Case study – CHH supports AltNets with technical services expertise

At a glance
Industry sector: Full Fibre broadband infrastructure
The challenge: To facilitate the delivery of high quality full fibre broadband
Solution and services: Active and Power Cabinets build, with integration, fibre, test and deployment
The benefits: Enabling the ongoing roll out of fast and reliable broadband

Over the years, CHH has earned a reputation for using our smart connectivity solutions to support alternative network (AltNets) providers. This includes our Active Outdoor Cabinets, where we have an end-to-end service offer incorporating design, build, integration, installation and ongoing maintenance.

The ability to source all these services from a single trusted supplier helps our customers gain a competitive edge.
Given CHH’s track record, we have become a partner of choice for some of the UK’s leading AltNets as they grow and extend their coverage to more communities across the UK.

Better by design

At CHH we like a challenge!. Which in this case required an improved active outdoor cabinet solution and power cabinet to support the next phase of broadband roll out.
The remit was to deliver a compact footprint suitable to be used in towns, rural and semi-rural locations across the UK.

Collaboration is CHH’s forte, and our team set about working to establish the equipment requirements and agree on the best configuration. This resulted in the development of a multipurpose double walled IP55 cabinet consisting of an aluminum inner enclosure and outer polycarbonate cladding.

Our engineers succeeded in meeting the customer’s expectations by incorporating a feature rich platform within a cabinet that is just 1m wide, 50cm deep and 1.6m high. The strong and light weight cabinet boasts high resistance to chemicals, is free from humidity condensation and is highly durable with a predicted lifespan of 25 years.

The outdoor cabinet houses the OLT’s, Aggregation Switch, ‘Active kit’, an efficient thermal management cooling and heating solution, lithium batteries, cabinet alarms and monitoring, power, UPS, consumer unit and fibre.
All of this was configured, spliced and cable managed for ease of use.

For security and access, the iLOQ solution was fitted to provide a full audit trail and management of smart keys. All Cabinets were tested, asset managed, and quality checked prior to site deployment.

Sustainable solutions

CHH is committed to delivering smart connectivity solutions that balance the needs of people and planet. We have developed a robust sustainability strategy and are committed to working with our customers to achieve outcomes that meet their objectives whilst boosting their ESG credentials.

In this instance, we chose to use polycarbonate cabinets that bring a multitude of benefits.
When compared to traditional metal cabinets, polycarbonate is just as strong but offers improved weather resistance with a slower reaction to temperature changes.

Polycarbonate cabinets are also 8 times lighter than steel and 3 times lighter than aluminum. Most importantly, the material is 100% recyclable and has a longer lifespan. These credentials help customers reduce costs and support the circular economy by keeping resources in the value chain.

Key achievements

Our client collaborations have played a key part to accelerate the installation of full fibre networks across the UK. The government made a commitment for gigabit-broadband to be available nationwide by 2030 and CHH’s work with leading AltNets is helping to bring superior connectivity to a mix of rural and semi-rural areas, towns and cities across the UK.

Nick Turley, CHH’s Technical Services Division Head of Sales and Business Development commented, “Our clients depend on value chain partnerships, and we are delighted to support them with our turnkey solutions. In doing so, we have successfully applied our expertise to provide a complete Active Cabinet design to meet their requirements”.