Mars Hellas Cat6 Infrastructure

After a long and healthy relationship over a number of years, Mars Hallas one of the Worlds leading Snackfood, Petcare, Food & Drink manufacturers approached ICS Ltd to install the new Cat6 Infrastructure at their soon to be re-located offices in Athens, Greece.

Previously based in two separate offices in and around Athens, the organisation decided it was time to consolidate their offices into a larger building. A new clean and fresh design was to be implemented by local architects and this was to be followed by a full clearance and refurbishment of the floor by local Greek contractors.

The Challenge

The European IT department based in the UK decided that it was time to standardise all Structured Cabling Systems throughout the offices in Europe and saw the Athens project as a great starting point to the project. ICS Ltd had completed a number of projects throughout the UK bringing up the SCS standards to Category 6 as well as implementing a labelling system that was simple and easy to work with from site to site.

The organisations IT department who cover Europe felt that if its staff were to continue with the quality of service implemented within the UK, then all systems should be standardised and this included the Structured Cabling Systems across Europe.

The Solution

ICS Ltd Directors, Project & Site Managers visited Athens to meet with the Landlord, Architects, M&E & Main Contractors to survey the site and discuss program, including critical milestones and completion dates. ICS Ltd Directors on their return to the UK provided the organisation with a full site survey report with accompanying images, electronic proposed port allocation plans and a quotation for the works. ICS Ltd set the starting point for negotiations and the remainder of the agreement and planning was easily achieved via email between all parties.

The layout and design was agreed between ICS Ltd, The Client and the Clients Professional team within Athens and a Purchase Order was raised. ICS assigned a Project Manager, Site Manager and 2 Engineers to the project from start through to completion. ICS liaised with the local main contractor and the UK based client to ensure the project was on target and that all complications were dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Due to the building not having a raised floor all the cable looms were suspended from the ceiling slab using fitted cable hoops. A full grid system using HellermannTyton Cat6 Port RapidNet Pods was installed on the ceiling slab across the entire floor. The suspended ceiling was fitted below the cabling grid and power poles and perimeter drops were installed by the local electrical contractor. ICS then extended the link from the ceiling cabling pod using solid core patch leads to user outlets presented on the power pole and perimeter skirting.

George Maras Head of IT in Athens commented

We are very happy with the new system and how quickly and efficiently it was installed by ICS. I have never seen this type of system before but it suited our needs perfectly.

Following the completion of the new floor, the landlord of the building is currently is negotiations with ICS to complete the remaining 5 floors.