If you have a business, or you are in charge of moving your current company to a new facility and you have done this before, then it’s probably safe to say you’ve learned from that and will not make any of those mistakes again. However, if you’re new to moving a company, there are a few things concerning the IT infrastructure most of us don’t think about until it’s almost too late.
Let’s face it: you can’t move employees into a new space without network cabling in place. Network cabling should be one of the first things a company thinks about, along with properly sizing the IT or Server Room so it has enough room for all the racks and other necessary equipment – not just now, but in the future.
The heart of your company is the network gear and network cabling infrastructure. The network cables are like the veins that extend out from your heart; a business must have its network cabling in place before the move in date, or no work can be accomplished. Your company can’t function at full speed when there are problems with the cabling or slow and inefficient network gear.
Companies and their employees are working faster and faster and need the network infrastructure to support it. Time is money, and guess what? It all runs over the network cabling. Even if you run your computers using a wireless system, you still need network cables to the WiFi Access Points! Even the new VoIP phone systems need a fast cable to support the phones. An increasing number of companies are utilizing PoE (power over Ethernet) switches, which provide power through the cable. A minimum of a category 6 cable is recommended because it’s made to handle the power that is being supplied from the PoE switch.
Do not assume the network cabling from the last tenant who occupied the facility you’re about to move into is in place and ready to go. Property managers and new codes often require the old cable be pulled out before new cable can be installed because of fire and other safety reasons. You may need your new IT Room to be in a different location from where the current IT Room is now. Your design of the office areas and cubicles may be very different from the company that moved out. Or maybe the company that occupied the facility simply cut off all the cables before they left. Any of these cases will result in needing to install new network cables. If the old cables are still in place, you may be responsible for removing them at your cost.
OK – let’s make it simple for the first time move-in coordinator, shall we? Here are a few crucial tasks you must check off your list well before your move-in date:
There are dozens upon dozens of things to keep in mind as you move your business. But with some advance preparation, you can safely relegate network cabling to the list of things that aren’t keeping you up at night!