CASE STUDY
SITUATION
Deploy proper planning to deliver campus infrastructures that can
support a technologically rich learning environment, extensive campus
construction projects, and customer service while matching technology
needs to budgets at Florida State University.
SOLUTION
Identify and establish long-term relationships with companies that
provide outstanding warrantees, on-site training, and quality
products. Chose ADC’s TrueNet cable and connectivity solutions
for maximum performance and WFX Wi-Fi Array for high-capacity
wireless coverage.
RESULTS
Sustainable and better performing cabling infrastructure, simplified
Wi-Fi deployment, and continued support for reliability, cost-savings,
and successful technology deployment to meet the needs of almost
40,000 students and 6,000 faculty and staff members.
Successful Infrastructure Deployment at Florida State University
ADC’s TrueNet
®
Cable, WFX Wi-Fi Solution, and Customer Service Deliver Performance
CASE STUDY
Since its inception in 1851, Florida State
University (FSU) has expanded to include
16 colleges that offer over 300 degree programs
at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral
levels, including psychology and medicine.
FSU is comprised of over 100 buildings set
on the 463-acre main campus in Tallahassee,
Florida. While its history stems back to the
pre-civil war era, and its buildings stand majestic

August 2006.
This type of construction on the FSU campus
is not uncommon as the university continues
to build new facilities to serve the needs of
the almost 40,000 students and 6,000 faculty
and staff members. FSU’s more than 20 current
construction projects include a new 88,000
square-foot classroom building, 180,000 square-
foot life science and research center, and 168,000
square-foot chemistry building.
Within the walls and ceilings of each of these
facilities, miles of cabling delivers LAN access,
video service, security, and telephone service to
create a technologically rich learning environment.
And at the core of planning, budgeting, and
deployment of this entire infrastructure is FSU’s
Office of Telecommunications (OTC). Founded in
1988 with just 10 employees, OTC is now made
up of over 100 employees who are responsible
for delivering technology to match the ever-
changing needs of students and faculty in every
area of study. Within OTC is a team of individuals
that makes up the Operations and Technology
department under the direction of Associate
Director Charles Friedrich, RCDD.
“At FSU, we [OTC] take care of all the planning,
design and installation of the network cabling
infrastructure, networking equipment, and
service delivery. This is preferred to contracting
that work to someone from the outside,” says

SOLUTION
With so much network infrastructure to install
and maintain, OTC has relied heavily on steady,
mutual relationships with vendors that offer
quality products, comprehensive training, and
first-rate service. Since the early 1990s, FSU
has been using ADC’s cabling and connectivity
solutions to deliver network access and telephony
service across campus.
“Approximately every three to four years, we
evaluate four or five different manufacturers of
network cabling. We install it, we test it, and
we look at performance and ease of use,” says
Friedrich. “Then we narrow it down to one
specific vendor that outperforms the others,
and for over a decade, that has been ADC’s
solutions.”
With a solid vendor relationship and quality
product, OTC once again turned to ADC when it
came time to implement the cabling infrastructure
in the College of Medicine and Psychology
Complex. Both facilities feature ADC’s TrueNet
®

Category 5e cabling to deliver 100 Mbps network
speeds to the desktop. The cabling also connects
to wireless access points (WAPs) throughout the
facilities.
Ken Johnson, College of Medicine’s director of
information technology says, “Every medical

facilities like the FSU College of Medicine
and Psychology Complex.
The department’s staff of ADC trained
technicians and RCDDs take care of all
telecommunications-related services
and systems on campus, including 2,500
CATV outlets, 13,000 local phone lines,
and a CISCO/FOUNDRY-powered gigabit
and 10-gigabit core network.
“We don’t consider ourselves to be
technologists. We consider OTC a service
organization that just happens to deliver
technology,” says Friedrich. “Our biggest
challenge is matching technology to
needs while meeting budgets and still
offering quality customer care.”
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CASE STUDY
OTC also deployed ADC’s Category 3 cable in
each of the facilities to provide separate voice
systems. “For E-911 and other operational

to continually match needs and technologies
with budgets as they did with the FSU College
of Medicine and new Psychology Complex. ADC
continues to present and demonstrate new
products and technologies to further help OTC
fulfill their ultimate goal of customer service.
As the university moves forward with additional
construction projects, the relationship with ADC
will prove to be invaluable.
“We consistently utilize our partnership with ADC
for the warrantees, onsite training, and product
quality we need for a successful campus network
infrastructure,” says Friedrich. “It has become
evident to me over the years that every university
needs partners they can count on, and we try to
partner and depend upon all our vendors in the
same way that we have with ADC. With these
types of relationships, OTC and FSU just can’t
lose.”
Located on west campus, the new five-story FSU
Psychology Complex includes a psychology clinic,
49 research labs, and a 220-seat auditorium. Phase 1
of the facility features 10 telecommunications closets
where over 143,700 feet of ADC’s TrueNet Category
5e cabling terminates to support 958 possible
network connections.