PBS&J, a Miami-based engineering and planning firm, recently upgraded from a shared Ethernet network to a 100-Mbit/sec switched Ethernet-to-the-desk system with a Gigabit Ethernet backbone when it moved into new facilities in Orlando. The firm chose a Tyco Electronics/AMP Netconnect system as the infrastructure that supports the new, switched system, employing Category 5e cabling in the horizontal and multimode fiber in the backbone. The new facility is a 90,000-square-foot, three-story building that houses 280 employees.
Of the upgraded cabling system, PBS&J's David Landrian-Shrewsbury, technology operations manager, said, "We wanted to make sure that we had a good base upon which to install our electronics. We were looking for an end-to-end system that was of the same brand throughout, so that we didn't have to worry about potential problems with, say, the interface between the patch panels and the cabling not being 100% compatible, or being of questionable compatibility."
"As communications demands push performance to ever-higher levels, customers are coming to realize that they need cabling solutions that have been engineered as a system," commented Herb Congdon, Tyco's director of systems marketing.
Encompass Electrical Technologies, a Tyco-authorized Netconnect Design & Installation contractor based in Orlando, FL, completed the cabling system's design and installation. Encompass also recently completed a cabling project for PBS&J at the firm's 45,000-square-foot office building in Atlanta, GA.
