major airport terminal (London)

IKM Appointed Key Infrastructure and Cabling Subcontractor for major airport terminal. The project required connectivity for no fewer than 9,000 fixed connected devices, and 5,000 mobiles and PDAs, with enough cabling to stretch to Istanbul and back, connecting 163 systems with 546 interfaces. With13.5km of tunnels to be cabled as well as 120 retail outlets and 150 check-in desks. When fully operational, this airport terminal will provide facilities for an additional 47 aircraft stands - some capable of taking the new A380 555 seat superjumbo.

Assessment

In 2003, IKM were appointed as one of three nominated sub-contractors to meet the needs of this vast and prestigious project. IKM had previously gained some experience within the Airport environment, however the size, complexity and duration of this project was set to provide new challenges for everyone involved over the following four and a half years.

Deployment

IKM commenced the infrastructure deployment of the satellite building terminal 5B in 2004, this involved the installation of backbone copper and fibre, interconnecting 14 separate Comms Room each with diverse routing as well as 12 Aircraft stands, the TTS (Track Transit System), all tunnel links and connectivity to the main Terminal building. This was followed by the installation of all horizontal Category 6 cabling (9000 outlets) throughout the building serving a multitude of communications platforms required to meet the needs of a state of the art Airport Terminal. At the height of the project our team increased to over 80 engineers.

Benefits

Despite the complexity of this project, all infrastructure work was completed on time and in budget, with maximum efficiency and cooperation.