success story
Construction
Cat.7A/8
FTTO
BAM picks unique ‘Cat.8’* solution
for new office project
Cat.8* cables are capable of supporting 40 Gb/s bandwidth, about four
times the amount today’s standardised copper cables can manage. After
visiting Nexans roadshows in the Netherlands, Vincent Slui, project manager
at BAM, considered Cat.8 to be the perfect solution for his new build.
BAM Bouw & Techniek Apeldoorn, which is a main constructor and provides
also total infrastructure solutions for telecoms customers, is a recent offshoot of
leading European construction group BAM. The company has been growing
and was looking for new premises, which could house 15 to 20 designers and
architects. BAM also wanted to consolidate several locations into one spot.
Some 250 employees are working at this new location.
“Today, architectural drawings and designs are far
more complex and layered than a few years ago,”
says Vincent Slui, who is responsible for managing
new projects from inception to final delivery. “This
is partly the result of the widespread adoption of
modular building, which allows various parts of a
building to be prefabricated and processed on site.
Modular building has many variables and requires
more detailed planning. This calls for more computing
power. Also, the files that need to be exchanged are
significantly larger, as they are rendered in 3D as
opposed to ‘traditional’ 2D. This was an important
consideration on our choice to invest in a higherpowered network.”
Distances within BAM’s new office building are
generally less than 30 metres, which meant Cat.8
could be taken into consideration. The annexe behind
the main building was further away, making it ideal
for a Fibre To The Office (FTTO) solution. For this,
Nexans LANactive, which relies on a fibre topology
and active FTTO switches was introduced, instead of
building an extra Floor Distributor. The solution is used
for applications such as Gigabit Ethernet, VOIP, CAD,
BIM, WiFi, Power over Ethernet and security.
PIONEERING TOGETHER
“Although in-building distances greater than 30 metres
could be handled with Cat.7A class FA, I considered
Cat.8 to be the most future-proof solution. Whilst
developing the specifications for this new building
and its network, I had attended the Nexans, Eszet
Data and Psiber Data roadshows at the Eszet Skill
Centre in Harderwijk and Feyenoord Kuip football
stadium, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Although Cat.8
is primarily aimed at Data Centres, these presentations
really got me thinking. I took along one of my
colleagues from BAM Infra Telecom, which provides
total infrastructure solutions for telecoms customers,
for a second opinion. For our in-house engineers, this
was a great opportunity to develop and implement
this type of installation together with Nexans and
Eszet Data.”
“I discussed the idea with the Nexans representative
and suggested we approach this as a pilot project for
using Cat.8 outside the typical DC environment. I had
very high expectations of this solution and it hasn’t
disappointed us.”
SMOOTH COOPERATION
“Vincent was convinced of Nexans’ quality and
wanted a ‘state of the art’ Cat.8 solution, even
though this was seen as a data centre solution which
was still unratified,” explains Rene Fraiquin, Business
Development Manager, Nexans Cabling Solutions.
“We used LANmark-7A cable with extended
frequency range of 2000 MHz , equipped with
GG45 connectivity and EMC clips. This combined
the highest Enterprise cabling (Cat.7A) with the highest
Datacenter cabling spec (Cat8.2) and was the ideal
solution. In total, approximately 360 connections
were made and certified against the draft Cat.8.2 test
limits. To reduce the cost of an extra floor distributor,
FTTO was chosen for the second location, adjacent
to the office. This saves on installation, space, power
usage, cooling and active components.”
“19 LANactive FTTO switches, have been placed
as a consolidation point, offering a total of 76
(preterminated) copper-based RJ45 connections to
the devices. Installation has been done by BAM Infra
Telecom. Commissioning of network management
Challenges
Solutions
Benefits
• Making a new office location suitable for
architects developing and exchanging
vast 3D data files
• An FTTO solution in combination with
LANmark Cat.7A extended frequency
2000 MHz cables, equipped with GG45
connectivity and EMC clips.
• Support for 40 Gb/s bandwidth
requirements
• Connecting an annexe cost-effectively
and efficiently
• Enabling applications such as Gigabit
Ethernet, VOIP, CAD, BIM, WiFi, Power
over Ethernet and security by using
FTTO
• Connections shorter than 30 metres
were were made and certified against
the draft Cat.8.2 test limits.
• Savings on active equipment, cooling,
installation costs and space.
• Infrastructure and investment futureproofing.
• The installation included 9 cascaded
FTTO links with a total of 19 FTTO
switches
software was taken care of by SPIE ICS. Using traditional copper
nodes on the FTTO part would have quadrupled the cost.”
Vincent concludes: “The cooperation between all parties went
very smoothly. We were all pioneering together and each
company made a real contribution. We didn’t run into any big
problems or unwanted surprises and everything went according
to plan. If all users continue to be satisfied with this solution, we
may well expand it to other locations. We can easily copy this
approach elsewhere, too. I’d definitely recommend this approach
to others.”
Introducing Cat.8
Over the years there have been many
discussions whether fibre would replace
copper or not, but both will continue to play
an important role in Enterprise network and
data centre infrastructure. During Nexans,
Eszet Data and Psiber Data’s joint roadshows
in 2014, visitors were given the opportunity to
examine and discuss the latest developments
in high bandwidth copper and fibre cabling
and try the latest products and support tools.
FTTO
About BAM Group
FTTO (Fibre To The Office) is a centralized cabling technology
for LAN network office environments. The solution combines
passive fibre cabling and active FTTO switches to provide end
user device with Gigabit Ethernet services. Fibre is laid up
vertically and horizontally from the central building distributor
to the adjacent building, and then to a FTTO switch at the
workplace or consolidation points, which does away with the
need for Floor Distributors. The FTTO switch ensures intelligent
conversion from fibre to copper and vice versa.
Royal BAM Group NV is a leading European
construction group. With around 23,000
employees, BAM is responsible for the
implementation of thousands of projects
every year. The Group ranks among the
largest companies in Europe. BAM has top
market positions in the Netherlands, Belgium,
the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany
and is active in the sectors construction and
mechanical and electrical services, civil
engineering, property and public private
partnerships.
FTTO combines fibre and copper for optimal network
performance, offering the speed, reliability and long distance
coverage of fibre plus the ethernet services to devices via
standard copper-based RJ45 technology. This solution meets
all current network requirements in terms of both flexibility,
cost-efficiency and network interoperability and adds the
practical advantages of fibre. FTTO equals traditional cabling
performance but additionally provides significant cost benefits,
especially where large distances must be covered or building
requirements impose restrictions.
* The term ‘Cat.8’ or Category 8 is used in
this document purely to illustrate the concept
as official ratification for Cat.8 has not been
produced to date. ISO/IEC and TIA are
currently developing requirements for the
balanced twisted-pair media that will support
the 25GBASE‑T and 40GBASE-T applications
under development by IEEE 802.3. The
standards should be available early in 2016.
Nexans brings energy to life through an extensive range of cables and cabling solutions
that deliver increased performance for our customers worldwide.
Nexans’ teams are committed to a partnership approach that supports customers in four
main business areas: Power transmission and distribution (submarine and land), Energy
resources (Oil & Gas, Mining and Renewables), Transportation (Road, Rail, Air, Sea)
andBuilding (Commercial, Residential and Data Centers).
Nexans’ strategy is founded on continuous innovation in products, solutions and services,
employee development, customer training and the introduction of safe, low -environmentalimpact industrial processes. In 2013, Nexans became the first cable player to create
aFoundation to introduce sustained initiatives for access to energy for disadvantaged
communities worldwide.
We have an industrial presence in 40 countries and commercial activities worldwide,
employing close to 26,000 people and generating sales in 2014 of nearly 6.4 billion
euros. Nexans is listed on NYSE Euronext Paris, compartment A.
In the field of LAN Cabling Systems, Nexans Cabling Solutions offer a complete range
of products and value added services providing improved reliability and reduced cost of
ownership for Network Managers, together with faster installation times for installers.
In addition to LANmark brand cabling systems, Nexans also specialises in LANsense
Automated Infrastructure Management (AIM) products including Environmental
Monitoring and Access Control (EMAC) devices. Nexans offers an unrivalled choice of
LAN infrastructure solutions to a global customer based through an extensive network of
regional offices and Key Account Management team
Nexans Cabling Solutions
Alsembergsesteenweg 2, b3 - B-1501 Buizingen
Tel: +32 (0)2 363 38 00 - Fax: +32 (0)2 365 09 99
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Tel: +44 (0)1256 486640 - Fax: +44 (0)1256 486650
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© Nexans Cabling Solutions. All rights reserved. LANmark, LANsense and GG45 are registered trademarks of Nexans. Release date: August 2015.
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