ICEE celebrates ten years working with Gigaclear as it pushes the UK towards Ultra-Fast Broadband.
11 July 2023
Gigaclear is a fast-growing, constantly evolving Fibre to the Home company, specialising in Ultra-Fast Broadband, by using full fibre connections right to the property, rather than outdated copper cabling, seen in many areas of the United Kingdom.
Through a continued working relationship, ICEE celebrates ten years working with Gigaclear, as one of their leading suppliers of Bespoke Fibre Equipment Cabinets as well as a range of Field Services.The past 10 years have seen Gigaclear and ICEE Managed Services work together on a variety of different bespoke projects that have evolved and adapted as modern fibre to the home technology changed. From initial concept cabinets, which worked at the time, Gigaclear decided that Bespoke Equipment Enclosures were the next step. Opting for bespoke enclosures allow for future modification, and completely customisable designs ensuring that Gigaclear is able to meet particular requirements, set by the ever-changing technology within Fibre to the Home.
ICEE now makes a range of bespoke cabinets for Gigaclear, increasing the range by two in the past three years. Some examples of these bespoke enclosures range from single drop-down enclosures to variations of a standard or first-generation product, fully bespoke second-generation cabinets, as well as larger bespoke enclosures for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) operations. Over the years, the process between both companies has been followed extensively; when Gigaclear needed to adapt an enclosure to meet higher demand and larger fibre output, ICEE would begin to design ways to manufacture this, by using highly efficient 3D CAD design programmes, coupled with extremely precise and innovative manufacturing and integration processes.
Chris Arnold, Key Client Account Lead at ICEE Managed Services, explains how the relationship between the two companies has developed over time. “Working with Gigaclear for the past ten years on a multitude of different projects has been a challenge, but also a greatly rewarding process. From creating and innovating the original enclosure designs, to the 2nd Generation enclosure development and expansion of our installation, electrical and provisioning services assisting Gigaclear. It has always been a collaborative process working with the Gigaclear team throughout and to see it grow into such a successful company is testament to that partner approach”. Tim Durkin, Gigaclear’s Network Development Engineer, supported those claims adding that “Gigaclear’s rollout of PON technology has necessitated an interactive refinement of our designs. In addition, a change in the way we deploy cabinets required a rethink to our approach for cooling. ICEE offers a blend of turn-key products and bespoke engineering services that provide us with the shortest path to delivery of our cabinets”.
Future Proofing
With Gigaclear growing, especially over the past 10 years, ICEE has been a key player in enabling the company to deliver a top quality and efficient service across its network. Gigaclear’s current footprint covers over 380,000 rural and suburban houses, “and we are currently building at a rate of over 120,000 homes per year, with ambitions to double this rate over the coming years” explains Laura Hobbs, Gigaclear’s Head of Procurement. Laura also continues by saying that “Right-first-time construction, as well as reliable service in life, are key to delivering the high-quality experience that our customers expect of us. To support this, ICEE has focused on attention to detail, consistent quality, speed of response and agility to allow us to deliver this service”.
Currently the UK market is highly competitive and undergoing a period of extreme diversification and competition with factors such as cost and supply chain reliability more critical than ever. ICEE has recently helped manage the repurposing of old technology to new to avoid both unnecessary waste and extra cost – another step to demonstrating what true supplier collaboration can achieve.
