The building construction reached substantial completion and it was time to install the network electronics. As a proactive action you placed the equipment order two months prior, and had the equipment configured, connected to the new router interface, and burned in for several weeks. In addition, you had the phone system manager connect several voice terminals to the switches to ensure the new VOIP system worked as planned.

You installed the switch in the rack in the new building MDF. To your horror, you discovered that the PoE switches, because of their increased power needs, had a 20-amp type plug. A 20A plug will not fit in a standard receptacle. While it was a minor additional cost to fix the problem, your supervisor was not pleased.

When you returned to your office you had a voice-mail from the subcontractor installing the fire alarm system. The subcontractor requested a fiber-optic circuit between the new building and an adjacent building to connect the fire alarm monitoring system. Your original design was for a 24-strand (12-pair) single-mode fiber-optic cable so while this was a surprise you were relieved that you had overestimated needed capacity.

That relief quickly faded when the fire alarm subcontractor said that their system required multimode fiber connections. You didn't inform your supervisor of your mistake as you figured a couple of mode conditioning (multi to single mode) patch cables would solve the problem.

You installed the new cables but the fire alarm contractor said that they couldn't certify their system with mode conditioning cables. Furthermore, the date for occupancy was drawing near and the local fire marshal would not permit occupancy until the alarm system was operational. The only solution was to pull a multimode fiber-optic cable from the building MDF to the core distribution room, at an additional cost.