Case Studies: Merrill Lynch
New Merrill Lynch Financial Centre Uses Cooper B-Line 'Access' Cabinet
System
Cooper B-Line have secured a very significant, prestigious contract with Merrill
Lynch, the global financial management and advisory company. The contract is to
supply and install the market leading Cooper B-Line Access cabinets, as part of
the main communications facility for the Merrill Lynch Financial Centre, the new
headquarters for its European, Middle East, and African operations, based in the
City of London. State-of-the-art, it will act as a model high-tech installation
for other ongoing Merrill Lynch developments and accommodate up to 2400 dealers
and a total staff of around 5500.
Cooper B-Line personnel began installing the
Access Cabinet frames systems for the Main Comms Rooms and Satellite Comms
Rooms, passive cabling and patching requirements, in April 2000, with work
continuing in 2000. The building, which lies just across the road from St Paul's
cathedral, is planned for occupancy in May 2001.
The complex mix of major new
and restoration building construction is continuing whilst the comms room areas
and their cabinets/cabling are being installed. The Access cabinets were chosen
for their comms/networking, installer, and end-user friendly design. Access is
specifically good at accepting mixed technologies and practices within a single
enclosure, a feature Merrill Lynch have taken full advantage of. Each Merrill
Lynch Access enclosure frame will be fitted with any combination of patch panels
for RJ45, Fibre, Lucent 110 and Krone products. During installation the Access
frames provide an unrestricted base for maximum cable entry.
Access is being
supplied to site 47U high, in two basic footprints of 800 wide x 875 deep, for
full frames, and 800 wide x 504 deep for half frame enclosures. The full frames
are bayed in long runs and can simultaneously take 47U of equipment front and
rear, giving a space saving build mix of 1 to 94U per cabinet. The half frame
units provided a bespoke solution for the Merrill Lynch space requirements in a
narrower comms room, bayed throughout the length of the room, with half cabinets
fixed to the walls.
Cooper B-Line specially produced self-adhesive 'U' ident
strips, are fixed front and rear to both sides of the full frame 19" vertical
mounting rails, to clearly indicate the 1-47U (front) and 48-94U (rear)
positions. Half frames only having a single 1-47U face. The 'U' strips give a
very clear indication to installers and ongoing users as to precisely where
patch positions are located throughout the extensive array of bayed frames.
Cooper B-Line new benefit driven enclosure features incorporated for Merrill
Lynch include the new Cooper B-Line fast action 'Twist and Lock Arms' for cable
management and a very useful feature, a 'Raised Plinth', designed and developed
between Merrill Lynch and Cooper B-Line. The plinth is fitted directly to the
raised computer floor supports and enables the Access frames to neatly located
directly into the standard comms rooms 600 x 600 tile arrangement. This allows
free removal of the adjoining tiles without disturbing the frame or needing to
cut tiles - very useful during installation or any ongoing work.
The Merrill
Lynch site was acquired from the Post Office and is situated close to St Paul's
Cathedral. The complex re-development, up to 6 floors, combines 4 properties,
including predominantly new building work whilst retaining some of the original
site facade.