Raised floors solve university's connectivity challenges - Technology Information

Communications News, Dec, 2000 by Richard A. Ranker

Faculty simply remove and plug in a standard data jack to reconfigure classrooms.

Today's technology classroom is a sea of equipment, wires, conduit and furniture that, more often than not, is safely and securely bolted in place. While technology may be state-of-the-art, employing it with flexibility has been hamstrung by traditional hardwired solutions.

At East Tennessee State University (ETSU), faculty feedback revealed the need to design a multimedia classroom around a variety of teaching options, rather than vice versa. Faculty envisioned a multimedia classroom in which any commonly available media could be used in a permanent installation that was reliable and stable.

Professors cited the need to learn and work in ways reflective of today's information-based world. Cooperation and collaboration, the hallmark skills of the information age, are difficult to practice when classroom furniture is bolted into place. This creates difficulty when breaking into small groups for instructional purposes, then quickly reconfiguring the setup to support whole-class activity.

The academic technology support (ATS) division of the office of information technology at ETSU is responsible for providing faculty and staff with the tools, training and services that support instructional and research missions of the institution. The division had the task of rethinking the way rooms are designed, then implementing solutions for further evaluation. One problem was how to provide the Ethernet and electrical connections to the students for their laptops, while still providing a flexible learning environment. Four solutions were examined.

Wireless technologies were rejected because of cost, limited bandwidth and the fact that students still wanted power connections for their laptops. Furthermore, most wireless solutions are applied in institutions where laptops are required and thus standardized by the institution. This makes the wireless Ethernet card selection a standard. Such is not the case at ETSU.

DIGITAL FLOORING

Core drilling was tested in two rooms. By this method, electrical and network cabling enter through a hole in the floor and are distributed via conduit. Drawbacks to this solution quickly became evident. The architect had to wait for desk specifications because drilling had to be done in an exact location. This delayed the project by months. Then flooring tiles had to be removed by an asbestos contractor before drilling could begin.

The noisy drilling operation itself is disruptive in an educational setting. Even when completed, however, the core drilling solution did not allow the flexibility in moving furniture around. Moving, adding or changing electrical and data ports required further drilling and conduit runs. Poke-throughs in two classrooms ran into similar challenges.

ETSU staff decided the most versatile solution was an ultralow-profile (2.5-inch high), prewired modular floor system comprised of half-meter-square steel plates supported by an understructure resembling an egg crate. The understructure serves multiple roles, including managing cable routing and supporting the metal plates that are overlaid with carpet tile.

The floor system, supplied by Connect Center Inc., Cartersville, GA, accommodates any number of concealed data/electrical boxes that deliver voice, data, video and electrical service to work areas in the multimedia rooms. While these boxes may contain up to four electrical outlets and up to eight data ports, accessed via a grommeted lid, only two outlets and two Ethernet ports per box were installed. Modularity exists in and under the floor, allowing relatively easy realignment of the concealed floor boxes without tearing out the entire system.

In the two classrooms fitted with this solution, one floor box is provided for every two students, plus four extras to further support reconfiguration. Extending the network, electricity and signals to the furniture for quick plug-in convenience is accomplished in several ways. These include data docks that also hold a projector, or permanently or temporarily mounted desktop power packs. All of these are plugged into the floor boxes.

FLEXIBILITY VS. COST

In a multimedia classroom configuration, the floor boxes, when used in conjunction with network switches and patch panels in an associated freestanding communications closet within the room, act as a consolidation point for network connections as covered underTIA Technical Service Bulletin 75, addressing CAT 5 zone wiring. This supports "plug-and-play" data connectivity at the patch panel, as well as at the multimedia classroom peripherals. A simple numbering system identifies routes between the communications closet and a specific floor box.

Compared to the lengthy time required to implement the core drilling and poke-through solutions, multimedia classrooms were completely rewired using this solution within two days. There was no need to remove tiles, drill holes or otherwise disrupt ongoing education.

The only major drawback to the digital flooring option is the upfront cost. This solution costs an estimated 15% more than the other two options tried. Weighed against the decreased installation time and increased flexibility, ETSU expects that upfront costs will be completely offset with the next equipment or network installation in these classrooms. Technology will change, and the raised floor is the option best suited to accommodate this change.