Today, modern homes are built to meet the needs of a diverse range of customers. These can include students, professionals, downsizers and many other types of occupiers. High-density living attracts a diverse range of occupants who may stay only a short time or plan to retire in a home for life. This mix of people and needs is so complex that developers really need to cater for a dynamic design to attract investment. As cablers and installers, we too need to provide installations that meet the needs of the modern resident.
The National Broadband Network (NBN) and Fibre to the Home (FttH) make this possible, with the ability to have many competitive options for service delivery, like internet and television, and the scope to expand and evolve over time. Some things we can do to assist with this include: understand the long-term value of the communications infrastructure as a utility and make it a real part of the home design; provide space for networking equipment that can be upgraded over time; and install quality data cabling, including TV locations.
The design of new homes and apartments provides some challenges, though. This means not a lot of space. We need to come up with ways to include all the space needed for the electronic hardware, wiring and all the connecting cables. Furthermore, as tradespeople we respect the value of workmanship and the importance of safety.
Some things to consider in planning are: how much space the equipment and cables will need (get guidelines about the NBN equipment and the clearances required); how electronic equipment can be cooled (venting if enclosed); wireless device compatibility; how to make the installation safe (consider patch cords and routers); how to protect the installation from accidental damage; future-proofing to allow for equipment size changes; making the installation look neat to match the investment of the home; factoring in future buyers whose needs may be different; providing easy access for repairs or changes.
To make a design decision you need to compare your options. The first is probably the most cost-effective solution (see Figure 1), requiring the provision of ‘space’ by the developer or home owner to facilitate equipment installation. This equipment includes the NTD from the network provider and backup power equipment, along with provision for any routing gateways from service providers. This would typically be wall surface mounted equipment and will need the provision of power. Connections for in-home cabling to rooms and equipment locations can be provided by cables terminated on faceplates that have the ability to house the number of outlets required. The faceplates ideally should have integral labels so that the user knows where the sockets correspond to the cabled wall outlets in the home.
The second option (Figure 2) allows for a dedicated enclosure for cabling. Rather than faceplates, the housing uses patch panels to provide a higher density concentration of connections, as well as neatly housing the excess cordage from connecting leads.
The NTD, backup power equipment and routing gateways still need space to locate externally on a wall surface. In this case, the home distributor would likely be mounted adjacent to the network provider equipment. As with the first option, the equipment is exposed to accidental damage.
Option three (Figure 3) is to house the majority of the equipment and cabling within an enclosure with facility for a large number of outlets and unexposed power for the equipment. This provides the ability to recess the distributor in a wall cavity, where the door can be closed to provide a greater level of safety, storage and protection from accidental damage.
This option could be described as ‘ideal’; here the equipment and cabling can be co-located, while the enclosure provides vents for active equipment and is made of a nonmetallic material to allow for the fitting or wireless networking equipment. The internal space will accommodate equipment from a variety of network providers and service providers as well as home networking needs.
Though the overall size may seem large, most of the enclosure can be recessed in the wall cavity, allowing for many connectivity options and for customers to specify one enclosure for nearly all applications.
There is choice in providing a solution for the NBN and the associated power and communications wiring, but it is advisable to consider future requirements and to treat communications as a new utility that requires its own space and careful planning to make the most of the technology on offer in the new competitive communications world.