Brand-Rex takes centre stage

Offering aspiring musicians, actors, stage managers and theatre technicians a creative and stimulating environment in which to develop as artists and professionals, Milton Court is a state-of-the-art teaching and performance building and, as such, it requires the best possible network infrastructure for its staff, students and visitors.

The Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Head of IT, Richard Antonel, was charged with overseeing the implementation of a network infrastructure that could provide the highest possible levels of performance and future proofing. He explained, ‘The scope was to install a high specification structured cabling system that would last in excess of 25 years. We decided to install 10Gbit/s to every outlet. After carrying out research I decided the Brand-Rex 10GPlus Category 6A system would offer the best combination of value, reliability and longevity.’

Chris Chandler, technical manager at Brand-Rex, who advised on the system design commented, ‘For this environment a shielded foil twisted pair (F/FTP) low smoke zero halogen (LSOH) cable was the most appropriate option due to the quantity of electrical services in the building that could cause electromagnetic interference (EMI). Over 150km of it was used to configure 2,000 10GBASE-T channels and, in addition, singlemode (OS2) and multimode (OM4) optical fibre from our FibrePlus range has been used in the campus wide area network (WAN) and internal backbones respectively.’
A truly converged multimedia environment, as well as running data, voice and video conferencing applications, the IT infrastructure at Milton Court has to be able to handle the many radio and TV broadcasts that will be made from the new facilities as well as supporting the Guildhall’s recording studios for sound and video. It will also facilitate a large digital signage system, as well as wireless networking to accommodate the increasing preference for ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) functionality amongst students. It is also used to network a building management system (BMS) that operates access control, CCTV, and heating and ventilation.

As a third party tested and approved cabling system, 10GPlus not only meets and exceeds the performance outlined in EIA/TIA for Category 6A, but also meets and exceeds requirements in ISO/IEC for Class EA. The 10GPlus system therefore has unparalleled levels of certification and is manufactured in accordance with ISO 14001 and ISO 9001:2008.

Antonel is confident that Milton Court’s communications infrastructure will fully support the technologies of the future. He concluded, ‘Milton Court will open in September and I know that its network infrastructure will perfectly complement and enhance the outstanding quality of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s training and the success of its graduates.’