Jodrell Bank gets the star treatment from Sudlows

The astronomical research centre of the University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Observatory has become internationally renowned boasting the third largest steerable radio telescopes in the world. The sites brand new Discovery centre has been developed to provide year round education programmes aimed at providing children with a unique learning experience and the opportunity to experiment with live science.

As part of the major re-development programme for Jodrell Bank, two new specially designed buildings were constructed - the Planet Pavilion and the Space Pavilion. To enhance the visitor experience and expand the current education programme for schools, a new integrated network infrastructure was required to support the growing development of this modern educational facility.

Over 125 Molex Cat5e LSZH RJ45 outlets were installed to provide for both voice and data connections. Each building had a new 12u wall mounted cabinet installed to house the patch panels and the ‘University of Manchester’ network switches.

An interesting challenge for the team came from an unexpected visit of grey squirrels, who had made several attempts to eat their way through the communications cables. This resulted in an upgrade to new 12x core OM3 armoured fibre cable and 1x 20pr Int/Ext cable which were installed to secure the link between the Planet Pavilion and Space Pavilion to the main control building.

Dr Teresa Anderson, Director at Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, said:

“The brilliant team at Sudlows have delivered a fantastic new cabling infrastructure that will enable the Education team at Jodrell bank to deliver dynamic and exciting programme for visitors and schools.”

The critical role that Jodrell Bank plays in the international research of modern astrophysics and cosmology means that providing an excellent communications framework for the Discovery Centre was paramount. Sudlows installed a robust and proven infrastructure that not only created fast data and voice communications network across the facility but provides an excellent platform for visitors and schools.

Darren Stephens, Head of Connectivity at Sudlows said:

“We were determined to deliver Jodrell Bank an infrastructure that would enable the education programme to successfully engage with as many visitors to the facility as possible.
“Coming up against a number of challenges throughout the course of the project, Sudlows were able to demonstrate a level of professionalism that aided in a trouble-free end result for the team at Jodrell Bank.”