What Connected Communities Need from Their ICT Infrastructure

Connected communities are gaining traction as a way to unite people with places, amenities, opportunities and each other to improve lives and the planet. At the same time, they address many of the housing and transportation challenges that exist in cities with large populations.

Reliance on cars is significantly reduced, which makes communities safer and more sustainable. Many of the same resources can be shared by multiple businesses or families to maximize performance and costs.

Picture a close-knit neighborhood with residential living spaces, grocery stores, a medical clinic, parks, retail shops, offices and restaurants spread across a standard city block (about 250 ft by 900 ft). Everything you need can be found just a few steps from your door, whether you’re headed to work, taking your children to school or want to attend a yoga class. That’s what a connected community can offer.

Vancouver’s Oakridge Centre is a good example of a true connected community. It’s in the process of transforming a cornerstone shopping mall and surrounding areas into a sustainable, mixed-use connected community that will welcome residential living, parks and play areas, a community center, a senior center, daycare and a library, among many other amenities.

Behind these connected communities are sensors, smart technologies, data and advanced analytics that work together to improve comfort and safety while lowering utility bills and reducing stress on the electrical grid.

Because of how unique they are, connected communities don’t always benefit from traditional network design. Special considerations are required for many reasons:

• They are constantly being used with no downtime
• They prioritize efficiency, monitoring and control
• Utility infrastructure access is shared among residences and businesses
• They often must work around existing buildings that have limitations
• They require support from large project teams  

  
With every connected community Belden helps create, we learn valuable lessons about what these environments need from their networks. Here are four of our recommendations to help connected communities establish telecom as a true utility.

1. Create a single infrastructure

A connected community’s ICT infrastructure needs to support many different levels of connectivity for life, work and play, including:

• Voice, data and Wi-Fi for facilities management and operations
• Commercial tenant operations
• Residents living in the area  

Instead of designing one fiber backbone for each segment of the community, a single infrastructure should be created to allow traditionally siloed networks to share pathways and spaces, telecommunications rooms and backbone cabling, and similar materials and methods.

2. Centralize FTTx

Centralize splitters instead of relying on traditional edge distribution where carriers install a passive optical network and distribute passive optical splitters across each floor. Splitters can be housed in one location, such as the outside plant (OSP), to reduce operational resources and increase operational flexibility.

When a new system or provider needs to be accommodated, the devices can be moved, added or changed as necessary.

3. Reduce administration points

Take a point of administration to the basement of each building in the connected community campus. The campus has main, primary and secondary telecommunications rooms, as well as one main telecommunications room in every building as well.

This can significantly reduce the number of common administration points, which makes moves, adds and changes more manageable.

4. Support a carrier-neutral host network

Deploy a distributed antenna system (DAS) infrastructure that supports a carrier-neutral host system. This allows a connected community to handle multiple carriers at once and add more carriers as needed to provide residents and businesses with options.

A carrier-neutral host network can also boost coverage, increase network capacity and enhance connection quality.

Learn more about connected communities 

By thinking about connectivity in new ways, connected communities can be more responsive to tenant demands while aligning telecommunications with operational efficiency goals and reducing environmental impact.

Download our case study to learn more about connected communities, how they work and the challenges they will pose for ICT infrastructure.


  

Related links

Connected Communities North America use case study

9 Reasons Why Belden Supports Smart Buildings