The Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) will spend $31 million to implement an improved structured cabling system at the State Capitol. Construction is slated to begin in March 2027.
The capitol’s existing cabling system is out-of-date, resulting in lower performance standards than the state needs to maintain peak efficiency. Currently, the building’s fiber and copper cabling can’t support current and future speed and bandwidth requirements, impacting reliability and limiting expansion opportunities.
The project will primarily focus on installing communications cable rewire upgrades and a neutral host wireless carrier cell phone system. Once finished, the structured cabling system will replace the existing cabling infrastructure.
The new system will include horizontal and backbone cabling. The horizontal cabling will meet TIA Category 6A standards, connecting the telecommunications room to individual work spaces. As the commercial standard for high-bandwidth operations, the Category 6A cabling will offer a minimum frequency of 500 megahertz (MHz) and a maximum speed of 10 gigabits (Gbps) per second over a 100-meter distance. The backbone fiber optic cable will be single-mode.
Plans include supporting wireless access points (WAPs) in every office suite throughout the capitol, providing effective coverage within wall-mounted enclosures located roughly 12 to 28 inches above the floor. The state will also cable additional WAP locations in shared spaces.
The DOA will install an improved wireless carrier cell phone distributed antenna system (DAS). The new system will increase capacity and coverage without restrictions from service providers. Designed to be fully digital, the DAS will be interconnected through fiber-optic cabling to enhance flexibility for future upgrades, new frequency requirements and technology changes.
The project will conceal the DAS antennas in the telecommunications room. In addition, the DOA will make various improvements to the equipment room, targeting architecture, security, power and lighting, grounding, equipment racks, cable support and other features.
Photo by wort3, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, from Wikimedia Commons
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