A History of the Development of Power and Building Engineering Services in Telecommunications, Telecommunications Energy Special Conference a Satellite Conference to INTELEC

Telecomms Power and Building Engineering Services (BES) plant has come a long way since the 1930's. On the DC side, equipment has developed from on site generation of DC power, to distributed switch mode power supplies. AC standby plant has progressed from zero provision to fully automated packaged engine sets, and ventilation requirements have advanced from openable windows, to temperature controlled sites with microprocessor controlled Air Handling Units (AHU's). Advancements in technology, energy considerations and careful design, have all played a part in producing AC, DC and BES plant that is purpose built to reliably support modern switches. In recent years there has been continual reduction in available resource and this, coupled with the privatisation of PTT's and regulated competition, has increasingly played a role in developing remote surveillance and alarm collection systems. As competition increases, and in-house resource decreases, the need to cut costs will be accelerated. More use will be made of external contractors for maintenance and installation work, and more commercially available equipment will be purchased. Energy constraints will require more efficient plant and more developments will be targeted at reducing the standing loads on power plant. This will be particularly applicable in new technology areas, such as telecommunications over passive optical networks (TPON). This paper describes some of the developments that have taken place in the past and suggests factors that will impinge on Power and BES for telecommunications in the future.