“We knew for certain when we designed this building that we didn’t know what the future might hold. We needed to be ready for whatever might come along. All six large classrooms in this building,” says Coppinger, “have electrical power at every seat, and this one is completely wired with Category 5e network connections for every student.” The classrooms accommodate between 57 and 118 students.

Each connection plate contains four ports, preloaded with Category 5e jacks. The other classrooms have been designed with conduits for future networking additions. The lectern in each room is already equipped with Category 5e, coaxial cable and mechanical fiber-optic connectors.

“We always think long-term around here,” says Keith Franger, director of telecommunications. “We’ve been the fastest-growing university in the state of Texas for the last five years, so our growth is a big issue to take into consideration when we plan. Technology growth is a big part of that.”

The Science and Technology Building a 68,000 square foot multidimensional teaching facility accommodating seven laboratory areas and a fourth-floor observatory is the latest example of that planning. “The key for the new building was flexibility,” Coppinger explains, “Where possible, we have not put in walls, but just left open spaces so that labs can grow and shrink as usage demands. We have also placed overhead cable trays in every room, for running network connections, and each laboratory has an external, or surface mounted, power panel, making it easy to run additional power anywhere in the lab.” This enables students to set up cells and control centers that span rooms and even floors.

For his wiring standard, Franger chose the NetSync Category 5e System from Leviton Voice & Data and Mohawk/CDT. All the voice and data wiring is being done in Category 5e. “This is actually the second building we’ve done in this format,” says Franger, “and it has been very successful.” The first building, the 9,600 square foot University Center completed in 1999, was wired completely in Leviton’s Category 5 cabling system.

For the Science and Technology Building, Franger and his team chose GigaMax Category 5e snap-in connectors, in Quad-106 QuickPort wallplates, coordinated with electrical outlets to save money and inventory space. Mohawk’s Megalan 400 plenum copper cables were wired back to 48-port patch panels in each of the four closets (one on each floor) and managed with Leviton’s hook and loop cable management ties. The backbone is Mohawk fiber, with 3 RU and 6 RU rackmount fiber panels at the frame. Fiber to the podium was run in the classrooms, using Thread Lock SC connectors, and QuickPort Snap-In F-connectors for multimedia applications.

“Telecommunications here operates as an auxiliary service,” Franger explains. “We actually issue every department invoices every month. The things that come back and haunt us, that we have to go back and work on a second or third time, those are killers. Being able to do a construction project and know we won’t have to revisit, is exactly what we are looking for.

“In the University Center when we started talking about patching voice into data, how the jacks would fit, because we were talking about plugging an RJ-15 into an RJ-45 type receptacle we were concerned that would cause a problem with our digital phones and the 568-A wiring scheme. We got some equipment down here, and duplicated what we were going to do to be sure it was going to work. So far, we’ve had no problems at all.”

Intel and Level One plan to build devices that transmit Gigabit Ethernet over Category 5 copper wiring, which is less expensive than fiber-optic cable and more widely deployed in enterprise LANs. They also will work within the IEEE 802.1ab working group that is creating a copper-based standard.

The companies expect the standard to be approved by March 1999. They may ship products before that time.

“We’re going to be aggressive in our approach to the market, but we will make sure we can ensure compatibility with standards-based products,” said Tim Dunn, Intel’s marketing manager for network adapters.

After two and a half years of development, the IEEE last month approved the 802.1z standard for Gigabit Ethernet over multimode and single-mode fiber. Development of a copper standard was broken off to a separate task force last year.

Copper and fiber interfaces are likely to show the same price difference in Gigabit Ethernet devices as in Fast Ethernet products, according to officials at both companies.

Tam Dell’Oro, president of the Dell’Oro Group, a research company in Portola Valley, Calif., said that price advantage is about 50 percent.

According to Dell’Oro, demand for copper Gigabit interfaces should rise as bandwidth demands grow.

“What makes the copper attractive is that as the deployment shifts away from the core out to server farms and wiring closets, there will more likely be a copper application,” Dell’Oro said. She predicted some companies may begin shipping prestandard copper-based products by year’s end.

Intel and Level One did not discuss specific products or prices.

Design and build a fully compliant end to end CAT 5e shielded network with the DataMax screen twisted pair (ScTP) patch cable, which meets all requirements of TIA/ EIA 568B for ScTP enhanced CAT 5e.

Constructed with 26 AWG stranded copper, the patch cable is insulated with low loss foamed dielectric, and shielded with an overall aluminum/polyester tape and tinned copper drain wire. The twisted pairs have stable 100 Ohm nominal impedance and a low 13.0 pF/ft. mutual capacitance. When terminated with CAT 5e shielded (screened) modular plugs, the cords fully comply with cordage return loss and crosstalk standards. Quabbin Wire & Cable

Labeling software

Improve identification of cabling system components with professional labeling software. The Windows-based software is preloaded with templates for labeling connectors, patch panels, cable applications and other components. Port and cable spacing is prepositioned, enabling users to enter their sequences and print. 8.5″ x 11″ sheets feed through printers easily; a number of the labels are in TIA/ EIA 606A compliant colors. Precut, perforated sheets feature adhesive capabilities specifically designed for communications equipment. Tyco Electronics

Patch cords

New Category 5, Category 5e and HiPerlink 6 patch cords are designed to minimize crosstalk and maintain signal integrity. Available in a variety of colors, the patch cords are engineered to achieve excellent performance levels with increased bandwidth and superior return loss performance. The HiPerlink 6 and CAT 5e cords are equipped with removable boots, providing additional strain relief, while maintaining bend radius. The boots also fit in high density applications, such as hubs, switches and routers. The CAT 5 cords do not have boots, but are also designed for strain relief. Cords are available in lengths of 3′, 5′, 7′, 10′ and 14′; standard blue is available in additional lengths ICC

Fiber connector

No epoxy or polishing is required with the UniCam LC multimode and single mode connector. The connector is designed like a pigtail, incorporating a fiber stub fully bonded into a ceramic ferrule and factory polished. The opposite field fiber end is cleaved and placed into a patented alignment of the mechanical splice. The field fiber is mated to the fiber stub, and the connector is cammed to complete the termination. The field fiber and fiber stub are fully protected from environmental factors. Designed and tested for compliance with FOCIS 10 and ANSI/TIA/EIA 568, it is ideal for higher performance networks where more density is required. It is also available in SC-, FC-, ST-compatible and MT-RJ styles.Corning Cable Systems