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Ask Slashdot: What Would You Include In a New Building?
First time accepted submitter weiserfireman writes "For the first time in our company's 60 year history, we are going to be building a new facility from scratch. We are a CNC Machine shop with 40 employees and 20 CNC machines, crammed into a 12,000 sq foot building. We are going to build a new 30,000 sq foot building. I am the only IT person. I support all the computer systems, as well as all the fire/security/phone systems. My Boss has asked for my input on what infrastructure to include in the new building to support current and future technology. 1st on my list is a telecommunications equipment room. Our current building doesn't have one. I have been researching this topic on the Internet, and I have a list of a lot of different things, all of them are nice, but I know I am going to have a limited budget. If you were in my shoes, what priorities what features would you design into the building?"
Secret passageways
Perhaps this is obvious, but its the very first thing that popped into my head. You might not need to install a lot of cabling to run what you have, relatively speaking, but you WILL need to install more later and you WILL wish you had installed bigger conduit. So, plan your current needs as being 1/3 to 1/2 capacity and leave plenty of room for more. It doesn't cost much more to install bigger/more conduit now, but it will cost TONS more to install it later. Your successors will praise you.
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
Foosball table
Running out of ethernet jacks after the fact is a damned pain, and the cost of putting in wires(unshockingly) rises once you have to punch through the wall and do a bunch of fishing to get them there.
Even if you are Embracing The Wireless Future, you'll want enough copper to support about twice as many APs as the vendor claims you'll need. If not, you'll want even more.
Seriously, you're asking for a heart attack. I don't care how good you are, that's way too much for one guy to deal with by himself.
Unless you're building in an ice cap, you'll need a reliable and likely fairly powerful cooling system for your telecom/server room. You should have it spec'd into the building's system capacity with the proper ductwork installed up front. Retrofitting that sort of thing can be a pain down the road.
Other than that, have at it.
To go along with your telecom room, add a server room with good cooling. Additionally, have them put spare wiring conduits throughout the building, in which to run telecom and network cables. Make sure you have space for running more or different cables in the future.
Raised floor, oversized conduit to support expansion and/or upgrade, overestimate your power needs, etc. Build a wish list, and let /them/ tell you what they won't buy; you'll never know what they are willing to invest in until you ask.
There's nothing worse than being in a building where money was no object - for the machinary, but to hell with the staff. So at lunchtime you have to wander down to some dodgy joint to get some garbage for lunch because there's nothing else around and coffee comes curtesy of Mr Vend. Thanks, but I don't care how 733t the equipment is, I don't want to work somewhere like that again.
Most important items are a wiring and equipment closet and several dedicated wiring channels (at no more than 30% capacity) do you can more easily upgrade the wiring and infrastructure in the future. The easier and less costly it is to upgrade your wiring/fiber, the easier it will be to make upgrades. Make sure the equipment closet is climate controlled and has a good air filtration system, dust from your CNC operations is not nice to equipment, especially metallic dust.
As for what to put there now, I recommend Cat 6 cabling plus any specialized cabling that you currently require.
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
You're on the right track, I think.
For a CNC place, you *need* a well-sealed, clean server room with a good independent air-conditioning system. Dust is the enemy.
The room should have LOTS of power outlets. 220 would be nice.
Everything else can be done later. But a decent server room is fundamental.
Dual Cat6 sockets on each desk
wireless routers in each room [not for use for work stuff - just don't have wireless for anything work sensitive]
power more power sockets than you think you need
in the telecoms room
UPS / UPS and more ups - everything upsed - main routers, servers, switches and telephone systems [ though if you are using IP telephony up the number of sockets at each desk]
who where what when now?
1). Properly Secured Server Room
2). AC Unit dedicated to server room
3). Cat 6 Ethernet (2 jacks) for each desk/location
4). Fiber between floors, multiple cables
5). Secure locations to install Wireless Access Points
6). Video camera's with DVR storage for a week (cabling)
7). FOB key card access to everything (keys suck)
8). IT Storage space for boxes, spare equipment, etc.
9). Proper kitchen for coffee
You didn't list what business growth plans are, but I would anticipate the current employee-to-square-foot ratio staying the same even though there will be reprieve for a while. Plan your telecom/IT density accordingly, unless the business just doesn't plan to grow and is making bigger space as a luxury (highly unlikely).
Instead of a telecom room, think more like data center. If you're doing CNC then data is a business critical function. This means proper rack space, structured cabling, fire suppression and monitoring, physical security, environmental conditioning, etc. You probably have limited IT gear now with only 40 people, but what if that number tops 100? What about when technology dictates your data storage requirements double or triple (along with backup requirements)? Can you support, power, and cool that much gear if you had to? That doesn't mean you need to install everything for it now, but make sure you have the space and power required to do it later.
I would also consider how you get data to your people. Run at least a couple CAT6 pulls to each desk for data, as well as a phone run. I would also put in enterprise-grade WiFi (Aruba or similar), but the amount of gear you buy for that will depend heavily on building layout and construction. If everything in there is metal, you will need to bump up the access point density.
Really the features you need depend on the things the business deems critical, but data integrity/availability and worker productivity are usually top on that list, especially for a business that requires data to even make the machines go. If you have budget to do it right, then do it with that in mind.
Unless you are in a wildly electrically hostile environment, or forsee a need for 10GbE to the desktop, why bother?
I would suggest that a secure wireless strategy would be better
love is just extroverted narcissism
Pick up Thomas Limoncell's _The Practice of System and Network Administration, Second Edition_. Phenominal book that goes over this in a very logical way. I can't speak more highly of it.
Have gnu, will travel.
Lots and lots of cable channels. It will save you oodles of time and effort if you have prebuilt passageways to run cabling than it is to try and snake through ceilings. Not to mention it looks neater and is easier to trace.
Take a systematic approach to labeling and documenting where every cable goes and what it connects to. You might be the only person now, but at some point you won't be there OR, as unbelievable as it sounds, someone else may be hired to work with you.
As for a closet, in some of our buildings that is literally what we have; closets where the racks are. If you have to go that route, make sure you leave yourself enough room to do things without running into the walls or having to slide your hand through a slit not much bigger than an orange. Lighting is also helpful as is airflow.
Storage. All those cables, extra switches, parts and whatnot take up more space than people realize. Something that can be secured. Standard metal shelves with labeling for everything will do the job nicely.
Finally, if you can manage it, some dark, twisting tunnels which look all alike.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
With the rise of CAD and CNC your business is more dependent on reliable computing resources than ever before.
You may not need a huge room, but you do need for it to always be available. UPSs, good server backups (to the cloud maybe), good networking, good environmental conditioning (on the UPS!) etc.
The last thing you need is to be the problem blocking 40 machinists from doing their work.
On my required list would be a separate dedicated A/C system for your equipment room. Too often computer/telephone rooms are connected to whatever A/C system is convenient which leads to problems -- One of my horror stories was management turning off the A/C in the lunch room which had been running 24x7 to save energy, little did they know that the lunch room A/C was shared by the computer room on the other side of the wall.... :-(
Rule number one: Don't skimp on network drops. It's easier and cheaper to install them when you're building/finishing a facility than to try to go back later and re-run extra data lines. Ideally, plan twice as many as you think you need. Barring that, drop at least one more than you think you need in each location. The spare can be used for when you buy new equipment, add a printer, phone, etc..
Fire related equipment should be on its own separate network. Not a VLAN, it's own actual network. I've seen facilities grow, that were small in the beginning and ran fire on the same physical network as regular data. Regular data needs grew, and despite QoS settings, the fire system started getting starved for network traffic and the fire controllers were reading that they list contact with remote sensors, which triggers an alarm. Once the link is re-established a few seconds later, the alarm resets. Then a little later, you get another false alarm because it missed a check-in from a sensor.
Be generous with power drops. CNC equipment will likely need their own power, but be thoughtful about where you'll have power for various printers or workstations, anything that might need a dedicated circuit, in case a CNC were to cause a circuit breaker to trip. When you have a Server/Telecomm room, make sure it's big enough to suppor both the network rack, a telecom rack and a server rack or two. Check and double-check that you have dedicated circuits to the room for each rack you're planning to run.
Be generous with air flow in the Server/Telecomm room. It will generate more heat than you expect. Plan on it having its own, dedicated AC system.
Backup Power, plan to have it. If your phones are IP-based, you want to be able to have power for them during an outage, as well as your fire system. An onsite backup generator would be very nice. If you can't swing that, be sure to have, check, test and keep working, a good set of UPS devices to provide power during an outage.
I know you have a limited budget, but shoot for the moon, don't cut corners where you don't have to. Doing it right will serve the organization for years to come, even after you retire or move on...or have to hire more IT folks!
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
Security for the infrastructure room.. (I don't care if it's a closet or a multimillion dollar server room..) Solid core, fire rated doors with appropriate locks. (Amazing how many businesses don't have the minimum there!)
As someone else said, conduit and wiring ability to expand over time. If someone wants to run 1" conduit, double it to 2" or 3". In the future there will be some new technology and it's almost impossible to ever remove old wiring, but adding new will be much easier.
Climate control -- note I didn't say air conditioning. For the best results, the room should have the ability to have it's own climate control. This may mean air cleaners (if fresh air is used for heating/cooling), air conditioning unit, etc. Don't rely on the building system, because as technology changes the heating/cooling requirements of the technology will change.
A space twice the size you need.. Equipment is always changing in size.. both bigger and smaller, as are the company needs.. room to grow is a good thing!
Finally power.. the room should have it's own dedicated power feed, that can easily be managed by a generator, power backup unit, etc.. even if you don't need those things today, planning ahead for them makes it a whole lot cheaper if you do ever need them. Again relying on building wide power is fine for a while.. but it's much better to have the ability for dedicated stuff in the IT room.
We are looking at moving to a facility double the size of ours. My hit list is:
- 10x10 server room. All wiring for phones and network will land there
- CAT 5E or Cat 6 cabling throughout for phone and data
- Dropping the old nortel phones for VOIP (internal only) phones. Easier to configure and has tones more features
- 4 drops in every office (You never know when they'll need it and they'll try to cramp 2 people in there
- Roaming wireless AP through the plant (we will be going to 60000 sqft so I have 6 of them)
I'm not going to talk about electrical and other facilities since electricians have a good handle on what companies need today (usually 2 double outlets per room and 20amp circuit for microwaves in lunch room)...
A ZPM for independant power supply
You should also have toilets than can handle number 2
Pneumatic ones.
Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
A thermonuclear device planted below the building - in case things go bad.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Technology moves all the time. Make it easy to pull new cables/fiber/whatzits as you need it.
A few years ago, I saw a new Electrical Engineering building at a uinversity. Every office and lab backed up to a 6 foot wide access hallway that was essentially a giant, walk-in cable tray. New connectivity was a simple matter of going through the wall.
Now, I'm sure you don't have that kind of budget or space. But consider how close you can come to that. A machine shop always needs to get AC power and air around, also. Mabye there is some building layout that serves both purposes.
Your needs will depend on, among other things, your layout. Is it a shop/front office setup, a series of small rooms, or just one big open area? Depending on what the physical setup of the building (and computers/phones), a single distribution frame may not be appropriate. Considering the size of the building, I would assume that, in addition to your main distribution frame, at least one IDF (independent distribution frame, i.e. "small telecom closet") would be necessary to overcome the attenuation limitations of Ethernet cabling (assuming this isn't a end-to-end fiber shop, a situtation which would provide many different questions and answers).
Assuming that the cable is run in anything other than under-floor conduit, talk to your architect about how and where the cable raceway will be placed. It's been my experience that most architects don't take cable installation concerns into account when designing floorplans, and thus you often end up with situations where it is next-to-if-not-impossible to get a new cable down a certain length of run, because the designer placed the raceway too damn close to HVAC equipment, or it runs blind 30' up a column with no access port, or any of at least a dozen other stupid situation's I've been in because nobody thought discussing layout was worth the time.
What else, what else... Well, you'll probably want to have some 220 and/or 440 circuits brought into your distribution frames, just in case you need that sort of power at a later date (if you don't already now) - I know the Cisco Catalyst series of routers require at least 1 220v Twist-Loc connection for power, 2 with redundant power supplies.
That's about all the advice I can think of to give, considering the limited information you've provided. Still, useful stuff.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Unless you are in a wildly electrically hostile environment
He's in a machine shop. Only thing worse is a arc welding plant. Do yourself a favor and run fiber to every machine, not every desktop. In ye olden days at the plant I had to run that new-fangled cat-5 thru roof trusses spaced many feet between power conduits just to keep interference down. We didn't even bother trying to set up a networked PC in the welding area. All that plant cat-5 was replaced with fiber as budget permitted. Assuming you terminate your own SC/ST (or whatever) connectors, the main cost is a couple hundred bucks for the ethernet to fiber converters.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
So that employees can cycle or run/walk to work, or at lunch and not stink up the place. Fit employees are cheaper on the health-care front and happier.
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
For the phones I would make sure your telephony switch supports VoIP handsets and wire anywhere you expect to have a telephone with PoE. All the VoIP phones I've used have a built in switch so you can plug the user's workstation into the phone. Newer phones will have a gigabit switch. I've done testing with Avaya and Cisco phones and I couldn't find any bandwidth limits when plugged into the phone vs. straight into the wall jack. It's a great setup because you don't need power dongles or redundant wiring for the phones. Each desk has one jack for voice and data.
Check the power draw from the phones and make sure your switch can provide enough. I've seen PoE switches that can't light up every port because some devices were pulling too much power. Current-generation phones seem to take far less power than they did a couple of years ago unless they have big fancy LCD screens.
This may require an upgrade to your PBX though, which can be expensive. For the size organization you're talking about (or for just about any size, depending on specific features you need) going with Asterisk might be a great idea. You get free conference bridge support, voice mail, menuing, etc. and can perhaps ditch the service contract you're paying right now. You can find IP phone service as well or if you want to stick with T1s (or copper if it's cheaper), Digium sells hardware to support that which is generally pretty affordable.
And, unrelated to the phones, you might want to put LAN drops in the ceiling throughout the office for wireless access points.
and Power (3 phase if possible) and enough to triple what you have now to plan for future growth.
Somebody's going to mod me down, but I'm dead serious. This is the second time a company I worked for has moved to a new location with no storage space for anything at all -- HR documents, financial documents, machinery (both active and surplus), office supplies, even employee's coats. Let me assure you how professional it looks to have random file cabinets placed all over what are supposed to be ADA-compliant-width hallways. </sarc>
Two essential things you'll want to consider, or at least ask about:
1) Power in the event your main electrical supply goes out. Do you have a UPS in the data center? Do you need a generator on-site to keep things running? How much is it powering - just IT, or the CNC machines, too?
2) Make sure every damn thing in the building is easy to access once the building is complete. Light bulbs, faucets, AV equipment, etc. We moved into a beautiful building in 2006, with all sorts of high-tech displays all over the site, embedded into the walls. The majority of them are next to impossible to access if you want to re-seat a cable, replace a power supply, change a bulb, etc. It's at the point now where most of them are off and dormant, because it will require a general contractor to access them and do minor maintenance.
Oh, and a big red button for the BOFH to initiate discharge. Preferably with PFY and his (perhaps imaginary) girlfriend snuggling behind a warm rack ;)
But seriously, just deal with two CAT6 cables going to every desk -- that's all. You don't need any phone wiring, because in this day and age, you can buy cheap IP phones -- say used Zultys ZIP4x4s that cost at most $50 each and work well (but look like crap, sorry) with Asterisk. They have managed ethernet switches built-in. You'll want a decent Linux server, capable of running Asterisk. For the phones, probably you should get a PRI line coming in, or get a decent Internet connection and use VOIP, but PRI is less of an unknown if you need to deal with faxes. The PCI or PCI-X PRI card from Digium will cost between $500 and $1000 IIRC, but is well worth the investment. Get some nice HP ProCurve PoE switches, you can get them used. For your secretary and the CEO you'll want Aastra 6755i as that looks better and has fully documented bells and whistles, and isn't doesn't cost much more used either. You can get Suzy's Twitter feed on them if you so wish :)
Just look on eBay, be careful, and you'll figure out there's a couple of sellers there who are good and have first hand knowledge of HP gear and they do actually refurbish it, apply updates so you won't waste time, etc. I suggest HP gear over Cisco, as with HP you don't need any support contracts and updates are free as long as product remains in support. Cisco won't speak to you unless you fork over some money or already have a "blanket" support contract with them.
Avoid any sort of vendor lock-in. Don't go for closed systems.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
A bathroom. With showers.
0x or or snor perron?!
Private office with full bath and sleeping arrangements (preferably with the receptionist)
I'd suggest the most important things will be power for the server room (incl UPS & backup generator, scaled to your runtime needs for orderly shutdown of servers in case of an extended outage) and run conduits/wiring shelves to enable the easy stringing of fiber/copper in the future.
I'd also suggest making sure the building is wifi/wireless friendly - if all interior walls are metal, for example, you may need an ungodly number of APs to enable wireless networking.
As for the server room, I'd think real hard about the size room you think you'll need, then double it. This is your chance to ensure you have enough room for everything now, and while virtualization is all the rage, I wouldn't use that to justify skimping on space. You'll want romm for the equipment, systems you are working on, spare parts, and perhaps space for your desk (preferably with a door between you and the server to cut down on noise).
Run wiring trays in the server room - run the wires overhead, not under raised floor.
Finally, don't forget cooling - as servers become denser and denser, their heat output doesn't shrink in my experience. Also, not familiar with CNC shops, but air filtration for the server room might also be in order.
Ken
'nuff said...
What?!? Next you'll be wanting toilet paper!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Does the IT systems have to be up 24/7 for the CNC rigs? If so, what about UPS/generators/power backup?
You mention security systems, too -- that's another ball of wax. Going with badges, biometrics, security guards, or what?
Fire systems? Are you both the IT guy and the guy in charge of a fire suppression system? In a CNC manufacturing environment? Do you work with hazardous materials on the CNC floor? If so, get an expert.
Hot climate, cold climate? Wet, dry? Flood zone? Likely to get buried in snow zone? Is the new facility out in the middle of nowhere? Middle of a big city? High crime zone? War zone? It sounds like you've got the obvious stuff down, but are asking for the non-obvious, but without a more information, the non-obvious stuff is harder to suggest. (i.e the sort of thing like 'Oh, it's in *that* country/state -- don't do X, because regulation/union/group Y will bite you.') It's hard to 'be in your shoes' without a bit more info.
DO NOT FUCKING stand and talk on walkways and doorways.
you can never have too many cable trays and ducts. makes pulling and replacing so much better. you will never get more space, so spec double sized equipment room with a separate air handler. oil vapor and water vapor from the cutting tools does not go well with servers and stuff.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
I've been down this road a few times - install separate ductwork leading in and out of the server/telco room (with the intakes on the opposite side of the building from your other ductwork) if you can possibly afford it.
Dirt and machine oil and metal filings can move surprising distances. Separate HVAC to the server room works far better than extra filters which just get clogged.
Also, like others have said - conduit for data lines to every workstation. Potentially cheaper than fiber (if you do it right the first time) and more durable and future-proof.
Plan for the future.You can never have too much cabling in the walls.
Every cable run double what you think you need and then add 1
For example a location that will get one computer, run 3 cat6 cables. A location that gets 2 computers run 5 cat6 cables.
Or hire up a decent local firm to offer on-site support as a backup,either at a contracted rate or prepaid. If you're just sick with the flu, they can come in and do MAC or general AD stuff, etc. Certainly they can make your life tolerable by backstopping the simple stuff while you deal with critical issues as best you can.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
First, make sure you know all the current needs. Are you just doing to electrical infrastructure, or ALL of it. Who else is providing input to your boss? There are certain groups that will have higher priority in the building design, such as Safety & Occupational Health, Human Factors, etc. Make sure these are covered BEFORE you start planning. You don't want safety to throw up a flag if you need a power box near an eyewash station.
Next, ask what is in the business pipeline for the near and far future. You may know some of these, but not all of them...
Check industry vendors to get an idea of where the future of CNC equipment you may be using is going. What infrastructure will be needed to support these capabilities? How will the workfloor change to accommodate these machines?
Bearing these in mind, scope up your desired infrastructure. Keep in mind:
a) Boss may not be able to afford everything. Make sure it is possible to scope back your design. Be sure to also know and communicate what risks become more likely if the scale-down is needed. There will also be compromise if multiple designers present conflicting designs.
b) Remember your *ilities. Make sure changes can be implemented, because maintenance, breakdowns, and logistics happen and the world has revolutionary changes that nobody expects.
- Sig
AS in dedicated AC, dedicated power and dedicated power backup systems. None of this "use storage closet 1A" crap with no AC and no real power.
Get them to run 4 dedicated 20 amp circuits into that closet. a dedicated AC unit and have them insulate all the walls to keep noise down and cooling efficient. a nice sealing steel door as well to keep the sound from intruding into the office space as well.
Oh and if you need 3 racks in there, ask for 6 racks of space. I hate the "we made the room wide enough for 3 racks"... how am I supposed to get to the back of them?
Lastly, assume the contractor and architect are morons. you must spell out your needs exactly. as in "IT closet is 42.5 inches wide by 77.341 inches long with a 92 inch ceiling clearance. Fiberglass batting in all walls and ceiling with 6 inch conduits leaving the room (specify 2X the size of any wiring conduit to ANY location.)
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I am the only IT person.
If NOTHING else, a backup for you.
All the better to introduce the Stuxnet Virus.
I design IT for buildings.
Be sure to put in enough access points for wireless. If you can't afford a lot, at least pull the cat6.
If you want to use any kind of access control (card keys for doors) make that IP-based, not the ancient 6-wire proprietary cable.
If you want security cameras, those should all be Ethernet, too. Again, at least pull the cable and terminate it in a J-box.
Put in a small server room (size of an office) with extra air-conditioning, no window, and a heavy-gauge door.
As far a servers go, everything is going VMware now.
I will create a sig when innovation restarts in the U.S.
A dedicated server/telco room is a must. Room size determination is simple as taking our current rack number and multiple by two. Add 3' ft in the back and 6' in the front. I would also install a dedicated electrical panel. It makes adds/moves/changes much easier later. Also I would hammer on the electrical contractor to insure there is a good ground to the panel. This will mitigate a ton of "transient" problems later. I would also install four 2" conduits to a outside pull box for telco access. That way the local telcos don't tear up your new building trying to bring service in. It also forces the demarc to be inside your server room which makes issues easier to deal with later. Make sure one side of your wall has 3/4" ply/OSB to act as a peg board. A full 4x8 sheet is good enough. Also I would speak with the fire contractor about installing a dry system inside your server room. That way the sprinklers don't ruin your expensive equipment. I would also go for a dedicated AC unit. To size take your current BTU needs and multiple by two. I would also install a solid door with a punch key keypad. You can get inexpensive ones at local hardware store. Lastly since you guys are most likely a warehouse style building so I would not run conduit unless I had too. I would use wire troughs or hangers with shielded CAT6 cable. That way you don't trap yourself later with conduit. If you want to hide the cables then paint them. There are a bunch more suggestions but those are the big ones.
~^\-/^|-|^\-/^~ May the force be with me!
Two, at least.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
I think you should ask for a basement server room and office. You can use some of the natural underground cooling to cut some costs but also include plenty of vent/clean/ac. Make it twice as big as you think you need..it will probably end up being too small in 10 years even if you do that. Next.. have underground corridors and wiring races to strategic places in the building. Make the corridors comfortable to walk through an the races at least twice what you need as well. Sell it for security, sell it for saving topside space , and sell it for the geo-thermal savings as well as ease of upgradeability of infrastructure. But make *sure* you have plenty of elbow room. You dont want crawl spaces, you want corridors.
Just remember that everything you really need... they'll value-engineer out.
There most probably will be some form of electrical welding (stick, mig, tig, what have you) and that puts out tons of electrical noise, a wireless signal wouldn't stand a chance.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
It seems sort of silly, but you would be amazed how much a well laid-out set of conduits for network cable will make your life simpler now, and in the future.
Service loop in the cables near their destination is also a must.
Other than that, invest in some good cable management for your racks, and if you can, try to ensure that your server/telco room has an A/C system on a different circuit from the rest of the A/C. If you have the budget, a dedicated climate control system would be great too.
Also, don't forget power. Try to make sure you've got a UPS with some room for growth on its own circuit (a dedicated 480 3-phase if you can get it). If you don't have the budget there, then at least a TVSS (transient voltage surge suppressor) or power conditioner.
You do realize that wireless can be made secure much easier than ethernet right?
Protip: "standard" wifi rollouts will include per-frame aes encryption; "standard" ethernet will not.
Maybe not even 66 blocks for the phone lines; at work we're transitioning to VOIP phones for everything. I've seen a few spots where the 'phone lines' are terminated just like the network drops, they use a patches to mess with the phone lines.
I don't read AC A human right
I most certainly agree that a dedicated server room and (separate if possible) dedicated telco room is a must. Why separate? So you don't have to let the telco technicians near your servers any more than you have to. Less hands in the pot, and less temptation for strangers.
Second, put in a series of switch rooms near each office area, and run fibre between them and the server room. As noted, allow for extra space so more fiber can be run later; then put CAT-6/7 patch panels in to the switch rooms, and run CAT-6/7 to each desk from there. Again, think about having extra space and set it up so you can easily replace the ethernet cable with fiber at some point in the future.
Third, get a good network-centric PBX, think Asterisk or something from Cisco (if you can afford it), and then put in VOIP phones at each desk instead of putting in separate RJ-11 cabling for analog phones.
Fourth, any where that needs a network connection on the floor by equipment should get its own fiber optic link, with a local switch, and short ethernet lines (CAT6/7). Why? You minimize any interference issues with the equipment on the floor. It might not be much, but it'll be worth it.
Also, if you are running between buildings or between sections of a building that are on (for whatever reason) different power grids, save yourself the time and put in fiber comms to isolate them. We have two buildings where I work now that are on separate power grids, and for a long time they were running ethernet directly between them, and kept burning out ports when a t-storm came through - a simple fiber optic isolator solved the problem.
Now, you might think doing the fiber thing - or at the very least planning for it - is over kill. However, think of it as an investment. If not for the companies use, then as a value-add should the company need to sell the building - the next tenant could be a Facebook/Amazon/Walmart requiring massive data-througput so don't cut yourself short by not making it easy to put in while you have the opportunity to do so.
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
I moved a company of about 150 from a 10,000 sqft or so office to a newly built 13,000 sqft office. Not quite as large of a size increase but the main change was that in the old office, everything was rigged to work, the "server room" was just a re purposed office. The cat5 was run as needed, a lot by me.
Anyway, first focus should be your server/comm room. Shoot for an independent, dedicated A/C, a waterless fire suppression system (make sure they don't put a sprinkler head in during construction and that you have everything approved with local fire code), dedicated electrical circuit (ideally 220v), also make sure they don't blindly put carpet or things like that in the room. Run Cat5e everywhere. Plan out what you think you need now for each room and, if budget allows, double it. Rooms that are more likely to change, do your best to run extra Cat5e. If you can afford it, go up to Cat 6 instead of Cat5e, again, budget matters. Get professionals to do your wiring for you. Get several quotes and make sure you see some past work before you hire them. Well done cabling can make a huge difference in an office. You don't want people throwing cable over florescent lights, or parallel to unshielded power lines or things like that. A good cable runner will leave a service loop of 10-15 feet (maybe more depending on the room) above each drop in case you need to move wall locations later. Everything should be neatly labeled, organized, etc, so that when you have an issue, it should take 5 seconds to figure out which port is messed up, not 5 hours.
Will the Ethernet to fiber converters work reliably with serial connecters? I have about a dozen machines right now that I use a serial over Ethernet adapter and even long 25 pin serial cables I had to custom make and a crap load of switch boxes because most of the software used needs to stream instructions for the first run of a new part.
I'm not the op, but it sounds like this might get rid of some headaches.
Given that they only have 40 employees, 1 would technically be 'overkill', so yeah, I'd backstop with some contracted rate support. Having one dedicated can be worth the expense due to experience with them, even if he's not fully utilized. Plus, if he does support/programming for the CNC machines, he may have some serious specialty knowledge.
I don't read AC A human right
1 expect your network need to grow: run your cables in a conduit that is 2-3 times what you think you need also don't curve your conudiuts more than say 45 degrees in the same meter (so you do a 90 in 2 45s spaced a meter apart)
2 ditto for your power conduit: special note have these conduits a different color from data (slapping a High Voltage glyph on it every couple meters would also be a good idea)
3 have Red and Blue outlets installed in every "large" room: a Red Outlet is on a dedicated circuit so you can safely install a HighPower item into it Blue outlets are on the same circuit also MAP THE CIRCUITS (circuit J24 goes to which room??)
4 Showers and a decent Food place: This will help your staff not turn into Crazy Stinking Apes if you have to go into a Lockdown time (for whatever reason)
5 Climate control: have anything that is "messy" on a seperate system (or at least "down wind") this will also help you in your hazmat control.
6 Proper Hallways: plan things so that you have decent "escape routes" for when TSHTF (if you can setup SG1 style RingRooms that would also work)
7 Decent Windows for the People Rooms: of course you should also have a way for these to be blocked off if needed (or frost them) but seeing the sun does wonders for folks health.
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
If you can, a centralized location with a patch-panel is often helpful, in which case leave some extra cable for expansion (with a bit of slack) if possible.
One thing I've been impressed with in some workplaces is the effort given to labelling cables. Having a (usable) label on the wall-plate is important, preferable with something that can easily be mapped to where it goes. A-1, A-2, B-3 etc can all be referenced to a diagram, but sometimes LNCH-1 or MGR-2 are easier to track down so long as they're grouped properly on the panel.
Beyond that though, get the little label clips that go on the cables themselves, and leave a little extra in the run somewhere accessible. When the cable gets wrecked at the wall-plate and needs to be docked back then re-patched, it helps a lot!.
Power - Run all that you can on 208V to help reduce power overhead (no need for step down) with a good UPS with graceful shutdown on non-critical systems. Look in to isolating your equipment from the machine shop if you expect a lot of power fluctuations (I'm not familiar the power draw on CNC machines, inductive loads can wreak havoc on IT equipment).
Interference - Consider running fiber between closets if you expect the cable run to cross an area with high levels of interference.
Cabling - Wiring panels and conduit with room to grow, already mentioned a number of times in other posts.
Wireless and Security - POE is your friend, you can control power from your data center and no need to spend money installing power in the ceiling just for an access point or security camera.
Wireless Site Survey - If wireless plays a role in your organization get a complete wireless survey done before and after the machine shop is up and running. The environment can change after systems are up and running.
Virtual Environment - VDI from VMWare is great, keep the desktop virtualized in a controlled environment with cheap replaceable terminals on the machine shop floor (some new terminals and phones are no powered by POE as well, complete control from your server room!).
Sounds like fun, enjoy!
No sig here...
In a machine shop?
The problem is not the security, the issue is the electrical interference and the BIG METAL MACHINES.
How about the number one priority: hire somebody to run the IT department who has experience of this.
For the last 20 years or so, I've worked at places that needed card key access, but the card just unlocked the door.
Make the door open itself after authenticating and authorizing. You should be able to put the card key in your hip pocket, and get through the door w/o touching it.
Not only will you be able to go though the door with both hands full, but you will be cut the transmission of diseases.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
Unless you are in a wildly electrically hostile environment, or forsee a need for 10GbE to the desktop, why bother?
Just the hostile environment. 10GbE will be copper. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-gigabit_Ethernet#10GBASE-T It needs Cat6A for full runs, and Cat6 for short runs.
You'll want the entire facility accessible through Jefferies tubes if you want to properly future proof it.
Dont forget you also need AC in the dead of winter. So if you DONT have a dedicated AC unit in the room, you will find it VERY hostile in the room when your shared cooling source goes from cool to heat, and instead of it removing heat from the room, it dumps more in. o_O
Also, dont skimp on a clean agent fire supression system. the last thing you want is a water based sprinkler system in the room flooding the equipment with water when a fire starts. If you have a fire and you have a water based system, the equipment is a total write-off. If its protected by a clean agent system, anything not touched by the fire/heat will be fine. so if you have a trashcan in the room and somebody accidentally puts a cigarette into it, the sprinkler system would destroy the equipment across the room even though it was nowhere near the flames. If a clean agent system fires, you can be in the room again within hours and the equipment is fine.
here is a cool example. Dated, but cool. This shows a real world demo of a fire in a data room and what happens when both types of suppression systems go off.
The fun starts at about the 30 second mark.
http://youtu.be/0WelmCXtsyI
You do realize that wireless can be made secure much easier than ethernet right?
You do realise that hundreds of unshielded electrical motors inside what is for all practical purposes a giant Faraday cage might cause some small amount of interference, don't you? It is not security. It is signal to NOISE!
Definitely a well air conditioned server room with backup generator/UPS. You'll also want to have easy to access conduits to run network lines. Also, the building should not be designed in such a way where it is bad for wireless/cellular reception.
While a food service contract might be overkill, and I'm sure there are lawyer firms(as opposed to industrial) that have catering every day, as long as we're getting away from IT recommendations, I'd say that a good breakroom with a 'full' kitchen isn't 'that' expensive and can be really nice. Add a grill outside and you can have company events.
Oh yeah, and you'll probably have it because it's an industrial company, but non-emergency showers/lockerroom.
Back on IT - given the size I'd want the 'comm closet' to be big enough for both wires and a server rack. At 40 employees, 1 rack for wiring and 1 rack for servers and other equipment should be fine. Go with seperate ducting, along with provisions for extra filtering/positive pressure(to keep the machining stuff OUT). Ductless is an option, but I'm not sure how good the filtering on those can be, plus it can be tough to do positive pressure.
In the rest of the building - CONDUIT!!! Oversized is best. I'd go with metallic for the shielding. Not knowing the dimensions I don't know if you can reach all the machines with 1 comm closet without going to fiber, but that's an option, though it's my understanding that desktop fiber NICS are getting pricy and hard to find.
I don't read AC A human right
> Do yourself a favor and run fiber to every machine, not every desktop
Could you please elaborate on this? How would you get fiber to every machine?
Cat6A cable. Always get the latest, because 10 years from now you will have a building full of Cat3. (By today's standards) Cat6A will support 10GbE Base-T, and should be good for quite a while.
It sounds silly but if you can,keep at least one line open.Small expense but can really save your ass.I'm not talking zombie crap but a working hardline is worth alot when IT takes a shit.
You're going to want CAT6 for gigabit networking in this environment.
It does work; I've done it. The nice part is that you can reconfigure a work cell without having to rerun cables. What I'm wondering is if any of his machines are still on RS-232, in which case you need to either get special wireless boxes or run serial cable.
Stripper pole, keggerator, speakeasy w/ hidden door. Jeffries tubes to access everything would be a hilarious idea too. In all seriousness, I always wish my office had a shower.
Be careful to have separate service transformers for your offices/IT rooms and large machines.
We had constant issues with some new high-current welders causing voltage droop in the server room, which made the UPSes all go crazy.
So, we had our utility install separate pad transformers for the machinery and the offices.
Also, do a very good job with creating a good MRG (Master Reference Ground). That much machinery taking large amounts of current will make this a necessity. We have ground stakes through the slab 12 feet into the ground at each of our large metalforming and welding machines.
Make sure you think of future expansion, too.
Seriosuly, nothing is ever built to plans, and if you put somethign in the contract about validating the as-builts, then you'll get as-builts, not plans stamped "as built". It really helps to know where the walls and conduits and sprinklers are.
You've got lots of answers about cabling, some for cooling and a few for power. One tiny thing you don't want to overlook is the door. You should ensure there is a plus sized pathway (check for tight turns) all the way from outside the building to the computer room where you'll have an extra tall, extra wide outward opening door. If you are building a smaller room this is really important since it may become impractical to disassemble a rack and reassemble it in such a small space (remember that there will be other running equipment you don't want to accidently knock about). Also make sure you have a properly sized ramp (and that the ramp is factored into any path and turn calculations) if you have steps or a raised floor. Unless there are security considerations a good setup would be for the server room door to be close to a large side door which in turn is close to the server rooms air conditioning units (when there is eventually a problem it would be terrible for the repair guy to have to walk back and forth through a machineshop to fix it).
I the only guy as well for a manufacturing company about that size, and probably like you, I wear a lot of hats besides being IT.
I dream of the day we build from scratch, but we will probably always keep adding on and on. I just re-ran all of our wire last year, went to VOIP, bought out first racks (we were using tables before) etc.
If I could do it from scratch, I would
1) Get your own room
2)Get that room it's own AC, and seal it off as much as possible.
3) Do what you can to get a non-water fire-suppression system, though it could add a lot of cost
4) Do what you can to have a nice room with a raised floor (so you can put wire under it) and it's own ceiling. It depends on where you are, but the danger of winds/tornadoes for us is more probable than fire. We had a CNC shop down the road from us get their roof peeled off like a tin-can from straight line winds not too long ago. Water soaked everything in the upstairs office areas.
5) Obviously use conduit when possible, and Cat6 x2 to as many places as you can. Wire and keystone jacks are cheap. Go crazy with them - you don't have to plug them all in right now.
6) If you don't have them now, one of these days your boss/owner/VP is going to come in and tell you that you need to put in security cameras, TV announcement screens, one of those stupid "Watchfire" signs outside, or something else random and hard to wire for. It'll happen. Run cable (or make accessible) places you might want to be in the future, and remember that you will want some nice conduit access outside. That cable TV/PRI/Fiber connection might come from any direction. Give yourself options and put conduit in places that can be tunneled to from the outside, preferable in all sides of the building. If everything is from scratch, put conduit under the parking lot!
7) Reserve your spot for future racks, even if you don't need them now. Eventually you might want some switches in a closet, or a rack in the far corner of the building. It doesn't have to be much, but see if you can get some nice conduit run to some places where you could put a small rack to hold some switches and patch panels. It'll probably be 60 years or more before you move again, and you or the next guy will eventually be tasked with adding something new.
Oh yeah, document everything and make it super easy to understand. Label your cables using something easy, like self-laminating tabs and a sharpie marker, on top of just numbering them. A number and cross-reference is good, but there's no reason it can't also say "To SW Corner." We also used different color cables for different systems. Between floors are purple, data is blue, telephone-only are green, fiber to outside buildings are orange, inside fiber is blue, etc.
It won't be too bad to do yourself as long as you have help running cables and conduit. See if you can visit some other factories/businesses in town and get an idea of what their spaces look like.
What I'd want is a comfortable, quiet work area separate from the milling area and server room. Have spare devices in case any networking gear fails. If you can afford it, a staging environment to test configuration rollouts (perhaps tied to a 'staging' CNC mill). Badge security for the server room doors will keep people from popping in to the server room. I might even consider 2-way radios to work through issues with people on the shop floor, which would double as a non-email alternative for announcements (server going down for a reboot in 2 minutes).
I do infrastructure for a large organization.
You need:
Telecommunications closets within 250' of every edge of the building where there is any possibility that equipment could be placed, as total cable length can be 328', and you have to account for patch cables and workstation/equipment cables, as well as elevation changes and routing. These TCs need their own air conditioning independent of the rest of the building and need to be keyed so that only a very select group of staff can go in. Do not use wall-mount enclosures if you can avoid it. Run conditioned power to the TCs. It's your call if you have battery backups in each TC or a big one at the supply for them, but electrically isolate them from the floor. Probably a good idea to have the AC units on a battery backup too.
Conduit, Conduit, Conduit. Color code it and label it. For trunk runs have at least two sets, one for copper, one for fiber, and just do them in 4". For distribution, don't go smaller than 1", and probably still best to have two runs. Remember, no low voltage and high voltage in the same conduit, and best practice to not put fiber and copper in the same conduit in order to protect the fiber as changes are necessary.
Talk to the designer for equipment layout. You'll want to put junction boxes wherever you'll need to bring conduit down from the ceiling, even if they're just plugged at the moment. You can add the drop and outlet later, but if you don't put the jbox in, it's a big PITA.
You do not need to string all of the cable for all of the conduit up front, but you should run at least a twelve-strand fiber between all of your TCs, and probably run one of each of single mode and multi mode. You should probably also run a 25 pair copper for phones.
You should look into STP or S/FTP instead of UTP for the copper. Learn how to ground it right and make sure that the contractors follow the specs. Do not use Cat5e, use at least 6, preferably 6a. Commscope makes a thin 6a if you're worried about bend radii and number of cables in a conduit.
When you're installing conduit, allow for a few places for later expansion for wireless. It may sound strange, but leaving a double-gang box with a reducer and a metal plate at the end of a short 1" conduit stubbing off of your trunk can be handy if down the road it's needed.
Pay attention to grounding and bonding.
Devise a labelling scheme. We use MDF as A, IDFs B - whatever. Then patch panel position number, then type. So, A-021D would be an ethernet (data) port, 21st on the patch panel, in the MDF. B-047V would be a phone (voice) port, 47th pair, in IDF-B. You could use F for fiber, or if running single and multi mode, S or M.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
If you can't get into the meetings, you must get a data plan into the architectural drawings.
I've done this 3 times at work with new buildings or renovations and additions to new buildings. Each time I was only asked as an afterthought, and things got screwed up or left out without my knowledge. In no case did our architects give a moment's thought to data drop locations or cable paths, and if it's not printed on some layer of the drawings, it is not in the plans. It sucks to have to do 3x walk-throughs with the cable installers, scribbling on a copy of the plans, only to have to redo it every time the plans are revised. In the end the electricians will just put the wall boxes wherever they please because your scribbles never make it back to the printed plans, so your network installers will have to cut in their own boxes, raising your installation costs.
In one building that was constructed about 10 years ago, the server room was moved and the dedicated air conditioning disappeared in the process. That caused the email server crash and corrupted its storage one June weekend when the Buildings and Grounds Manager decided to turn off the AC to save power. Also in the change, the width of the server room shrank by 18 inches, making it impossible to fit a standard server cabinet. The first floor in this building is pretty easy to network, except for the fact that the in-floor conduit grid for the library was hacked out of the plans without my knowledge, but the second floor is a real trial. Wiring passing down the corridor has to pass through about 20' of an indoor soffit with no conduit and no access except from small hatches at each end. It just has J-hooks and a pull-string, and the pull-string broke.
In one building added onto about 10 years ago there is no network closet. The IDF is a cabinet perched above a slop sink. No disaster's yet, but I'm waiting for the day when someone splashes water into the power outlet.
In another building offices on sides are separated by masonry walls floor to cieling (no drop ceiling) and a gymnasium and workout room. The only conduits connecting the 2 sides are 3, 1" underground runs from the data/sports equipment closet to a locker room in the far corner of the building, or a long, serpentine nest of conduits around the gym ceiling. The building was renovated about 4 years ago when the workout room and additional office was added. They could have added a simple 4" or so conduit through the workout room. Instead, I'm using the underground conduits, making the data runs about 100 feet longer than they need to be and a lot more trouble than they need to be. The underground cat 5e cables have not shorted out yet, but it's just
Really if you are on a budget, the important part is that you run a few multistrand bundles anywhere that it will be a pain to rip into the walls to run it again later, and run it along with the copper so that you don't have to pay for the manpower all over again. Make sure there is plenty of service loop. The jacks and end runs can come later on an as-needed basis. Most of the cost is always in the manpower, not the cabling, so think who will have to do what to realize fiber to a given point, and how much that might disrupt operations, and preinstall anywhere where it would be tricky to do after the fact. Try to avoid situations where you'll need splicing, but for in-building use you don't usually have to worry about having too many intermediary patch panels.
Someone had to do it.
You need windows that open.
And/or ventilation systems that actually work (as opposed to ones that are *supposed* to work, as in all other buildings constructed after WWII).
Some bike parking would be nice.
Think about where the trash is supposed to go.
A roof that doesn't leak is a good idea, too: that means you keep it simple, and probably don't try to do stuff like install skylights. Flat roofs are an extremely bad idea, but you're going to use them anyway, so pointing that out was a waste of time.
First of all, you have to grease the local politicians for the sudden zoning problems that always come up. Then there's the kickbacks to the carpenters. And if you plan on using any cement in this building I'm sure the teamsters would like to have a little chat with you, and that'll cost you. Don't forget a little something for the building inspectors. There's the long-term costs, such as waste disposal. I don't know if you're familiar with who runs that business but I assure you it's not the boy scouts.
mod me funny
Trust me: You will thank yourself every day.
It baffles me why we in the western world are still walking around with dirty backsides.
A dedicated cooling system for server rooms. Last place I worked it got 90 - 100 in the server room because it had no zone of it's own.
> Do yourself a favor and run fiber to every machine, not every desktop
Could you please elaborate on this? How would you get fiber to every machine?
The machines out on the factory floor pretty much have to run aerial along the roof trusses because in a big enough plant there are machines in the middle of the factory floor and buried conduit would fill with nasties like water and machine coolant. So you're juggling space with the power and often compressed air from the ceiling.
The desktops don't matter because they're on the same probably fairly clean AC power line with the same ground point and probably low neutral currents. So just wire like any old cubie-land. The machines out on the floor, however, do not have such clean power and they really need fiber.
As for getting the fiber to each machine, my advice is innerduct it. Well, run the numbers first. At one time it was cheaper to buy tough innerduct and wimpy indoor fiber, than it was to buy tough outdoor rated fiber and skip the duct. Maybe not now. As for the machine itself that was handled by plant maintenance... tell them to mount a small rack enclosure on the headstock side of the 80 foot lathe or the 20x20 plasma table control station or whatever and they'd just do it for me / us. The original poster is probably going to be stuck doing this by himself. This is sometimes challenging to not get in the way or create an osha violation somehow (you're blocking access to the first aid kit! You need 4 feet wide walkways in case the fire dept needs the jaws of life! etc)
Whatever you do, lock your stuff on the floor or every time the plasma cutter pops a breaker they're going to write in a procedure for minimum wage drones to reboot your stuff or otherwise mess around with it, if they can get access to it "just in case". Or they'll start storing their lunch in the cabinet or whatever and attract mice. Or they'll leave the door open and a passing forklift will rip the whole box off the milling center (whooops). Don't need fancy milspec locks just keep the casual interloper out.
Maybe the TLDR is just parallel the air line and power line installation?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
I don't know what your company is planning to build currently but they should look at Green buildings like the amazing Heifer International - Green Building. I have visited it and know someone who was show the various costs month by month running the building and he was amazed at how much they saved on energy, water and all the rest.
The EPA has various funding options I believe for Green Buildings and some places may well offer Tax break incentives to go green. In the long run a well designed Green building pays for itself. It is also a good idea to have good Natural lighting if you can manage it, the Heifer International building is beautifully designed with this in mind.
Another thing to consider is indoor air quality, I remember there was a TED Talk by Kamal Meattle: How to grow fresh air depending where your building is built and the air quality this can be amazingly good for everyone in the office.
I hope you find this useful even if it wasn't exactly what you were seeking.
Reply to undo accidental negative moderation.
All the better to introduce the Stuxnet Virus.
You do realize that wireless can be made secure much easier than ethernet right?
You do realise that hundreds of unshielded electrical motors ... It is not security. It is signal to NOISE!
You do realize that the GP was replying to someone who claimed a wireless network was more likely to introduce the Stuxnet Virus, right?
Unless you are in a wildly electrically hostile environment, or forsee a need for 10GbE to the desktop, why bother?
I agree, fiber may be overkill, and more trouble than its worth.
In a modern machine shop many modern milling machines need network connections, but none of them need really high speed connections, unless you are Boeing or something. But who knows what the future will bring with 3D printing etc.
Rather than rush in to put a high tech network, simply put in fat conduit so you have options in the future. Too may places put in conduit that is chock full the day its installed, allowing zero upgrades without great effort and expense and downtime. Accessible conduit runs to every place in the building saves time and higher costs later. Even the areas designated for storage today may be used for something else later.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Rooms: I like having three rooms or closets depending on the size: 1) Room 1: For outside plant telco termination, vendor/provider CPE devices, etc. This should have a separate locking system and that you can use to let them have access to THEIR equipment without necessarily giving themselves access to YOUR equipment. 2) Room 2/Telco: For your telco equipment and cable termination. Here you bring back in all of your cabling from around the plant and I would fastidiously follow every bit of advice given on using larger conduit and labeling every conduit and preferably every cable. One thing to think about is location of the room though: if it is central copper may be OK. If it is on a building corner you may want to plan for 12-strand OM4 MMF and a 12-strand SMF fiber pull to each conduit. Why? 40Gb and 100Gb isn't spec'd on Cat6/6A/7 yet - and requires anywhere from 4-10 pairs of MMF/SMF for the SR10/SR4 specs. Plus, while Copper gets aged and obsoleted every 5-10 years SMF has been a perennial long-lifecycle choice and the actual fiber and termination costs are around the same. 3) Room 3/Server Room: Here I like a contained hot-aisle with exhaust out the building and dedicated HVAC, dual power circuits, separate PDUs, UPS systems, etc. I would plan on 30kW per cabinet of servers as a power requirement and then make sure you can dissipate that heat, ingest that power, move enough airflow, etc. dg
Shielded cat 5e STP cable works great in noisy environments it costs about $0.11 a foot and many switches and routers are compatible with STP requirements. Just make sure the cable has foil over each pair and a braid around all the cables with a darin wire for the best protection. You can get fiber spools for $0.20 a foot but you will have to make all the connectors yourself and doing them well is critical. If you are going to go with fiber and have no experience crimping it's probably better to buy precut cables and pay about $1 per foot but you can save a lot if you have fiber experience.
Knowledge = Power
P= W/t
t=Money
Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
He's in a machine shop. Only thing worse is a arc welding plant.
Really?
Most machine shops do not induce a lot of electrical noise that would not be totally managed by basic metal conduit.
Most automated milling machines are using basic industrial CPUs on 70s technology circuit board, and are totally unbothered
by the electrical interference.
Unless there is a lot of arc welding, you really only have electrical motor noise, which is not that big of a problem.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I've used Ruggedcom serial-fiber converters many times. They work well and are electrically shielded for use in industrial/utility environments. Depending on the model they have multiple serial ports and can direct traffic to preassigned IP addresses. There are a number of other vendors that sell similar boxes.
And a shark tank. And a big sign that says "Out of Order Do NOT Use"
No, 10GbE between switches. From there, 1GbE between the switch and the computer.
By your logic, highways should also have a speed of 35mph like secondary roads and be a single lane each way, since there's no point in making the roads 2 lanes each way with a 65mph speed limit since your neighborhood roads are only 35mph. So what happens when 3 devices on switch A must talk to a device on switch B (say the clients to the server?)
If you have 1GbE adapters in the 3 devices and run Cat5e or Cat6 between the devices and switch A, then each device could do 1GbE. Now if you only run a 1GbE link between switch A and switch B, well that 1GbE link is being split 3 ways (plus any overhead), so the 1GbE link between the 3 devices and the switch become pointless. On the other hand, if you do it properly, and make a 10GbE link between switch A and switch B, you could (in theory but not in practice) have 10 devices transferring one directions at the same time and still maintain the full speed they could achieve (and on a full-duplex setup you could have about 8 or so transferring one direction and 8 or so transferring the other direction at about full speed).
Now if you have a lot of large CAD files or whatever, the speed would be welcomed. And honestly, you can pick up quality GigE equipment for a good price (10GbE switches are a bit more, but can still be found for a decent price online and are name brand)
Plus as others said, the fiber isn't prone to noise interference like Cat cable is... and it NEVER hurts to plan ahead. Heck, in my building here on campus we replaced all the patch cables that run between the patch panel and the switches with Cat 6, although none of the machines do 10GbE over copper. Also, all the runs from the wall jack to the equipment is Cat 6 which we switched as we fixed, moved, replaced, or re-imaged the equipment. Again, there's no need for a network printer to be connected from the switch to the patch panel, up to the wall jack and out to the machine.. but it's better for it to be there for when something does come along that can use it (and it's all already in place) than to have put say Cat 5e only to have to replace it a few years down the road.
I haven't checked in a while, but the 10GbE equipment is pretty pricey and runs a bit hotter (the power required to transfer that rate over copper) vs a fiber setup. And in all honesty, you just need the 10GbE link for between switches, which if the network is planned out well wouldn't require that make fiber runs.
Read Stewart Brand's How buildings learn, especially the section about purpose built buildings vs 'general purpose' buildings and how to deal with 'planning for future technology'. Executive summary is buildings which are overspecialized for today's needs and technologies rarely work well in the first place (your requirements have usually changed even before the building is finished), and are usually being bashed down within 50 years as unusable spaces. He argues the best bet for 'future proofing' is to aim for a building that's easy to modify - if you can rip out an inconvenient wall or add a raised floor or remove the raised floor and add another wall without to much drama or cost, you'll still be happy in 20 years,
A few cool astronomical alignments say the rays of the solstice sun strike the coffee machine etc
Unless you are in a wildly electrically hostile environment, or forsee a need for 10GbE to the desktop, why bother?
"640K ought to be enough for anybody", right?
It's axiomatic that the pulling of cable is typically much more expensive than the cable itself, so when you have the opportunity to do so, future-proof as much as possible. Pull the fastest backbones you can, and if the budget allows, pull a couple of different types.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
Run Multiple cirruct for basic Power Manufacturing - Conditioned power for high power electronics - basic power for lights, blowers, vacuum cleaner and utility used. Offices - Central hard wired UPS to all desk for PC only. Conditioned line for printers and other electronics. Utility power (can be conditioned or not) for lights, cleaning and such. Network CAT 6 wire within Building: Can be run beside or together with Telephone wire (if not going for IP phones) use SAME Cat 6 wire - different colors (we used BLUE for Data/network and GREY for Telephone - Network A and Network B) . Make sure you run copper and fiber to to building (even if fiber is not yet available). Use Wiring Trays for any wire over 10 to all area in building (easy to ADD more cables at a later time that way). EMT Conduit or other wiring channels for any runs with 10 or less. Single drops (telephone and data wire - within walls) don't need conduit - but suggested. All Surface mount in Manufacturing area should be conduited or use SHELDED wire. All should be terminated on all ends with a female jack attached to a hard surface. Router/Switch should be POE Plus - Power Over Ethernet Plus standard - so you can install Wireless points of access without running power. Or for IP video security Cameras etc.... Install about 25% more runs that you think you need. Switch/Router/termination points - should be over-sized by 50% to 100% Just my 2 cents.....
SparkNet Interactive built a new building that was just finished a couple years back. It's a return to the dotcom boom days. Slides from floor to floor, game rooms, a cafeteria with catered food, a full gym. I think there are even volleyball courts.
The answer is found in the parallel question, "how do you get power to every machine?"
Learn to love Alaska
Sun (that computer company that Oracle bought ... you know, the Java folks) used to have a series of books on various technical topics.
If you're going to build out your own computer room, I highly suggest reading "Enterprise Data Center Design and Methodology". It might be written for a different scale, but bits like planning how much power to put in, networking, etc, might have application to the other sections as well. (although, I don't know how often gear gets changed out in the machine shop ... most that I've been in are still running mills and lathes from the 1970s or so, as they were built to last)
In your specific situation, I'd be concerned with where the door to access the room is ... I'd try to avoid having it from the shop floor, as you want to make sure that whatever metal shavings that someone might've picked up on their clothes and shoes have a chance to come off before they go in the room.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Seriously, a huge chunk of your operating costs are just going to be on lighting and the removal of heat generated by said lighting. Go LED now. There are also LED fixtures that work as Wi-Fi access points/mesh networking, so you can nail several birds with one stone.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
One thing that a lot of people forget about is the door size. Make absolute sure that you have at least 1-2 sets of doors into the building and in the direct pathway to all your telecom/computer rooms that the doors are tall and wide enough to fit a full sized computer rack! This is a small detail that many, MANY, companies overlook. There is nothing more painful then trying to fit a full sized computer rack into a building when none of the doors are wide or tall enough, requiring that the rack be disassembled (if it even can be) and brought into the building in pieces, then re-assembled, wasting lots of extra labor hours that could have been saved if someone had made the doors 2 inches taller and/or 4-6 inches wider.
Also, you might want to make them tall/wide enough for the new Open Computing OpenRack sized equipment racks, which I believe are 600mm wide and 2100mm tall (with a depth that varies from 350mm to 1220mm). Again, not many places are using this yet, however Facebook, Ebay, and Google are all using it (and fabricating their own racks since no one is yet selling them). But it only seems to reason that if those big 3 internet companies are using them, they will probably become standard in a few more years time.
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
I knew that would get a troll rating. But the fact of the matter is, there are probably certain buildings of military significance across the country that are most probably wired for the installation of explosives to take the building down in the event of overthrow or invasion, etc.. So to keep sensitive data from being obtained by.... WIKILEAKS....shrug...
Thanks for the added info. I think most of the people talking about dedicated HVAC are used to bigger installations, from challenging climates, or both. I occasionally have cold air run into a server closet, but ambient works for a few switches and a couple servers.
Dedicated power is easy and you should always have it. Just get as many 15 or 20 amp circuits as you need. I don't know the AC side of the business, but I have never had a problem getting an electrician to rearrange circuits. You just don't want your gear on a breaker that can be tripped by someones personal heater.
I haven't seen anyone else mention wiring trays. I've used them a few times and like them a lot. It makes it easy to add and subtract and, depending on your decor, can be a fashion statement. But i have never worked in a high noise environment.
Do install lots of conduit that is bigger than you want. Consider having your electrician drop conduit to your network locations and then stub it out over the ceiling. That can make MACs a lot easier.
You know your building better than we do. I think you have this covered.
on a full-duplex setup you could have about 8 or so transferring one direction and 8 or so transferring the other direction at about full speed
I can't be bothered to look up the spec at the moment or even look for a link, but I thought half-duplex was dropped from all the 1GE specs. Even 1GE-BX (gigE over a single fiber, not a pair) is full duplex. And I can't recall having seen a 100 Mbps switch/hub incapable of full duplex, by the time 100 Mbps was getting the push, everyone moved on to switches from hubs.
Wire for fiber. Why? Because unlike cat-3, cat-5, cat-6, etc. You run once, and upgrade with a quick (if not cheap) upgrade of the optics on the ends. I've put 10 Gbps over fiber installed for 100 Mbps without issue. And right now, where I work, there is a project underway to put 400+ Gbps over fiber that was installed for 155 Mbps 10+ years ago.
Learn to love Alaska
Standard Ethernet is physically secure. You do realize that 802.1x, the basis for wireless security, was invented for wired Ethernet? And I deployed it about 10 years before it was first available for wireless networks. I don't need to encrypt every frame if I steer frames only to their destination and everyone on the network is authenticated. Wireless, it's better than wired because it's almost 20 years behind wired security such that people lazy with ethernet will have a much much cheaper unencrypted install that still more secure than wireless.
Learn to love Alaska
First, make sure it's /not/ leeds certified. We recently had a building put up that is and:
* No sever room (couldn't make it happen)
* Computers powered off at night (oops, there's goes our non-invasive backup strategy)
* Due to some HVAC issue where the building is potentially unsafe during the non-business-hours cycle, people can't be in the building after 6 PM. There goes our ability to visit every computer after working hours (which every so often you have to do for one reason or another).
To aid in future-proofing your situation, account for machine moves in your fiber layout and hang a few loops of fiber up in the trusses on each fiber run. That way, when you (eventually) move the machines, you have enough fiber to follow the move. Electrical lines can be cut and have longer feeds patched in much cheaper than a fiber line can.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
Oh, and one thing I'd add to an otherwise great post.
Draw a map/diagram and give copies to everyone who might ever need it. Keep it updated with any adds/moves/changes. There's no point to a great labeling scheme if nobody knows what it means when you, the *only* IT guy, leaves.
Learn to love Alaska
... and secure bike parking for people biking to work.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
We can run wireless using visible-range EM radiation. We have LED bulbs that do this already.
Pretty secure, you'd have to have the equipment to interface, plus be inside the building since visible-range EM doesn't penetrate walls, window blinds, etc.
At that point, the only security issue is your doorman.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Visible-Range EM wireless works just fine and is nearly impervious to even the bright light emitted from welding (because it's not emitting a proper signal that the station recognizes as data, its just random noise at that point and time. Plus, you can tune to specific wavelengths that are not emitted by welding to further reduce any possible chance of interference.)
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
To this I would add that you need to plan for your access control, security video and alarm system as well. The access control system will need wall space to hang one or more enclosures for controllers and power supplies. I would leave about 4 square feet for every two doors at least, 6 would be better. There will need to be cable paths from the enclosures to the doors, so get your security contractor involved early, because pulling cable through a completed wall is an order of magnitude more expensive than when it's still open.
Your security contractor should be able to look at the plans and tell you where cameras will be needed (if they can't get a new contractor). Interior cameras can be POE if they're under 100 meters from a switch (that's 100 meters of cable path, not straight line, remember). Exterior cameras will need a heater and blower for the dome, which will require 24 volt power. Make sure that there is wall space somewhere appropriate to mount the power supply enclosure. Think about non-standard location that you might want cameras, such as tool bins, flammable liquid storage, or dangerous equipment.
Put a panic button under the receptionist's desk, and make sure they have access to an exterior camera with a view of the main entry. They're the ones most likely to see a disgruntled ex-employee or someone's irate ex-spouse showing up with a gun. Make sure that the panic button not only generates an alarm somewhere useful (a bunch of mechanics running in carrying wrenches and welding tools will scare the crap out of most attackers), but that it also locks the exterior doors. Hopefully the locked door will keep an armed person out, but even if they're already inside when the button is pushed you don't want innocents walking into that type of situation.
Run a POTS line for the alarm panel. It needs to be able to dial out to the alarm company, and is often forgotten. Remember as well the cable path from the alarm panel to wherever the arming keypad or reader is located. If you put it in the same room as the access control panel you should be fine. Six square feet of wall space should be adequate to mount it and its power supply.
Make sure that the access control system, alarm system and fire system are all on UPS circuits. Make sure that your UPS and fire system, as well as thermometers in the data center and MDF, report their status to the alarm panel and the access control system. In your type of operation any eye wash stations and first aid boxes should also raise alarms so that anyone injured can be attended to.
Oh, and add a bicycle lock up site that's out of the rain.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Decent restrooms. Decent kitchens. Decent windowage.
I want to second many of the above. I worked doing Industrial Control Systems for years, and I cannot emphasize enough the need for workrooms, conduit and isolating equipment.
Isolating Equipment
Since your space is fairly small, try to wire everything hub and spoke and hub and spoke.
For office equipment, run it all hub and spoke (run each outlet back to the central switching room).
For industrial equipment, especially if they have low data volume (i.e. CNC, CMM), I strongly recommend putting them in local clusters (hence hub / spoke / hub/ spoke) with a dedicated fiber to a local switch for each cluster, and shielded cable from the local switch. All of the heavy, high-wattage equipment is necessarily very EM noisy. Giving them an extra switch isolated with fiber and short shielded cable runs, reduces the noise that you broadcast into the rest of your network.
Also, (and perhaps obviously) all your networking equipment should be on an isolated power circuit from your industrial equipment. The voltage drop at startup is enough to brown out switches, and the reactive power is enough to fry them. I also recommend having backups on the shelf for all of the field devices, so that when a big breaker throws, or somebody accidently arc welds your equipment cabinet you can get them up and going in short order.
Conduit
Conduit is key for maintenance and organization. So, go with 3x more conduit than necessary today; you will always need to pull new media. In the machine shop, use metal conduit to reduce noise from your machining environment. Put extra junction boxes in the conduit than needed. It makes pulling cable more difficult, but it make reconfiguration much simpler. Always leave behind a pull line for each length of conduit.
Along the same lines, is raised (access) flooring in your server rooms. This is a lifesaver for running cable (and looks a lot tidier than the rats nest in the rack), and makes re-configuring the room a piece of cake. Also, with perforated tiles you can configure the HVAC for laminar air-flow (in from the top of the room and out the under the floor) which encourages the swarf in the air and on your clothes to stay out of your equipment and under the floor and in the filters like it belongs. Also, raised floors could save you from a pipe break or small flood.
On a final conduit and cabling note, invest in a thermal labeling system, heat shrink cable labels and a barcode label and conduit database. Be sure to label the conduit end points, and the pull line ends. The heat shrink labels attach tight enough, that that can be pulled through conduit on the cable without snagging or coming off. So, you can label one end before you pull it, and label the other end after you cut it (so you only need one label printer and person labeling). The barcode lets you scan directly to your termination database which reduces transcription errors. You can purchase pre-printed barcode label pairs, but don't. Inevitably, one end of the cable won't install correctly, or you'll have to cut the cable, and the pre-printed cables require you to relabel both ends.
Workspace
IT needs separate server rooms from power and telecom. The security requirements, access controls, typical tasks, and skillsets are different for the three disciplines. If you are in a warehouse type environment, the server room should have its own roofing and weather proof enclosure. This will save your equipment from a leaky warehouse roof, and fire sprinklers from the shop floor.
Workrooms on the shop floor, provide a clean (isolation from swarf), quiet area for tackling shop floor related issues. Preferably, it would have windows onto or over the floor.
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Are you planning any type of backup/generator power? If so, figure out what services MUST be running in case of main power loss (basic networking, phone, security systems, etc.) and plan circuitry accordingly. If you have a panel dedicated to those services/outlets, it's much simpler to add in generator power to keep the doors open and the phones working, even if your main business (the CNC machines) are down for a period of time.
Depending on where you're located, the payback for a roof full of solar panels will likely be somewhere between 5-8 years, if energy prices don't go up. Panels are typically coming in with 20 or 25 year warranties, and the switchgear is like any other power switching equipment (keep the filters clean and the mice out). Plus then you can advertise that you're green, if you want. Isolating yourself from rising energy costs, even in part, may be attractive.
The future is not all about telecommunications.
Make the building energy efficient, where it can be. The price of energy is going to go up in the next 50 years. It is much cheaper to design a building to be energy efficient than to retrofit it later.
Of course, dedicated server room(s) needing cooling is a special matter.
I think that a machine shop could be much helped by having a central vac system.
Network wiring is not as important as having conduits for whatever wires that you are going to need in the future. Keep good documentation of where these conduits are. There needs to be wires in the conduits that can be used for pulling other wires through them.
Conduits wells submerged in the floor are much more convenient than having them in the ceiling.
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
80cm?
You're right, 80cm might be a bit small for Jefferies tubes.
along those lines, my personal suggestion would be: have them install an extra conduit to every room, all leading back to your tech room/closet. be sure they leave a pull line in each of those conduits. That way, in 5 years or whatever when you need to install some new equipment somewhere, and need 1 more line back to the closet, you can simply pull it through, and not deal with the general headache and clustermuck that generally comes with retrofitting new/more hardware/cable into an existing building. if you have enough budget, ask for a backup generator that can power the server room/closet.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
I've found, if there are labels at all, once toning out one can figure out what the original installer meant. We have some with schemes like A-0-3-46-D. We figured out that was IDF A-0, third patch panel, 46th port, data.
If the telecom closets and outlets are labelled together then it works well without necessarily needing documentation. IF "IDF-C" is prominently displayed on the third closet, then usually one can figure out that "C-###D" will go to IDF-C.
I recommend against individually identifying patch panels, instead using a 1-whatever approach, where at the end of the 48th port on the first patch, the first on the second patch gets numbered 49, etc. That does mean enough attention needs to be made to allow it all to fit, but at the same time it means that there aren't multiple drops with the same number.
I found that as-builts are actually more important for finding where drops are than for knowing where a drop is to then figure out the closet. At one of our sites the drawings for the cabinets were not compared to the drawings of the low voltage and power, so there are lots of drops hidden behind fixtures. Annoying, but sometimes we can actually find them if the as-builts are accurate.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Wouldn't Shielded UTP just be STP?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Its a small detail, but with the growing number of usb charging devices, having places to plug them in direct is a huge benefit.
Dessicant wheels can be a low cost method of controlling humidity. Certain specialized dessicant wheels for clean room applications can be expensive but you don't need to use those types. Dessicant wheels can actually be very cheap if you plan around them when you design the new facilities. Reducing humidity makes the environment more comfortable but is also way better for electronic and mechanical equipment. It also prevents the growth of mold and other microorganisms.
Part of making dessicant wheels cheap is having a cheap source of heat energy to recharge the dessicant wheels when they turn to the outside environment. Luckily, you can use the latest generation of extremely low cost solar thermal vacuum tubes coupled to copper heat pipes to capture and store solar thermal energy at low costs. An 1800mm x 58mm vacuum tube heat pipe combo can capture approximately 80 watts of solar thermal energy per tube under optimum conditions and yet they cost only around ten dollars a tube when purchased in lots of 100 from Chinese manufacturers that crank them out by the hundreds of thousands. Even compared to today's low-cost solar photovoltaic that's an order of magnitude lower costs on a per watt basis.
You can then apply the heat from those pipes that you store in say a 10,000 gallon tank of water to fire a Lithium Bromide chiller to chill the entire facility. Remember, the ongoing fuel costs for this system will be zero and it had integrated storage independent of external utilities.
The general idea is to think in terms of direct applications of thermal storage rather than conversion to electricity.
Great post! I'd say power backup to the air conditioning is extremely important. If you don't have this, then you absolutely need environmental monitoring with automatic shutdown.
In the office area, hanging ceilings everywhere, with at least 1.5 inches free space above the tiles so that any given tile can all be lifted when necessary.
As possible, put HVAC over offices and power/data over hallways. Any filters should be changeable from hallways so that you don't need to stand on somebody's desk a few times a year.
Above hallways, cable trays for data (with tops if required by code), with clear space above and adjacent to the tray. Trays are much easier to deal with than conduit.
In offices, double-gang boxes for data with 0.75 inch conduit running above ceiling tiles and turning to point towards the trays. If code requires, they can be run into the sides of the trays. Adjacent to each data, put a duplex outlet. Generally, two boxes per office on opposite walls that allow a base cable to reach anywhere in the office without crossing a door or window.
Use structured wiring (RJ45) for telco, even if you have a PBX that would prefer 110 blocks. It is much more future-proof.
Unless union rules preclude your use of a man-lift, put IT assets in the shop area 8+ feet above ground to protect against fork-lift damage. Even better, if distance limitations permit (generally, 80 Meters) keep electronics in office area -- especially those devices with fans.
If cables and fibers do not arrive pre-terminated, insist on a good testing tool to validate reliability. Come to think of it, a good testing tool is needed period.
For now... And at one times Fast E was enough too. Prices will come down, and then people will start to get it. As for switches, you can do link teaming now and get as much as you have free ports for. Harder on a server with only 2 ports.
All the better to introduce the Stuxnet Virus.
You do realize that wireless can be made secure much easier than ethernet right?
You do realise that hundreds of unshielded electrical motors ... It is not security. It is signal to NOISE!
You do realize that the GP was replying to someone who claimed a wireless network was more likely to introduce the Stuxnet Virus, right?
You do realize that the OP said fiber, and the first reply said wireless, and it degenerated from there. (OK, This is getting silly, but I can't stop)
i have no idea what the specific needs may be. Hire somebody who equips industrial buildings for a living!
what comes to my mind wrt to IT/building intelligence:
a) separate electronics power circuit (in case some devices make a bad powerline noise)
b) at least twice as many etherenet ports as you count you will need (its cheap to fit these while you are at it)
c) well protected/easily replacable ethernet sockets (not sure what metal dust maydo to these
d) The building automation/control bus of your choice/your main vendors choice
e) smart metering (in case you want to know what you spend the power for)
f) room temperature,CO2,humidity,VOC sensors - in cas you ever are interested if the air conditioning is running too much
g) plan for vibration dampers (not sure what kind of CNC your workshop does.....) for servers?
Make the building with the CNC machine. Make the building the CNC machine itself. In which case your resources list becomes...
(a) ability to feed and sustain itself
(b) ability to grow.
Be very careful with (c) ability to resist parasites, or you may be in trouble.
There are open source machines for making earth bricks. You could compromise by allowing the building to request humans to extend it, so it does not do everything. Maybe it could be done...
But which would be incredibly hard to install later:
A faraday cage around the board room
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Put the server room on a separate electrical grid so you can easily install a backup generator. Since most smaller gas-fired generators are piston, they send out dirty power. To fix this only use 'Double Conversion Online UPS' which takes the dirty power and creates a perfect sine wave albeit using the battery for this so not as efficient as cheaper direct UPS.. If you use a regular APC UPS and the generator kicks, the UPS will freak and and die and it switched back and froth from battery too quickly. Buy a AV Tech environmental monitor http://avtech.com/ and monitor for heat, fire, water, and humidity. Also, you might want to log card scans to get into the server room since it holds expensive equipment that could be stolen, then you can prove whose card was used to enter. Put the server room on its own subnet and firewall it from general network and Internet. If an attack happens, then you can simply unplug the external networks cables. Honey Pot and IPS monitor are nice additions.
If you have a tool and die shop as part of your CNC facility, and presses running on the same foundation there is a solution. You can get this "air cushion" for your worktables (use a granite slab), and it will keep the vibrations from messing things up.
Tops on the list has to be the hot chicks room.
And that's actually a pretty good answer for the preceding question, "Best Incentives For IT Workers?"