5G Expansion Can be the Answer to Bridging the Digital Urban Divide. Stop Legislating, Roadblocking, and Start Adopting

Pre-COVID, the next generation of broadband connectivity—5G—looked like it would follow suit with the generations before it when it came to its rollout and establishment. But the pandemic changed that. And changed quickly the critical need for advanced broadband connectivity. 

Unlike the generations before it and the current Wi-Fi networks deployed, 5G provides faster connection speeds, quicker downloads, lower latency, and the ability to connect more devices in a network or area—critical for business growth to city-based enterprises. In short, 5G holds the potential to stimulate local economies, improve overall urban broadband services and even ease some of the challenges of expanding existing networks. This, however, can only be experienced if legislators pave the way for the 21st century digital highway so its residents and business owners can access it.

Remember March 2020? Not only did businesses and enterprises suffer as workers throughout populous urban centers like New York City shuttered amidst COVID restrictions, the youngest residents were pushed into virtual-only schooling. This “work and learn from home” scenario is now looking more and more like the ‘new normal’ as we enter a somewhat post-pandemic phase in many urban districts versus a temporary fix guided by a global virus.

According to Bloomberg, some 500,000 households lack reliable connection in New York City. Statistics are even more striking when broken down by population. The fact is that 1.5 million New Yorkers lack both home and mobile access, or about a fifth of residents, in what’s arguably the busiest, most connected city in the U.S. Many see this as an indictment for network buildout to happen now, and not be bottlenecked any longer by bureaucratic red tape.

As many local governments like New York City have scrambled to secure advanced internet access for all its residents, laws and regulations have either deterred expansion plans, or oppressed initiatives with arresting effects in introducing 5G where it is not only critically needed, but could be economically beneficial for all municipalities, businesses, school districts and residents.

Network advancements considering not only the adoption of 5G, but the swift proliferation of next-generation technology within existing network infrastructures already in place throughout boroughs and city centers may very well be the key to unlocking the long-term, sustained economic opportunities 5G can offer urban centers. 

Further digitizing populous areas will help provide more seamless services not only for enterprises, residents and municipal operations like EMS and police, but can also create more jobs within those sectors, further supporting economic growth for cities.  

It is no secret and nothing new: implementing 5G will give businesses a competitive edge to offer faster connections to their customers. Telecommunication executives have been on the front line fighting for this for years. Now it is time for lawmakers and regulators to lead the charge. While there are many municipal hurdles that must be overcome, there are also unquestioned benefits for both the immediate communities as well as long-term economic growth.

So how are wireless and wireline service providers ensuring their network is able to seamlessly have the most reliable infrastructure in place? It comes down to having established, trusted partnerships with fiber and wireless installation providers. For more than 35 years, fiber optic and wireless network installers like Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), led by President Hugh R O’Kane, have become the industry leader specializing in telecommunication projects for New York City and its metro area. The company, through its partnerships with the leading telcos, has been upgrading, expanding, and installing wireline and wireless networks for a variety of public and private enterprises on a regular basis.

This institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private and public entities is paramount in order to design and implement projects that can successfully expand their service offerings to increase their market share and gain more customers. This lineage of decades-long experience and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing networks and energy providers much more easily. In doing so, Hugh O’Kane is able to take the time required to provide a power infrastructure needed to ensure continuous, robust energy for corporations and private enterprises.

UPS: Essential for Keeping Industrial Operations Operating

Industrial wastewater management plants, electricity suppliers, oil refineries, chemical, fertilizer and manufacturing plants all require a tremendous amount of power to maintain operations. While their primary electrical grid is their main source of power, such facilities require backup, or Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems to ensure seamless operations.

Unlike data centers, enterprise campuses or other commercial facilities, industrial plants face much more rigorous operating conditions. These can include arresting weather conditions to power surges that can cripple and degrade safety protocols in place. Equipment within these plants is often exposed to harsher environments including fluctuating temperatures or air elevated moisture content in the air that can cause interruptions.

According to Bloomberg, not only are electrical utilities making $100 billion in investments annually to upgrade their aging grids, but these facilities are also facing pressure to make their infrastructure more resilient. In large industrial facilities, power failures are highly detrimental. An uninterruptible power supply gives emergency power to a plant when the input power source or main power fails.

In high-industrial environments, the interruption of power to cooling systems may produce dangerous chemical reactions or cause extensive damage to processing systems. For such plants, temperature control, adequate ventilation, and a steady stream of electrical power are essential to mitigating catastrophic situations.

Lighter industrial locations, like food and beverage processing factories or pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, also require uninterrupted power. The loss of AC power here can be an indictment of why UPS is required because product and/or production time loss caused by power outages or electrical surges above safe voltage levels can subsequently turn into a very costly scenario for company owners and operators.

Like any other equipment, the UPS systems have to be calibrated correctly for the energy loads it needs to carry depending on the facility. This means that the full output of electrical power of the UPS have to match the demand. This is why it is important for industrial clients to have the right partner when connecting UPS power sources to their facilities.

For more than 25 years, electrical installers like Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), led by President Hugh R O’Kane, have become a leading specializer in power projects for New York City and its metro area. The company has been upgrading, expanding and installing electrical networks for a variety of public and private enterprises on a regular basis.

This institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private and public entities is paramount in order to design and implement electrical projects that can successfully expand their service offerings to increase their market share and gain more customers. This lineage and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing networks and energy providers much more easily. In doing so, Hugh O’Kane is able to take the time required to provide a power infrastructure needed to ensure continuous, robust energy for corporations and private enterprises.

Energizing Big Data: Data Center Power Distribution

Data centers provide power to more than just servers equipped to handle file storage, data management, backup and recovery. In today’s hyper-productive world a data center, in essence, is the lifeline of an enterprise. This nerve center is designed to support business transactions and provide external and internal services such as e-commerce transactions, email hosting, big data/artificial intelligence, and online gaming to name a few.

What are the critical power usage strategies needed to run an efficient data center?

As one can imagine, a great amount of power is needed to support these centers in order to ensure uninterrupted service. In fact, the power infrastructure for most data centers must be designed to not only accommodate the servers running the transactions, but also the physical structure itself. Air handlers/cooling/ventilation systems, lighting, environmental controls, fire systems, security, surveillance, and sensors all require a substantial amount of power. Emergency power systems need to be charged as well.

According to a release published on Bloomberg, the data center market is estimated to reach US$251 Bn by 2026. This is due in part to the growing adoption of artificial intelligence and 

Efficient data centers utilize a number of strategies to keep costs as low as possible when it comes to powering their facilities. These can range from installing motion-activated sensors for dimming or turning off the lights when no one is in certain parts of the center, to incorporating software into the site’s operations to better manage cooling demands based on usage trends.

With such tactics in place, data centers can greatly improve their power usage effectiveness. Data centers often install too much cooling capacity than is required and inefficiently distribute it throughout the complex. Poorly managed data center cooling can result in extreme heat which can lead to major stress on servers and storage devices. This can cause downtime, damage, and shorter equipment lifespan which only will increase an operator’s capital expenditures and significantly inflate power costs.

Innovations in efficiency practices like cold aisle containment and advanced use of artificial intelligence for automated temperature monitoring have helped in reducing data centers power utilization. Customers need to work closely with their energy suppliers and installers to ensure that they’re services and equipment are running as optimally as possible meeting-not exceeding-their power needs. Inefficient data center power distribution can lead to wasted energy, not only raising existing costs but potentially arresting future business growth and service expansions.

This is why it is important for enterprise clients to have the right partner when connecting power sources to their data center. For more than 25 years, electrical installers like Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), led by President Hugh R O’Kane, have become a leading specializer in power projects for New York City and its metro area. The company has been upgrading, expanding and installing electrical networks for a variety of public and private enterprises on a regular basis.

This institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private and public entities is paramount in order to design and implement electrical projects that can successfully expand their service offerings to increase their market share and gain more customers. This lineage and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing networks and energy providers much more easily.

In doing so, Hugh O’Kane is able to take the time required to provide a power infrastructure needed to ensure continuous, robust energy for corporations and private enterprises.

Mission Critical Power Systems: The More You Know

How disruptive is it when your power goes out? What does that do to your day?

Now, imagine how arresting it is for enterprises, multinational corporations, distribution centers (that Amazon package is not arriving today), banks, hospitals—you name it. There are thousands of business and critical service environments that require 24/7 uninterrupted power. 

 Nearly a year ago, the devastating power outages in at least 14 different U.S. states, where power was lost during the winter storms that swept through the country last February is an indictment of the escalating need for critical power systems. During those storms, more than 5 million customers dealt with rolling blackouts that lasted several days. 

 This month, Texas almost had revisionist history of the turmoil it suffered last February when it lost nearly 1.3 gigawatts of electrical generation—equating to about 1.5% of its winter capacity—when plunging winter temperatures hit the state at the start of January.

 According to Bloomberg, during this month’s cold snap, gas production in Texas plunged by the most in nearly 11 months as instruments froze. The Texas Oil & Gas Association said outages occur routinely for a variety of reasons, including cold weather.

What are critical power systems?

Critical power systems are energy management operations that detect outages, alert back-up generators to automatically start, and provide the jewels necessary for mission-critical equipment. Simply put: critical power is any form of power that, if it were not available, would have disastrous consequences. Without it, basic operations would almost certainly grind to a halt.

In the technically reliant world we operate in, most businesses today cannot operate without their servers, telecommunication networks or basic electrical pipelines running at optimal levels. 

In fact, with power outages increasing, businesses would be wise to take the time to have an energy audit. Classify what is critical, what is necessary and what is nominal for everyday operations. With such prioritizations, and a clear operational roadmap, businesses can save not only on operational costs, but also on overall energy usage. 

For executives and managers of sizable operations such as real estate developers, financial services institutions, utilities or data centers, the main priority should be a reliable and resilient power supply that is secured and backed up in case of an outage.

There is no system that is totally unassailable to any power outage. But a thorough mapping and integration of redundant or augmented power systems is critical for any enterprise today. This is why it is important that businesses large and small need to have the right partner when connecting power sources-from electrical to bandwidth-rich networks. For more than 25 years, electrical installers like Hugh O’Kane Electric (HOK), led by President Hugh R O’Kane, have become a leading specializer in power projects for New York City and its metro area. The company has been upgrading, expanding and installing electrical networks for a variety of public and private enterprises on a regular basis for over 75 years.. 

This institutional expertise Hugh O’Kane is able to provide to private and public entities is paramount in order to design and implement network projects that can successfully expand their service offerings to increase their market share and gain more customers. This lineage and industry expertise has afforded Hugh O’Kane a competitive edge because it has expert knowledge of an area’s infrastructure and is able to work within the required parameters of existing networks much more easily. In doing so, Hugh O’Kane is able to take the time required to provide an alternative power infrastructure needed to ensure continuous, robust energy for municipalities, corporations and private enterprises.