The Arcade Innovation Hub, a joint venture between the University of Dayton and the Entrepreneurs’ Center, knew that the IT portion of the buildout at 31 S Main St. in Dayton would be a big undertaking. With plans to invite hundreds of entrepreneurs, faculty, staff, and students into the space day to day, there would be a huge need for fast, reliable, and secure IT infrastructure. Because of the intricacies of such a buildout, The Hub wanted one partner to manage all aspects of I.T., either by subcontracting it out, or doing it themselves.

DataYard was up for the challenge.

The Objective

The objective was seemingly simple: design and deploy a full IT solution. The reality was infinitely more complex than that, as the “full IT solution” needed to include: internet access, wifi, low-voltage cabling, audio-visual components, door access control, security cameras, and network security. If it was going to touch the network in any way, we were responsible for building the plans and for making it happen.

The Challenge

There were a number of unique challenges throughout this project. On a given day, there would be dozens of different user groups onsite – bringing hundreds of their own unique devices, and each requiring specific authentication, security, and access measures.

Because of the historical nature of the Dayton Arcade building, we were responsible for not only deploying the first network to ever exist in this space, but we also had to do it in such a way as to conceal all of that infrastructure as required to comply with historical guidelines. With no visible cable allowed and hard ceilings in many areas, it was important for our plans to be thorough from the start, and for us to work closely alongside the construction team to complete the work.

The Solution

We spent months on the design plans. We needed to account for everything – understanding both the needs of today, and attempting to anticipate the future requirements of the tenants who would be working here. With our decades-worth of IT experience, we worked to design and deploy:

High-speed Internet access and WiFi:
Futureproofing for increased bandwidth needs long-term was a requirement for this project. We deployed dark fiber circuits to the Hub space and have 24/7/365 management and monitoring in place for uptime purposes.

We used state-of-the-art design software to design a WiFi layout given the building materials, channel interference, and density requirements in the space, and deployed nearly one hundred wireless access points as a result.

Network hardware design and configuration:
Built on the Fortinet hardware and software suite, with multiple layers of resiliency throughout, this network design is one we’re proud of.

More than a dozen switches, 100 wireless access points, redundant firewalls, and backup UPS hardware power this Dayton landmark.

VoIP phones:
Deployed on a DataYard-hosted PBX, using a combination of physical phones and softphones, with call routing to various user groups throughout the organization.

Alongside our networking efforts, we worked closely with a few select third-party partners to help us deliver:

Low-voltage cabling:
So much ground to cover meant a lot of cabling – 142,000 feet, to be exact. Our cabling partner pulled this CAT6 cable based on our design specifications, with all cabling demarking in the basement Main Distribution Frame (MDF) or one of three Independent Distribution Frames (IDFs) inside the space.

Security cameras

Door access control:
Easily managing members’ access to the space was a problem we were ready to solve. With students rotating each semester and members coming and going on a monthly basis, the Hub team didn’t want to track down or manage RFID cards. A cutting edge security system that utilizes Bluetooth from a smartphone as the key to each reader was the answer – keys can be distributed (or decommissioned) with one click of a button.

Room scheduling:
With over 20 meeting rooms in the space, ease-of-room-management was a high priority. Utilizing third-party software and iPads, we deployed a system that allows you to book spaces and see at a glance if a room is available for use.

Audio visual components:
We worked with an AV partner to design a top-of-the-line audio-visual experience in over 20 different presenting spaces, meeting rooms, and common areas. These AV components were deployed on a private “IOT” network to help with device management and to ensure proper security policies.

The Result

Since the grand opening in 2021, the Hub has flourished, and we (the DataYard team) continue to provide ongoing IT support on a daily basis.

To this day, this buildout goes down in DataYard history as one of the most exciting projects we’ve ever been a part of – one that allowed our team to lay the groundwork for the next generation of Dayton entrepreneurs to succeed.