Office Move / Dark Fibre & Power Queries

DHR

DHR

DHR

Soldato
Joined
30 Apr 2003
Posts
3,588
We're scheduled to move from office space in which all connectivity (voice, data, ports, patching etc.) is provided via a third party.

It's looking likely we're moving to a new building which will provide a dark fibre setup, this has given me a handful of questions I need answering as it's genuinely out of my comfort zone here:

  • Typically in this sort of setup, are patch ports already present?
  • What kit will we need aside from the obvious firewall, core switches etc.
  • Are there providers anyone would recommend for facilitating such a move?
  • Power wise, other than having two feeds coming into the building, and questions around the buildings resilient power supplies should I be asking anything else power related?
  • Are there any other questions I should be asking?
 
1) To me, dark fibre implies a carrier / telco has un-used fibre running into the building but this would normally have no relevance to internal structured cabling. You obviously need to go and inspect the building. Personally, allow a minimum of two CAT5/6 points per desk. IP phones with pass-thru for a PC can reduce requirements but being stingy on cabling usually comes back to haunt people later.

2) If you are looking at an Ethernet circuit (aka leased line) for Internet, via the ISP, the telco will provide the fibre NTE and the ISP a managed router (eg Cisco). You can then connect your UTM appliance to the router and configure as needed with the relevant IP details.

3) ISPs for the Internet connecitivty? Or IT company to help you build a network at the new site?

4) Diverse power feeds into buildings is pretty rare IMO (assuming you're not some huge company). Does the business have major requirement for uptime on power provision?
 
Chris has this pretty much spot on.

With regards to the power, we run 4 different rings into the comms suite, one through the UPS, one directly to devices with redundant PSUs (when I say directly, I mean after surge protection, but no UPS), one for running aircon, and one for running lighting. Having diversified power into the building itself as said, is rather rare for any SME, if you did need alternative power, would an on site generator suffice?
 
Thanks guys, it'll be a shared building so generators etc shouldn't really need to apply. Moving to SaaS platforms will negate the need for generators tbh.

Leaning toward getting a good outsourcing team in, the question is who is reputable really. We're looking at going to Meraki so from that perspective we're pretty comfortable, it's just what else will be required around this as part of the setup there is some confusion around. Like you say, tours are probably the best bet at this stage. As usual though, we're brought in late in the day!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom