Green Telecom XIV: Kentrox streamlines cellsite power management

When Kentrox was part of ADC, the company was known for its CSU/DSU and access gear, but the “new” Kentrox, formed from parts of three different companies, is taking a very different focus, one aimed at helping service providers more efficiently monitor their remote sites and reduce costs and energy consumption in the process.

Kentrox is now a standalone company, created beginning in 2007 from a series of mergers and acquisitions among Kentrox, Applied Innovation and the Optima business unit of DAX Technologies.

“We acquired a number of products that focused on operations and site management for mobile operators and wireline operators including remote site management for cellsites, controlled hubs as well as [central offices (COs)] and managing site equipment,” said Dan Murray, vice president of marketing. “It’s all the way from communicating with equipment that is there – HVAC systems that control heat, primary power, backup power, security -- to managing the equipment that is there -- including BTS radios, microwave radio, batteries and the power -- to make sure it is running efficiently and remotely.”

When wireless carriers, especially, were building out their networks, the focus was on rapid expansion of the footprint, to attract new customers and handle increasing volumes of traffic, Murray said. “On the back end, they have to address how to support all this stuff,” he said. “They can’t just continue to hire people and roll trucks all the time.”

But as wireless margins are squeezed and rapid growth is no longer the driving force of the industry, wireless network operators need to be more efficient. Kentrox is addressing those efficiency needs with its Optima Site Solutions product, enabling service providers to remotely manage and monitor a variety of wireless equipment including commercial power sources, battery backups, generators and fuel cells, as well as heating and air conditioning equipment, base stations, microwave gear, antennas, and even local loop equipment and backhaul circuits.

One of the purposes of remote monitoring is to reduce truck rolls to remote sites, Murray said.

“According to the [Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)], light trucks account for 62% of greenhouse gas emissions,” Murray said. “If a large wireless provider with a fleet of 1000 trucks was able to eliminate three truck rolls a week, that would represent a savings of 3.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.”

Working with research firm In-Stat, Kentrox conducted a study showing that remote monitoring can be used to reduce mean-time-to-repair by up to 50% by enabling problems to be diagnosed and/or fixed remotely, eliminating unnecessary truck rolls, Murray said. By reducing evening and weekend dispatches, remote monitoring can also reduce overtime costs by 30% and enable more efficient proactive maintenance, thus reducing exposure to future problems.