On the Move With Hubbell Premise Wiring
by Betsy Ziobron and Janet Crook

When the expansion of the world’s leading relocation services company required that they move to a larger facility, it’s no surprise that the relocation was accomplished with speed, efficiency, and precision.
With a full menu of global mobility services, SIRVA (www.sirva.com) includes a network of premier moving and storage companies, including Allied Van Lines, NorthAmerican Van Lines, Global Van Lines, TransGuard, and Pickfords. Originally located in a 156,000 square-foot building in Naperville, IL, SIRVA decided to move its expanding headquarters 13 miles away into a 270,000 square-foot building in Westmont. Due to unforeseen circumstances, SIRVA was faced with just 10 weeks to re-cable their new facility for an up-to-date network infrastructure that would take them forward for the next 10 years.

The Best Solution
With over 7,000 employees worldwide and growing, SIRVA planned to move its headquarters operations to the new Westmont facility because it offered ample space in a more desirable location. Unfortunately, the existing cabling infrastructure at the new space consisted of outdated Category 3 and old Type II cabling. “The existing cabling did not meet our network needs for the next 10 years, and we concluded that we needed to upgrade the facility prior to moving in,” says Jim Lewis, facilities manager for SIRVA. Lewis evaluated several connectivity vendors during the planning stages. One solution that stood out above the rest was the SureBIT solution, a combination of SPEEDGAINÒ jacks, patch panels, and patch cords, from Hubbell Premise Wiring and MegaLAN Category 5E cable from Mohawk/CDT (www.mohawk-cdt.com)

Henry Magnabosco, field sales manager for Hubbell Premise Wiring, and Joe Henion, regional manager for Mohawk/CDT, presented SIRVA with the SureBIT solution and 25-year Mission Critical Plus warranty. “Hubbell and Mohawk representatives explained their entire product line in terms of what would work for our needs and what wouldn’t,” says Lewis. “After speaking with a few other manufacturers, we decided that the SureBIT solution was our best option with the best warranty.” Hubbell tests system transmission performance with state-of-the art equipment, and verifies standards-compliant, error-free Gigabit Ethernet transmission through independent third party testing.
Under the 25-year Mission Critical Plus warranty that impressed SIRVA, the SureBIT system is guaranteed to be free from defects in material and workmanship, exceed applicable ANSI/TIA/EIA and ISO/IEC channel specifications, and support any current or future applications required to run on the cabling. With the quality of the products and the integrity of the installation guaranteed, SureBIT also provided SIRVA with guaranteed PSACR (Power Sum Attenuation-to-Crosstalk Ratio) headroom, ensuring optimal system performance and assisting in limiting the BER (Bit Error Rate) that can cause costly retransmissions and downtime.
“The ultimate choice was based on the helpful presentation, company reputation, warranty, and customer service,” says Lewis. “None of us at SIRVA had cabled a building in over ten years. A lot had changed, and we needed the level of customer service and assistance that Hubbell and Mohawk could provide.” After selecting the SureBIT solution, SIRVA completed the design of the system and set out to find a Hubbell-Mohawk certified installer for the job.

The Right Approach
The existing tenant occupying SIRVA’s new space was scheduled to vacate the premises on September 1. In July, SIRVA received word that the tenant would not be able to move out of the facility until December. “For corporate tax reasons and logistics, we really needed to get into the new building before the new year,” says Lewis. “We weren’t sure how we could possibly recable and relocate to the new space in only a 30-day window.”
To complete the project within the short timeframe, SIRVA asked the existing tenant if crews could start installing the new Category 5e cable in the evenings prior to the existing tenant vacating the space. This would allow cabling crews to simply terminate the new cable and remove the old cable after the tenant has vacated the building. “The existing tenant agreed to payment terms to deal with the inconvenience of cabling crews coming in at night,” says Lewis. “It was the only way we could complete the cabling before the year-end move-in date.”
The final design for the cabling infrastructure was completed on September 1, and SIRVA went from design to bid, to analysis of bids, to awarding the bid, and receiving a permit in less than 30 days. The project called for only ten weeks to complete the cabling and less than two weeks to install equipment and certify and test the system. The first 8 weeks of the project required working in the evening hours around the existing tenant. “When we put this job out for bid, we were very upfront about the extremely stringent time line, the need to work second shift, and the absolute requirement of completing the project on time,” says Lewis. “Some contractors didn’t even want to bid because of the timeline.”
The winning bid for the SIRVA project came from Illinois-based Computer Power Systems, Inc. (www.4CPS.com), which specializes in the installation of voice/data cabling systems and computer/network A/C power enhancement equipment. “We chose CPS because their bid was complete and accurate with the right approach, which was an indication of how well they would do under pressure moving forward,” says Lewis. “CPS guaranteed in writing that the cabling could be done in the allotted time.” Prior to selecting the bid, Lewis conducted site visits with each bidder to review past projects. According to Lewis, CPS also passed that test with excellence.
“The short timeline was definitely a concern of ours going into this, but we knew that we had the people in place to take on the challenge,” says Jim Martin, president of CPS. “SIRVA wanted someone flexible who could react quickly to changes, and that was our primary strategy in bidding.”

Quality Connections
The new SIRVA headquarters location is a unique architecturally pleasing building, composed of four sections joined by atriums. The cabling infrastructure consists of a main cross connect (MC) and nine intermediate cross connects (ICs) located in telecommunications closets throughout the building. From the MC, 12-strands of Mohawk 62.5µ multimode fiber optic cable connects to each of the nine ICs. The fiber terminates via Hubbell Premise Wiring’s OPTIchannel rack mount Fiber Six-Pack adapter panels, which facilitates securing cable, storing fiber slack, and arranging and identifying the terminated fibers.

In the ICs, MegaLAN Category 5E cable from Mohawk/CDT terminates via Hubbell’s SPEEDGAINÒ Category 5E patch panels, which have links and channels verified to deliver error-free transmission. From the ICs, over 800,000 feet of cable goes out to approximately 1200 workstations located in offices and furniture systems throughout the facility. At the workstations, the cable terminates at Hubbell Xcelerator jacks, which feature Hubbell’s Quick Lace™ termination process for a faster, simpler, and more reliable termination. The Xcelerator jacks are installed in Hubbell’s Infin-e-Station™ faceplates, a modular plate system that allows for easy front-loading installation of the jacks.
Each workstation includes three Category 5e connections to be used as SIRVA sees fit, for either voice or data,” says Jody Loveless, primary project manager for CPS. “We brought all of the cable back to the rack, so if SIRVA decides to implement VoIP or other advanced technologies, the cabling is in place.” The cabling infrastructure also includes extra backbone fiber for future use and expansion capabilities.
With the extremely short timeline of the SIRVA project, both Hubbell and Mohawk needed to be on top of the situation in terms of inventory and customer service. “We wanted to use bundled cable, but the time frame didn’t allow for it at first,” says Loveless. “Mohawk jumped through hoops to get us bundled cable for the latter part of the project, which saved a lot of labor time.” Both Hubbell and Mohawk worked with distributors up front to ensure product availability for the SIRVA project. “Hubbell and Mohawk stand behind the SureBIT solution, and they’ve always been responsive to our needs, allowing CPS to provide good products and service to customers,” says Loveless. CPS is one of the largest certified Hubbell-Mohawk contractors in the mid west and has been providing quality Hubbell and Mohawk products to customers for over 10 years.

Timekeeping Strategies
CPS worked second shift for the first eight weeks of the project, running cabling parallel to the existing cabling without completing any terminations. “Working around the existing tenant without being able to terminate was the biggest challenge on this job,” says Martin. “We also ensured that the existing tenant experienced no network downtime.”
CPS also utilized certain strategies to stay on schedule and meet the tight deadline. During each week of the project, CPS met with SIRVA, the existing tenant, and building engineers to ensure that the project was going according to schedule and within the budget. In addition, CPS broke the project down into smaller projects, and crews worked on a volunteer basis over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
Once the existing tenant had completely vacated the premises, CPS was faced with the task of removing the existing cabling. “We had to remove the old cabling in a very careful, tedious manner to make sure that everyone knew exactly which cabling to remove and which cabling needed to stay,” says Loveless. “It was a juggling act that had to be handled with accuracy.” To allow the existing tenant to retrieve voice mail for a period following their departure, CPS crews could not pull out the cable for the phone system until the very end of the project.

A Perfect Relocation
CPS crews completed the infrastructure cabling and revamping of the telecommunications closets in time for SIRVA to move into their new location by year-end. “We moved in just one weekend – something only a moving company would attempt. We said, ‘If we can’t do it, nobody can’,” says Jim Lewis. In just 10 weeks, the 270,000 square foot headquarters had a new cabling infrastructure with the quality Hubbell and Mohawk SureBIT solution. “The project came together well because our project managers spent a lot of time on the details and coordination up front,” says Martin. “At project completion, our crews had worked a total of 6,300 man-hours, which included 1,850 second-shift hours, 1,160 overtime hours, and 22 hours of holiday time.”
Twenty-four hours after moving into the new facility, the network was up and running with no problems. SIRVA employees returned to their desks on Monday morning and went back to work. “Every phone worked, every computer worked. On the first day back, it looked as though our people had been there for months,” remembers Jim Lewis. “There’s nothing I would have done differently. It’s hard to complain about perfection.”