Cable&Wireless Worldwide Reduces CO2 With Earth/Satellite Location Centre Closure
By Cablewireless Worldwide, PRNEThursday, July 29, 2010
C&W Worldwide Site Relocation Results in Dramatic Drop in Company's CO2 Emissions
LONDON, July 30, 2010 - As part of its ongoing pledge to significantly reduce its
carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, Cable&Wireless Worldwide has
successfully closed Thameside, its earth/satellite location centre in London.
Originally the Docklands Telecommunications Centre, Thameside was a
collection of huge satellite dishes in the midst of the city. The closure,
and subsequent relocations, of the site will equate to an 85 percent drop in
carbon emissions for the activities fulfilled by the site. This is a
significant saving for C&W Worldwide and amounts to a 1.48 percent reduction
of the company's total carbon emissions, the equivalent of taking almost 1000
cars off the road.[i]
As a global network node and co-location centre Thameside
provided global Internet Protocol (IP) backbone access of up to 10 gigabytes
per second (GB/s), for roughly 40,000 100 Mbs Ethernet services. It also
supplied direct access to all United Kingdom national and international cable
heads, connecting tens of thousands of IP data and voice users around the
world via cable networks to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas.
The closure and upgrade of Thameside's 25 year old legacy facilities and
equipment, consisting of transmission and switching architecture, means that
Cable&Wireless Worldwide will save four times the amount of space, reducing
more than 850m2 to approximately 200m2, and, by embracing new technologies,
will be much more efficient.
The relocation of tens of thousands of users' network
connectivity was an immense project that has taken just over two years to
complete. A team of more than a hundred people were a part of the 24
hour-a-day, two-year long operation to close Thameside, migrating all
services and closing all voice, IP and data, hosting; and access platforms
located in the site. All electronic equipment was disposed of according to
WEEE regulations and, wherever possible, the equipment removed from the site
was repurposed in other locations or recycled.
The various services provided by Thameside have been
successfully dispersed to other C&W Worldwide locations with the satellite
capability moved to Whitehill Earth Station in Oxfordshire and a new
ecologically friendly network site, built with low-carbon efficiency in mind,
even boasting a living roof that provides insulation, attracts local
wildlife, creates an appealing facade for the surroundings and helps C&W
Worldwide realise even more carbon savings.
Phil Male, Chief Strategy Officer at Cable&Wireless Worldwide,
comments; "The closing of Thameside is a significant step in helping us reach
our environmental targets and, by embracing sustainable development, we can
help ourselves and our customers employ more efficient and energy conserving
ways of working. The team has accomplished a lot with this project and in
many ways it sets the benchmark for future initiatives as we continue to
improve our environmental performance. An 85 percent reduction in CO2 for all
the activities of a single site, the equivalent of taking almost 1000 cars
off the road, demonstrates what we and other businesses can achieve."
About Cable&Wireless Worldwide
Cable&Wireless Worldwide (LSE: CW.) aims to be the first-choice provider
of mission critical communications. The Company is one of the world's leading
critical communication providers delivering a range of high-quality managed
voice, data and IP-based services and applications to large corporates,
multinational companies, governments, carrier customers and resellers across
the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Continental Europe and
North America.
In the UK, Cable&Wireless Worldwide owns the country's largest fibre
network dedicated to business users of telecoms reaching 20,500km in length,
and providing ubiquitous UK access through a combination of fibre, digital,
microwave, radio and leased circuits. The network has presence in more than
400 towns and cities in the UK, with 802 unbundled exchanges covering 55% of
the population.
On an international scale, Cable&Wireless Worldwide's global
next-generation network (NGN) stretches to more than 500,000km, including
interests in 69 global cable systems, and provides connectivity to 153
countries. The Company's Multi-Service Platform, an IP-based next-generation
platform that operates across the NGN, offers a single environment on which
voice and data applications can be converged to drive business efficiencies.
The network is uniquely designed with inbuilt resilience and the capability
to re-route traffic across diverse paths in the event of failure of one or
more paths, particularly at the international level.
With more than 6,300 colleagues globally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide is
committed to delivering exceptional customer service and developing long term
partnerships with its customers.
To find out more, please visit www.cw.com
[i] 964 cars in total. The calculation assumes 12,000 miles
per car per annum or 16093 Km per annum and 164.9 grams of CO2 per Km. The
average car in the UK generates 3.18457 tonnes of CO2 per annum[i]. C&W
Worldwide's Dockland site (Thameside) used 6,638,682 kWh per annum. Assuming
UK National Grid power at 0.544[i] Kg CO2e per kWh, 6,638,682 kWh is 3611.4
tonnes per annum. However Closing Thames side will mean 15% of the power
demand will go elsewhere so closure will save 5,6428,795 kWh or 3069.7 tonnes
per annum. 3069.7 tonnes per annum divided by 3.18457 tonnes per car per
annum is 964 cars. Closing Thames side will remove 1.48% of C&W Worldwide's
FY 09/10 power demand.
[i] www.defra.gov.uk/News/2009/090327c.htm
[i] www.carbontrust.co.uk/cut-carbon-reduce-costs/calculate/
carbon-footprinting/Pages/conversion-factors.aspx
(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste
this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
space if one exists.)
Contacts: CABLE&WIRELESS WORLDWIDE Liv Nixon Senior PR +44(0)7822-804-975 Executive Cable&Wireless Worldwide Press +44(0)1344-818-888 Office
CABLE&WIRELESS WORLDWIDE, Liv Nixon, Senior PR Executive, +44(0)7822-804-975, Cable&Wireless Worldwide Press Office, +44(0)1344-818-888
Tags: Cable&wireless Worldwide, July 30, London, United Kingdom