Question - At Geneva County Campus, on the maps provided in the bottom right hand corner is the Stadium. We can not find that building on Google Earth.

Where is that in relation to the MDF?

Do we need to pull a fiber to that?

Answer - This question is referring to Building #30 on the map for Geneva County High, Middle, and Elementary School. There is a red arrow pointing to the building being discussed HERE. 

Building #30 is used for alternative placement of students during the school day and is named Opportunity Academy (or OA). It is not located on the same physical campus as Geneva County High, Middle, or Elementary but is located roughly a block away. A satellite view of its location relevant to the high, middle, and elementary school can be seen HERE.. Only the square-shaped building directly above the word "Fulton" is being included for new network drops at this time.

We do NOT want new fiber to be installed at Building #30/Opportunity Academy at this time. However, we do wish for 8 new network drops to be installed inside the building. This is your typical, small IDF with a patch panel. It already has a wall-mounted rack that does not need to be replaced. 

Question - Do we need to provide the patch cords for the biscuit jacks in the ceiling? If so how long? 10ft?

Answer - Network drops above the ceiling tiles are mainly for connecting wireless access points. 

We will need the following for each classroom:

For the ceiling, a single 3-ft Cat6 patch cable

For inside the classroom, a 10-ft Cat6 patch cable to connect the teacher's computer to the drop

For the MDF or IDF, two 3-ft Cat6 patch cables to connect from the patch panel to the switch

Question - With 12-strand fiber being installed, how many strands/fibers do you want terminated?

Answer - We only require that enough of the fibers be terminated to provide a working network connection to the IDF. In several cases, this will result in only two fibers being terminated. The additional fibers can be left unterminated and will be used for spares and for possible future expansion.

Question - Are all the panels you have capable of installing 12 strands and using LC ends?

Answer - Please plan on installing a new fiber panel at each MDF/IDF that is capable of handling 12-strand fiber and LC ends.

Question - For the drops above the ceiling, do we just put a crimp end on them?

Answer - The drops above the ceiling tiles should be terminated with female RJ45 Keystone connections in a small "biscuit" box. Panduit's official name for this type of RJ45 jack is a "Mini-Com" jack.

Question - In the RFP it states "with Web Based Controller Services" but it also says that it must be compatible with vWLAN and nCommand, which are the locally hosted appliances correct? Can you confirm whether you're wanting "cloud-managed" or "locally managed" on this RFP?

Question - There are two rooms at the end of the building that may be beyond the acceptable maximum distance for an ethernet cable run. If so, how will this alter the plan of eliminating IDF 2?

Answer - If it is determined that the rooms at the end of the hallway exceed the maximum length for Cat 6 cable, then we will likely move IDF 2 to a teacher workroom located just beyond the halfway point of the length of the building. Moving the IDF to this location will get the IDF out of its current location which is a classroom.

Question - The statement was made during the walkthrough to re-use as many existing fiber boxes as possible. Since some of the boxes are produced by various manufacturers, it may be necessary to purchase new fiber boxes and install them. Will this be okay?

Answer - There is no problem with replacing fiber boxes as needed.

However, I would like to re-use the wall-mounted rack boxes wherever possible. The wall-mounted rack boxes had plenty of space for the most part as they presently do not contain much beyond a switch or two. However, wherever a wall-mounted rack is not presently installed, we would like a rack installed that swings to either side making it easier to access the backside of switches or other components.

Question - Should new fiber be installed from the MDF/IDF to the business lab at each high school?

Answer - Each business lab at Slocomb High, Geneva County High (Harftord), and Samson High is fully wired. Currently, each lab workstation depends on an ethernet cable for its network connection. Our intention is to transition from a wired network connection to a wireless network connection once new switches and access points are installed in June 2023. With this in mind, we do not need to install new fiber cabling for these labs. 

Question - How many strands should the fiber runs consist of?

Answer - All fiber cabling to be installed should be 12-strand, OM3 fiber cabling.