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As discussed in Part 1, moving often overwhelms staff, and cabling for data, power, communications, and security may not be prioritized adequately. Part 2 will discuss Health & Safety, Flexibility, Future Growth, and Structured Cabling. Consult with an experienced and expert cabling company prior to starting your project to get the best results.

Health & Safety

Consideration should be given to the health and safety of both employees and staff when planning the cabling at your new facility. Wiring that provides connections to equipment and telecommunications and power companies should not endanger the welfare of people by blocking emergency exits, ventilation ducts, and cooling systems.

Ensure that regulatory compliance for securing certain types of sensitive or personal data will be met. This will require locating data storage, servers, and equipment processing transactions properly. Their positions should be considered during the mapping process.

Flexibility

Market conditions can become very fluid, and perhaps only a brief time after moving into a new location will an organization have to make changes in its cabling. Well-designed structured cabling will ensure flexibility that allows a company to make additions and revisions in the most efficient and fastest manner possible to reallocate resources.

Future Growth

The cabling of an organization should give allowance for future expansion of its IT infrastructure. The growth of its business may require the company to seek greater bandwidth, increased communication channels, more electrical power, and additional space. Although the future of a business is often very hard to predict, it is still possible to make projections given the current market and its prospects in the coming years.

Structured Cabling

Having your data, communications, and power cabling installed by several different contractors will work against a properly configured cabling system. This haphazard approach may also result in higher management and maintenance costs. Governed by proven industry standards, a structured cabling system will provide a company an integrated IT infrastructure that allows for ease of maintenance, flexibility, and expansion.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

The relocation to a new facility can be very challenging and costly for any organization. Aside from the expenses associated with moving, setting up utilities, and purchasing furnishings, a portion of the budget should be allocated for new IT infrastructure and equipment. This will allow the company to begin functioning soon after the move.

Since moving involves lots of coordination and tasks, the cabling for data, power, communications, and security may not be prioritized adequately. However, a well-designed structured cabling system is crucial to how well an organization functions. This article will discuss several factors that must be considered for the planning and installation of cabling at your new location.

Determining Parameters

Determining the company’s parameters will greatly aid the planning of the relocation. Below are factors to consider.

• Budget available


• Data, communications, and power requirements


• Future technology and infrastructure needs


• Human resources needed

Available Equipment at New Location

Unless you’re moving into a completely new facility, the new site will probably already have an existing infrastructure for power, data, communications, and security. Thus, your team should undertake a survey of the facility to determine the qualities that will help or hinder your project in terms of your company’s needs. If there is already internet connectivity in place, find out the bandwidth capacity and figure out if it will meet the needs of your company.

Mapping the Infrastructure

Modifications to the existing infrastructure will probably be needed to satisfy the specific needs of your firm in terms of communications, data, power, and security. After the initial survey of the new facility, go forward with mapping every area and room with the aim of providing data cabling and IT infrastructure.

The diagram should include a layout of the new location, juxtaposing the proposed configurations for the data, power, communications, and security cabling. This planning will require making compromises due to the budget ceiling, space limitations, and time constraints.

Part 2 will discuss Health & Safety, Flexibility, Future Growth, and Structured Cabling.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As discussed in Part 1, office space has become very valuable and costly in many cities. Some companies will need to implement space optimization, and designing their structured cabling network is a good place to start. Part 2 will discuss Cabling System Performance and Densification of Networks.

Cabling System Performance

The TIA 568 standard sets the limit for runs of copper cable to 90 meters (295 feet) from floor distributor to workstations. Exceeding this length will cause greater signal losses or insertion loss and delay limitations due to the Ethernet protocol, which can decrease the performance of the network.

An expansive floor size with a proper number of floor distributors will oftentimes result in cables longer than 90 meters and greater insertion losses. Moreover, short cable runs are affected by crosstalk and return loss.

Due to the increasing implementation of 2.5, 5G, and 10G Ethernet, along with the newest high performance WAP (wireless access points), it is crucial to install a category cable, such as CAT6A, capable of handling higher bandwidth demands in the future.

Densification of Networks

Horizontal distributor optimization inside the equipment room will result in increased floor space and improved network densification. The optimization of floor distributors can improve the usage of LAN Ethernet switches, minimizing intra-building backbone runs. Implementing optimized distributor placement will ease the management of the network and increase reliability.

The use of fiber and copper panels with higher port density should also be considered by network managers. One way to gauge design efficiency is to calculate the number of ports per unit of rack space. This assessment will result in the optimization of rack space, decreasing racks and maximizing floor space.

Using wall-mounted panels for terminating cables and easing their management should also be considered. This will also ensure the prioritization of LAN equipment and fiber panels for rack space. This method suits companies who desire the convergence of building applications and IP networks.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

In some cities, office space is at a premium and very expensive due to rapidly growing demand. When a company needs to optimize its workplace, configuring their structured cabling is a good place to start. A project retrofitting the cabling of an existing office should have a minimum service life of 10 years. Cabling installed in newly constructed buildings should have a service life of 15 to 20 years.

Network architecture that emphasizes the design of local area network (LAN) cabling will decrease expenses as well as improve network performance and efficiency. The underlying basis for sound LAN design is TIA 568 and 569-B standards. Both provide guidance regarding hierarchy and placement of spaces for installation, covering work areas, building, campus & horizontal distributors, equipment rooms, and entrances. IT staff should become familiar with the trends that will be discussed below.

3 Crucial Drivers

Managers of networks should keep in mind the three most important drivers of connectivity: Wi-Fi, PoE (Power over Ethernet) devices, and IBW (In-Building Wireless) systems.

Now a very important need of every business, Wi-Fi extends LANs to meeting spaces such as conference rooms, giving their personnel mobility and flexibility. An IT network that did not adequately consider Wi-Fi during design may find it difficult to proceed with cable installation near enough to enable connection to WAPs where necessary.

Technology advances in the development of PoE will help maximize space by allowing cabling to power devices. The latest standard, IEEE 802.3bt, can provide up to 96W of power via a data cable, allowing new applications and expanding usage to high-performance wireless access points and surveillance cameras.

The rising demand for more mobility and the difficulty of maintaining cellular coverage over a large facility has led to the growing presence of dedicated IBW systems, deploying small cell technology and distributed antenna systems.

Part 2 will discuss Cabling System Performance and Densification of Networks.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As discussed in Part 1, many users no longer think wired Internet connections are necessary because WiFi has become so commonplace in everyday use. However, hard-wired connections do have advantages for businesses that should not be overlooked. Part 2 will discuss Wireless Advantages and Considerations.

Wireless Advantages

Typically, wireless Internet connections will likely be adequate for the majority of tasks at a workplace. Lots of employees like wireless primarily because of its convenience and mobility, thinking the advantages from a hard-wired connection are not worth the trouble of attaching an Ethernet cable. In addition, advancements in WiFi technology are gradually gaining on . Even though an organization may not require Ethernet’s advantages in speed, low-latency, stability, and security, it should reconsider before going completely wireless.

Wireless Considerations

Make sure that the new WiFi equipment that your company buys features the newest 802.11 AC Wave 2 standard. It will be crucial for the future because it can support several users and handle multiple inputs and outputs (MU-MIMO).

Another benefit of 802.11 AC Wave 2 is that it gives WiFi equipment the capability of supporting multiple inbound and outbound streams. Thus, a company’s WiFi will be able to receive and broadcast data at the same time. As a result, audio and video streaming performance is improved.

The 802.11 AC Wave 2 standard will also allow your organization to implement future technological advancements. The latest devices from Apple can support MIMO over 5Ghz bandwidth, and this will eventually become the industry standard in the near future.

Conclusion

Obviously, an office can have both Ethernet and WiFi. Certain types of organizations require a hard-wired network to handle very large files, and they will also need to provide WiFi for guests, conference rooms, and outdoor areas. Always remember that Ethernet will provide better performance than WiFi for companies that need to process a great volume of data. At the same time, businesses should take advantage of advances in WiFi technology.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

Lots of people have become so familiar with using WiFi at home or on the go, whether on a laptop, tablet or smartphone, they think that a hard-wired Internet connection is not needed anymore. WiFi feels more convenient and less cumbersome because you do not have to deal with cables. But you really should reconsider before making a decision to get rid of your Ethernet cables. Wired Internet connections do have advantages over wireless.

Wired Advantages

Ethernet connections provide for speedier transmission of data from the Internet to your computer. In addition, buffering lag is significantly less than WiFi. Wired also decreases the chances of losing a connection. For those who are concerned with protecting data, security is also easier to ensure on wired connections, decreasing the possibility of data breaches. These points are all crucial for companies that must process great volumes of data and cannot tolerate interruptions of connectivity.

Companies that must transfer big files via its LAN (local area network), such as a video post-production house moving 4K files of feature films to its facility’s server, typically require a hard-wired connection to perform efficiently. Keep in mind that the rate of speed that data can be transferred from device to device will not be identical to a network’s Internet speed. Its bandwidth is the limitation, the bottleneck that may delay data transfer over the Internet from your company to rest of the planet.

Wired Considerations

Before moving into a new office, ask an experienced IT professional to survey the space’s Internet connections. The workplace should have gigabit switches capable of carrying today’s data workloads. It would be frustrating to discover 10-100 Mbps switches that cannot handle modern bandwidth consumption. You may also have a VOIP phone system that requires hard-wired connections to function. In addition, your organization may have desktop PCs that require an Ethernet connection.

Part 2 will discuss Wireless Advantages and Considerations.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

Utilizing best practices developed over time, structured cabling determines the design and construction of an organization’s IT infrastructure. Standardized practices ease modifications and additions and promote compatibility and reliability. The following will discuss the benefits of structured cabling for your organization’s IT infrastructure.

Efficiency

There will be times when it will be necessary to move forward with changes to your IT infrastructure. When this involves dealing with improperly placed cables without a labeling system, each project will take longer than what would be necessary for a well-organized system. Structured cabling’s best practices decrease downtime and minimize mistakes.

Flexibility

Structured cabling allows flexibility, meaning repairs and changes to the infrastructure become easier and faster to perform. This means data center managers will not hesitate to implement needed changes because they don’t have to deal with disorganized cabling that make their jobs much harder.

Future Proofing

The perpetual improvements of telecommunications technology make it crucial to have an IT infrastructure that can adapt to future technical advances. Structured cabling makes this possible by ensuring upgrades are not difficult to integrate with the existing system. Structured cabling enables future proofing, and so it can be considered a sound investment for companies anticipating expansion.

Redundancy

Structured cabling allows the creation of an IT infrastructure that features redundancy, which helps ensure reliability and accessibility, particularly during maintenance or repair. If a cable is somehow compromised, data communications can keep functioning over redundant cabling as repairs are being performed.

ROI

Business owners should consider structured cabling as an investment that will improve their IT infrastructures. As it will significantly increase the efficiency of its data operations, the ROI (return on investment) could far exceed the initial outlay for implementation over time.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

In the current business environment, your customers demand that their questions are addressed immediately and solutions for their problems are promptly applied. Business owners cannot permit remote locations and network interruptions from impacting their ability to provide services. This article will discuss four methods for improving data availability in your company’s data center. Consult with an expert and experienced managed IT services firm for the best results.

Disaster Recovery

Disasters that can affect a company’s data availability are not necessarily only from natural causes such as an earthquake or flood. They can be caused by something as common as a power outage due to a technical problem at the electrical utility. Fortunately, you can prepare your company in the event that access to your critical and sensitive business is interrupted by having a disaster recovery plan in place, which may feature solutions such as co-location and cloud storage.

Single Point of Failure Elimination

Your IT infrastructure will be able to eliminate single points of failure by backing up and having alternatives ready. Work with a managed services provider (MSP) to evaluate your company’s network architecture and consider solutions such as clustering, load balancing, redundancy, and virtualization.

Proactive Monitoring

Having a sound recovery plan that is regularly modified and tested is essential for the prevention of data loss. However, proactive monitoring of your company’s IT infrastructure may even be important because it may stop a disaster from occurring in the first place.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing

Your company’s data availability can be bolstered through the application of virtualization and cloud computing. Securely storing critical IT resources at a service provider’s data center ensures that critical business data is both backed up and available in the event of a disaster.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As discussed in Part 1, 2018 is turning into a year with several exciting emerging data cabling trends. Part 2 will discuss Low Voltage Lighting Over POE and Passive Optical Networks. Before starting your company’s data cabling project, consult with an expert and experienced team to get the best results.

3) Low Voltage Lighting Over POE

Certain to be used increasingly in the future, low voltage lighting powered by POE (Power Over Ethernet) networks will provide several benefits. Efficient, low voltage lights need less electricity, saving on utility bills and lessening environmental impact.