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University of Reading

Project to deliver resilient internet access at RUSU and Cedars

Monday, 11 June 2018

Estates & Facilities

Estates and Facilities begin work this month on providing a resilient internet connection to RUSU and Cedars Hotel.

The project will help us avoid a repeat of the disruption in September 2017, when accidental damage to the network cable serving these buildings affected the internet access to RUSU, The Study, Park House, Meadow Suite, Cedars Hotel and the Nursery.

A review following the incident highlighted a need for improvement, as both RUSU and Cedars rely on older optical fibre cables and connections that run through other buildings via intermediate network equipment. This adds complexity to the network and introduces multiple single points of failure.

Starting Monday 25 June, work will start on installing new ducts to RUSU and Cedars. The ducts will carry new Single Mode fibres between each of the buildings and University’s data centres at Earley Gate and Maths & IT. This will ensure that each building has alternate fibre routes to the two data centres in the event of a fibre being damaged or taken out of service for maintenance.

The work is being carried out in three phases:

  • Phase 1 (Monday 25 June to Friday 6 July) – A new duct will be extended from an existing chamber adjacent to the Chemistry Building, it will cross the road and will be installed up through the Park House car park into the courtyard between Cedars Park Eat and Park House terminating at Cedars Park Eat.

During this period, access to Park House car park will still be available, but spaces will be reduced. Users are advised to park in another car park during this period.

The outside areas of the bar at Cedars Park at the Square and the Park House bar will also be affected by this work.

  • Phase 2 (Monday 9 July To Friday 13 July) – A new duct will be extended from an existing chamber adjacent to the path down to the lake, It will cross the path and follow a route up the grassed area behind the Café Mondial. The duct will terminate outside the rear doors into the Café Mondial. Access through these doors will be restricted during the works.
  • Phase 3 (Monday 16 July to Friday 3 August) – A new duct will be extended from an existing chamber adjacent to the path outside the JJ Thompson Building. It will cross the road into the grassed area then cross the road by the entrance to the Park House car park. It will then follow the road round in between the Cedars Hotel building and the Cedars Eat at the Park building and will terminate in an existing chamber outside the front of the Student Union building.

During this period, the access road into Park House will be one way for a short period. There should be no impact on deliveries to the Co-op although the road width will be restricted for a short period.

Following the installation of the ducts, new optical fibre cables will be installed – providing a resilient internet access to RUSU, The Study, Park House, Meadow Suite, Cedars Hotel and the Nursery. This work will take place from Monday 6 August and finish the same month.