UTRECHT Head Office – a.s.r
Brand-Rex provides 10 Gigabit Ethernet to a.s.r. headquarters. Brand-Rex has been selected to provide a 10 Gigabit Ethernet network for Dutch insurance group a.s.r.’s new headquarters. a.s.r. provide a variety of insurance services, such as income, health, life and travel insurance. With 4000 employees and revenues of €4.3billion, they are one of the largest insurers in the Netherlands. When a.s.r. elected to extend and refurbish their headquarters in Utrecht, business continuity and Quality-of-Service (QoS) were top of the agenda in the technology selection process.

“I have been very impressed with the quality delivered by HTC International and Brand-Rex” Jos Ruijter, manager Buildings and Technology renovation at HQ a.s.r. Nederland

HTC International, the systems integrator for the project building consortium Archimedes, were appointed to provide the technical design and project delivery in partnership with Brand-Rex and distribution partner Kannegieter. HTC International’s Director, Henk Smits explains “The added value of the partnership, based on quality, sustainability and service was pivotal to achieving the optimum end result.” Brand-Rex, Kannegieter and HTC International have a long standing partnership, successfully completing numerous prestigious projects for major clients in financial services, logistics, healthcare, agriculture and higher education.

Meeting Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) specifications and promoting sustainable network infrastructure is a major focus for the partnership. Henk Smits explains: “The importance and complexity of our specialism have grown so much over the past few decades that integrated project management, both before and after the implementation phase has become essential. This is particularly important when dealing with large-scale projects for end-users in the financial services sector such as a.s.r. We are therefore seeking to collaborate with parties looking to target that level of scale with the same ambitious goals for product performance, sustainability and customer service. Kannegieter and Brand-Rex satisfy our requirements, allowing us to collectively deliver and measure the desired quality. Our credo here is: don’t just give the client what they want, give them what they need.”


Infrastructure
With reliability of service of crucial importance to a.s.r, the added value of regular site visits, test reports and 25 year system warranty provided ongoing quality control and complete peace of mind.
Jan-Willem Hendriks of Brand-Rex comments “In todays world an office environment cannot function without a solid data communication infrastructure in place. The Brand-Rex 10GPlus solution played a crucial role, not only in enabling the ICT environment to function properly, but for the building management system, access control and CCTV systems as well.”



Sustainability
Sustainability was a key factor throughout the project. The building design meets the BREEAM-NL ‘Excellent’ specification and the current energy label G will eventually be level A.
Brand-Rex cabling is produced in accordance with CO2-neutral manufacturing processes. Jan-Willem Hendriks, Senior Business Manager at Brand-Rex explains: “As a Carbon Neutral company, our processes meets the strict sustainability requirements of PAS2060 (ISO 14064). The entire production chain is managed sustainably, from copper mining to waste management.” “A shielded data communication solution was selected, to ensure that any excess heat generated within the cables could be readily dispersed,” adds Smits. The bespoke logistics service provided by Kannegieter, allowed for maximum delivery efficiency with minimal traffic and packaging materials, proving a seamless fit. This provided the sustainable solution across the supply chain that HTC International required. Smits explained: “The Brand-Rex cabling solution is a perfect fit for the BREEAM-NL ‘Excellent’ specified for the project. I genuinely could not make a better recommendation for a sustainable cabling infrastructure.”

Flexible and future-proof
During implementation, the availability of materials, the ease of installation together with efficient logistics played a crucial role in the success of the project.
According to project leader Wesley Smits: “We are following three successive construction phases until final delivery in 2015. Therefore the fibre backbone will be built around the Brand-Rex Blolite solution, with the necessary fibre installations introduced at each building phase”. “The horizontal cabling will be installed underfloor using both new and existing cable trunking. This solution is an ideal fit for the seamless refurbishment of the building and to meet the various construction phases – to deliver a highly flexible and sustainable solution to meet a.s.r.’s vision. “Service and migration of existing fibres can be easily identified at a later stage without inconvenience to staff or business processes. It’s a perfect example of sustainable engineering and collaborative streamlined thinking.” Henk Smits says: “Putting the customer first was of paramount importance throughout the collaboration, being actively involved in the construction meetings has enabled us to deliver a client-focused solution. We invest in communication to create a mutual understanding, allowing all parties to work together collaboratively and optimise the overall process.”


Tailor made logistics
With limited onsite storage, specialist logistics were required to manage demand. With distribution partner Kannegieter even developing a bespoke sealable mobile container to store and transport materials. Raymond Oudijk of Kannegieter explains: “The mobile containers simplified onsite distribution and increased productivity by ensuring continuous availability of materials at the client site; they also ensure that materials are stored safely and significantly reduce waste.” Kannegieter have played a crucial role during the installation by optimising the logistical process between manufacturer, distributor and installer and anticipating the construction phases to eliminate supply chain issues, avoiding any potential delays.


A.S.R. DATA NETWORK FACTS AND FIGURES

• 380,000 metres of 10G data cabling (Cat6A U/FTP)
• 6,660 Cat6A desktop sockets
• 336,000 metres of OM3 biolite fibre
• 28,000 metres of biolite duct
• 1,512 fibre connections

Publication Brand-Rex, download the article here

Future viability
Growing data storage, security, speed and business continuity requirements made it necessary to establish a modern high-performance data centre in the North Braband Provincial House, and to link it up with a fibre optic and copper backbone. The solution selected was provided by HTC International and Datwyler.

The province of North Brabant in southern Holland is the third largest province in the country, with an area of approximately 5100 square kilometres and a population of just under 2.5 million. The parliament, government
and Commissioner of the Province are based in the Provincial House in s’-Hertogenbosch, the capital of North Brabant. The Provincial House consists of a two-storey building with a basement and a 24-floor office tower 103.5 metres high, the city’s tallest building.

The steadily growing requirements for data storage, security, speed and business continuity were beginning to overload the existing infrastructure of the Provincial House, so in 2014 a start was made on constructing a completely new data centre in the basement of the building. Several additional backbone connections also had to be installed, so that migration to the new data centre could be carried out in stages and disruption to the province’s primary processes could be avoided.

High-performance installation
First and foremost the new data centre needed to be future-proof. The standards demanded of the new backbone infrastructure were just as stringent. The Provincial House not only wanted to allow transmissions of 10 Gbit/s, but also to be prepared for even higher speeds. In order to be able to incorporate systems with copper connections in the data centre, copper links also had to be installed in parallel to modern fibre optics. In addition the cabling structure needed to be simple, clearly laid out and have no cross-overs. The time frame stipulated also posed a challenge, for the installations in the data centre and in the backbone infrastructure of both buildings had to be completed within only six weeks. Creativity and a solution-oriented approach were factors that played an important role in the bidding phase. Which is why HTC International B.V. put their money on Datwyler’s proven high-performance products and customised specialist solutions.

Reserves for future expansion
The Datwyler Data Centre Solution is one of the tried and tested cabling systems. Its core components are factory pre-assembled modules, pre-assembled MPO cassettes and readymeasured thin MPO cables. “This is a quick and easy system to install – quite an important aspect in a data centre,” explained Fons Schute, the project planner responsible at HTC International. “In addition, the connections are really of very good quality.” In around 60 special 1U panels in the data centre Datwyler installed over 100 MPO cables and the corresponding number of type 2xMTPon-6xLCQ MPO cassettes. As each of the panels accommodates three cassettes there are still enough slots left for future expansion. At the back the MPO cassettes are interconnected by mini-breakout cables, each of which comprises 48 OM3 fibres and were supplied with preassembled MTP connectors at both ends.

Blown fibre solution saves time and money
To modernise the backbone infrastructure – the fibre optic backbone in the Provincial House – HTC employed a special solution developed jointly by Datwyler and its certified partner. Altogether more than 12 kilometres of micro cable were blown into a special fireproof duct system. The cable is a 12-fibre typeS-Micro OM4 multimode cable only 2.6 mm thick. A further 500 metres of 24-fibre OS2 micro cable were added for the provider connection.

This combined solution substantially simplified installation, which would otherwise have been very time-consuming, particularly in the tower. In the distribution racks on the floors the micro cables are terminated in 60 pull-out type OV-A splice boxes. Datwyler supplied the bulk of these with 24 LCD adapters (multimode), as well as a few preassembled with six SCD adapters (single-mode) and pigtails. An appropriate number of management panels makes the installation layout very clear on the floors too.

“We are very happy with the new data centre, which meets all our requirements …" - Martin Kuijl
Around 1000 copper connections were installed in parallel to all the fibre optic connections in the data centre backbone. 80 percent of the 24-port panels are filled with type KS-T Plus 1/8 RJ45 modules, which meet all the requirements of Category 6A. In combination with durable shielded data cables, approximately 12 kilometres of which were installed by HTC International, the Provincial House can also attain transmission rates of up to 10 Gbit/s via the copper network. The old copper cabling in the backbone is still used for traditional telephony.

Fibre optic connections between the old and new data centre ensured that data and applications could continue to be used as normal during installation. This meant that even during the relocation there was no disruption to
the province’s primary processes.

Every target met In late April 2014 HTC handed the installation over to the client on schedule. “We are very happy with the new data centre, which meets all our requirements,” says Martin Kuijl, Province team leader and project leader. In the meantime, the Provincial House has also integrated building automation and some security applications into the network. “Everything works perfectly.”

HTC International underlines the good collaborative relationship with Datwyler: “Cooperation was excellent in every respect,” enthuses Fons Schute. “It started with expert support in product selection, followed by deliveries made on time. In some cases the various lengths of preassembled cable arrived even sooner than expected. Given the narrow timeframe, it was very important that delivery deadlines were met. All of the products delivered were of good quality and free from defects. And last but not least, the price was right. What more could one want?”

Do you want to read the full article of Datwyler, click here.