Wall-Plate Services & Implementation Project

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Wall-Plate Services & Implementation Project

What is "Wall-Plate Service?"

Computing and Networking Services (CNS) is responsible for the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of the core network on the University of Florida campus. Core network services are funded centrally and provided to all campus units at no charge.

Core network services include:

• Core electronics that connect buildings to each other
• Building Point of Presence (B-POP) electronics that link building to the core
• Fiber optic cable, copper wire, conduits, and pathways between buildings
• Wireless Access for outdoor spaces campus wide
• Access to the Internet and Internet II

Colleges, departments, and administrative units are responsible for providing local network connections within their buildings. As an alternative to "do-it-yourself," CNS began offering Network Services to the Wall-Plate for a monthly fee.

Standard Wall-Plate services include:

• Life-cycle replacement of switches on a 5-year schedule. No big up-front investment. Only enterprise class switches deployed within the network.
• Switch maintenance including security updates, IOS updates, and special configurations.
• Upgrades and design changes to the network as needed.
• End-to-end monitoring and management of network performance, with early detection of problems and timely response.
• Seamless troubleshooting of network problems, end-to-end. No finger-pointing.
• Support for the existing cable infrastructure. Note -- does not include new installations.
• Basic wireless services in all major areas of the wall-plate buildings
• Availability of VoIP phone services and end-to-end I-Phone support

Wall-Plate Service Level Objectives [PDF]

What is the "Wall-Plate Project?"

Computing and Networking Services (CNS) now manages 40% of the local networks on the main campus (12,000 of 30,000 ports). On July 1, 2007 CNS will begin a 3-year project to upgrade the remaining 18,000 ports. This OIT sponsored, centrally funded, strategic technology initiative is known as the Wall-plate Project.

As announced last Fall, most academic and administrative units on the main campus are included in the Wall-Plate project. Externally funded auxiliary operations are not eligible. Housing, Shands, and the Health Sciences Center networks are self-supporting and not covered by the central funding.

The project will proceed building-by-building across campus. CNS will do the "quick and easy" projects first. Buildings with major wiring problems will be done last. To find out where your building(s) fit in the year-by-year schedule, please check the Implementation Schedule [PDF]. Units willing to provide additional funding to outsource the wiring upgrade can speed up their implementation.

Shortly before work in a building begins, all units that occupy the building will be asked to "opt-in" to the Wall-Plate Service, and select their desired service level.

Budget

The Wall-Plate project budget is $1,500,000 per year.

• $1,000,000 for network equipment and infrastructure upgrades
• $   500,000 for installation and maintenance support staff

Equipment upgrades include the data networking devices that reside within a building, such as workgroup switches, wireless access points, and at least one Building-Point-of-Presence (BPOP).

Infrastructure upgrades include the telecom closets, the racks and patch panels in the closets, minor improvements to the wiring within a building, and additional fiber to the building as needed.

Support staff include 3 teams with 3-persons each, dedicated to working on the Wall-Plate project. 9 FTE in total.

The $1,500,000 per year provides a "steady-state" funding and staffing level. Enough to upgrade (replace) 6,000 ports per year. 30,000 ports total, over a 5-year lifecycle.

Implementation Schedule (by building)

Note that due to the nature of this work, roll-out is scheduled building-by-building, rather than by department or other organizational unit. You will need to look up the individual physical building(s) in which your unit is housed in order to determine when implementation will be available.

Building Schedule Update: 2/5/2008:
The original version of this schedule was based on estimated work for installing the network only. It did not take into account additional time needed up-front working with the customer to plan their network and consider VoIP deployment. The response to VoIP was far greater than anticpated, with near 100% of Wall-Plate clients electing to participate. That required an adjustment to the schedule. There are also some projects listed as "Prior to Wall-Plate Project." These projects were active prior to July and have taken longer to complete due to the retroactive addition of VoIP. In addition several new construction projects and renovation jobs have been added to the list.

Implementation Schedule (by Building) [PDF]

Announcements

• Wall-Plate Port Security: Implementation Date
• DDD Memo 11/03/2006; "Central Funding for Wall-Plate Network Services"
• Wall-Plate Project Start-Up (DDD Memo)
• Presentation to UF Deans, 05/08/07 [PDF]
• Telecom Rate-Changes DDD Memo [PDF]
• Year End Memo-08 Internal - Pay by Purchase Order
• Year End Memo-08 External - Pay by Check

Port Pricing

10/100 Megabits

The standard port connection speed is 10/100 Megabits -- provided at no charge.

10/100 Megabits + PoE (Power over Ethernet)

Power Over Ethernet switch upgrade -- provided at no charge. Note that a PoE port is required for VoIP service.

Gigabit Ethernet

Available for an extra 1-time, up-front charge of $600 per 24 ports. This represents the differential cost of installing a Gigabit switch as opposed to the standard 10/100 Megabit switch.

Gigabit Ethernet + PoE

Available for an extra 1-time, up-front charge of $1200 per 24 ports. This represents the differential cost of installing a Gigabit switch as opposed to the standard 10/100 Megabit switch.

Telephone Handset Pricing

Please refer to linked PDF

Frequently-Asked Questions

General Questions

• Why should my department join the Wall-Plate program?
• How many switch ports will Wall-Plate cover, campus-wide, and what happens when there is substantial growth?

Policy Questions

• What is the process to move forward with the Wall-Plate project for our building?
• What choices are there after we opt-in?
• There are multiple departments/units in my building. What is the level of granularity at which organization(s) can choose whether to opt-in or not?

Schedule Issues

• What if implementation in my building conflicts with other activities I have scheduled?
• How much down-time will implementation cause in my building?
• Can I get moved up in the schedule?
• Can a department upgrade its infrastructure to move ahead on the installation schedule?

Building Issues

• How were the scores for each building calculated?
• Over time, wiring ages and degrades; what plans do you have for rewiring buildings 10 - 15 years from now?
• Are off campus buildings included?
• What about buildings that are not on your list?
• Can a department self-perform infrastructure upgrades, or do they need to use outside contractors?
• There is a University policy that says all new construction and major renovation will go Wall-Plate and VoIP. How will this affect Weil Hall if the phase II renovation is completed over the next 5 to 10 years?
• The design of the New Engineering Building did not include space for servers. Over the years Engineering has deployed departmental servers in the telecommunication rooms. Will Engineering be able to leave the existing servers in the telecommunication rooms?
• Can technical staff continue to have access to the telecommunication rooms under the Wall-Plate program?

Data-Port Issues

• What if I want more ports (than I have now)?
• Will you wire currently-unwired spaces, like our lobby, lounge, or courtyard?
• How were the network port counts for the Wall-Plate project made?
• What happens when later we need more hot jacks than there are available ports on the closet switches?
• You only counted active ports on switches you located. We have several additional in offices plugged into some of the switch ports. Are you going to upgrade these extra hub ports?
• What about server rack switches?
• What about labs with switches in the room?
• Will the Wall-Plate project match existing gigabit to the desktop installations without surcharges at the time of implementation?
• Does the approximate $200/port additional wiring charge include switch ports in the closet?
• Is Wireless access included in the Wall-Plate project?
• Many departments have deployed external network devices such as hubs, switches, or routers in offices and work areas to avoid the cost of installing additional cables back to the telecommunications closet. As part of the Wall-Plate program will departments be required to remove these external devices from the network?
• Does the Wall-Plate program support fiber-optic to the desktop?
• CNS promotes the use of wireless as a low cost alternative to department's statements about the cost of installing additional cables. This appears to be in contradiction to University policy that says wired connections should be used rather than wireless for security purposes?
• Can departments get Walkup Internet Port Authentication (WIPA) without the Wall-Plate service?

VoIP Issues

• What if I already have Wall-Plate service, and want to add VoIP?
• Can I get VoIP Telephone Service without Wall-Plate service?
• Can we buy refurbished VoIP-phones?
• Instead of PoE, can we just get our electrical power for our VoIP phones from wall-plugs (IP phone power transformer boxes)?
• What if I don't want to convert to VoIP services right now, but I want to put in PoE switches so I have the option of going VoIP in the future?
• Will the VoIP Phone special wall-plate price apply to existing wall-plate customers or new buildings?
• Will less expensive, non-Cisco (SIP standard) VoIP handsets be allowed?
• If a building goes to VoIP, can Centrex (direct copper) lines be retained in the building?
• What is the price difference between VoIP and non-VoIP phones under the new telephone line charging algorithm?

For More Information

If you have questions about Wall-Plate Services, or VoIP telephone services, please contact: John Madey jmadey@ufl.edu 352.273-1113

If you have questions about the Wall-Plate implementation project, please contact: Tim Fitzpatrick timf@ufl.edu 352.392-2061

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This page was last updated Jun. 2, 2008 by CNS Information Services

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