Moving your office?

Moving your office? Have you thought about how you move your technology?

Desks. Filing cabinets. Phones. Meeting room table and chairs. There’s a lot to plan in any office move. Have you thought about how you’re moving your technology?

I helped a client with their office move this summer. We started planning the tech move almost 4 months before the move.

Internet Access

Have you booked moving your internet? What kind of speed? My client was moving into a building where the building owner said there was fiber but the internet service provider (ISP) said it wasn’t in that building yet. It took months, no really, for the ISP to confirm that yes, there was fiber in that building. Because the ISP’s delay in confirming fiber, the installation date of the internet was delayed forcing my client to delay their move by a month.

Patch Panel

I also started planning the network cabling, patch panel and server rack four months before the move. The client was moving into an office that was just being renovated and we were able to get the cabling added on as part of the renovations.

Despite providing detailed drawings and telling them we had a network rack we wanted installed, the building owner and renovators still didn’t get it right. I sized a network rack that could handle all the client’s network equipment and a server. We sent drawings of exactly where we wanted the rack to go (the right height for myself and the office manager to manage). Unbelievably the building management stuck the patch panel into a cabinet that the client didn’t want or need on that wall. Way up high to boot. See picture.

Just FYI sticking network equipment into a cabinet with no air circulation is a bad idea. Heat can damage the equipment.

Then the building management stuck the rack we provided close to the ceiling as opposed to eye-level. This meant having to use a ladder to for the whole network install. And any time we make changes to the network cabling we need a serious ladder to see the patch panel numbers.

I redid the rack design so the most important network equipment is close to eye level. Then the fiber installers decided to install their fiber equipment in the middle of the rack. Didn’t even bother to ask. Just shoved it where they wanted. That added to the work on moving day.

However the planning paid off. On moving day the client was surprised by the VOIP phones ringing just 1o minutes after I got there to install the network.

Network Rack

This is what the rack looked like after a day. All the important cables are labeled.. I created a table of network jacks to patch panel info sheet so where we know exactly where everything is plugged into. Makes troubleshooting a lot easier. Makes moving devices around much easier too.

And lots of air flow. Turns out this building management company decided to save money by turning of the air conditioning on the weekends in the summer. We added a fan to this part of the office to save the equipment from heat damage.

Network cabling

Their new office layout contained a wall of windows on one side without power or capability of putting network jacks. I worked closely with the office manager on where to put data jacks for this layout. In additions to desktops, a main printer and VOIP phones all needing network cabling, the power shortage of power outlets close to the desks in the main area presented a problem.

I sourced some floor cable covers for the client. Keeps the network cables safe and protects employees from tripping. See picture below.

Standing Desks

Standing desks are very popular. My client decided as part of moving their office to upgrade all the office desks to standing desks. Most monitor cables are too short for standing desks. Same for the power cords. And how do you manage the cords? We some under desk cable management guides.