Consulting-Specifying Engineer - March 2009 - (Page 23) H ave you ever asked “What will the 21st century university look like?” The was the question posed to Cannon Design when Ave Maria University (AMU) began planning a completely new campus near Naples, Fla. An optimal system for building controls, telecom, audio/visual, and safety was the answer. For decades, the 16-division Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) MasterFormat has been the standard in building design and construction. However, as technology—particularly network technology—has evolved, it is clear the old standards do not address the integrated systems designed into today’s buildings. The need for construction specifications to reflect current building practices prompted CSI to develop Division 17 for Technology and Communications Infrastructure. The Division 17 initiative began in 1998 to ensure that telecommunication systems are designed into a building during the design phase of the project. Designers realized that AMU’s technology systems would require an integrated approach to design and construction. As Cannon Design and Sinopoli Assocs., the university’s “smart building” consultant, found out, most construction specifications do not fully address integrated technology systems. Therefore, a key element in the technology specification process was the use of Division 17. Cannon Design and Sinopoli Assocs. ultimately integrated more than a dozen systems into AMU including: • Fire alarm and life safety systems • BAS, temperature control, and systems monitoring • Security door monitoring, card access, and CCTV systems • Low-voltage lighting control systems • Electrical power and power quality digital metering systems • Smartcard campus security and debit card systems • Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and emergency (Blue Phone) telephone systems • Video distribution systems • Professional sound systems The cornerstone of Ave Maria University’s campus is the new, $18 million Canizaro Library. Photo: New York Focus • Structured cabling system • Primary and backup data centers, packaged UPS, and cooling systems • Vertical telecommunications rooms, active components, and UPS systems • Facility maintenance and management system. Providing network control Most buildings and campuses have individual networks or controls for each of these systems. The premise is that if each system operates over the same network, significant savings could be achieved and centralized operations enhanced. The AMU technology systems are fully integrated; the control, security, maintenance, administrative, and accounting systems throughout the campus use the same structured cabling systems. Unified on the campuswide fiber optic backbone, the systems are arranged in a loop and radial configuration to allow redundancy in network connections. The system allows for single-point monitoring, and permits the university a real-time snapshot of the entire campus operation and alarm notifications. Using TCP/IP, an open protocol platform used across the Internet, all systems report to the campus network operations center (NOC). Most systems require the use of a gateway, which translates each system’s signals into TCP/IP code. Each system then speaks the same “language” and can be read at the NOC. The NOC monitors every Facts and figures Features of the new Ave Maria University include the following: • 908-acre campus • 500,000 sq ft of facilities • 589 students with capacity for more than 6,000 students • 200 faculty and staff • Projected savings of $350,000 in staffing costs • Projected savings of $600,000 in utility costs • Seven full-time employees manage the building and IT systems. Source: “Johnson Controls and Cisco deliver intelligent buildings to new university”, 2008 case study, Johnson Controls, Cisco. Consulting-Specifying Engineer • MARCH 2009 23
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