Herne utility chooses KEYMILE for fibre optic expansion
Hanover, August 8, 2012 – Herne Stadtwerke, a utility in the Ruhr region, has laid fibre optic lines to a new housing development that accommodates several generations. As a result, people living there will have 100 Mbps Internet access, as well as fixed-line telephony and a vast range of digital TV programmes. KEYMILE’s multi-service access platform MileGate lies at the heart of the solution.
Linking up fibre optic lines opens up a wealth of options. Herne utility provided the fibre-optic infrastructure to the homes (FTTH). The new multi-generation housing development in Stratmanns Weg in Herne now has fast Internet, fixed-line network telephony and digital TV. QSC in Cologne delivers extensive ICT services. The company is in charge of line operation and integration to the backbone. Each house’s fibre optic line is connected using KEYMILE’s multi-service access platform MileGate. Consequently, a high level of reliability and availability is ensured. IT-systems integrator AXIANS supported the QSC project team beforehand during the planning phase of the active network. It also helped select and later design the KEYMILE solution. In future, AXIANS will also provide maintenance services to guarantee reliable operation and assist QSC and the Herne utility with further expansion plans.
MileGate’s technical options, such as those employed in a range of comparable FTTH projects, swung the decision in its favour. The multi-service access platform is a compact solution with a high level of port density for broadband access (100 Mbps lines), telephony and data interfaces. A key feature is the ability to transmit digital TV services at the same time as broadband Internet access. Therefore, the Herne utility can easily and cost effectively supply customers connected via its own fibre optic lines with a wide range of television programmes.
The households are connected to a MileGate port via one single fibre optic line. The digital TV signal is added to the Ethernet/IP signal through its own wavelength with an integrated wavelength multiplexer (an RF overlay for CATV) integrated on the card. When it reaches the subscriber, the terminal equipment separates the Ethernet and TV signal from one another. The cable TV signal is changed into an electrical TV signal and fed into the existing co-axial cables. The Ethernet signal is completed on the terminal equipment itself and residential customers can connect up their computers to gain Internet access, or other IP-based terminal equipment (for example SIP telephones, set-top boxes).
“Teamwork was excellent from the start and was a key factor in successfully completing the project. From the planning phase to technical implementation at network level, the foundations were created for us to reliably operate the infrastructure,” comments Stefan Mohr, project manager at QSC in Cologne. “Thanks to our long-standing expertise as a network operator, we can integrate the Herne utility’s fibre-optic infrastructure into our own Next-Generation network and make it open-access. An open-access platform emerges for other communications solutions providers, so that they can also offer their services to end customers.”
“Their fibre-optic connection project makes the utility one of the frontrunners of German utilities. A number of cities aiming to expand their range of services are facing a similar challenge,” explains Dr. Jürgen Bock, CTO at the Herne utility. “It’s vital for a utility to provide a broadband network so that it can offer fit for the future infrastructure solutions. We’re expecting this project to generate important information on using fibre-optic lines in urban areas. Our goal is to make Herne one of the leading broadband locations in Germany.”
“As a long-standing technology partner to carriers and service providers, we’ve gained a wide range of technological expertise that we aim to build on, particularly where broadband solutions are concerned,” comments Jens Wulff, member of the AXIANS board in Germany and in charge of Business Unit Broadband Solutions. “Similarly to this case, our objective is to offer utilities added value by providing customised solutions in conjunction with providers like QSC – and other partners where beneficial. As part of the VINCI Group, one of the premier energy and IT service providers in Europe, the brief can cover all services, from planning, construction and network operations. And this project is the cornerstone for other projects.”
Volkmar Becker, Key Account Manager responsible at KEYMILE, goes on to say that: “Local utilities have laid fibre optic lines in lots of other German cities, but they don’t market them alone. Herne is a reference project that can be applied everywhere in Germany.”
About QSC
QSC AG in Cologne offers medium-sized enterprises comprehensive ICT services that range from telephony, data transmission, housing, hosting and IT outsourcing and IT consulting. The QSC Group is one of the leading medium-sized suppliers of ICT solutions in Germany. Its subsidiaries are INFO AG, an IT full-service provider with headquarters in Hamburg and IP Exchange, a housing and hosting specialist in Nuremberg. QSC delivers customised managed services for tailored ICT requirements. For customers and sales partners it has a wide product portfolio that is modular and adaptable to the communications and IT requirements concerned. QSC’s services are based on its own Next-Generation network (NGN). It operates an open-access platform which combines different broadband technologies with one another. QSC AG employs around 1,300 people and is listed on the TecDAX.
About the Herne Stadtwerke utility
The utility is the local energy supplier in and for Herne. For over 100 years, the utility has been reliably delivering electricity and gas, as well as water, waste water management and heat through companies it has a stake in. In addition to personal advice, wide-ranging services on the Internet, the funding programme and contracting offers lend the company a strong customer focus. Energy-efficiency services complete the offering.
About AXIANS
AXIANS is the corporate communications brand of VINCI Energies in Europe. In addition to infrastructure technologies for industry and the energy sector, VINCI Energies offers convergent and scalable IT-infrastructure solutions with AXIANS for reliable voice, data and video communications.
Since 2005, NK Networks & Services has been AXIANS brand’s systems integrator in Germany. AXIANS has links across the world to infrastructure specialists in associated and complementary technologies for telecommunications, cable networks, electrical engineering, air conditions, industrial automation, as well as maintenance and managed services. It covers all local and wide-area network services, both for enterprise, carrier and service-provider customers. AXIANS gears its services to technical trends and developments in society. With tailor-made, IT-added-value solutions, as well as managed and cloud services, it helps its customers enhance processes relevant to society and therefore generate a competitive edge in the relevant markets.
About KEYMILE
KEYMILE is a leading supplier of cutting-edge technology for communications solutions in access and transmission systems. The flexible and robust IP-based multi-service access platforms allow telecommunications providers to supply a variety of voice and data services via copper wire and optical fibre. Simultaneous availability of IP/Ethernet and TDM technology guarantees smooth migration to the Next Generation Network. Keymile systems are used for reliable data transmission in mission-critical areas of telecommunications networks used by railway companies and energy suppliers, as well as in mobile and professional mobile radio networks. The company has major business bases in Germany and Switzerland, as well as subsidiaries and partners worldwide. It has installed systems in more than 100 countries. For further information visit http://www.keymile.com.
