Successful Infrastructure Deployment at Florida State University

CASE STUDYSITUATION Deploy proper planning to deliver campus infrastructures that can support a technologically rich learning environment, extensive campus construction projects, and cus

CASE STUDY

SITUATION

Deploy proper planning to deliver campus infrastructures that can support a technologically rich learning environment, extensive campus construction projects, and customer service while matching technology needs to budgets at Florida State University

SOLUTION

Identify and establish long-term relationships with companies that provide outstanding warrantees, on-site training, and quality products Chose ADC’s TrueNet cable and connectivity solutions for maximum performance and WFX Wi-Fi Array for high-capacity wireless coverage

RESULTS

Sustainable and better performing cabling infrastructure, simplified Wi-Fi deployment, and continued support for reliability, cost-savings, and successful technology deployment to meet the needs of almost 40,000 students and 6,000 faculty and staff members

Successful Infrastructure Deployment at Florida State University

ADC’s TrueNet ® Cable, WFX Wi-Fi Solution, and Customer Service Deliver Performance

CASE STUDY

Since its inception in 1851, Florida State

University (FSU) has expanded to include

16 colleges that offer over 300 degree programs

at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral

levels, including psychology and medicine

FSU is comprised of over 100 buildings set

on the 463-acre main campus in Tallahassee,

Florida While its history stems back to the

pre-civil war era, and its buildings stand majestic

with their Jacobean architecture, it's what you

don't see that makes FSU a technologically rich

learning environment

SITUATION

Established in June 2000 through the legislative

laws of Florida, the FSU College of Medicine

is one of the first U.S publicly funded medical

schools in over 20 years With the chance to

build a medical program and associated facilities

from the ground up, the college recognized the

need to place an emphasis on the integration of

information technology resources and medical

informatics throughout the curriculum

With its mission of serving the unique needs of

Floridians, the College of Medicine graduated its

first class of 30 students in 2005 Starting in June

2007, the College of Medicine will admit 120

students a year on the way to a full enrollment

of 480 students Originally housed in temporary space and portable buildings, the College of Medicine broke ground in 2003 on a new

$60 million 300,000 square-foot facility constructed in three phases

In 2004, FSU also broke ground on a new

$55 million Psychology Complex, designed to bring together some 1,500 students and 50 faculty members who were housed in several buildings around campus and a rented location

in downtown Tallahassee The first phase of the 184,678 square-foot facility was completed in August 2006

This type of construction on the FSU campus

is not uncommon as the university continues

to build new facilities to serve the needs of the almost 40,000 students and 6,000 faculty and staff members FSU’s more than 20 current construction projects include a new 88,000 foot classroom building, 180,000 square-foot life science and research center, and 168,000 square-foot chemistry building

Within the walls and ceilings of each of these facilities, miles of cabling delivers LAN access, video service, security, and telephone service to create a technologically rich learning environment And at the core of planning, budgeting, and deployment of this entire infrastructure is FSU’s Office of Telecommunications (OTC) Founded in

1988 with just 10 employees, OTC is now made

up of over 100 employees who are responsible for delivering technology to match the ever-changing needs of students and faculty in every area of study Within OTC is a team of individuals that makes up the Operations and Technology department under the direction of Associate Director Charles Friedrich, RCDD

“At FSU, we [OTC] take care of all the planning, design and installation of the network cabling infrastructure, networking equipment, and service delivery This is preferred to contracting that work to someone from the outside,” says Friedrich “The result is a sense of ownership and pride that comes from knowing that if we don’t

do it right, we’re going to have to deal with the consequences Over the past 18 years, we’ve built

a team and developed institutional knowledge, training, inventory, and management tools all integrated into a single package.”

Built around a central courtyard, the new FSU College

of Medicine includes areas for research, education,

and administration, and a 300-seat auditorium The

facility features 15 telecommunications closets where

over 255,000 feet of ADC’s TrueNet Category 5e

cabling terminates to support 1,696 possible network

connections.

CASE STUDY

At FSU, buildings are designed and constructed

to be “legacy” buildings, and some campus

buildings are 75 to 100 years old FSU strives

to enable future generations of Seminoles to

enjoy the campus’ exquisite architecture While

constructing these buildings, OTC is aggressive

in planning ample pathway, conduit space,

and communications closets “We design the

buildings to easily retrofit with new technology

as requirements evolve,” says Friedrich “I’m very

pleased with our planning process, which involves

budgeting for each element of the network

infrastructure, including manhole systems, outside

plant cable, instrumentation, premise cabling, and

network equipment—both wired and wireless.”

SOLUTION

With so much network infrastructure to install

and maintain, OTC has relied heavily on steady,

mutual relationships with vendors that offer

quality products, comprehensive training, and

first-rate service Since the early 1990s, FSU

has been using ADC’s cabling and connectivity

solutions to deliver network access and telephony

service across campus

“Approximately every three to four years, we

evaluate four or five different manufacturers of

network cabling We install it, we test it, and

we look at performance and ease of use,” says

Friedrich “Then we narrow it down to one

specific vendor that outperforms the others,

and for over a decade, that has been ADC’s

solutions.”

With a solid vendor relationship and quality product, OTC once again turned to ADC when it came time to implement the cabling infrastructure

in the College of Medicine and Psychology Complex Both facilities feature ADC’s TrueNet®

Category 5e cabling to deliver 100 Mbps network speeds to the desktop The cabling also connects

to wireless access points (WAPs) throughout the facilities

Ken Johnson, College of Medicine’s director of information technology says, “Every medical student at FSU is provided with a college-owned laptop and PDA during the first year of medical school Students also receive the same help desk support that is received by faculty and staff These practices are unusual for most medical schools, not to mention higher education institutions in general The success of the college's academic program is interwoven with our IT infrastructure, and obviously wiring is a big part

of that Our IT network represents one of the highest concentrations of wired and wireless infrastructure for any academic organization here

at FSU.”

Ken Johnson, director of information technology for the College of Medicine, knows the importance of a quality

IT infrastructure in establishing a successful academic medical program.

Charles Friedrich, RCDD

With an annual operating budget

of over $13 million, FSU’s Office

of Telecommunications receives

approximately 4,000 work orders and

3,000 telecommunications repairs every

year Tasks can range from a simple

move of a phone to cabling entire new

facilities like the FSU College of Medicine

and Psychology Complex

The department’s staff of ADC trained

technicians and RCDDs take care of all

telecommunications-related services

and systems on campus, including 2,500 CATV outlets, 13,000 local phone lines, and a CISCO/FOUNDRY-powered gigabit and 10-gigabit core network.

“We don’t consider ourselves to be technologists We consider OTC a service organization that just happens to deliver technology,” says Friedrich “Our biggest challenge is matching technology to needs while meeting budgets and still offering quality customer care.”

Web Site: www.adc.com

From North America, Call Toll Free: 1-800-366-3891 • Outside of North America: +1-952-938-8080 Fax: +1-952-917-3237 • For a listing of ADC’s global sales office locations, please refer to our Web site.

ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101 Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document Because we are continuously improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice At any time, you may verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis ADC Telecommunications, Inc views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents Products or features contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S or foreign patents An Equal Opportunity Employer

103844AE 11/06 Original © 2006 ADC Telecommunications, Inc All Rights Reserved

OTC also deployed ADC’s Category 3 cable in

each of the facilities to provide separate voice

systems “For E-911 and other operational

purposes, we like to keep our voice network

separate and secure,” explains Friedrich “This

also makes adds, moves, and changes to the voice

system much simpler.”

In the new Psychology Complex, OTC installed

ADC’s new WFX Wi-Fi Array, a next generation,

high-capacity Wi-Fi solution “We have wireless

throughout the entire campus with many

different types of devices,” says Friedrich “We are

evaluating the coverage and cost benefits of the

ADC WFX Wi-Fi Arrays, and we anticipate possibly

deploying them in other facilities in the near

future, such as the new classroom building that

will see almost 30,000 student visits daily.”

ADC’s WFX Wi-Fi Arrays include an embedded array controller to control and optimize up to 16 integrated access point configurations that deliver

up to 864 Mbps of Wi-Fi bandwidth over a large area With the WFX Wi-Fi solution, customers can install fewer devices This innovative approach simplifies deployment and management of Wi-Fi networks, maximizing the amount of bandwidth and coverage available at a lower cost

RESULTS

By implementing and maintaining all telecommunications cabling infrastructure and services on campus, FSU’s OTC is able to keep costs down and easily manage every task at hand The solid relationship with ADC and quality cable and connectivity components has enabled OTC

to continually match needs and technologies with budgets as they did with the FSU College

of Medicine and new Psychology Complex ADC continues to present and demonstrate new products and technologies to further help OTC fulfill their ultimate goal of customer service

As the university moves forward with additional construction projects, the relationship with ADC will prove to be invaluable

“We consistently utilize our partnership with ADC for the warrantees, onsite training, and product quality we need for a successful campus network infrastructure,” says Friedrich “It has become evident to me over the years that every university needs partners they can count on, and we try to partner and depend upon all our vendors in the same way that we have with ADC With these types of relationships, OTC and FSU just can’t lose.”

Located on west campus, the new five-story FSU

Psychology Complex includes a psychology clinic,

49 research labs, and a 220-seat auditorium Phase 1

of the facility features 10 telecommunications closets

where over 143,700 feet of ADC’s TrueNet Category

5e cabling terminates to support 958 possible

network connections.