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Telecommunications Wiring - Building Upgrade Plan

Over the course of FY 99/00, an initial 10 year telecommunications infrastructure upgrade plan was conceived. This plan included extension of single mode fiber to all occupied buildings at the University (all locations), and replacement of Type II wiring in approximately 75 (30 UP) University Buildings. The plan has been funded as part of the revised TNS funding structure.

Type II Wiring

Type II wiring is the type of "structured" wiring that was first deployed at the University for data and telephone connectivity. The Type II wiring has a useable bandwidth of 100 MHz, providing for 100 Mb connections to the desktop. However, Type II connections are no longer supported by equipment and computer NIC card manufacturers, so use of the wire requires the inclusion of an adapter, or balun. The baluns are fairly inexpensive and reliable, but do pose somewhat of a nuisance.

The next generation of wiring deployed at the University was Category 5, which was quickly replaced by Category 5e. We have now increased our standard to Cat 6. Category 5e and 6 will support applications up to Gigabit and possibly beyond. Type II wire will not support gigabit applications, nor will it support the centralized power requirements of our VoIP technology.

Deployment Schedule List (Revised 10/07/2004)

The following list was developed by soliciting input from each campus, academic college and Administrative Unit. Each was asked for, and provided, the priority list of buildings for their respective area's of responsibility. The list was then prepared with an attempt to balance the work done at each of the locations, provide a balance between locations, provide for flexibility in deploying fiber and addressing maintenance needs. In addition, a priority was applied to have all UP buildings converted to Cat 5e or Cat 6 wiring to meet the needs of the VoIP deployment schedule. This list will be updated each year or as required.

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