Case Study

Boston Area College Improves Backbone Cabling to Ensure Campus Safety

The Work

A college north of Boston sought to improve security by adding additional cameras throughout the campus. Once the cameras were added, however, the campus police, who monitor the video feeds, discovered that the cameras were buffering, slowing down the video feed and therefore not functioning in real time.

The college, a long-time customer of KTS, reached out for assistance in fixing this important issue.

KTS was quickly able to identify that the existing cabling could not support all the data that it was handling – thus the data was slowing down and the camera feeds were buffering.

KTS recommended to the college that the best solution would be to have KTS run new single mode fiber cable from the college’s data center to the building which would solve the issue the campus police were encountering. KTS also suggested that the cabling have additional strands to support the needs of the students who live in the building, the demands of the campus police station that shares the building, as well as some additional, unused strands to support future needs.

Challenges

The solution required installing 2,200 feet of single mode fiber optic cable through multiple manholes. Occasionally, it was challenging to locate some of the manholes, which over time can become overgrown. A metal detector was required to find one of the manhole covers that had been overgrown with tree roots and sod.

Benefits/Impacts

The campus police are now able to monitor the security video feeds in real time, for a greater level of campus safety. In addition, the building has improved connectivity, a significant benefit for the student residents who now have improved speed and connectivity for their devices. Another benefit is that the college has additional fiber strands available for future use, enabling future expansion of the communications network with limited associated costs.