Enabling a next-generation digital learning smart campus at IE Tower Madrid

IE University’s IE Tower is a vertical, technological and sustainable headquarters with a mission to promote education as the key to sustainable development. The IE Tower is 180 meters high, with 35 floors providing over 50,000 square meters of dynamic, multi-use space for up to 6,000 students. IE Tower has been designed as a smart campus—a sustainable high-rise that minimises environmental impact and leverages technology to provide state-of-the-art learning facilities.

Digital technology is central to the design of IE Tower. All classrooms are equipped with collaboration tools that enable virtual learning, and the project helps students experience technological immersion through virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI). The tower is also home to a Venture Lab designed to accelerate the creation of startups, plus a FabLab to develop architecture and design projects. Progressive advancement using digital is key.

The challenge

IE University was committed to making its new vertical campus a safe, secure hub for innovation and learning, with the latest technologies in place and always-on connectivity powering students’ learning.

The new, state-of-the-art IE Tower facility was designed to have around enabling a next-generation digital learning smart campus at IE Tower Madrid 10,000 network points and needed to provide both indoor and outdoor connectivity in the shape of strong Wi-Fi and 3G, 4G and 5G-ready connectivity. IE Tower also needed an accurate management tool to help it control the infrastructure layer effectively.

The solution

CommScope was able to offer all the solutions needed by IE University to enable and power its smart campus network for all current and future needs. To meet the demands of IE Tower, CommScope specified:

· SYSTIMAX® Category 6A structured cabling

· imVision® automated infrastructure management system

· Powered fibre cable system

· ERA® digital distributed antenna system

The results

Security was a key concern of IE University in developing IE Tower. With more than 8,000 students from 140 different countries, it needed a tool that could provide network administrators with visibility into what’s happening in the network physical layer. CommScope’s imVision system enables IE Tower to monitor and record all changes in device connections and to receive alerts of any changes—particularly any unforeseen ones. The imVision system now connects and maps over 6,000 devices.

Around 12 kilometres of CommScope OM4 fibre and power over Ethernet (PoE) have been deployed to give IE Tower the Wi-Fi coverage and capacity it needs for hosting big outdoor events such as graduations and to bring PoE over longer distances.

The CommScope digital ERA DAS solution enables IE Tower to ensure cell phone coverage throughout the building—overcoming interference challenges and delivering capacity everywhere it is needed. It’s a scalable solution that can grow with IE Tower’s needs moving forward.