Alticom bv is a Dutch company that owns 30 transmission masts in the
Netherlands
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. It operates as a market leading core communications infrastructure provider in the Netherlands. Alticom offers space on these masts for antennas as well as transmission equipment to operators of telecommunication networks and room within the constructions for the associated equipment and as colocation/ data center/ backhaul/
connectivity
Connectivity may refer to:
Computing and technology
* Connectivity (media), the ability of the social media to accumulate economic capital from the users connections and activities
* Internet connectivity, the means by which individual terminal ...
.Website Altico Services (Dutch), visited 27 July 2011
Masts and towers
Alticom owns 30 masts and towers all over the Netherlands. Its primary activity consists on colocation services for all telecommunication and content delivery networks in the Netherlands. It can offer full coverage of the countryAlticom websit National coverage (Dutch), visited 27 July 2011
Alticom owns the concrete base of the large towers such as the
Gerbrandy Tower
Gerbrandy is a West Frisian patronymic surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy
Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy (born Pieter Gerbrandij; 13 April 1885 – 7 September 1961) was a Dutch politician and jurist who se ...
and
Zendstation Smilde
Zendstation Smilde, also known as the CJ2 Data tower (Dutch: ''CJ2 Datatoren'') is a tall partially guyed tower in Hoogersmilde, the Netherlands, built in 1959, for directional radio services and TV and FM-transmissions. The structure is similar ...
while the steel mast on top of these towers is owned by a company named NOVEC, which is a subsidiary of
TenneT
TenneT is a transmission system operator in the Netherlands and in a large part of Germany.
''TenneT B.V.'' is the national electricity transmission system operator of the Netherlands, headquartered in Arnhem. Controlled and owned by the Dutch ...
. The ground on which these towers are built are owned by
KPN
KPN (in full Koninklijke KPN N.V., also Royal KPN N.V.) is a Dutch landline and mobile telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
History Un ...
, the company that sold the towers and masts to Alticom and Novec in 2007. Only the first 3 meters around the base of these structures are owned by AlticomRepor Safe working at great heights Dutch security report, 8 August 2007, retrieved 27 July 2011
Datacenters
Since 2009 space in the towers is offered as colocation centers. Offering includes: housing of servers infrastructure, energy provisioning, emergency power, connectivity, etc. The company offers these spaces as
data centers
A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommun ...
and offers this to IT companies as ''regional data center facilities''. All facilities are on-site to guarantee permanent operation (such as emergency power-generators, redundant communication links etc.).
Data and colocation centers such as those offered by the company are bound to play a key role in addressing latency, which will become a critical issue for the next 5G deployment. 5G pushes for a network change. Processing and storage capacity will be located as close as possible to the user through data centers for edge computing. That means moving broadband content delivery, streaming video, etc. closer to the edge of the network. There will be edge data centers and connected to the latter micro data centers.
Fires
On 15 July 2011 a large fire in the Smilde tower broke out within the steel mast on top of Alticom's concrete base. The extreme heat that was produced by this fire resulted in the collapse of the steel tower and the steel construction was destroyed.
All transmissions from the tower, including the FM radio signal of RTV Drenthe, which is assigned as the official emergency station in case of emergencies, have since been stopped. Via two temporary masts in
Assen
Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...
and
Smilde
Smilde is a town in the Netherlands' northern province of Drenthe and lies about southwest of the province capital of Assen. Smilde was a separate municipality until 1998, when it became a part of Middenveld. However, that name changed in 2000 a ...
transmission of this station as well as most public and commercial programmes are restored.Website regional newspape Emergency masts in Assen and Hoogersmilde (Dutch), 16 July 2011, visited 27 July 2011
On the same day a smaller fire in the highest tower of Alticom, the ''Gerbrandy Tower'', interrupted transmission of TV- and radio in a large part of the Netherlands. There is no indication that these fires are related.
Infracapital
On 8 June 2011 a joint press-release from Infracapital and the TDF Group was published. The press-release informed the public that investment company Infracapital has acquired 100% of the shares in Alticom from TDF Group.
Infracapital is the investment company specialized in investments in infrastructure related companies. It is managed by M&G Investment limited which is the asset management arm of
Prudential plc
Prudential plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people.
Prudential has dual primary listings on the London Stock E ...
. Some other companies Infracapital invests in are
Red Funnel
Red Funnel, the trading name of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited,Associated British Ports,
Kelda Group
Kelda Group is a British utility company. It is based in Bradford, England. It was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but was taken private by a group of investors, Saltaire Water, in 2008. Sa ...
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...