As part of a wide-ranging upgrade to the Germantown Friends School (GFS) campus data network, Vantage Technology Consulting Group conducted a technology assessment of current facilities and assisted with the design and specification of a completely new fiber optic outside cable plant and active network electronics.
The assessment included a review of the school’s existing server rooms and equipment, as well as horizontal and vertical cable plant, data drops and devices. The review resulted in a determination that ongoing throughput deficiencies and network interruptions were a largely a result of a dated patchwork of fiber connections that comprised the inter-building campus backbone. The new infrastructure traversed 21 buildings, supporting 473 data drops in 214 classrooms, office and common areas, and included two network cores and a redundant fiber ring. In addition to the new fiber backbone and network electronics, two new server rooms and twelve data closets were relocated, designed and specified.
Vantage consultants worked closely with the school’s CFO and Directors of IT and Facilities to perform the assessment, space allocations, and cable pathways, as well as to prepare bid drawings and specifications. Vantage also participated in bidder selection, bid reviews and award, and provided ongoing construction administration services.
Germantown Friends School, founded in 1845 and home of Friends Free Library since 1874, is an independent K-12 Quaker school which includes a diverse student body of 865 with a faculty to student ratio of 1:8. The campus covers seven acres in the historic neighborhood of Germantown in Northwestern Philadelphia.
Links
Germantown Friends School: www.germantownfriends.org