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Case Study Wired For Speed Staff at the Tauranga branch of engineering consultancy Beca are enjoying faster data transfer and easier video-conferencing with colleagues in national and international offices – as well as with their clients – following the recent installation of an extensive Cat 6 cable network. Beca’s Tauranga team has expanded steadily over the 20 years the company has leased its Harington Street premises, eventually forcing the company to split its 150 personnel between the first and third floors. When the tenants on the second floor recently opted to move out, Beca grabbed the opportunity to bring its team closer together – and launch a major refurbishment programme. “We wanted to create a more contiguous feel,” says office services manager Sonia Tibble, “making better use of the space on the first and second floors – more open plan, more user-friendly. The old interior was very compartmentalised – dark and boxy with high corridors and very few meeting rooms. Schneider Electric’s Kelvin Hart and Beca’s IT support manager Bernadine Smith in the new server room. Schneider Electric provided the Cat 6 cabling, the patch panels and the wall termination units. “We also wanted to upgrade our data communications capability. Beca is a multidisciplinary consultancy, and our projects always involve shifting large, bandwidth-hungry graphic files – not only within the office, but also nationally and internationally. With the two floors stripped to a bare shell for the interior’s redesign, the opportunity to install a faster network was ideal.” The project saw the installation of sixteen kilometres of Cat 6 cabling with more than 300 terminations across the two floors. Schneider Electric supplied the cabling, and sales representative Kelvin Hart says Cat 6 offers greater speed and better data integrity over the more conventional Cat 5 cable. “Cat 6’s superior features stem from an internal divider that separates the eight wires in the cable into four distinct pairs. The separation eliminates attenuation and distortion, providing a purer signal. It effectively creates greater bandwidth, and that’s ideal for advanced telecommunications facilities such as video conferencing and transferring large files.” Benefits to Beca Six months after the refurbishment, Beca is enjoying multiple benefits provided by the Cat 6 infrastructure. “The major change,” says Sonia, “is the dramatically-improved video conferencing capability. We have five permanent meeting rooms equipped with large TV screens – and there are nine other rooms which have been pre-wired for the screens, ready to be deployed if needed. Beca has five meeting rooms equipped with video conferencing facilities, with nine more pre-wired for immediate connection if required. 8 Schneider Electric News December 2012
“These screens can be linked to any of our video conferencing facilities around the country – and indeed to any of our international offices. That means staff can discuss projects face-to-face and identify issues and solutions much more quickly. It’s like everyone’s sitting in the same room, and the saving on travel costs is enormous.” Engineers, she adds, tend to use plenty of large files in their work – graphics, drawings and 3D modelling images generated by programmes such as Solidworks, Revit, CAD and PDMS. “Fly-throughs – where the viewer is taken on a flying tour through a three-dimensional rendition of a plant – are particularly data-intensive. Having multiple parties able to share them in real time is an enormous advantage.” The meeting rooms, she points out, are also much more effective spaces because a variety of peripherals can be connected to the screens through a selection of ports in a wall panel – a data projector, a lap-top, PC and even a USB stick. It’s a much more flexible place for presentations. Warranty Tauranga-based Cable Comms installed the Cat 6 cabling, and terminated the data outlets and patch panels at the cabinets and its owner, Tony Drake, has been certified by Schneider Electric. Certified installers, says Tony, are able to provide a 30-year warranty on the project – a feature that offers clients peace of mind. “To ensure the infrastructure’s integrity, we check every termination with a Fluke scanner for attenuation or distortion. Scan results are sent to an independent verifier.” With this new network, says Sonia, “Beca is equipped to operate much more smoothly and efficiently, and it also offers an element of future proofing. Our IT team is already exploring additional technologies utilising the greater bandwidth capacity – and ways to do things smarter.” The wall panels – where the Cat 6 cables terminate – are part of Schneider Electric’s Epic Organiser range, and also contain ports for an HDMI connection. An iPod docking station is also an option. VOIP The introduction of the Cat 6 cabling has also allowed Beca to swap its telephone system for voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP), a shift that’s cut the company’s telephone bill significantly. “Given the close integration of Beca’s national and international offices,” says Sonia, “there are plenty of long-distance calls – so VOIP has made a huge difference. Cat 6’s added bandwidth also means we can run all of these telecommunications and data transfer features simultaneously. Previously, our telephone lines were competing with our data communications – and it was always a bit of a hit-or-miss affair.” Wall panels use Schneider Electric’s Epic Organiser and include ports for VGA, a data projector, HDMI and a USB stick. Staff members all use with camera-equipped lap-tops, enabling them to join a video conference if they’re off-site. To simplify the connection process, the company uses Microsoft’s Link software. The same facility is also offered to clients wanting to join a video conference – and requires them to install a basic, stripped down version of MSLink on to their computers. The Cat 6 infrastructure has been complemented by numerous routers installed throughout the building, allowing staff to initiate face-to-face video calls wherever they happen to be. The make-over of the Beca office presented an ideal opportunity for the installation of the Cat 6 network. Schneider Electric News December 2012 9
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