connecting buildings best option?

[bitslice]

(although i wouldn't bother with fibre-copper convertors, just put it straight into a switch, less to go wrong...)

natch, but t'was not an option at the time:
this was in pre-GBIC days and we were linking up some really old DEC-Digital hubs...

£7K install sounds cheap, mind you I reckon London has fibre coming out of it's ears.

We get cheap 2Mb links as NTL has a 34Mb loop on the business park,
BT offerred us a 10Mb LAN link but it was an arm and six legs to install.


from my figures it seems trenches are only viable on short 50-200m runs, and then probably only if you need 1Gbs.


.

 

[Lex]

Laser and IR basically works in the same way as your TV remote, both require a clean line of sight bettween transmitter and reciever and are good for speeds upto about a gig. You will require a pro to set it up and I'm not sure what the security implications are off the top of my head.

3G isn't really an option unless you only want to browse some basic websites or donload some text emails. It will really struggle with large files or multiple users.

If running the cable really isn't an option than IR/Laser might be you best bet. Failing that if both buildings have decent/spare BT lines you could hook both up with SDSL or cheaper but lower performing ADSL and set up a quick VPN bettween the two

you say 3G isnt really the best option? I think thats where the company is heading towards! So can you expand on its implications please bud.

 

[tom_e]

3G speeds in my experience are around 256k bb speed at best so i cant see it working for any kind of lan

 

[hybrid]

Another vote for the LES Curcuit here.

We have a LES100 connected us to our neighbouring colleges and feeder schools.

The only downtime we have is if the ATM switch fails. Thats only happened once due to a misconfiguration.

 

[Lex]

3G speeds in my experience are around 256k bb speed at best so i cant see it working for any kind of lan

what the hell are my company thinking of!!!
tmobile just brought out a unlimited data card for 3G networking and they're thinking of using this for a WAN! I knew this project manager was a lemming!

arghH. I'm trying to suggest they think of wiring as much as possible and wireless where they HAVE to. Or they use LASER LAN for up to 700ft data transfer where they HAVE to and wired where they can. Least that way they know half the network is working all the while.

 

[bigredshark]

bottom line, if you need the network to work all the time, then at least one link to each building *must* be wired. it can be the primary or back but you simply can't get away with wireless alone in a business critical environment

 

[Fr0dders]

as already posted


wireless will be too slow, too unreliable and too expensive for your setup. GO for wired, which either means laying the fibre yourself (not an option) or getting BT to do it

with the LES, as posted above, they link both premises to the BT network, you get 100mb speeds, and all for the price of 3k yearly and 7k for install (according to the above poster)

put it this way, my last place of work had to connect a call centre and warehouse in leicester, to servers in london that hosted everything, so everything was stored in a SQL database in london.

To link the two together, they weighed up all the alternatives, and went with the BT option. PLus when things go wrong, you'll have an SLA with them to get it fixed, essential if this link is for anything important.

 

[malfunkshun]

So theres no telecoms directly between the buildings at all?

 

[bigredshark]

as already posted


wireless will be too slow, too unreliable and too expensive for your setup. GO for wired, which either means laying the fibre yourself (not an option) or getting BT to do it

with the LES, as posted above, they link both premises to the BT network, you get 100mb speeds, and all for the price of 3k yearly and 7k for install (according to the above poster)

put it this way, my last place of work had to connect a call centre and warehouse in leicester, to servers in london that hosted everything, so everything was stored in a SQL database in london.

To link the two together, they weighed up all the alternatives, and went with the BT option. PLus when things go wrong, you'll have an SLA with them to get it fixed, essential if this link is for anything important.

LES prices vary on location considerably, the prices I quoted were for an installation in London (our POP in moorgate to a site in hammersmith). London is rammed with Fibre all over the place so it's very cheap, if there's no local fibre in lace then installation could get considerably more expensive. year on year costs are usually pretty reasonable though

 

[bitslice]

Lex, just to follow up an earlier question, as it kind of limits the technology options.

what connection speeds do they actually want ?
you only said "quick"...


.

 

[Lex]

Lex, just to follow up an earlier question, as it kind of limits the technology options.

what connection speeds do they actually want ?
you only said "quick"...


.

I'll let you know exactly tomorrow. i think a 2mb line is suffice enough if that makes sense. But i'll find out for sure tomorrow.

 

[Lex]

as already posted


wireless will be too slow, too unreliable and too expensive for your setup. GO for wired, which either means laying the fibre yourself (not an option) or getting BT to do it

with the LES, as posted above, they link both premises to the BT network, you get 100mb speeds, and all for the price of 3k yearly and 7k for install (according to the above poster)

put it this way, my last place of work had to connect a call centre and warehouse in leicester, to servers in london that hosted everything, so everything was stored in a SQL database in london.

To link the two together, they weighed up all the alternatives, and went with the BT option. PLus when things go wrong, you'll have an SLA with them to get it fixed, essential if this link is for anything important.

an SLA?

 

[Lex]

So theres no telecoms directly between the buildings at all?

i'm not sure currently how they connect their systems but i will most definetly find that out. The reason information is so vague is because i'm not working on this project myself, someone else is. I just decided to delve a little into it as i'm not comfortable with how we're going about this.

data is highly important amongst the transfers and reliability is crucial! Everything heads towards a wired network. Problem is we dont have enough knowledge about fibre optic cabling and the details aroudn this. i suggest a civil engineering company come in and survey, design and install the network. But now you guys are saying let BT handle all of this. So now thats an option.

 

[bigredshark]

an SLA?

Service Level Agreement - a guarentee of a fix time should it break, make no mistake, the BT team responsible for LES circuits bares no resemblence to the muppets who deal with broadband, they'll be on the phone within minutes of the circuit going down requesting access for an engineer, it's quite shocking from BT

 

[Lex]

Service Level Agreement - a guarentee of a fix time should it break, make no mistake, the BT team responsible for LES circuits bares no resemblence to the muppets who deal with broadband, they'll be on the phone within minutes of the circuit going down requesting access for an engineer, it's quite shocking from BT

so is BT responsible for the broadband or not?

 

[Skiddley]

A wireless mesh might be an option with kit installed outside (mounted on external lights for example). There are models designed for this sort of application, but usually reserved for metropolotian WiFi access. You don't have to hop from building to building directly.

My personal recommendation would be full mesh fibre.

Ahh just saw the 2meg comment

 

[bitslice]

I think a 2mb line is suffice enough

hmmm, I wouldn't call a 2Mb LAN extension quick
I was under the impression you wanted a 100-1000Mbs link... hence suggesting the Laser/Fibre options.

just 2Mb puts the link choice back down in Cisco wireless territory tbh.
Or see pwd8's post.

Anyway as you are in London, ring BT and get that LES quote. Then we'll all know the score.


If it helps, my temporary cheap-n-dirty Wi-Fi WAN lashup has been rock solid at 34Mbs, and it was only £200.
'Tis a bit annoying really, as I wanted it to fail so I could replace it with a nice Cisco bridge, but it hasn't...



.

 

[iamgud]

If 2mb is good enough just get SDSL but it isn't as reliable as your own internal LAN. However if 2mb is all you need then go for it.

I wish I had a leased line

I need to move in near work and run my own fibre.

 

[blueboy2001]

If you want high performance and bulletproof reliability, the only viable option is a fibre network between the buildings, preferably with diverse routing for resilience.

For longer runs BT LES fibre is usually a good choice - a previous employer of mine had dozens of these running to various remote sites and they were generally very reliable - diverse routing is avaialble, although we didn't bother. Installation cost vary wildly depending on location, but diverse routing adds to the cost massively.

Given the relatively short distances between the buildings, it may be preferable to install your own fibre. You really need to talk a specialist company about it if you are to get it right. I've dealt with Interconnect (www.interconnect-ns.co.uk) who have experience of fibre as well as line of sight products.

 

[Lex]

well i presented the owner the documents i brought together and he is reading it tonight. it suggests using a LES circuit basically and takes a look at laser lan links.

he said to me "why didnt you tell me about this earlier! this is why i employed you":s i told him i needed the knowledge (which was/is true) before i confront him so he didnt cripple me with a question.

sorry i am probably msitaken in the bandwidth that i require. Its to transfer data but i'll find that out.