CASE STUDY
Difference of Opinion Specifying such a high quality branded solution was not without its battles though. “This project had to work within a specified budget and there was very little room to manoeuvre, explained Hill. “The main contractor suggested that the network infrastructure had been over engineered and that a lower specification system would save some budget. I made it clear that doing so would, ultimately, be a false economy as a Category 5e system would not support 10 Gigabit Ethernet and would have a limited lifespan.” This was a battle that Hill won
and after making a solid return on investment case, he and Urmston convinced the doubters that the technical quality of a Brand-Rex solution would be far superior to using a cheaper solution, and offer significant headroom for future expansion.
Tender Touch The contract to install the cabling system itself was put out to tender. After beating off stiff competition from six other companies, it was finally awarded to Solihull based Amillan. The company has been a Brand-Rex Authorised
Partner for the last nine years and has sold and installed a significant number of Brand-Rex products and systems during that time. Craig Urmston says, “The Business Partner Program is a global initiative and only Brand-Rex partners are able to issue our 25-year system warranty.” Asked what separated his company
from the competition, Amillan’s Director, Richard Reid, commented that “Amillan provides bespoke data, VoIP and unified communications solutions to the enterprise, education and public sector markets and understands the critical importance of building these on a reliable, high-performance cabling infrastructure. As a trusted partner to many household names across the UK, we have carved a reputation for making a difference to business performance through the effective integration of only the best technologies.”
Work in Progress As a new build project, various other building services operations had to be carried out before Amillan could get on site. However, in July 2010 it started work and with a deadline of July 2011 for completion, the pressure was on to
meet this tight deadline. As well as installing 10GPlus, the
specification called for a fibre optic cabling backbone. “Originally, we had looked at installing an OM3 multimode fibre backbone, explained Hill. “However, our plans had to be revised after it transpired that the distance it would have to run would be further than the 300m it could operate 10 Gigabit Ethernet over in accordance with 10GBASE-T. With this in mind we decided to opt for an armoured OS1 singlemode fibre from the Brand-Rex FibrePlus portfolio.” Reid added that “the OS1 12 core
fibre optic cables were terminated onto LC patch panels and these linked the main equipment room to satellite equipment rooms via diverse routing. Using OS1 was also another way to ensure the network infrastructure’s longevity as rather than stopping at 10 Gigabit Ethernet, it offers expansion to 40 Gigabit Ethernet and beyond.”
the equipment room which were terminated onto patch panels both ends. Brand-Rex patch cords were also used which employ independently verified Category 6A
that incorporated over 200,000m of 10GPlus cable. A further 768 Category 6A
and are manufactured using standards compliant RJ-45 modular plugs. Being able to carry out the installation quickly and accurately was incredibly important. In order to make the best use of its time on-site, Amillan’s engineers used innovations such as the Brand-Rex tool-free RJ-45 Snap-In-Jack for fast and efficient termination. This combination resulted in a much quicker installation time that, in turn, helped reduce labour costs.
/Class EA Addressing the importance of using Other building services operations had to take place before Amillan could get on site. 36 NETCOMMS europe Volume III Issue 1 2012
an entire system from one provider, LANBuilder’s Darren Hill commented, “Brand-Rex tests against performance standards and it is important to make sure that the copper used in the twisted pair is the same as that in the outlets
www.netcommseurope.com cable
Time Team Once completed, the installation at Bournville College comprised a total of 4,400 Category 6A
U/UTP outlets links were installed within
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