And to do this, fiber to the desktop (and a generous smattering of WLANs never hurts) must be considered first, no longer brought back to the local closet, but rather to one or two central locations that could either be in-building or to a nearby data center or colo. Or as far away as applications will permit. That last sentence should serve as evidence that I've learned my lesson ;)
I didn't want to jump into this thread, but hey, its Monday. This is just another kind of moving the bump down the carpet. By replacing semi-smart electronics in your closet, you need a massive number of ports in your 1 or two consolidation locations (which might mean all the same equipment you would've had in your wiring closet in one or two rooms). This much cable (fiber or otherwise), especially if you have 1 drop to each "PC", "Phone" or other (current or future) IP/network-talker is massive. If you use a consolidated cable (800+ pairs) its expensive, heavy and more expensive to work with. When pairs die, you end up running additional stringers. By contrast, aggregation at a wiring closet (while it usually requires a little power and in worst case some cooling) allows you to run lots of cables to a single point using simple structural wiring. Aggregate, and then move on. Fewer "uplinks" easier-to-upgrade "uplinks" (1 vs 1000s). More on-the-floor capacity (vs hauling to the basement where your central distribution frames are). Not to mention small bundles of cable are easier to test than a massive cross-connect frame [by easier, I mean, you can have a less technically savvy tester do it and not screw anything up]. Anyway, as Randy Bush says, I would encourage my competitors to do this. Deepak