A new headquarters delivered on schedule through a global shutdown.

Health insurers could not afford downtime in 2020 — their members were relying on them more than ever. This provider, two decades old and several hundred employees strong, needed a headquarters that would be delivered fast and would still be right in fifteen years.

Speed and longevity, at the same time

The brief pulled in two directions. The building had to be delivered quickly, because the clients depending on this provider could not absorb a delay. It also had to be future-proofed, because the company was growing and did not want to pull cable again the next time the network was upgraded.

That combination is where most specifications quietly fail — the fast answer and the durable answer are rarely the same product.

Now more than ever, it’s important to be a reliable and stable resource for our clients.

Diane FergusonAssociate Principal, C&C Technology Group

Why the contractor asked for C&C

The contractor already on the job had worked with C&C before and had seen the team find workable answers under time pressure. That firsthand experience, rather than a pitch, is what put C&C on the project.

Reputation only got the team in the door. The pandemic then introduced a set of constraints nobody on the job had planned for.

The specification, and the logistics around it

C&C worked with the consultant to specify parts, then worked distribution to stay ahead of material deliveries. Cat6a carried the efficiency requirement, and the density of the chosen solution left room for growth without expanding the data center footprint.

Copper, fiber, and PDUs were all handled by the same team, which gave the provider one point of contact for delivery instead of three — a small structural decision that protected both the timeline and the budget.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and requires greater flexibility, the fundamental principles of client relations still apply to each and every project we undertake.

Diane FergusonAssociate Principal, C&C Technology Group

Working through shutdowns

When job sites closed and quarantines took hold, the team adapted the logistics rather than the schedule. Material was held at distribution until the provider was ready to receive it, which took storage and site-congestion problems off the client’s plate entirely.

Weekly conference calls with the contractor surfaced issues while they were still small. The philosophy was simple: fix problems before they present themselves.

The result

The finished solution used Superior Essex copper and fiber with Legrand cabinets and PDUs. Every component of the project was completed on a seven-month schedule, matching the provider’s original timeline despite worldwide delivery delays.

The customer received a lifetime warranty on the installed plant, and a building that can absorb the next network upgrade without a cabling change-out.