Van Andel Institute :
CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
The World Class facility known as the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was one of the more challenging projects WTC has embarked upon. In sheer numbers alone, it was impressive to say the least. 320 stations consisting of four Gigaspeed cables were installed in 10 Communications Closets. The TC's were brought together with 12 strands of Multimode and 6 strands of SingleMode Fiber Optic cable as well as 100 pair copper cable to accomodate voice applications. Each cable was color coordinated with each workstation outlet that was neatly placed above desk level to allow for easy user accessibility.
Numbers alone, however, do not tell the whole story. WTC Project Manager Tom Sparks worked closely on the project with Mr. Robert Duff of Duff Consulting Inc. who has over 35 years of Telecommunications experience.
'The building was not only challenging, but extremely unique because each floor had to be customized for the cabling installation. It was actually a lot of fun' Duff added, 'Western Tel-Com was very responsive to the changes that occured during the course of the project and the timelines that naturally go along with those changes'.
The Van Andel Institute project has shown that, as all Telecommunications companies are trying to keep up with the fast paced changes of industry standards; WTC remains flexible, while making it's customers challenges it's top priority.