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Below is a drawing of the telecommunications board
requirements... The company asked me to design a neat, professional looking Computer and Telecommunications Room. They wanted this room to be on the manufacturing plant tour, for prospective clients. The company is a tier-1 automotive manufacturer, and as such telecommunication (EDI) systems are of paramount importance. A second requirement is that the facility be organized well enough that the technical support staff need little instruction to use it. Before:
(The steel wall studs are shown, instead of the smooth plywood facing. This lets me place components at locations that don't conflict with the steel structure.) This Computer/Telecomm Room was located on the second floor, in the middle of the office area. It was designed and laid out with the idea of efficient flow of wiring always in mind. Referring to the above diagram:
To facilitate installation during construction and in years to come, the main board was a false wall offset from the room wall by 15 inches. The cladding was 1-inch plywood on which equipment could be mounted securely. Removable 24-inch high panels ran along the bottom. A narrow access door was built into the far right end. Closet doors were built on the far left-hand side to give an overall sense of neatness.
After:
The pair of photos show the left- and right-hand side of the telecomm board. The access panels are in place, along the bottom. Unseen is the ventilation grid along the length of the ceiling, adjacent to the telecomm board. The smoked-glass door of the network cabinet is seen at the far right. Note that there is room for expansion as the plants telecommunication needs grow.
The two photos above show the access panels removed. The steel wall studs are evident. The second shot is taken from the "closet" on the left-hand side, looking behind the false wall. The two photos below illustrate the simplicity of the phone and modem system. The phone set system is colour coded in green. To install a new phone, the technical support person simply connects a pair of wires from a phone system port (top row of phone BIX blocks) to the correctly labeled point immediately below. This then activates the green port with the identical label, in the desired office... Finally, the support person plugs in the new phone in that office.
Wires from the two blue sockets travel directly to the network cabinet in the Computer Room. Wires from the green phone jack, and the red modem jack run with the network wires to the same room. Once there they split off and terminate on the green and red BIX blocks The set of phone BIX The green phone BIX blocks There is a similar system
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Questions or comments? Enter your comments on our Feedback Form Or send mail to paul@PaulAcacia.com or to pacacia@mail.com. Copyright©2000 P. Acacia Consulting Last modified: Monday, May 08, 2000
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Bell Canada phone line
feeds and T1 lines entered from the plant and terminated on the first
set for BIX blocks, located on the far left-hand side. These six blocks
constituted Bell's side of the demarcation point. The plant's technical
support staff did not touch these. Tie cables led to the
plant's side, where the staff could connect phones and modems quite
easily. The Phone System is rectangular box located at the
upper left-hand side, immediately above the Bell BIX blocks.
Computer network cabling
from the first floor came up the access holes and traveled along the bottom of
the false wall and entered the double network cabinet on the right side.
The network cabling from the second floor and the plant traveled along the top
to the right side, then entered the network cabinet from below. One meter
of extra cable length (looped inside the false wall) allowed the network
cabinet to be moved about.
Phone set cabling
entered by the same sources, but traveled to the phone BIX blocks on the
company's side of the demarcation point (see the green labeled BIX blocks in the
photos below). Modem lines traveled to the red BIX
blocks. 
Paging system wiring travels
from the office speakers and plant area horns to one of the six Bell Canada BIX
blocks on the right-hand side. Companion System base radio cables (a
wireless phone system) similarly travel to another BIX block set.
Security system sensors
and video camera cables travel along the upper portion of the false wall, and
terminate on the upper right-hand side (larger gold and black rectangular
boxes).
Electrical power outlets are
located at various points on the front and back side. Isolated ground
outlets are supplied for devices like the digital phone system. A
UPS is provided for the phone system as well, to allow up to a minimum of 15
minutes of service in the event of a power outage.
