Last week I visited four new local projects, each impressive in their own right. The common denominator was that all projects require property-wide Wi-Fi coverage.

“We want it everywhere, inside and out,” says the owner’s representative; “Full bars” adds the integrator.

So how does one extend this type of networking experience all the way out to the far edges of these estates, supporting all devices including low-powered ones such as iPhones? Read on…

We are often required to think outside of our box, but rarely do I find such a great fit to what we do that it makes me want to write a blog post about it. In a world where we at Access Networks could have used any product we desire to accomplish our mission and get the job done, we decided to use a few best-of-breed vendors. When challenged with covering a 5-acre outdoor environment we began considering the options of outdoor access points coupled with fiber optic cables for the long cable runs.

But one key ingredient was missing: If we have fiber going to the camera poles (where our access points will be mounted) how do we convert the fiber optic cable to Gigabit Ethernet, and how do we power the access point? Of course, my first thought was a small PoE switch with a fiber module. But that is not a practical application as the switches we use are for indoor applications and even when mounted in a NEMA-rated box may not last as long as we want them to.

Seeking a more practical application, I remembered a Black Box media converter we used six years ago. There has not been a single issue with that project in the years it has been deployed, so I defaulted to Black Box for a solution. And then… Boom! Black Box makes little media converters taking inputs of fiber and local power and spitting out a single gigabit PoE link! What a great feeling finding the right part for a project. Needless to say, the integrator is happy and there is nothing quite as fulfilling going back to the client with the phrase: “Yes, we can!”

You Can Bet Your Business On IT.