Panduit helped Telefónica deploy a state of the art enterprise network infrastructure for its new headquarters building that allows greater flexibility and performance while acting as a showcase for customers.

Telefónica has one of the most international profiles in the sector with more than 60% of its business outside its home market. As of September 2010 Telefónica was operating in 25 countries, with a presence in Europe, Africa and Latin America and more than 280 million customers worldwide.

The company opened its new Barcelona headquarters building in March 2011. The facility also houses the 5,000 square metre Centre for Telefónica Research and Design, which is available to all companies worldwide to pursue research in multimedia and internet service technologies.

The design of the enterprise network infrastructure was of particular importance to Telefónica, as the company needed a reliable network infrastructure to deliver enough bandwidth to serve 1700 employee workstations while enabling quick moves and changes over time. The infrastructure also needed to be flexible to support the wide variety of functional users across the building’s 25 floors.

Finally, Telefónica faced a key challenge to plan, design and deploy the enterprise network infrastructure in just three months.

Strategic Objectives
Telefónica wanted to deploy a robust enterprise network infrastructure comprised of state-of-the-art copper and fibre optic structured cabling systems. Several strategic objectives guided the planning process:

• 10-gigabit communications for the future while meeting current-day business objectives
• The construction approach needed to be a model for future Telefónica buildings
• The new headquarters needed to act as a reference showcase for Telefónica’s customers, who also would face these kinds of technology choices

“We quickly realised that a pre-terminated fibre and copper solution would ease our concerns over time to deploy while helping us meet our wider corporate objectives,” said Sandra Monteagudo, Head of PPEE LAN, Telefónica. “When we considered the thousands of permanent links required by our enterprise network and the short time available to deploy them, the time and money saved using pre-terminated copper and fibre solutions added up quickly. The fact that we implemented an internal network based on the latest technologies also gives us the confidence to propose the same type of solutions to our clients.”

Panduit’s Unified Physical Infrastructure?
Telefónica selected Panduit as its business partner because Panduit’s Unified Physical Infrastructure (UPI) approach resonated with Telefónica’s own goal of deploying a next-generation communications network.

Panduit Solutions
Telefónica deployed a Panduit QuickNet Pre-Terminated Solution throughout the building. These innovative solutions simplify the design and installation of network services by providing high-density end-to-end systems that deliver quick, plug-in network deployment. Specifically, Telefónica specified singlemode and OM3 multimode fibre optic assemblies for the network backbone (both vertical and horizontal) and Category 6 and 6A UTP copper assemblies for permanent horizontal links on each floor.

The QuickNet Solution was customised to 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 cable looms, based on floor plan and user requirements across different areas of the building.

Delivery was simplified by deploying reliable infrastructure components that had already been 100% assembled and tested in a factory-controlled environment. This solution reduced time and cost to install by 70% over field termination methods.
The Patch Panels adopted for the racking system allowed Telefónica to conserve  real estate and optimise space utilisation in cabinets and racks.

Business Benefits
By using Category 6 and 6A copper and 10-gigabit fibre optic cabling systems reserve bandwidth was provided to support future network capacity requirements.

The use of modular fibre cassettes and distribution-style cables as well as bundled copper assemblies also achieves higher rack densities and promotes efficient use of infrastructure real estate.

“Although we knew that Panduit QuickNet Solutions are factory-tested and ready to plug and play,” said Jóse Luis Pedrero, Project Manager PPEE LAN of Telefónica, “we audited 20% of installed infrastructure links and found that the performance of the QuickNet infrastructure exceeded all requirements. We were delighted with these results and are confident that the solution will support our business and uptime requirements while eliminating rework and slashing operational costs.”