Siemon recently announced that mobile-communications provider Vodafone chose a Siemon Category 7A cabling system as the network infrastructure for its new, 67,000-square-meter headquarters in Milan, Italy. Approximately 20,000 TERA brand Category 7A outlets and 1,000 kilometers of TERA brand Category 7A cable were used to build the network at the new campus, Vodafone Village, Siemon says. The campus houses Vodafone’s entire Milan-based workforce of several thousand; cabled workspaces include office desktops, call centers and a 400-seat auditorium.
Vodafone’s IT voice network operations manager Marco Lavia commented, “Considering that we wanted to deploy a solution that lasts, Siemon’s fully standards-compliant Category 7A solution, TERA, became the obvious choice to maximize our return on investment.”
Lavia is implementing cable sharing at the Vodafone headquarters. Cable sharing capability, as Siemon explains, allows one cable to deliver as many as four independent one-pair applications, or multiple two-pair applications, to a single work area outlet. Lavia says the capability has been useful in call center areas where Voice over IP telephones are in use. “Today a single TERA outlet serves two VoIP phones through two-pair hybrid patch cords,” he explains, “which reduces the number of installed outlets by approximately 12 to 15 percent. Less cable means more efficient use of pathways and less raw materials, which, in turn, helps us to protect the environment.”
Siemon reports that in the office environment, standard four-pair patch cords are used and will pave the way for future 10-Gbit/sec desktop connections. The company also points out that port density was an issue, with about 20,000 total outlets installed. That being the case, Vodafone is using Siemon’s Blade Patch RJ45-style patch cords, which can be inserted and removed without the need to press an external latch—thereby requiring less space around each patch cord to allow for manual manipulation.