Scalable solutions for a converging infrastructure landscape

As tower owners face increasing pressures to improve efficiency in their passive infrastructure and prepare for 5G rollout across their networks, STULZ have leveraged their 40 year history in providing cooling solutions for MNOs, towercos, datacentre providers and other infrastructure owners to offer modular, scalable solutions which meet modern infrastructure needs. TowerXchange caught up with Johann Mater, Global Key Account Manager at STULZ, to find out more about how STULZ has seen the market developing and how their new solution will help infrastructure owners avoid costly mistakes.

TowerXchange: Please introduce STULZ, your footprint and background.

STULZ was founded in 1947, and has been providing solutions for mission critical cooling since the 1970s, so we look back to more than 45 years of experience in this area. Though being a family business in the third generation, we are a truly global company, with a footprint in over 140 countries, by which I mean more than just a sales office or box movers: we can cover a full cycle of services, working through tenders, preparing shipments, installing and maintaining equipment in each country where we operate.  The further developed idea of this holistic approach can also be found in our claim, which at the same time reflects our philosophy. "ONE STULZ. ONE SOURCE.” stands for the comprehensive range of our portfolio – From Room Cooling and chillers to Airhandling Units and self-developed DCIM software to our EDGE solutions called "True Edge".

TowerXchange: STULZ is a global brand, with operations all over the world. Tell us more about the specific dynamics of the European market and what your European clients are looking for?

For MNOs we’ve seen a huge increase in demands for mission critical cooling, particularly in terms of hyperscalers entering the European market and changing the way they see cooling requirements. The scale of their needs is much bigger and influenced by ideas we have seen over the last two to three years in America and Asia.

Awareness of the TCO is also becoming more and more important. If you look back five years, all of the conversations we had were about CAPEX, we were always finding the most effective solutions and training our partners and consultants to look at the TCO but procurement teams were only paying attention to CAPEX. They didn’t pay the electricity bills so they had no awareness or personal interest in going for the most efficient units. Over the past couple of years this attitude has changed a lot, the hyperscalers and big datacentres are using so much power that we’re talking about a cost difference of six figures in some cases, so it’s playing a much bigger role. Europe still has cooling with a raised floor but new ideas are coming from datacentres and we will see this change soon.

TowerXchange: We find European tower owners are starting to pay much closer attention to squeezing operational cost savings/efficiency out of their networks. Tell us how STULZ can deliver measurable results to mature tower portfolios?

We’ve worked with European MNOs for many years. Eight years ago we set up a joint development with an MNO partner to help them become the most efficient telecom operator in terms of towers. We provided specialised equipment for shelters with integrated free cooling to cope with efficiency requirements in non-urban areas. Through this joint dev we were able to save up to 95% of energy costs per container by using a unit paid off within half a year. Joint dev allows us to dev what companies really need.

TowerXchange: The European market has changed rapidly over the last five years and 2019 is set to evolve further. Do you see a distinct difference in the way MNOs, towercos and other infrastructure providers approach the way their portfolios are managed?

They have always been quite focussed on energy, the awareness was always there, but it’s increased recently. I actually don’t see a big difference, I see that people are more looking at serviceability and service capabilities, and specialised service is playing a big role as well.

TowerXchange: As 5G rolls out we’re going to see new equipment placed on towers and much higher demands placed on the network. How ready do you think European tower infrastructure is, and what advice would you give to tower owners wanting to prepare their networks?

The challenge with 5G is that there are no fixed parameters and definitions yet.  I would really like to see what the speakers say about it at Meetup Europe. Nevertheless, 5G is a great opportunity for us: it’s the start of IoT, connected vehicles etcetera, and we are looking forward to creating a future with 5G companies and helping them find the right solutions. With our True Edge system we are perfectly prepared for the requirements of providers and towercos that are specialized on 5G and Edge development. The STULZ portfolio offers everything from cooling on a component level up to turnkey solutions. At the moment, we are just waiting for our customers to give us the go-ahead so that we can start planning and realizing their projects.

When it comes to the demands of 5G, everything is going to change: densities in shelters will increase, telecoms equipment has new requirements, cooling equipment will need to change. Particularly looking at the energy efficiency trend and evolution of cooling equipment over the last few years – if it’s over five years old it might be worth considering new technology. It might even make sense to think about a holistic conversion towards a turnkey solution. STULZ can help with their tools to identify the TCO and ROI of these new systems.

TowerXchange: We’re seeing a shift towards infill and convergence between communications infrastructure networks, particularly in urban areas. How has this affected your offering and what can clients expect from you in future?

Our portfolios starts with cooling solutions from 500W to 2MW, so we can offer anything from watts to kilowatts to megawatts. The full range is there and can be implemented into our turnkey solutions. When it comes to infill and convergence, we have edge solutions so we can go from one solution with fire suppression, UPS backup and cooling up to a full datacentre made of modules. Scalability is important as customers want to start small and pay as you grow. Scalability is a given. We have been working on this solution for the last three years and 2019 is the year when we will bring the whole solution to market. Despite the fast pace of the 5G market, our “True Edge” solutions are scalable and modular, so they are designed to meet the needs of our customers in an ideal way - for every conceivable scenario. By combining the customer’s expectation with our expertise, we will be able to customize our solutions to make it fit for their environment – turnkey means you can scale what you like instead of re-inventing the wheel each time.