principles, to ensuring customers’ mission critical workloads are delivered with an SLA-backed PUE of <1.2. These will be complimented by using 100% renewable energy and 100% sustainable, Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in its backup generators. “The expansion of our Harlow campus is another strategic milestone in Kao Data’s evolution as we continue to scale the business’s high performance data centre offering across the UK and Europe”, says Lee Myall, CEO, Kao Data. “With our second 10MW facility in Harlow following the launch of our 16MW data centre in Slough closely, Kao Data is bringing advanced colocation capacity at industrial scale to the west and east of London.” “KLON-02 will build on the award-winning design and build principles of our KLON-01 facility, offering greater efficiencies for our customers’ colocation environments,” adds Paul Finch, COO, Kao Data. “It’s exciting to be able to continue to innovate within our construction, engineering, and technical principles, and I am confident our second facility at Harlow will raise the bar again for sustainable, energy efficient data centres.”

Virgin Media O2 expands ultrafast gigabit network to homes in Cricklewood

Virgin Media O2 has announced it has connected more than 17,000 homes in Cricklewood, London to its ultrafast network, bringing the benefits of gigabit broadband to tens of thousands more people for the first time. As part of its ‘Project Lightning’ network expansion programme, Virgin Media O2 is expanding its network to bring ultrafast broadband, TV and phone services to more residents and small businesses. Cricklewood is the latest location now able to access Virgin Media’s services, including Gig1 which offers top speeds of 1,130Mbps, 18 times faster than local average, and which is perfect for busy households working remotely, streaming TV shows and films, video calling friends and family and playing games online. Since 2015, Virgin Media O2 has extended its footprint to reach 340,000 more premises through its Project Lightning programme in London, and made gigabit broadband available to more than 6 million Londoners. This comes following more than £200 million of broadband investment in the city in recent years. Alongside its fixed network investment, this month Virgin Media O2 has also announced that it has made significant upgrades to its mobile network in London. Its 5G network in the capital has now extended to reach 64% of the population and last year the company upgraded 4G capacity in 41,228 postcodes across the city. Rob Evans, Managing Director of Fixed Network Expansion at Virgin Media O2, says: “We’ve been investing in Cricklewood to give thousands of residents access to the UK’s fastest widely available speeds – 18 times faster than the local average. “From hybrid working and video calls with friends, to VR and online gaming, our next-generation services offer customers everything they need to do more of what they love online.  Virgin Media O2 has committed to invest at least £10bn over the next 5 years in the UK and, building on the success of its existing fibre network expansion activity, is exploring options to go further and faster by deploying fibre to millions of additional homes across the country. In July 2021, the company announced it will upgrade its entire fixed network to full fibre to the premises (FTTP) technology with completion in 2028, capable of delivering symmetrical 10Gbps download and upload speeds and beyond. This will take place alongside its expansion programme that is bringing greater choice and competition to many areas that need it most. Virgin Media O2 recently launched its first ever joint product, Volt, enabling customers to supercharge their services and reap extra rewards simply by being customers of both Virgin Media and O2. Alongside double mobile data, roaming in 75 countries and up to £150 off a connected device, new and existing customers who take a Virgin Media broadband service and an eligible O2 Pay Monthly plan will receive a broadband speed boost to the next tier available – meaning customers on a 500mbps Virgin Media package could be boosted to Gig1 at no extra charge.

First large-scale data centre for the Baltic states

The largest and most energy efficient data centre in the region was opened recently in Estonia. The building that cost nearly €40m is the first of the three buildings to be built in the same area, all of which will contribute to the development of the Baltic e-commerce and digital societies. To the ordinary citizen, this means a smaller ecological footprint of data, and even better access to e-services. In addition, the opening of the building complex will multiply the data hosting export potential of the region. "Data centres are the physical foundation of our current and future digital society, without which our way of life and business activities would be unthinkable. Greenergy’s top-tier and high energy efficiency data centre will increase the competitiveness of the Estonian economy and will create the necessary infrastructure for the digital transformation", says the Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, Andres Sutt, after participating in the opening. According to him, up until now, there was no such high-level digital infrastructure in Estonia, and the new data centre will remarkably increase the competitiveness of the companies of this area. It will also create favourable conditions for foreign companies to offer their services on the Estonian or Baltic market. Founding the Greenergy Data Centres took more than five years to get from its inception to opening, and experts from six countries participated in the process. "The complex opened today conforms to all of the highest international security standards and aims at 25% higher energy efficiency than the market’s average," says Kert Evert, the person behind the idea of creating the data centre. "Technologically speaking, we are at the absolute top of the world." The first building spans 14,500 square metres. The total planned capacity of the complex is 31.5MW – in other words, the centre's electrical connections could cover the energy needs of a smaller town. As the data centre must be prepared for the unexpected and always function, every important support system of the complex is duplicated. In some places, back-up systems have their own back-up systems. For example, there will be as many as eight fibre optic connection cables entering the territory, and they will reach the building from four different sides. Security fences, roadblocks, rotating cameras with motion, and heat sensors take care of the data centre's security, and the entire complex is covered by a 360-camera surveillance system. Only those who are authorised will have access to the data centre, which will be, among other things, ensured by a biometric identification. The Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund provided funding for building the facility.

CityFibre partners with Deepomatic for Visual Automation Technology

CityFibre has partnered with Deepomatic to deploy its Visual Automation Technology across CityFibre’s national network by the end of 2022.   The industry-leading image recognition and AI technology supports CityFibre’s engineers by automating field-based quality-assurance capabilities at scale. This will help ensure CityFibre’s build, maintenance and installation work continues to meet the highest quality standards as it accelerates to serve 8 million homes by 2025.   For CityFibre’s service provider partners, the completed deployment of this technology from Fibre Exchange to secondary node, will bring further assurance that when a broadband service is ordered, the end-to-end network is verified as fully operational. The result will be a fast and friction-free end-customer install experience while further improving CityFibre’s industry-leading ‘Right First Time’ service installation rates. CityFibre’s engineers use the app-based interface to upload images of network build, upgrade or maintenance-related work prior to closing a job. The images are then analysed in real time to either validate the work as complete or highlight issues that need addressing before leaving the site. The visual record and any associated notes are then stored to provide a searchable history of build information and maintenance activities that can be accessed on-demand by CityFibre’s network management and quality assurance teams. Deepomatic’s technology is the only Visual Automation solution specifically designed for the telecommunication industry. By implementing it throughout its end-to-end build operations, CityFibre will achieve the deepest integration of the technology across any UK network. Beyond this, CityFibre is evaluating the potential for its use during the final installation of services to customer premises. An initial pilot enabled CityFibre to implement the platform, test its live use and gather the feedback needed to deploy in the most efficient way. Nationwide rollout is now underway, with the technology already used across CityFibre’s Midland and Southern regions.   David Tomalin, Group Chief Technology Officer at CityFibre, says: “Deepomatic’s Visual Automation Technology is a key part of the Better By Design approach to deliver a world class network and service experience for our partners and their customers. It is helping us ensure quality standards are consistently met, reducing human error while empowering our people, and minimising repeat engineer visits. As well as delivering operational efficiencies and customer benefits from day one, it will enrich our network asset and records management over time, support predictive analysis work and inform our future network upgrade decisions.”  Augustin Marty, CEO at Deepomatic, comments: "CityFibre is currently at the forefront of providing the new generation of Full Fibre infrastructure for the UK. We are delighted to support their visionary team in scaling quality and reliability to new heights. Thanks to visual automation, CityFibre will roll out fibre technology in a much faster way, grasping all the insights it needs to deliver an operationally premium network.”

Kao Data expands UK data centre footprint with 16MW facility in Slough

Kao Data has announced the availability of a 16 Megawatt (MW), carrier-neutral data centre in Slough, West London. The launch marks a new beginning for Kao Data following the recent investment of approximately £130 million from global infrastructure business Infratil Limited, and will expand its ultra-sustainable data centre platform into this globally significant data centre hub. The build, now underway, will adhere to the high-performance design, efficiency, and operational blueprint of Kao Data’s Harlow campus, providing customers with an SLA-backed PUE of <1.2, even at partial loads. From a sustainability standpoint, the new facility will use an ultra-efficient cooling system, be powered by 100% renewable energy, with its backup power generators powered by hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) from the outset, removing fossil fuels in their entirety. Further, the data centre will provide the industrial-scale capabilities that the Kao Data brand is well-known for. The facility is already set to become NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Centre certified and OCP-Ready, serving the needs of high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI) and enterprise customers, all of whom rely on the finest, Tier 3 equivalent environments to support and scale their mission-critical workloads. “The launch of our new Slough data centre offers data-intensive enterprises within the highly sought-after West London Availability Zone, the opportunity to benefit from significant new capacity, as well as the advantage of working with Kao Data’s award-winning, sustainable infrastructure and expert technical and operations teams,” says Lee Myall, CEO, Kao Data. “With this move we are excited to be strengthening our data centre footprint across the UK and establish ourselves within the world’s second largest data centre hub. Kao Data has seen tremendous growth over the last 12 months, and the launch of our Slough facility is the next step in our continuing development.” With a strong and varied existing customer base from key sectors, including financial services, life sciences, defence, artificial intelligence and the cloud, Kao Data’s expansion into the West of London presents its current colocation customers with increased diversity and resilience. Further, it offers new customers the immediate scope to quickly scale their existing colocation footprints and safeguard their future power provision. Finally, with the facility powered with 100% renewable energy, its back-up generators utilising renewable HVO fuel, and its power and cooling architectures providing an ultra-low PUE, Kao Data’s data centre will set new standards within Slough for sustainability.

ECS updates scheme for greater recognition of digital skills

Last year was a particularly busy year for ECS, with the construction industry generally still under immense pressure with ongoing restrictions caused by COVID-19, issues with supply chains and materials shortages, and availability of centres for training and assessment also an issue for some.  ECS introduced a number of new systems and technologies to assist such as a new CPD recording system and the development of market-leading AI monitoring software to allow ECS health and safety assessments to be taken remotely, saving travel time and cost. ECS also worked with industry and Government to update a number of apprenticeship and occupation requirements, and expanded ECS to recognise a greater amount of training and qualifications. This included the development of Digital Support occupations for the first time including:  Digital Support Technician and OperativeNetwork Security Technician Digital Network Engineer Digital Support Manager  To develop these routes to personnel certification, ECS worked with the Department for Education, Institute for Apprenticeships, British Computer Society – Chartered Institute for IT, awarding organisations and providers, such as Pearson, CompTIA and CNET, a number of large employers and industry stakeholders. These occupations cover those using digital technologies across their organisations (likely as part of IT and/or telecoms infrastructure) in areas such as digital communications, network systems, data centre operations and management, network and cyber security, programming, software, support and user skills. Not only are these areas essential skills for organisations of all sizes in a growing digital age, but there are also growing overlaps between the traditional craft electrotechnical skillsets and the development of greater automation, controls, and programming requirements for those working within the built environment. As part of this work to ensure ECS is keeping up to date with employer and industry requirements, we are inviting those organisations who are involved in these areas of work to further develop the occupational structure around these digital occupations. Graham Hunter, Vice-President for Skills Certification at CompTIA, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Canada, says: “Technology innovation is progressing at an extraordinary rate and as the systems we use continue to become even more interconnected, it’s vital that those responsible for supporting and installing these systems have the skills required of them to keep pace with new practices and ways of working. New entrants and seasoned professionals alike will benefit from industry-created certifications based on recognisable job roles which help guide businesses in the latest developments.” He adds: “Additional awareness of topics such as security by design and system hardening are widening the skills required of professionals and by having agreed standards created by industry peers this can help create a foundation for employee development programmes. The Joint Industry Board & Electrotechnical Certification Scheme understands the importance of life-long learning and we are excited to work with them to create and support upskilling programmes that are engaging and relevant for their Digital Support Operatives and Technicians.”