Ohio institutions implement a 10-Gigabit Ethernet switched-fiber backbone to enable high-speed desktop applications over UTP copper. | i Pipe Campus Ohio institutions implement a 10-Gigabit Ethernet switched-fiber backbone to enable high-speed desktop applications over UTP copper. For Tim Deaver the challenge was finding a horizontal UTP cabling solution that would support both gigabit today and 10 Gbps in the future. h t t th d V t igabit to the desk is not just for the engineering students says Tim Deaver manager of technical services for the 300-acre campus shared by Ohio State University Newark OSUN and Central Ohio Technical College COTC . Access to video is an important part of just about every curriculum. We have students in digital media design and other fields who require access to very large files. Our goal is for students to access their applications from anywhere on the campus. With plans to grow the student population from 5 000 today to more than 7 500 by 2009 campus officials determined that brick and mortar alone would not be the differentiator that would attract students. The IT infrastructure supporting the campus was deemed an equally important element to meet enrollment targets. With the proper infrastructure in place the campus could offer students the technical amenities of advanced video applications virtually non-blocking Internet access and ample storage for data and e-mail. Yet designing an infrastructure to support gigabit to the desktop was complicated by an imperative to future-proof the wired network. As alternatives were considered fiber to the desk was evaluated yet only briefly due to the added costs for fiber switches cables and NICs. Copper is still going to be a driving force to the desktop for the future especially as long as the Cover Story price for fiber components remains higher than for copper Deaver says. The challenge for Deaver was finding a horizontal UTP cabling solution that would support both gigabit today and 10 Gbps in the future. A major obstacle was that at the time Deaver was considering cabling options all UTP solutions could only support a .
