Last updated on March 9, 2021
Lead-only batteries as part of the UPS (Image: Telefónica Deutschland)
Telefónica Deutschland has technically renewed a central location from the core network in Berlin as a pilot project. The Spanish mobile operator announced on December 10, 2019. The taxi driver called for the last few kilometers did not know any company location at the address mentioned – and wished me “good luck” when he shook my head and shook it off.
According to Michael Häberle, Director of Network Operations & Quality at Telefónica Deutschland, the energy reduction is 25 to 30 percent. “But we’re not satisfied with that,” he told Golem.de. A major part of this is due to the air-conditioning technology, which mainly uses direct recooling via the outside air.
The areas of energy supply, air conditioning up to the safety and fire protection concept were planned from scratch. This saved a lot of space that could be used for future 5G expansion. At the location in the south of Berlin there is important technology for the core network, the backbone. It had been rebuilt without interruption during ongoing operations, stressed a company spokesman. The site is connected by fiber optics.
According to the information, the core network links several regionally distributed sites in Germany redundantly. Among other things, it conveys the user data of customers and, according to the classification of the Federal Government, is considered a critical infrastructure.
In addition to an exchange of air conditioning technology and a revised energy supply concept that intercepts power failures with power supply systems (NEA) and battery backup as uninterruptible power supply (UPS), IoT technology with measuring sensors now provides data from the location.
In this way, the sensors record the values of the energy and air conditioning technology in the building in order to generate consumption forecasts. So should the beginning wear of technical systems be recognizable. Changes in the current consumption or the speed of a fan could provide information about whether an exchange is due shortly.
“This is a motivation for us to analyze other locations in terms of technical infrastructure in the future,” explained Häberle.
