Xantaro launches new street cabinet solution for altnets

London, 15^th November 2023 – Xantaro, a major supplier of services and equipment for UK telecom providers, has announced a new street cabinet solution that will allow altnets to extend high-speed internet connectivity for communities across the UK in both rural and densely-populated urban areas.

The Xantaro street cabinet offers a turnkey solution that will support the altnets’ rollout of ultra-fast fibre-optic broadband across the country, in a secure, compact and cost-effective solution. With a single cabinet serving over 8,000 homes, altnets, including the likes of Upp Network and GoFibre, can extend the domains of their fibre network to residential properties and enterprises alike.

Housing all active equipment in a compact size (1400(h) x 1575(w) x 775(d) [mm]), the cabinet has three doors offering secure separate access to power, passive equipment and active equipment. Separate doors mean better organisation, fewer hazards and allow technicians to work on one component without disrupting others – reducing downtime and minimising the risk of impacting other network services during repairs. Xantaro’s solution uses a heat exchange, rather than an external air cooler – meaning better protection from environmental elements, less noise pollution and requiring less maintenance.

The solution responds to the following challenges:

• Reliability: The AC meter compartment in the cabinet can be used for fault detection, enabling prompt maintenance. In the event of power outages, the cabinet can obtain 3-4 hours of battery backup. It can also connect to an external generator to keep it running for longer.
• Security: The cabinet can be customised to utilise Finnish lock manufacturer, iLOQ self-powered digital locking and NFC-enabled mobile access management solutions. iLOQ’s battery-free locking solutions not only maximises cabinet security and minimises maintenance costs, but it also reduces battery waste. iLOQ provides an audit trail of who has accessed the cabinet and when. The cabinet also has detectors to sound relevant alarms (e.g., door contact, battery temperature, cooling alarm, smoke detector, power failure).
• Energy efficiency: heat exchange cabinets are more energy-efficient because they do not rely on power-hungry air-con units, which reduces emissions and the need to change filters – enabling cost savings. The AC meter can monitor the cabinet’s energy efficiency, allowing technicians to identify areas for power optimisation.
• Customisation: Xantaro can provide OOB (Out of Band) management solutions for remote access, centralised OTDR test heads, aggregation solutions and backhaul solutions.

Xantaro offers a fully managed end-to-end service including pre-cable for additional equipment and external management solutions (where maintenance teams can dial in over a 4G connection so that the solution can be reconfigured remotely).

“Following extensive research and development, we are proud to offer our Xantaro street cabinet that addresses the unyielding need for FTTH across the UK, while also building more sustainable networks for the future. With the market as competitive as it is, this best-in-class and economical solution will enable altnets to unlock new revenue opportunities and deliver connectivity to both those who need it most.” Stephen Kingdom, CTO at Xantaro.

“Xantaro has years of experience serving the needs of altnets – making them the ideal partner for us. For us, it is crucial that we integrate a street cabinet in our network that is reliable, secure and energy-efficient – delivering our goal to provide high-availability, ultrafast broadband at a competitive price point. Their hands-on management service ensures we can respond to any problems in the network quickly and efficiently.” said Alex Marshall, Chief Technology and Information Officer at Upp Network.

“Deploying fibre in rural areas with low population density brings a set of challenges that Xantaro has enabled us to address. Xantaro’s turnkey solution delivers a robust street cabinet with all of the options we need, set out as we want them – allowing us to accelerate the deployment of full fibre broadband to under-served communities. The design of the cabinet means we have assurance of reliability and resilience in harsh environments, along with a robust security and audit trail.” said Ken Topping, Chief Technology and Information Officer at GoFibre.

Contact:

Oliver Heieck
Phone: +49 (0)162 277 007 8
Mail: oheieck@xantaro.net

Xantaro Deutschland GmbH
Jungfernstieg 7
20354 Hamburg