Julie Song, President at Advanced RF Technologies (ADRF), responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company globally.

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​Modern commercial buildings depend on wireless connectivity to meet the increasingly sophisticated requirements of guests and tenants. It’s becoming more common to see building operators deploy private 4G/5G networks to support Internet of Things (IoT) applications, connect AI-powered security systems, touchless key card systems and, in some cases, even robots.

Beyond the customer benefits of wireless connectivity, public safety requirements also continue to evolve, all of which rely on equipment that is typically centralized within the building's telecom "closet." The name is affectionately given to describe the often tiny area where the brains behind all these technological systems reside.

The challenge is that while wireless technology ambitions continue to grow in commercial buildings, these closets are not getting any larger. Most buildings must support an expanding mix of communications technologies within the same physical footprint designed many years ago.

As a result, building owners, consultants and installers are increasingly focused on how more wireless services can be supported without expanding physical space. One solution to this challenge is rethinking how wireless infrastructure is designed and deployed.​

The Telecom Closet Conundrum

Telecom closets in older buildings (and even in many new ones) were designed to support a limited set of communications systems. But today, they have become the central hub for a growing number of technologies that serve building occupants and back-end operational systems. And yet, the preferred size for these rooms hasn’t changed much. It is often recommended to have 10’ by 11’ square feet for buildings up to 50,000 sq. ft., and 12’ by 16’ for buildings above 50,000 sq ft., which is not a lot to work with.​

Cellular distributed antenna systems (DAS), public safety communications, Wi-Fi networks, building automation systems, security platforms, IoT gateways and private LTE or 5G networks all compete for the same rack space, power resources and cooling capacity.

Mobile operators also continue to add spectrum bands and network capabilities to meet increasing user demand, which often requires additional infrastructure support within the building. To put it in perspective, AT&T has more than a dozen frequency bands for 4G LTE and 5G connectivity. Now consider that the other major U.S. carriers have a similar makeup, and that’s a lot of infrastructure just on the commercial cellular side.​

Telecom spaces were never designed to accommodate so much equipment density across all these technologies. As new technologies are added over time, network operators frequently find themselves installing additional hardware racks, power supplies and cable pathways to support each new service. This might solve immediate connectivity needs, but it’s only kicking the space-saving challenges down the road.​

The issue extends beyond physical space because higher equipment density often results in increased power consumption and heat generation. Increasing adoption of AI-enabled systems, such as video analytics and smart building applications, can add compute requirements and contribute to higher power and cooling demands, particularly where edge processing is deployed.

​Cable management becomes more complicated, maintenance activities become more difficult and future upgrades become harder to accommodate. In many cases, building owners discover that available capacity becomes a limiting factor long before the building reaches its full connected potential.​

For new construction projects, developers can and should design facilities that can support not only today's wireless requirements but also future technologies that may not yet be fully defined. While overbuilding telecom rooms is expensive and inefficient, underestimating future infrastructure needs can lead to costly retrofits later.​

Why Consolidation Is The Key To Supporting More With Less

The good news is that certain regulatory changes and advances in wireless infrastructure are making it possible to support significantly more connectivity while consuming less space.​

One of the most effective strategies is infrastructure consolidation. Rather than deploying separate platforms for each wireless application, building owners can leverage modern architectures that centralize functions and reduce the overall hardware footprint.

One example of this is unified cellular networks. In my experience, these have become a popular option in a growing number of counties thanks to regulatory changes. Historically, many Authority Having Jurisdictions (AHJs) required public safety radio enhancement systems to remain physically separate from commercial cellular infrastructure. Today, some jurisdictions allow the two systems to share equipment enclosures, provided they continue to meet code requirements for isolation, survivability and reliability. ​Just asking an AHJ if convergence is allowed can significantly simplify installment and save space.​

Pairing this approach with a fiber-based system is also much easier to work with than systems using coaxial cable. Beyond the performance benefits of fiber, it also simply takes up much less space than bulky coaxial cable. ​

Modern DAS platforms can also contribute to space savings by offering the same functions in fewer hardware components. High-density headend equipment can support multiple carriers, frequency bands (like CBRS for private networks) and wireless services while occupying a fraction of the rack space and power usage required by older systems. It allows building owners to increase wireless capacity without proportionally increasing infrastructure footprints.​

Beyond hardware, centralized management and monitoring capabilities also provide benefits. Instead of managing numerous independent devices scattered throughout the network, operators can oversee system performance through a unified platform. This simplifies maintenance and reduces the need for supporting hardware within the telecom environment. More simple, low-tech ways to reduce size and improve maneuverability when technicians need to make physical changes include sliding rack mounts that allow the equipment to be pulled out into a more workable space. ​

For installers, these advancements create opportunities to deliver greater value to building owners. Projects can be designed with future expansion in mind, allowing additional wireless services to be added without major infrastructure overhauls.

Business owners do not want to use any more of their precious space for technology infrastructure, so it’s on OEMs and installers to work together and create ways of reducing the size and power consumption of telecom closet footprints. By focusing on system consolidation, fiber-based hardware and scalable infrastructure platforms, organizations can fit more technology in the same tight space.​

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