By far the most important component in any Infrastructure Project is the so called Media Layer. This layer is responsible for carrying your data from server to server, server to client and client to client. Over the past 20 years there have been many standards for this Media Layer proposed, adopted, and superceeded. The currently active specifications range from Category 5e which is suitable for most small environments and is the most cost effective to install right through to Category 7 whcih is both expensive and unnecessary in most situations. 

At GEN, our in-house engineers are experienced in everything from Twinax to the very latest Category 8 and we are now using Category 8 in our own Data Centres as a rolling upgrade. 

Site Survey

When we conduct a site survey, we are looking to identify the following

• Data Transfer Requirements
• Future Proffing Requirements
• Structural Issues
• Cable Routes (within Specification)
• Trunking Styles to fit with Decor

After the survey is complete, you will receive a full report with basic diagrams showing cable routing and point locations. If you have provided floorplans then these will be clearly annotated with point locations. If the project is sizeable we may contract an architect to render floorplans and a surveyor to manage inter-floor routing and structural concerns. 

Structured Cabling Specifications

Features / Specis	CAT 5e	CAT 6	CAT 6e	CAT 6a	CAT 7	CAT 7a	CAT 8
Phone Lines
Home Network
Office Network
Data Centre
Class	D	E	E	Ea	F	Fa	1 and 2
Potential Bandwidth (ps)	1000 Mbps	1000 Mbps	1000 Mbps	10000 Mbps	10000 Mbps	25000 Mbps	40000 Mbps
Time to Transfer 1TB	3 Hours	3 Hours	3 Hours	20 Minutes	20 Minutes	10 Minutes	4 Minutes
Data Transmission	1000 BASE-T	1000 BASE-TX	1000 BASE-TX	10GBASE-T	10GBASE-T	25Gbase-T	40gbase-T
Connector Type	RJ45 8P8C	RJ45 (Cat 6)	RJ45 (Cat 6)	RJ45 (Cat 6a)	GG45	8P8C	GG45
Frequency Range Minimum	0 - 100 Mhz	0 - 250 Mhz	0 - 250 Mhz	0 - 500 Mhz	0 - 500 Mhz	1000 Mhz	2000 Mhz
Frequency Maximum	350Mhz	500 Mhz	550 Mhz	600 Mhz	750 Mhz	1000 Mhz	2000 Mhz
Performance Distance	100m	100m	100m	100m	100m	50m	30m
Alt. Distance		50m @ 10GB	50m @ 10Gb			15m @ 100Gb

Fibre Optic Infrastructure is less complex with there really only being two common standards. Fibre provides significantly higher bandwidth over a larger distance but is less robust than copper. Generally the use of Fibre is limited to runs longer than 100m for 1000BASE-TX or 30m for 30Gb to 100Gb and is commonplace for 30Gb interconnections. Our Fibre is terminated on-site and receives the same rigerous certification as our copper infrastructure. 

Infrastructure Certification and Re-Certification

One of the many issues we encounter is previously installed structured cabling that has not been certified. Certification is a complex testing method that certifies each cable to be specification compliant. The test equipment itself runs at about £15k per set so many companies don't bother and simply ensure that connections are electrically correct. We use the very best Agilent/Keysight Testkit. Badly routed, non-certified cables are by far the biggest cause of intermittent network anomolies we encounter. When GEN installs Infrastructure you will receive a full certification report, with detailed metrics for each and every cable in the project. With Re-Certification you will receive the same data, and a list of cables that are non-compliant and will need to be re-terminated or replaced. We can perform Re-Certification overnight or weekends to avoid interuption to business processes. 

Wiring Closet Refactoring

If your wiring closet looks anything like the image to the right then its time to consider refactoring. We use the term refactoring rather than strip it all out and start again because the process is in fact quite complex especially where documentation is limited or missing alltogether. We must first trace each active cable and map it before we disconnect anything. Then out-of-hours, our engineers will remove ALL cables, replacing them where nescesary and re-cable using proper cable management, turning your wiring closet into a professional and fully documented installation. 

Public Works and Site to Site

If you have two or more buildings on the same estate there is sometimes are need to connect these sites together, and doing so will require civil enginerring, permits, inspections and sign-off by your local council. GEN are experienced at this type of work and will take care of all these processes to get the job done. Where its simply not possible to achieve economically, for example where carridgeway excavation requires road closures and the costs for such exceeds the budget, then we can fallback onto P2P Microwave at 10Mbps per channel or WiMax at 300Mbps and even P2P Optical at 1000Mbps. 

Listed Buildings

If your building is 'listed' then there are certain challenges in progressing an infrastructure installation. You may have already been told that its simply not possible, but that's incorrect. We know the challenges as well as the workarounds and will take care of the process and dealing with surveys and inspections to get the job done. 

So if you have an infrastrucutre project that you would like us to consider, please contact us today (bottom right).