Critical Systems Infrastructure

SOLUTION

The Northeast black out on August 14, 2003, resulted in Verizon’s loss (5) critical telecommunication switches at two “high profile” Central Offices in Manhattan due to standby generator failures which would ultimately affect over 200,000 customers. As a result Verizon was mandated by the FCC to prepare and implement a 6 month critical path schedule to overhaul the existing emergency power infrastructure at two of its largest high rise telephone exchanges.

WFC was engaged as the lead design professional to assist Verizon and design the new infrastructure to support two new 2 megawatt diesel generators at each of these facilities. All considerations were implemented to assure that the Network power would be maintained in the event of a crisis; engines were located on upper floors of the high rise facility to insure against flooding of lower levels. Structural and acoustical considerations as a result of the engine placement would ultimately prove to be the challenging task.