CASE STUDY SITUATION Move planned to large headquarters building. Rapid company expansion already straining data center. LAN and data center must easily grow and accommodate moves, adds and changes. SOLUTION End-to-end TrueNet ® Structured Cabling System: Category 6 cable for data, Category 5e cable for voice, angled patch panels, relay racks, Glide Cable Management System, and modular jacks/outlets for work areas. RESULTS Smaller outside diameter AirES ® cable enables growth within existing conduit without added expense of more vertical pathways. Angled patch panels and Glide cable managers allow high density data center to remain neat and manageable. Last minute changes unable to derail on-time, on-budget project. ADC Helps Stansell Electric Build Showcase Data Center MAPCO values scalable and manageable network infrastructure CASE STUDY Introduction Serving and satisfying customers is the number one priority for MAPCO Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delek US Holdings which operates more than 500 convenience stores under the MAPCO Express ® , MAPCO Mart ™ , Discount Food Mart ™ , East Coast ® , Fast Food and Fuel ™ and Favorite Markets ® brand names. In each of the stores, convenience means featuring the right mix of premium coffees, snack and food items, and consumer products that range from over the counter medicines to automotive supplies. Yet making sure that a visit to one of these stores is truly convenient requires that products are easy to find and neatly displayed. Anticipating expansion in the number of stores operated by the company, this same “ease of use” commitment was a key driver in design of the LAN and data center for the company’s new headquarters building. In meetings with electrical contractor Stansell Electric Company, MAPCO executives expressed concern about managing the network going forward. Pointing to the existing cramped data center, a key requirement for Stansell was to ensure that both the LAN and data center would not only accommodate routine changes but also easily scale for growth at the headquarters building. As with the stores, MAPCO wanted its corporate data center neat and orderly so that any voice or data circuit in the building could be easily identified. At the same time, this project represented an opportunity for Stansell Electric to showcase its competence in low-voltage projects. Faced with a tight construction schedule, Stansell sought a partner that could provide a quality cabling and connectivity solution, provide a competitive price, and deliver a high level of service and engineering support. More important, Stansell sought a partner that would not miss commitments. As Stansell reviewed its options, it chose to work with ADC on the project. MAPCO executives liked what they saw from ADC in early meetings and added ADC to the construction team for this important project. “We try to put ourselves in our customer’s shoes, as if this is our building and we intend to live and do business here,” said Brad Johnson, data communications account executive for Stansell Electric. “We draw from our past experience and make recommendations early on that MAPCO may not have thought of until it was too late or more expensive,” he said. “Our customers tend to see us as partners and having ADC part of the team only makes us better.” Product Quality and Commitment to Service As with most design and installation projects, change is the norm. For this project with an unusually compressed schedule—where ceiling grid on the second floor was installed before doors on the first, for example—even the smallest change could delay the project and increase costs. ADC was selected based upon a reputation for great service from everyone from the local account manager to product managers at ADC offices in Minnesota and Colorado. With the tight schedule, Stansell also valued a single source vendor for cable, panels, outlets and modular jacks, not just for peace of mind that the components work together, but also to make sure products were available through distribution when needed. ADC was also selected because the company is one of the few manufacturers of an end-to-end cable and connectivity solution. Finally, Stansell intended the MAPCO project to be a showcase for earning low voltage projects from other clients. ADC was chosen because of its reputation for quality, reliability and attention to the details of cable management that is vital for maintaining a neat, organized and easy-to-use LAN and data center. The new network for the MAPCO headquarters building included roughly 600 drops across the two-story building supported by one data center with open relay racks segmented by voice and data services. All passive network infrastructure products from the data center to the work areas were from the ADC portfolio of TrueNet ® structured cabling solutions—TrueNet Category 5e for voice and TrueNet Category 6 for data, each carrying a 20-year application assurance warranty from a single manufacturer. CASE STUDY Angled Panels Enforce Order Early in the design phase, MAPCO agreed to the value of installing TrueNet Category 5e and Category 6 angle left/angle right patch panels for distribution fields used to patch users to active voice and data equipment. These patented patch panels allow each six-pack module of RJ45 connectors to be angled to the left or to the right so that patch cords naturally flow into vertical cable managers. Used with ADC’s Glide Cable vertical managers, the angled panels also eliminated the need to pair horizontal cable managers with each patch panel, allowing greater rack density without sacrificing access to perform adds and rearrangements. As a result, the relay racks retain a neat and manageable appearance, speed circuit identification, reduce errors and improve availability of voice and data services for all users. The Stansell installation team takes great pride in their craft. The combination of neatly dressed IDC rear terminations and an orderly flow of patch cords from the angled RJ45 modules into vertical cable managers on the front resulted in relay racks that meet the high expectations that Stansell expects on every job. More important, MAPCO loved the results. Rear angled IDC terminations enforce orderly flow into vertical cable managers. Glide cable manager helps increase rack density by eliminating need for pairing a horizontal cable manager with each patch panel. Highly dense relay racks with angled patch panels leave plenty of room for technicians to safely make changes and rearrangements and meet MAPCO requirements to keep the data center neat and manageable. CASE STUDY Website: www.adc.com From North America, Call Toll Free: 1-800-366-3891 • Outside of North America: +1-952-938-8080 Fax: +1-952-917-3237 • For a listing of ADC’s global sales office locations, please refer to our website. ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O. Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101 Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document. Because we are continuously improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. At any time, you may verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis. ADC Telecommunications, Inc. views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents. Products or features contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S. or foreign patents. An Equal Opportunity Employer 105480AE 10/07 Original © 2007 ADC Telecommunications, Inc. All Rights Reserved Space Saving Cable Design for the two-story building called for one data center serving both floors. While this design used less floor space and offered easier administration of the network from a central distribution frame location, there was a limit on the number of three inch conduits installed between floors. Fortunately, ADC cable featured an average outside diameter that is as much as 32% smaller than competing cable. To achieve the dramatically smaller cable size, ADC utilizes AirES technology for its TrueNet riser and plenum cable. Compared to all insulation materials, air is the best material to resist breakdown when an electrical field is applied. AirES combines traditional FEP with channels of air for individual conductor insulation. As a result, TrueNet cable requires less insulation material and—with superior insulation—uses smaller gauge copper, both of which contribute to smaller individual conductors and smaller outside diameter of finished cable. TrueNet cable manufactured with AirES technology used throughout the MAPCO facility exceeds standards for both electrical performance and crush resistance. More important, the smaller outside diameter cable allowed MAPCO to remain within standards for conduit fill ratios and still have room for expansion without adding new vertical pathways. Conclusion For MAPCO, the project was on time and met expectations for ease of day-to-day management and for growth of the operation. “We are clearly poised for growth without the impending mess that normally happens when changes occur. The data center looks great today and will be functional as we grow,” said Robin Perry, manager of technical infrastructure and security for MAPCO. “It is really great to have our servers and routers permanently cabled (to patch panels) so that we only move and add patch cords to make changes. This ensures that our data center will have that just-installed look for many years to come,” said Perry, referring to the cross-connect distribution fields created by Stansell for handling moves, adds and changes. In the end, the project was a great success due in part to the level of support received from ADC, according to Stansell Electric project manager Terry Catignani. Throughout the project, product was always available immediately through distribution. When last minute changes occurred, such as an additional relay rack and vertical cable managers, there was no delay in delivering product to the jobsite. “Lack of surprise is a good thing,” said Catignani. “We had plenty of last minute changes and last minute requests. These were never a problem because our (ADC) account manager is technically trained and was always there for us. We got materials (through distribution) when we needed it, too,” he said. Not surprisingly, testing revealed very low failure rates, which made turning the network over to MAPCO easier to do, according to Catignani. MAPCO is proud of the final product—proud enough to allow Stansell to show others the details of creating a data center that remains functional due to attention to the details of cable management. . density data center to remain neat and manageable. Last minute changes unable to derail on-time, on-budget project. ADC Helps Stansell Electric Build Showcase. in design of the LAN and data center for the company’s new headquarters building. In meetings with electrical contractor Stansell Electric Company, MAPCO