Mission-critical comms for pharma & manufacturing

Background

The new Bristol-Myers Squibb Biologics Manufacturing Facility in Dublin is a state of the art global bio-pharma facility development delivering innovative medicines. Hosting nearly 500 scientists, engineers and bio-specialist workers, the site spreads across 130 acres and four main buildings. Bristol-Myers Squibb tasked Vilicom with developing and implementing a mission-critical mobile-coverage solution enabling business communications and safety systems across the entire campus.

Challenges and considerations

The crucial challenge to the operation of effective and reliable communications across the site lay not in the vast geographical spread of the campus but in the construction of the real estate itself, as the four principal buildings are constructed primarily of concrete frames with structural steel elements.

Vilicom’s solution would need to overcome those physical barriers to coverage in order to provide easy communication for day-to-day business, combined with mission critical safety communications in the form of a push-to-talk ‘man-down system’ for lone workers and those operating in confined spaces.

The challenge was not overcoming the vast scale of the site but the construction of the real estate itself.

Solutions and delivery

That solution was achieved using a Multi-Operator Distributed Antenna System (DAS) infrastructure to provide cellular mobile coverage throughout all buildings, ensuring seamless coverage across the whole campus.

• As part of our commitment to deliver genuinely end-to-end projects, Vilicom took responsibility for:
• the design and installation of the system
• the procurement of materials
• the commissioning of the repeater-fed passive multi-operator system…
• which now delivers 3G and 4G – and ultimately 5G – coverage throughout the site

The installation was challenging, as we were working on an active heavy-construction site alongside other contractors, all with different and competing priorities. However, with focused project management, a flexible approach and close working co-operation with the main contractor, the project was delivered on time and within budget.

Contact

For further information or to discuss further technical specs, please contact Gearoid Collins at gearoid.collins@vilicom.com

About Vilicom

Vilicom is an expert provider of wireless services with over seventeen years of experience in the analysis, design, test and implementation of wireless networks. Vilicom’s strengths lie in technology strategy consulting, the design of wireless networks, transmission network design, implementation of specialised coverage solutions and network benchmarking and testing. Vilicom has delivered its trademark end-to-end services in over 20 countries for network operators, network equipment vendors, industry regulators and investors. It delivers value for its customers by adopting a flexible, customer-focused approach, retaining cutting-edge expertise and maintaining its independence.