At the University of South Florida the same group (and student employees of said group) that runs the wireless and wired network has performed the physical installation of the APs. Either in-house telecom staff or contractors did the conduit and wiring work to get Ethernet to the required locations. We're basically 100% PoE, so no electrical work is required. After a currently ongoing reorganization the AP installation will most likely fall either on a separate operations group or on the telecom installers pulling the wire as well. We've had a few special projects where we've shown an outside contractor how to mount the APs and that seemed to go smoothly. This has been with Cisco 1131 APs, which I personally think are by far the best designed AP as far as mounting options, ease, and visual appeal. I wish more vendors would take note on how to design the physical part of the APs right. You just have to make sure the contractor understands how the mounting brackets work, and that the Ethernet cable goes into the Ethernet port, not the serial. In new buildings and renovations wireless AP Ethernet locations are part of the planning process, and are installed above ceiling or otherwise suitable locations ahead of time; if we mount the 1131 directly onto a gang box (hard ceiling etc.), the need for that, orientation etc. is also communicated. If / when contractors install the APs, we've been occasionally able to hook up the switch end first, so it's easy for them to tell, thanks to PoE and on the presence or absence of blinky lights whether they did it right before they walk away. Any weird installs, such as locations with exterior wall sleeves and lightning suppression, fiber conversion and external antennas we'll probably still do ourselves for a while.
-- Toivo Voll Network Administrator Information Technology Communications University of South Florida On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 10:01 AM, Case, Brandon J <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm curious as to how you all out there handle the actual physical > installation of APs in your environments. Do you handle that within the > same team that manages the wireless network or is it a separate group > that installs the equipment? How do you go about having the data jacks > installed? Just as an estimation, approximately how long does it take to > have an AP installed? > > For buildings that are still in the planning phase, do you design the AP > locations into the building based on CAD drawings ahead of time? Or do > you perform an on-site survey after the building is open and then > proceed with installation? > > Any and all comments are appreciated. > > Thanks, > -- > Brandon Case, CCNA > Network Engineer, ITaP > Purdue University > [email protected] > Office: (765)49-67096 > Mobile: (765)479-7597 > Fax: (765)49-46620 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
