R&M Connectivity for the World’s Largest Airport in Istanbul

R&M’s innovative cabling infrastructure will serve as reliable high-performance platform for new airport’s mission-critical IT systems.

R&M the global Swiss developer and provider of cabling systems for high-quality network infrastructures, has successfully started the delivery and implementation of a cutting-edge network cabling infrastructure for İstanbul New Airport.

İstanbul New Airport will be constructed over an area 76.5 million square meters to the north of Istanbul which will be completed in four phases. The first phase will be finalized in 2018 with the opening of two runways and a terminal with 90 million passenger capacity. Once complete, the new airport will host flying to more than 350 destinations with an annual passenger capacity up to 200 million.  On completion of all four phases, İstanbul New Airport will have six active runways, 250 aircraft and parking facilities for 18,000 cars. With the increased utilization and dependence on IT systems in modern air travel, a high-performance cabling network is the critical platform for airport’s entire internal and external telecommunications plus other operational applications and services. Michel Riva, CEO of R&M, states that İstanbul New Airport is their biggest project in Turkey and one of the largest globally.

On completion of the first phase, R&M will have supplied a total length of 4,500kms of copper and over 1,600kms of fiber-optic cables. Leveraging its extensive expertise in large-scale projects for the aviation sector, the manufacturer aims to finish the installation of the cabling infrastructure by first quarter of 2018. This high-performance cabling network will connect and support the key airport systems including its ICT infrastructure for security, police and customs. Each of these systems has required customization of the cabling including specific color coding. In total, the number of installedRJ45 ports will exceed already 90,000 in the first phase of the project.

İGA, the company building the new airport, has designed its mission-critical data center infrastructure with R&M’s latest and most innovative products including Netscale, the world’s highest-density fiber cable management solution. Given the immense scale of the airport, R&M has also supplied its flagship automated infrastructure management solution, R&M inteliPhy, which centralizes and automates the entire cabling infrastructure. This greatly simplifies management and will allow İGA’s IT team to rapidly and conveniently scale the network as needed.

R&M is at the forefront of innovation in the structured cabling industry and invests approximately 5% of its yearly revenue in R&D. This, combined with the company’s ability to highly customize its extensive product range, has proved to be a decisive factor in the success of the project. Mr. Riva commented that İstanbul New Airport has given the company a tremendous opportunity to deliver their innovative solutions. In total, 45 different R&M products were selected for this project. R&M assigned a dedicated specialist team to be present on-site throughout the deployment of the solutions.“We have more than 50 years of experience in the ICT market. Mega-projects such as at the İstanbul New Airport give us the opportunity to create real added value by developing customized products meeting the specific needs of the customer” he said. “We are committed to deliver the highest Swiss quality. Cabling infrastructure typically features 20-year refresh cycles, so the reliability of the network is extremely dependent on quality tested products. For a 24-hours business as the Istanbul airport highest reliability is essential as any downtime can significantly impact operations and passengers.” As a testimony to this quality, R&M will offer its 25-year R&M freenet systems warranty on the cabling infrastructure deployed at the new airport.

Through its participation in massive projects such as the İstanbul New Airport, R&M is rapidly solidifying its position as a leading cabling provider in the Turkish market. Mr. Riva believes the company’s rich history, impressive customer base and strength across multiple industry verticals will help set new standards for the cabling industry in the country.

Key Selection Criteria for Cabling Partner

Explaining his decision to select R&M for the project, Ersin İnankul, CIO at İGA, underlines that İstanbul New Airport will be the largest on the world. The new airport will be the first TIER 3 certificated and completely digital-first airport of the world. “We are developing lots of innovative solutions and our airport will be a technological benchmark. We started our work with the cabling as it is the basis for all the running infrastructure. The announcement system, fire alarms, cameras, card access systems, flight management, ATC systems will run on R&M’s fire-resistant copper cables.

Mr. İnankul mentioned that the elimination of signal interference through the transmission and high-performance of the cabling are critical areas wherein the quality of R&M’s cabling is a key benefit. “We didn’t have any problems at the tests we had done at R&M’s labs at its headquarters in Switzerland, or in our tests in the field. We can therefore run 9,000 CCTV cameras and 3,000 card access sockets on R&M’s cabling system in real-time with confidence that they will be protected against any transmission interference or loss.”

The CIO of İGA also appreciates the incredible support he and his team received from R&M through the entire engagement saying, “They understood our needs and customized their solution according to these. This is the biggest advantage for us as it separates them from the other cabling vendors. Availability, security, modularity, flexibility, capacity and cost-effectiveness have also all been key reasons why our project team choose R&M’s solutions for the project.”