I didn't want to come off sounding like a Nextel proponent, but it's a solution that's worked well here. And yes, their convoluted two way system is by no means traditional, and I'm open to suggestions ;) Perhaps a CB with a nice oak finish would be in order. Breaker Breaker 1-9, we have flapping. Jade -----Original Message----- From: Daniel Senie [mailto:dts@senie.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 10:27 AM To: Jade Deane Cc: 'Matt Thoene'; nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: Operations: where are you going to sit? Jade Deane wrote:

Loss of signal in a data center is a good point. At a previous

organization

I was slaved to, we brought this up with Nextel sales people. After about a week or so they purposed a small in-line receiver for the various data centers, and a thin Kate Moss looking yagi for each roof.

Actually, this should be a passive device. Various types of slotted waveguide/coax are made, for example in the Heliax product line. An antenna on the roof (directional antenna only if you're on the edge of a coverage area) and a slotted line through your facility will provide good results. Think about it for all commonly used frequencies (cellular and pager) that might be in use in your facility. This isn't something you have to get via your wireless vendor, and it doesn't need electronics. Hospitals have used such setups for years to permit doctor's pagers to function throughout buildings (even in basements).

Also, I can't stress the importance of a basic two way mobile system. We use the Nextel i1000+ phones for our engineering staff and NOC. The internet access features on these bad boys has been VERY handy. The

ability

for a NOC member to check MRTG/Openview type information and IMAP/etc. email has been beneficial.

Something for you to think about: Your Nextel phones are NOT two-way radios in the traditional sense. They communicate handset to handset via the Nextel network (even if you're right next to each other). If you're in the midst of a storm or other natural disaster and your local cell site dies, you've got no use of those radios. Also, in the event of emergency, cell sites become overloaded with folks sitting in traffic calling people. You may find these radios least effective when you need them most. The Motorola radios other folks suggested are FM transceivers on business (or FRS) bands. These communicate directly from radio to radio (commercial gear also can use private repeaters). These are better choices, as they have no outside dependencies.

Jade

Jade E. Deane Network Engineer helloNetwork.com Las Vegas, Nevada

Office: +1 (702) 938-9267 Cell: +1 (702) 604-4759 Fax: +1 (702) 456-1471 email: jade.deane@helloNetwork.com epage: 7026044759@page.nextel.com

-----Original Message----- From: Matt Thoene [mailto:matt@thoene.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 9:40 AM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: RE: Operations: where are you going to sit?

:: ::I would add wireless phones in general. If NOC staff need to walk over

to

::another person's screen or to swap cables or interfaces in a ::datacenter, you ::probably don't want them tied to a desk phone. You may want to consider ::some basic 2 way radios (RF) in addition to wireless/cell phones for ::datacenter <--> NOC <--> restroom communication independent of ::any ma bell.

...especially since cell phones tend to get no signal in Data Centers...

-Matt

-- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Daniel Senie dts@senie.com Amaranth Networks Inc. http://www.amaranth.com