Category 5 voice and data cabling system

Citation

(2000), "Category 5 voice and data cabling system", Facilities, Vol. 18 No. 1/2. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2000.06918aab.005

Category 5 voice and data cabling system

Keywords Cable industry, Cabling

Able Data Installations has completed a complex Category 5 voice and data cabling system with 17,000 outlets for Bear Stearns, one of the world's leading investment banks. The cable was laid in just three weeks, enabling Bear Stearns to keep to a tight schedule for moving 20 floors up from its existing offices to almost at the top of London's Canary Wharf tower. All of the cables had to be terminated and tested, two giant wiring frames constructed and a temporary copper and fibre backbone link set up between Bear Stearns' old offices and the new offices on the 45th and 46th floors.

New York-based Bear Stearns has based its UK operation at Canary Wharf, Europe's tallest skyscraper office block since 1991, occupying the 25th floor. But since then, the number of staff has more than quadrupled from 120 to 535 and could rise to 900 in the new millennium.

Despite taking over the 28th floor as other tenants already occupied the immediately adjacent floors, continued expansion means that Bear Stearns needs to relocate entirely to the vacant space, four floors from the top. The higher you go, the more room there is because there are fewer lift shafts, plus Bear Stearns will not have to share a quarter of the floor space as it has to currently.

One of the new Lucent Systimax wiring frames installed by Able Data is over 80 feet long. The frame has to be this size because Bear Stearns has chosen a cable distribution arrangement to maximise flexibility in the positioning and re-positioning of desks, an important preparation for future staff moves and expansion.

Alex Hudson, Able's project manager, is understandably proud of the work: "Not only is this CAT5 installation thought to be one of the highest in density, but it's probably the highest in terms of altitude in Europe as well," he said.

Following the laying of the cable, Able Data completed the termination and testing. This created an under-floor grid system of over 1,400 floor boxes, providing 12 outlets per box meaning that, no matter where a desk is positioned, an outlet box is no more than a couple of metres away.

For further information contact Sarah Carless, Able Data Installations plc, Able House, Fig Tree Hill, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 5XL. Tel: +44 (0)1442 219580; E-mail: mail@ablecable.co.uk