Retain and attract tenants in the age of broadband.

There was a time when power and telephone access were the only services offered to tenants. Now that definition of full service has expanded into a new era: the age of high-speed broadband.

Building owners and managers are facing increasing demands for faster and more efficient telecommunications services from tenants, who must stay competitive in this Internet-driven business world.

Tenants want and look for a powerful, reliable infrastructure that can handle computer connections, faster access to the Internet, video conferencing and a host of other communications services. Most multi-tenanted office buildings in fact still have copper cabling, which, while suitable for telephones, is a poor choice for scalable broadband, the wave of the future in telecommunications service for tenants.

Building owners are not only faced with the challenge of attracting and retaining tenants in the age of broadband, they must accept new legal responsibilities with regard to the telecommunications infrastructure of their buildings.

Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, any sabotage, or even an inadvertent disconnection in the riser closet, is a potential damage lawsuit, which can result in a huge financial compensation to the tenant from the owner, who may know very little about cable management.

Building owners who ignore tenant demands' and potential risen problems, and act like an "ostrich" to hide from these challenges, will pay a heavy price. They face, the risk of having their building become functionally obsolete, losing their Glass "A" status and facing the potential liability of tenant lawsuits.

Challenges For Building Owners

To attract and retain tenants and avoid costly disruption of service, multi-tenant buildings must have a state-of-the-art network that is both scalable and flexible and a well-managed telecommunications infrastructure to support it.

The network should have the following features:

* Carrier-neutral fiber-optic backbone that can accommodate increased bandwidth and gigabits of data and offer choice of multi-service providers and carriers, ensuring competitive pricing and higher service quality.

* Ability to meet existing tenant telecommunications needs as well as handle future Internet traffic growth, which is expected to double every four to six months over the next 15 years.

* Support for the plethora of existing services such as web hosting, voice and data transmissions and future applications that may demand more bandwidth.

* Cost-effective control of bandwidth capacity and allocation of space depending on tenant demand.

* Prioritization of data and voice content so that there is no interruption in communication whether a business is sending an e-mail or producing an important videoconference.

How to Insure a Well-Managed Infrastructure

A well-managed infrastructure features thorough inspection of the riser-the conduit which holds the cabling in the building-and the installation of the carrier-neutral fiber-optic backbone to insure reliable, trouble-free ongoing service and maintenance.

Start by conducting a wire-by-wire audit of your building. This audit, which should be done by an experienced telecommunications firm, is a detailed inspection of the cabling plant. It begins with an inspection of the cabling installed by outside carriers and moves on through the telecommunications closet and the roof installation. The audit - often called a riser management audit - will give owners and managers an understanding of the optimum usage of their cabling infrastructure and reduce their exposure to interruption and potential tenant lawsuits.

The audit will also identify any fire and life safety issues, evaluate the cabling infrastructure's ability to be shared and reused across the tenant base, and assess the existing network's performance, reliability and scalability.

Once the audit is finished, recommendations are made on what is needed to enhance the telecommunications infrastructure of the building and provide ongoing maintenance of the riser.

A key to trouble-free management of the riser is the installation of the fiber optic network, described earlier, which will open up space in the telecommunications closet and riser and eliminate a confusion of cables.

Need For Certification of Newly Converted Buildings

A thorough cable and telecommunications infrastructure audit and implementation of the recommendations it produces will enable a building to meet industry standards issued by such prestigious bodies as Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE); Electronics Industry Association (EIA); and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).

It is my belief that the telecommunications industry must soon go one step further and incorporate the standards of these groups, plus new standards demanded by current technological and real estate needs, into one uniform certification for all multi-tenanted office buildings.

In preparation for that eventuality, we at OnLight, Inc. have developed our own certification program for buildings we serve, called bCertification, that incorporates the current industry standards plus our own, to create a stringent set of guidelines that satisfy construction and telecommunication standards. This program assures our clients that the telecommunications infrastructure in their buildings is state-of-the art and can meet any future changes.

Technology is driving business today like never before and tenants are demanding the best telecommunications products and services. Businesses depend on being connected to make sure that information is accessible at any time, anywhere, by anyone.

Consequently, business owners must make significant investments in their network infrastructure and computer systems to stay ahead of the technology curve.

Outdated equipment, cabling, and wiring will hinder owners on satisfying growing telecommunications needs of tenants and pose safety and liability problems.

Creating the best telecommunications infrastructure available will mean full occupancy, increased revenues and higher valuation of multi-tenanted office buildings. The booming economy, which has pushed rents up to astronomical heights, will not last forever. Owners and managers must take steps now to create a telecommunications infrastructure that will assure healthy tenant rolls for their buildings in the future.