Efficiency and Design – Big Infrastructures Need B(igg)est Solutions

Portugal Telecom Data Center is a brand new infrastructure with the latest technology for impressive technical and safety requirements.

Portugal Telecom (PT) is the leading telco operator in the country. PT also has a strong presence in Latin America and Africa. Based on customer orientation, innovation, and execution, the company manages its business by focusing on customer segments thus ensuring the customer benefits from optimal service.

Environmental design

Located in the city of Covilhã, approximately 280 kilometers from Lisbon, the building is a massive black cube located on 75500 m² of land.

The whole project reflects a clear concept: It is a symbiosis of architecture, environment, and technology. That is demonstrated by the sustainable design presented on the outskirts of the complex, featuring a photovoltaic plant that provides 30 % of the energy for the support building, housing the offices of Portugal Telecom, as well as an area of native trees that reinforces the “green” concept.

Portugal Telecom is one of the leading telecom operators in terms of technology and was the first to invest in the full deployment of fiber networks for standard individual usage. It now has the most highly developed data center. R&M is proud to have been one of Portugal Telecom’s suppliers for several years now and is currently enjoying the challenges of this specific project.

This new infrastructure is located in the city of Covilhã and occupies a total area of 75 500 square meters. It is a modular infrastructure with four data center blocks and has a capacity of up to 12 000 meters of white space. The first block, recently inaugurated, has six IT rooms totaling 520 square meters and a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.25. The operator has also been awarded Platinum LEED Certification for support services buildings and Gold Certification for the data center block.

Robust infrastructure

The use of high-security technology and infrastructures is designed to ensure availability of 99.98 %, complying with Tier III Certification by the Uptime Institute – the Global Data Center Authority.

The support building ensures best-in-class backbone performance and availability thanks to the combined OM4 / OS2 fiber cable and LC and SC/APC connectivity in a highly modular environment composed of 3U global fiber racks and 7HP fiber modules.

The horizontal infrastructure for the LAN network is composed of the best cost /performance ratio solution, Cat. 6 unshielded, and the CCTV network has been designed with a better EMC protection Real10 shielded system to ensure it protects the building adequately.

R&M participation has been significant from the outset. Given PT requirements, R&M was able to design a solution that actually exceeded expectations in all requirements: technical quality, reliability, and safety.

From a technical point of view, the solution has been given a warm welcome as it delivers absolute guarantees that are much longer than expected.

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