Turkcell, a leading communications and technology company in Turkey, can now remotely monitor and control its base station site operations, with the deployment of OneBase InSite Connect, the site management solution from Andrew Solutions. Andrew, and its business partner in Turkey, MIKOM, have supplied InSite Connect for Turkcell’s wireless network.
“A thorough evaluation and trial of InSite Connect verified its usefulness in monitoring site equipment, sending alerts, decreasing site visits, and increasing energy efficiency,” said Andrea Casini, vice president of sales and marketing, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Andrew. “InSite Connect is one system that can support all of Turkcell’s site operations.”
InSite Connect is said to be a comprehensive solution that remotely controls, manages and monitors the subsystems at each base station site, enabling network operators to coordinate and manage the conditions at base station sites and other remote facilities across their networks. InSite Connect is base station vender agnostic, capable of controlling and monitoring a wide array of devices from leading subsystem manufacturers. Operators can realise OpEx savings through the reduction of wasted energy usage and cell site visits for maintenance, the elimination of cell site visits for RET antenna adjustment, and the curtailment of theft and vandalism related expenses. InSite Connect can also act as a platform for efficient deployment of complimentary technologies such as IP synchronisation of network traffic monitoring.
“Turkcell chose InSite Connect because of its extensive capabilities, scalability and future-proof expandability for site control, management and monitoring,” said Engin Arikan, chief executive officer, MIKOM. “The long history and excellent working relationship between Andrew and MIKOM helped make the entire process run smoothly.”
With InSite Connect, remote electrical tilt antennas can be adjusted without a site visit, while thermostats can be programmed to optimise energy consumption and limit unnecessary climatisation. Field technicians can be equipped with details about equipment troubles before heading to a site, avoiding unnecessary second trips. Theft and vandalism can be decreased or prevented with IP cameras, while network equipment problems can be monitored and alarms sent before major network disruptions occur. Site access can be controlled and power consumption metered.
“The amount of tasks that InSite Connect can manage in one system is quite extensive and derives from its ability to work with any OEM standard and equipment,” said Casini. “We are seeing great interest in InSite Connect by operators worldwide.”
The OneBase InSite Connect system is comprised of two primary components: the central management system (CMS) and the remote controller units (RCU). The CMS server is centrally installed in an operator’s core network and is designed to communicate with the RCU at cell sites. Each RCU is a 1RU 19-inch rack-mountable unit with a total of 87 ports available for connectivity to local cell site subsystems. The RCU can be optionally configured with three remote electrical tilt antenna controllers, providing standard AISG interfaces for monitoring and controlling AISG 1.1 and AISG 2.0 compliant RET antennas and TMAs.