IP phone system and wiring ... 1

[mrdom]

Hello everyone: Trying to become a bit wiser as we look to an IP-based phone system and a general network upgrade at our facility.

Currently, we have a whole menagerie of wires all over the place. We have an old Norstar switch, an alarm system in multiple buildings, etc. Everything is interconnected with 25-pair cable. The cable has mostly voice, but there are a few stations on data as well.

If we were to go the IP-system route, could we use the exiting wiring that we have in place, or is it going to have to be replaced with all new wiring? I thought I'd attach a few pictures of one of our buildings so you could see how scary things look!!

Thanks for the help.

 

[mrdom]

Another question dovetails off of this one ... in terms of the runs between buildings, do we only need to run one cable to connect the buildings?

In other words ...

BUILDING A
Ports 1-8 with ethernet devices
Port 9 goes back to the switch in the building where internet is?

BUILDING WHERE INTERNET IS
Ports 1-8 with ethernet devices
Port 9 has the cable from building A
Port 10 has a cable connecting the switch to the router

Is my thinking correct?

Thanks again.

 

[phoneguy610]

You need cat5e or better for ip phones. Also how far is the distance between data closets? Cat5 is rated up to 300ft, you may want to consider fiber.

Your phone syst vendor should be able to point you in the right direction

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/SyntelSolutions

ACIS

"Will work for stars

 

[phoneguy610]

All of those 66 blocks are worthless with ip

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/SyntelSolutions

ACIS

"Will work for stars

 

[Dexman]

Usually the equipment manufacturer will indicate what type of wiring should be used for an installation. Digital telephones work perfectly fine with CAT3 cabling. CAT5E or higher cable may be specified for IP phones.

I "FEATURE 00"

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7n25t/

 

[mrdom]

Thanks very much, gentlemen - you confirmed what I suspected. The buildings are in fairly close proximity to one another; they're not spread terribly far apart. In fact, two buildings are interconnected together.

So ... basically what we'd want to achieve is to rip out all of those old wires and establish a good, solid ethernet network among all the buildings. Then, phones and data would happy coexist on the same network?

Appreciate the help!

 

[phoneguy610]

Not necessarily I always recommended separating the networks whether physically (separate switches and cable runs for computer and voice) or logically (vlans)

Again something your phone system vendor should be knowledgable on

ddcommllc.com
Avaya/Toshiba/SyntelSolutions

ACIS

"Will work for stars

 

[Alexbrown012]

I think possibly not because i advised splitting the particular networks whether or not bodily or rationally.

 

[jrgood0852]

I would use 6A cabling as this is the standard today and will see the site into the future (40 Gig.)

 

[mrdom]

That's what we're going to do. Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[ttech]

Cat6A?

There must be a money tree behind the warehouse.

 

[mrdom]

yep!

 

[Dexman]

At some point, the limits of copper cabling...whatever they may be...will be reached. To go beyond that, you'd be looking at a fiber to workstation situation.

I "FEATURE 00"

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze7n25t/

 

[randybear28]

Isn't fiber as cheap or cheaper after a certain distance, plus being outside? If you run fiber outside then you might as well run a fiber backbone between all the distribution points. Then you can install short runs of Cat5e from the distribution points to the workstations, one for phone, one for data. To make it look nice and be easy to tell which is which, even though both are Cat5e, run one color for data from a dedicated patch panel, and another color from a different patch panel for phone ports. Use the same color keystone jacks as the cable.

 

[jrgood0852]

Randy nailed it. That is an ideal site. Sometimes you have to work with what you have, otherwise redo the whole site. Thanks, Randy.

Always look out for the next guy because it may be you!