LAN-TEL Communications, Inc. completes $1.3 million tel-data project for Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Lan-Tel Communications, Inc. has reached substantial completion of the tel-data infrastructure and build-out project for Vertex Pharmaceuticals parcel A building, located at 50 Northern Ave. on the city's Fan Pier. The NECA contractor is serving on a project team headed by general contractor Turner Construction. Elkus Manfredi Architects was the project architect. The 16-story, 585,000 s/f facility houses Vertex research labs on floors 2 through 7 and corporate offices on floors 9 through 15. Retail, restaurants, and a daycare facility will be situated on the ground level, and the building includes a three-level underground parking facility accommodating 290 vehicles. LAN-TEL's tel-data scope included installation of all voice and data cable for the facility, as well as main distribution frame (MDF) and intermediate distribution frame (IDF) build-outs. The facility's entire fiber optic backbone runs from the MDF on the 10th floor, connecting to the IDFs on each floor. Installations for the tel-data closets on floors 1 through 7 and 9 through 15 feed 300 workstations on each floor. Two separate paths of fiber optic cable were installed to provide full physical redundancy for Vertex's mission critical data requirements. In total, the LAN-TEL crew installed approximately 10,000 feet of fiber optic cable for the facility's backbone and 1.2 million feet of category 6 copper cable to support the data needs. LAN-TEL PM Neil Gillis, RCDD and GF Tom Horgan supervised a field crew of 12 IBEW Local 103 technicians and apprentices in meeting the project schedule. The contractor started the complex project in April 2013 and reached substantial completion in December. Vertex started taking occupancy of the facility prior to Christmas.