Belden

The EcoFlex'IT Concept is Establishing Belden's Hirschmann Brand as "GreenChoice" Supplier for Network Infrastructure Applications

Neckartenzlingen, Germany - December 17, 2012 - Belden Inc., a global leader in signal transmission solutions for mission-critical applications, and its Hirschmann switches are helping customers in the EMEA region to create environmentally responsible and sustainable network infrastructures. Earlier this year, the first of two major building projects in France involved the installation of exactly such an infrastructure.

Hirschmann was chosen to provide IP network devices for a new type of IT infrastructure for buildings, EcoFlex'IT, developed by the French IT consulting company Ingetel-bet. Deployed six months ago in several large office buildings in France by Exprimm'IT, a French Hirschmann partner, EcoFlex'IT hugely decreases the carbon footprint and power consumption of IT networks and is also extremely versatile.

The first EcoFlex'IT network has been operating in the building since December 2010 and is used daily by more than 700 users and quantities of other connected equipment, such as users’ PCs, IP phones and videoconferencing equipment, shared printers and fax machines, plus WiFi and DECT access points.

The 11.813 m², 8-floor building has only one IT room and this houses the distributor for the building. The IT cables and the network are organized as follows:

  • Cabling for the entire building is centered on a single switch cabinet in which the cabling components occupy only 16U of each rack’s 42U height.
  • Eight optical rings are provided, one on each level from ground to seventh, installed in raised floors. They are connected to the building distributor through IT technical shafts.
  • Each ring has been equipped with four or five active consolidation points (ACPs), as appropriate for the working area on that level, and these are installed on a frame integrated in the raised floor.
  • Each ACP is connected to 12 fiber-optic cables from the ring-in and 12 more from the ring-out. One ACP on each ring serves as a bridge ACP and is therefore also connected to the building distributor via a further 12 fiber-optic cables, providing connections to the core IP network devices.
  • In addition, each ACP has four twisted pair connections that secure TDM-link distribution and drive the opening dry contact of the ACP box to the dry contact IP bridges located in the distributor and connected to the IP network, which is itself managed by the network management platform.
  • Twisted-pair distribution from the distributor to the ACP is provided by multipair cables connected to a patch panel in the distributor (one RJ45 rank for each ring) and a further special module installed in the IT technical shaft on each level. From there they are connected to each of the ACPs by means of a 4TP cable attached to a four-RJ45 box located in the ACP box.
  • Each ACP box distributes all the users’ IT terminal devices within its distribution area, which corresponds to a surface area of approximately 200m².
  • Each ACP box can accommodate one or two 19" or DIN standard Ring switches, providing the capacity to distribute from 4 to 48 downlink ports with Hirschmann MACH or RS series devices to the user terminals in its distribution area.
The customer selected Hirschmann MACH102 switches with Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) modules and the new range of Hirschmann MACH104 switches. The complete solution uses more than 65 switches and 90 PoE modules to deliver a green solution for the entire building. In this way it underlines Hirschmann’s commitment to the continuing development of green solutions for Industrial Ethernet applications.

Each Hirschmann switch is evaluated during each of its design and production stages and throughout its actual deployment for its direct and indirect contributions to overall sustainability, ensuring the best possible performance in terms of environmental impact and carbon footprint.

As Wolfgang Schenk, General Manager of Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH, points out, highlighting the greenest products in the Hirschmann product range helps customers to make the right decisions: “We believe this move is a step in the right direction. Hirschmann has introduced a number of activities and initiatives at its manufacturing location in Neckartenzlingen to ensure that we deliver the greenest possible performance for our customers. The "GreenChoice" initiative exactly fulfills our management’s stated objective of offering the best performance in the marketplace today.”

Wolfgang Schenk: “Projects such as these help us to advance our expertise so that we can offer "GreenChoice" products and solutions to our customers around the globe.”

EcoFlex'IT is a trademark of Ingetel-bet.

Reader enquiries

Belden
P.O. Box 9
5900 AA VENLO
Netherlands

+31 77 387 8555

www.belden.com

Beldeninc

BeldenInc


Notes for editors


Hirschmann, a Belden Brand, manufactures Ethernet switches, wireless access points, firewall/VPN routers and network management software for harsh industrial environments. The Hirschmann brand stands for experience and expertise in the automation, power transmission and distribution, transportation and energy industries, having pioneered the development of Ethernet as a common standard for industrial control systems. Hirschmann products ensure hassle-free and secure data communication under the harshest conditions due to their ruggedized design and construction. For more information about Hirschmann, please visit www.hirschmann.com or e-mail inet-sales@belden.com for product inquiries.

About Belden

St. Louis-based Belden Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets cable, connectivity, and networking products in markets including industrial automation, enterprise, transportation, infrastructure, and consumer electronics. It has approximately 7,400 employees, and provides value for industrial automation, enterprise, education, healthcare, entertainment and broadcast, sound and security, transportation, infrastructure, consumer electronics and other industries. Belden has manufacturing capabilities in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, and a market presence in nearly every region of the world. Belden was founded in 1902, and today is a leader with some of the strongest brands in the signal transmission industry. For more information, visit www.belden.com. Follow Belden on Twitter: @BeldenInc

Related images

 

Editorial enquiries

Berry Medendorp
Belden

berry.medendorp@​belden.com

Nancy van Heesewijk
EMG

nvanheesewijk@​emg-marcom.com

 

Also available in

 

Share

 

More news from