Product category:
Cabling, Conduit, Accessories and Signal Conditioning
News Release from: Tyco Electronics UK | Subject: Category E structured cabling
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 04 April 2005
Voice and data network helps clinical
education
A Category 5e structured cabling system with 1,200 outlets has been supplied by the AMP Netconnect business unit of Tyco Electronics.
A Category 5e structured cabling system with 1,200 outlets has been supplied by the AMP Netconnect business unit of Tyco Electronics The company worked in conjunction with its registered installer, ACI of Manchester, to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UK)
The system is unusual in that it handles communications traffic for a variety of applications in addition to voice and data.
They include the door access control system, audio-visual aids and the associated internal cameras, smart vending machines and copiers, Freeview and terrestrial TV channels, and video conferencing.
The hospital's new Clinical Education Centre in Stoke-on-Trent, operated in conjunction with nearby Keele University, is said to be one of the most advanced facilities of its type in Europe, and uses a range of audio-visual aids to replace the traditional lecture theatre with a more personalised "hands on" approach to teaching.
The building was officially handed over to the hospital last September and will eventually house 700 students and 300 consultants and support staff.
Ian Swann, project manager (engineering) with the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, was given the task of implementing the communications infrastructure 18 months ago for what was essentially a green field site.
Prior to his involvement, the hospital trust had only used data cabling for computers, but it was decided at an early stage in the planning of the new building that a combined voice and data network was essential.
The realisation that the system could be used for much more came after Ian Swann attended a seminar organised by Tyco Electronics.
Swann said: "The bandwidth provided by the Category 5e cabling system, coupled with the flexibility of being able to plug in different items of equipment anywhere in the system, made it possible to integrate so much more into the network than we had originally envisaged.
The other thing that attracted us to the AMP Netconnect product line was the fact that it was backed by a 25-year warranty directly with the manufacturer." The Category 5e cabling system means that the equipment in each lecture room or skills laboratory - typically including video cameras, image digitisers, DVD and VHS players, PCs with CD-ROM drives, and facilities for plugging in laptops - can be used interactively and flexibly as and when the situation requires.
Students can, for example, watch imitation operations being carried out or patients being interviewed by consultants.
The additional facilities provided via the structured cabling system include door access, vending machines, library facilities, photocopiers and printers - all accessed by a smart card system developed through Keele Facilities Management.
Apart from the obvious security benefits of only allowing legitimate users to access the facilities, it also means that students no longer have to carry lots of small change with them.
Future expansion includes the possibility of streaming live data from the hospital site to the Keele university site four miles away over a fibre link that is already in place. Request a free brochure from Tyco Electronics UK ...
• Tyco Electronics UK: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
