Facilitating effective telecommunications.

Building professionals help meet telecommunications needs.

It's the Information Age, and while telecommunications technology is speeding forward as fast as light through fiber-optic cable, facilities managers are being charged with new responsibilities.

The operational power of any

organization depends on reliable communications: voice and data, phone and fax, internal and external, LAN and WAN. Some facilities managers find themselves directly responsible for components of informational architectures, such as cabling and electrical back-up systems. Others may be indirectly responsible for telecommunications, ensuring, for example, environments that are telecom-friendly, dust-free, and temperature-controlled.

Simply put, all facilities managers are in some way responsible for supporting the flow of information. After all, the "virtual" world of telecommunications is rooted in the world of physical space that houses both information technology and information users.

At one end of the spectrum are data centers, so-called "glass houses" that centralize telecommunications equipment; at the other end are information users. Today's facilities professional must support both.

Managing facilities that house data centers requires special care: Not only is the equipment they contain extremely sensitive to environmental conditions, but telecommunications plays a critical role in doing business. If telecommunications equipment goes off-line, and information flow stops -- even momentarily -- customers and revenue can be lost.

At Boeing's 220,000 square foot data center in Seattle, constant attention is given to providing an environment in which computer and telecommunications equipment can operate without interruption. "I maintain the infrastructure here: power, water, AC, and fire protection," says Jan Alfiere, data center manager, for Boeing's Maintenance and Operations. The environment must be continuously monitored and adjusted. If the center stopped functioning, he says, thousands of lost workstation hours, both in design and production, could be lost. "You'd have thousands of engineers whose screens would go blank."

Reliable power is critical for keeping data centers up and running. At the Boeing facility, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) ensures dependability. "We have four large-scale, multi-module UPS systems that clean up our power and make sure there are no interruptions," says Alfiere.

Similarly, at Chrysler Corp.'s Highland Park, MI, data center, UPS is provided by three diesel-operated generators. "If the power cuts off for more than two minutes, those generators automatically kick in. The battery system lasts for about 15 minutes, and that's enough time for the generators to get things rolling," says Michael Fuller, manager of Facilities Strategic Planning for Chrysler Corp. The electrical back-up proved effective last year when the utility serving Chrysler's main data center blew two transformers. "It functioned fine. The generators went on, and the data center never went down," he says.

A reliable, redundant supply of clean power, either from battery back-up or UPS, is only one aspect of providing the necessary environment for always-on-line telecommunications, however. In fact, managing a data center has a lot in common with more typical facilities management. But typical concerns are often magnified through the lens of a "glass house."

For instance, temperature and humidity control must be held to tight tolerances, requiring careful and constant monitoring. A dust-free environment must be maintained, so many data centers are kept at a positive air pressure. And, of course, roof management is imperative: Even the smallest leak could damage equipment and cause downtime.

Effective facilities management for data centers only addresses the signal at one end of the communications line; users at the other end also have information-driven facilities needs. "There are lots of issues downstream from the phone room," says Mark Muesing, facilities manager for Computer Network Technology Corporation, Minneapolis.

Even facilities professionals not directly involved in managing the telecommunications infrastructure are key players -- especially during employee churn. "It becomes a coordination effort between what we do -- getting office space ready and having responsibility for the move -- and making sure that the internal telecommunications people and the LAN people are right behind us," says Craig Swenson, senior manager at MCI Telecommunications, Richardson, TX.

Others agree with this "big picture" approach. According to Ed Pagliassotti, manager of Facilities Services at TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, CA, "If you stand way back and look at big companies' telecommunications, most of the time the operations [responsibilities] of the systems do not fall under the facilities manager. But the facilities manager, in terms of acquiring new space or renovating space, is very involved with the telecommunications systems [because of] the way they are wired within the building. The wiring can affect the usability of the space and the cost of it." Additionally, he says, the distance telecommunications cable can run within a building can affect space planning and cost.

Indeed, managing facilities and managing the information services within them are increasingly interrelated. Some facilities managers say information services departments and facilities departments are already becoming more dependent on one another. When facilities and information services are managed by different departments, coordination problems and/or budgeting issues can arise. "When you do moves or renovations, it requires some sort of networking and telecommunications work, so it goes hand in hand. We're essentially in the same business -- we're providing an environment that supports work," says Lance Kanemaus, facilities manager for Mountain View, CA-based Sun Microsystems.

No matter who is managing the cabling -- be it information services, facilities, or an outside contractor -- facilities managers will see the effects in areas other than cabling.

After all, increased telecommunications needs have changed the way facilities professionals view ceilings, floors, and furniture. "Dropped ceilings have helped us a lot, allowing us to route bundles of cable, making [reconfiguration] easier," says Muesing. "We also use a lot of modular systems furniture which makes for very clean layouts to meet cabling demands."

The critical nature of telecommunications in the work environment has created growing responsibilities for facilities managers, as information and time remain critical resources. Shepherding these resources is a role that is certain to grow and challenge facilities managers.

INDUSTRY EXCHANGE

ON CABLING CAPACITY:

"At our old building we cabled only enough to meet our immediate needs for the technology that was available. We'll never make that mistake again. That building went up in 1987, and during the three years that followed, telecommunications needs expanded faster than we had expected. Now we stay constantly aware of what technology is available, what our needs are, and how we can match the two. After all, we are in the technology business."

Mark Muesing, Facilities Manager, Computer Network Technology Corp., Minneapolis

ON ADVANCING TELE-TECHNOLOGY:

"I look at it as a means to help get my job done, which in turn helps me serve my customers. Advanced telecommunications -- e-mail, transferring information, on-line servers, electronic bulletin boards -- may not all be mainstream for facilities management ... but it will be."

Richard Cooper, Manager, Property Administration, Yellow Freight System, Inc., Overland Park, KS

ON TEAMING:

"Any time there is a move, we bring a team together that includes our internal telecommunications people and our LAN people. If we are not able to coordinate with them, the move will not take place. They're absolutely critical. We serve as the coordinator, or facilitator, for that process. Our responsibility is to make sure the space is ready to go."

Craig Swensen, Senior Manager, MCI Telecommunications, Richardson, TX

ON WIRELESS:

"Telecommunications is becoming less and less dependent on geographical location; it's becoming more global. In the future, you'll reach me regardless of where I am in the world. Everybody has talked about global cellular systems. One day they really will exist."

Edward Copeland, Facility Manager, Aspect Telecommunications Corp., San Jose, CA

Tele-technology Helps Facilities Managers Operate

A long with the responsibility of providing sound environments for high-tech telecommunications equipment and for the people who use it, many facilities professionals are finding that they, too, are the beneficiaries of advanced tele-technology.

Any facilities manager knows the importance of being accessible -- or being able to reach one's staff -- when crises arise. No doubt, high-tech communications systems are helping building professionals shorten response time and improve service to their customers.

One tool that's helping is the cellular telephone. No longer reserved for the jet set or the power lunch crowd, cellular phones and networks are proving useful to the facilities management profession. Witness, for example, Aspect Telecommunications Corp., a company that is ahead of the technology curve with its use of an internal cellular network. The network at the San Jose, CA-based

company works on the same principle as a larger commercial system. "My guys can be walking around on the roof while they're talking to me on the phone," says Edward Copeland, an Aspect facility manager. "Each station has about a 600-foot radius, and we have repeater units laid out in a grid throughout our buildings. I can dial a 4-digit extension and the call will be forwarded to an individual's cellular phone," he says.

Somewhat more common is the use of pagers. Paging technology, however, is no longer limited to a beeping "electronic leash."

"We use alpha-numeric pagers extensively for our building engineers; we have 2-way radio communications, also," says Craig Swenson, senior manager for MCI Telecommunications, Richardson, TX. Perhaps even more impressive is the department's specialized use of the company's much-lauded MCI Mail. "If someone has to move, there is a 'move' script they can fill out. They can also have a work request sent to us on e-mail."

Implementing effective telecommunications isn't totally dependent on the latest technology, however. By now, many people take voice mail for granted. Says Mark Muesing, facilities manager, Computer Network Technology Corp., Minneapolis: "I would say it's the biggest communications tool we're using right now. Everyone in the company has a voice mailbox and everybody knows how to utilize the system. It's quicker than our e-mail, and it makes it easy to communicate corporate-wide."

On the front lines of high technology, facilities managers, like many other corporate managers, are finding cost and time savings by meeting with remote sites via video conference. "It's becoming less and less of a luxury and more of an efficiency tool," says Jim Alger, vice president of E.J. Communications, a Long Island City, NY-based communications installer. Alger notes one particularly interesting installation in which a state attorney general will use video technology for remote depositions.

In addition to video conferencing, interactive video is beginning to show up more frequently in the telecommunications blend. The use of interactive video for training, Alger says, will help drive it to the desktop -- and into smaller computer networks. "There are some companies that are currently sending video across LANs," he says.