Cabling Foothills Lab Building 0

	NETS technicians Armando Cisneros, Jerome Martinez, Fabian Guerrero, and Mike Martinez prepare to install Category 6 twisted-pair cable capable of running 10Gb/s. This cable provides hard-wired connectivity to all of the offices in the new building named FL0. The ACD staff in this building now enjoy the benefits of state-of-the-art copper, fiber-optic, and wireless networking.

For decades, the Network Engineering and Telecommunications Section has been updating the cabling in existing buildings constructed as early as the mid-1960s. The technical staff became proficient in meeting these cabling challenges, but in FY 2006, a new opportunity presented itself: cabling a new building during its construction.

UCAR built a new building named FL0 in 2005 and 2006 to house the NCAR Atmospheric Chemistry Division (ACD). This was the first time that NETS had the opportunity to design and install a network infrastructure in a brand new building, and this project presented many new challenges. ACD now has the current state of the art in fiber-optic and copper cabling as well as wireless network access throughout the building. NETS also cabled the RAL computer room in FL0, then updated two radar pads used by EOL. This was a multi-month project that has now been successfully completed.

This project advances NCAR's strategic goal of "Developing and providing advanced services and tools." It is supported through the UCAR Communications Pool indirect funds.