Fiber drives further down the network—right to the desktop - U.S. Department of Defense Commissary Agency - Government Activity

Communications News, July, 2001

The U.S. military commissary network shops for a bargain.

The continually expanding need to rapidly transmit large amounts of information drives the need for real-time data, imaging and video at each workstation.

One organization with such a need, the U.S. Department of Defense Commissary Agency (DECA), is responsible for the management of the worldwide network of U.S. military commissaries, the retail outlet for active and nonactive military personnel and their families--including more than 100 international commissaries, as well as an additional 200 on U.S. soil. DECA's priority was to find a solution that could deliver broadband fiber-optic capability to the new facilities' workstation desktops in an efficient and economical manner.

Recently, DECA consolidated all operations into one building, where ordering, inventory management, shipment tracking and many other responsibilities take place. Prior to moving into the new building, DECA's operations were scattered throughout the Pentagon and various regional offices across the U.S. The communications infrastructure in those offices was the more traditional fiber-backbone-to-copper network used today.

Typically, fiber entered a DECA building and terminated in a wiring closet. The network's backbone fiber then entered a multiport optical/electronic media convener switch, which sent 24 copper Category 5 cables snaking through ceiling plenums and the panels of 10-year-old systems furniture to the end-users' workstation desktops.

The new headquarters changed all that. In order to manage information effectively, incorporating state-of-the-art technology that would allow quick access to large volumes of data was essential.

Before making a final decision, three options were considered. The first was to buy new furniture and utilize traditional home-run cabling methods to run fiber out to each desktop through furniture panels. This solution was inflexible and costly when it came to future moves, adds and changes (MACs), but it was also unacceptable to route sensitive fiber-optic cable through cable-damaging furniture panels.

The second option involved buying new systems furniture, which filled the requirement for being able to deliver fiber to the desktop through its built-in cable raceway system. Budgetary considerations--a critical factor for this project--became a potentially limiting factor. Another disadvantage to this solution was its lack of modularity; while the furniture itself was expensive, future MACs would mean even more costs.

The final option was to buy Herman Miller Action Office II furniture with Holocom Networks' fiber-friendly TopRunner top-cap raceway system and its fiber Passive Gateway solution. This solution met all requirements of the project: flexibility, economy and sensitivity to fiber-optic cabling, as well as providing new furniture for DECA's 278 employees, where the proactive solution is installed on four floors of the new building.

Eight end-users are served by a Passive Gateway that resides at the head of each workgroup. The enclosures hang from a furniture panel and are fed by cable distribution routed through the floor. Each end-user receives three drops, one fiber for data and two copper CAT 5E for voice and fax.

These cables are concealed and organized to the desktop by Holocom's patented Vertical Wire Manager (VRM). The VRM connects to the furniture spine-mounted TopRunner raceway, extending vertically along the side of the furniture panel to just below the desktop work surface. Short patch cords concealed within the VRM then exit and connect directly to each desktop appliance. No jacks or faceplates are necessary.

The raceway carries 24 communications cables and runs along the spine of the modular furniture, where it interlocks with a Passive Gateway that houses an EIA/TIA standards-compliant, 24-port MUTOA (multiuser telecommunications outlet assembly). The MUTOA is the flex point in DECA's fiber/copper communications system.

Each cable from the telecom room is terminated at the MUTOA. Short fiber/ copper patch cords then run from the MUTOA to each workstation appliance. MACs are now simple. A new desktop appliance can be added by simply plugging in a patch cord to the MUTOA and, subsequently, to the appliance.

"In order to support the needs of DECA, the gateway and raceway, combined with the furniture, enabled delivery of optical fiber to each workstation desktop in an efficient and economical manner," according to Rick Sykes, Holocom's vice president of government projects.

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