I recently took over IT management at an architecture firm where users generate renderings and regularly interface with centrally stored 3d architectural models. Our switches are all managed gigabit HP procurves, and all users have gigabit cards in their PCs. In the newer portions of the office (we're in an old building), Cat5e runs from the local switches to wall jacks (with Cat5e patch cables from jacks to NICs).
But the surprise to me was that all of the home runs from the server room switch to local switches are Cat5. From everything I've learned about cabling (which admittedly is still fairly little), we are doing ourselves a disservice by not having at least Cat5e or Cat6 running between switches.
I need to make the case to management to justify the expense of running new cable, but found myself unsure of the exact benefit that a user would notice. I presume that opening or saving large files, the improvement would be most obvious. But would a user notice an improvement, for example, in the time it takes for Outlook to open (when not in Cached Exchange Mode, requiring the Exchange headers to sync at the start of every session)? Would the improvement for either example be a magnitude of 10 or something smaller?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
(Closest reference I could find was thread575-1329982 but that was differentiating Cat6 from Cat5e)
But the surprise to me was that all of the home runs from the server room switch to local switches are Cat5. From everything I've learned about cabling (which admittedly is still fairly little), we are doing ourselves a disservice by not having at least Cat5e or Cat6 running between switches.
I need to make the case to management to justify the expense of running new cable, but found myself unsure of the exact benefit that a user would notice. I presume that opening or saving large files, the improvement would be most obvious. But would a user notice an improvement, for example, in the time it takes for Outlook to open (when not in Cached Exchange Mode, requiring the Exchange headers to sync at the start of every session)? Would the improvement for either example be a magnitude of 10 or something smaller?
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
(Closest reference I could find was thread575-1329982 but that was differentiating Cat6 from Cat5e)