Plan and fit the excellent networking in the new space

[fawkesley]

For those of us that spend most of our time working remotely with others, the quality of our network connection is a high priority for video calling and collaboration.

And an excellent tech community deserves an excellent internet connection!

It was clear from pub discussion that I have some strong opinions on what that means!

Here are my suggestions:

Encourage wired internet

Naturally some devices need to connect via WiFi, but the performance of WiFi degrades exponentially with the number of clients. So it's better for everyone if we encourage wired connections for those devices which support it.

Practically, we should:

• aim to get ethernet to every desk
• help people understand why it's good for everyone to use that
• recommend a USB ethernet dongle thing for fat-free laptop users

Have a good uplink & download speed

Of course, we need a good internet speed both ways, and we should be sure we're getting what we think we're getting.

Not sure what performance we actually need, but for reference a single device doing HD video will use ~3.5Mbps.

Have (at least 1) static IPv4 address

We're going to be doing our own NAT (sadly) and we shouldn't have any more NAT boxes upstream of us. This means we can manage our own port forwarding and run servers and stuff inside DoES.

Also, NAT is evil, so...

Have IPv6

The UK is embarrassingly behind most of the world on IPv6.

Since DoES is clearly the most interesting tech scene in the city which will apparently soon have world-class connectivity, we should be blazing the trail here. (I've had IPv6 at home for a few years now...)

No captive portals, ever!

Captive portals are those awful things which pop up and break your internet connection while you wait for a pointless 'Connect now' button to appear.

They complicate getting things online - particularly internet-of-things things - and they serve absolutely no purpose.

We can measure and monitor performance

From my experience it's actually really complicated diagnosing why a video call doesn't work well. It's really helpful if you've got some data to look back on.

I'm happy to volunteer on this one - we should be a bit pre-emptive about measuring and monitoring our connection and our WiFi clients, channels and throughput so that when we do have problems we can identify whether it's the router, too many clients, unreliable provider, whatever.

We could try out a city-wide network name

This is bit off the wall and it's harking back to the MerseyNet idea from a few years ago.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we and other places in the city used the same network name (SSID), so you could just roam freely between places?

@amcewen's suggestion is still my fave: network name: ourwifi password ourwifi

Please pitch in and let's work out what we want!

[zarino]

Good start! Maybe also:

Work out the optimum router placement / configuration for good wifi coverage

How many routers, which models, in which positions? Do we have one SSID for maximum ease of use, or multiple SSIDs (á la DoESLiverpool/DoESDinky), so we can force devices onto the strongest network in their area of the building?

Good internet as a selling point for the events / meeting rooms

If we want to encourage repeat customers for the event spaces and meeting rooms, ensuring we have wifi that is easy to connect to, and can support business activities like video calls, will put us ahead of the competition, and could result in more repeat bookings. (I know my organisation is pretty ruthless with finding a new meeting space if the previous one had poor wifi.)

[johnmckerrell]

Thought I should add that we have a specific requirement to have wired networking in the events room, the meeting room and the soundproof room. This should be met by "Encourage wired internet" but needs to be listed specifically on the off chance we change our minds on that.

[ghost]

In regards to measuring connectivity issues... has anyone come across Wireshark at all? I've used to capture locally between my laptop and my WiFi, but I'm no expert when it comes to analysing the data afterwards though but it would give some obvious clues to look into and work issues out. It goes without saying that it would need to be configured to capture specific test computer/connections because it's hacker level stuff.

Although I don't work in IT, I am CompTIA certified A+ and Network+ (not quite cisco level though, but very broad nonetheless). So if I can be of any help just give me a shout. I'd be quite happy to help wire up unless it'll be outsourced.

[xj25vm]

@de14n - I believe Wireshark comes in handy when troubleshooting networking issues at protocol level. I don't think it is very useful if the problems are caused by speed or latency (or lack off) - as suggested in the original post.

@paulfurley - re: Measure and monitor Performance - I have looked into this for some clients, and there doesn't seem to be an easy answer. To truly have a useful tool, one would need a tool which records and stores traffic flow and content characteristics over time, with high frequency, and high granularity - including all protocols used at a particular point in time, origin IP addresses, destination IP addresses, and size/number of packets for each one of these aspects. This is a large amount of data, and requires quite a bit of processing power. However, I am still on the look-out for a tool which would do the above efficiently - maybe there is one out there :-)

[xj25vm]

re: Have a good upload and download link - what type of connection and speed will be available at the new premises (and within budget)? FTTC, FTTP, microwave?

[ajlennon]

You can do things with Wireshark but imho it is a pain to get anywhere with it.

A standard install will give you wireless packets for your device with the interesting radio fields stripped off. Depending on the wireless adapter hardware you have and what its drivers support you may be able to put it into a promiscuous mode (so you can see all the packets flying over the air) and get the additional radio information out.

I've done this and whilst I'm relatively au fair with Wireshark (I've written 802.15.4 plugins to decode a proprietary mesh protocol received through a serial gateway->local pipe->wireshark) I still found it fairly incomprehensible to try to work out what was going on.

e.g. https://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureSetup/WLAN

However there are some decent tools out there I think. I can't recall names off the top of my head but wireless coverage / hand off and so forth is quite an active area so we should be able to dig up something simpler to use than wireshark

For example I've got this thing on my laptop which gives quite a nice overview of the channels the networks around me are sitting on

[xj25vm]

@ajlennon - I was thinking more along the lines of monitoring network traffic - a software on the gateway, which looks at all incoming and outgoing traffic and stores metadata about it for later analysis - such as which protocols are used, how much bandwidth various applications use, when are the busy times of the day etc.

There are various tools for analysing wifi networks as well - but I found that, in general, once the wifi setup is working properly, there doesn't seem to be much need to monitor that side of things.

[ajlennon]

So kind of like what the NSA does with the Utah data centre? [Edit: *officially]

[xj25vm]

Err - no - not really. They (presumably) collect actual data. For the purposes of managing a network, it is metadata that is mostly needed. Speed, latency, which applications or type of traffic use bandwidth and when. Although, I accept that there could be some privacy issues involved even when collecting metadata.

[ajlennon]

Surely meta-data is data? (There's quite a big discussion about this as relates to privacy...)

[ajlennon]

Interesting piece here -

https://opendatasecurity.io/what-is-metadata-and-what-does-it-reveal/

Stallman is as good as ever on surveillance here -

https://www.wired.com/2013/10/a-necessary-evil-what-it-takes-for-democracy-to-survive-surveillance/

I'd be pretty unhappy to be surveilled in this way myself.

[xj25vm]

Sorry - I just realised Github is only displaying my username - instead of the full name.

@ajlennon - yes, there could be some privacy issues involved there. I suppose the alternative is only to look at the traffic flow characteristics in real time if and when there are connectivity issues - in order to solve those specific problems - and not store anything. One way or another, some level of access to the network data is needed if connectivity issues are to be solved, no?

Sebastian

[ajlennon]

@DoESsean @amcewen @paulfurley et al can we add an agenda item to any relevant upcoming meeting to come up with a statement of principle from DoES on how privacy is to be interpreted in terms of DoES users' communications (including that DoES presumably has some legal responsibilities on this nowdays?)

[ajlennon]

One way or another, some level of access to the network data is needed if connectivity issues are to be solved, no?

I don't see that as required. no. Signal tests / IP connectivity tests can be carried out in isolation from users' usage I would have expected, or in the very worst case on a client-side opt-in basis

[xj25vm]

I was thinking of the specific case in which some users might complain that they have problems with their specific application - such as video conferencing for example. Without being able to look at the outgoing/incoming traffic for the whole site, work out which applications or protocols use the bandwidth and how - and then work on a solution involving QoS or some reconfiguration of existing network clients. This is just one example. I'm not sure how else would this be approached, if there is no access to some form of network statistics?

Sebastian Arcus

[zarino]

@DoESsean @amcewen @paulfurley et al can we add an agenda item to any relevant upcoming meeting to come up with a statement of principle from DoES on how privacy is to be interpreted in terms of DoES users' communications (including that DoES presumably has some legal responsibilities on this nowdays?)

@ajlennon Maybe you should create a new issue? That way, at the very least, it’ll get picked up in the "let’s go through the issue tracker!" segment of Community Meetings.

[ajlennon]

@zarino I was trying not to proliferate issues. Maybe I can find the meeting notes from the last meeting and add it there as we seem to go through those the next time around. What's best practise @DoESsean ?

@xj25vm I'm sure there are lots of edge cases for problems we haven't encountered yet. My own personal opinion is strongly that espoused by Stallman above. Any data collected will be misused (incuding what is termed 'meta-data') and thus data should not be collected unless absolutely necessary. Where determined to be absolutely necessary that collection should be done transparently giving individuals an opt-out

[ghost]

@ajlennon

I agree that Wireshark might be overkill, it is a beast. I was just looking up on what level of the OSI model it can work on, and it seems it can do up to level 2, leaving level 1, the physcial level left for interpretation. In which case you're looking at expert level RF analysing with a VNA or something insane like that.

Or we can just use the same kind of software you have pictured up there showing the strength of signals and their channels. You can get these type of software on mobiles too, might make it easier to scope the area for signal issues.

But if we're getting wired network then video conferencing should be fine. Wifi for mobiles and tablets.

[xj25vm]

@ajlennon - agreed with the idea of as little data collection as possible. Maybe even take the approach of designing the system as well as possible, and re-discuss ways of dealing with things if problems arise.

I was thinking that maybe QoS should be added to the original list of things to consider. VoIP and video conferencing depend on low latency - other protocols less so.

Also, maybe security should have its own little heading? Will there be devices internally on the network which will require more protection (as opposed to people bringing their own laptops in and taking care of their own firewalling etc.)? Or will the network be made up purely of client workstations - and everyone is responsible for their own?

Sebastian

[ajlennon]

@xj25vm I do agree re: QoS / and security is a big thing from a number of viewpoints.

We've seen what happened to the NHS recently when hit by WannaCry and I was half expecting to come in around then and find my systems on the WiFi had been encrypted so there's a huge potential risk there in future. Given we're all on the same network segment more or less we're all pretty exposed to whoever walks in off the street which is a concern.

Similarly I have ongoing issues with Skype which probably relate to some routing setting somewhere or other and which would be nice to get to the bottom of one day...

[xj25vm]

@ajlennon - talking about security, some thinking might need to go into how accessible the wifi will be to guests, outsiders, visitors, attendees etc. Maybe even create a separate SSID on a separate VLAN for DoES'ers - on a slightly more secure network, and a separate one for visitors - to add some security layering and separation.

[ajlennon]

+1 for a guest network definitely!

[fawkesley]

OK I've tried to summarise that into what appears to be 3 new principles:

Protect privacy by collecting as little data as possible

Any data collected will be misused (including what is termed 'meta-data') and thus data should not be collected unless absolutely necessary. Where determined to be absolutely necessary that collection should be done transparently giving individuals an opt-out

Prioritise voice and video

VoIP and video conferencing depend on low latency - other protocols less so. We should consider implementing Quality of Service (QoS) to prioritise that traffic over low sensitivity traffic.

Provide security through network segregation

If we're all on the same network segment more or less we're all pretty exposed to whoever walks in off the street.

We could provide a separate SSID on a separate VLAN for DoES'ers (or equivalent config for wired) - on a slightly more secure network, and a separate one for visitors - to add some security layering and separation.

We should do this in a way which makes visitors feel completely included and not some 'other'.

[xj25vm]

From a security point of view, it really depends on what else is/will be connected to the DoES network. If we are talking just about people using their own laptops, having only one SSID/network would mean you are no worse off than being connected to any hotel or café wifi. But if there are any internal file sharing services involved (not p2p, the 'old fashioned' smb/nfs type), or IoT devices - or anything else that might not have its own full firewall - then the case for a separate network makes sense.

Sebastian

[amcewen]

How many times does someone have to visit before they stop being a "visitor"? (This is all excellent to watch going , I'm just throwing in the fact that there's less of a hard distinction between visitor and not-visitor in the DoES community :-)

[ajlennon]

Don't they pay to become a "member" ? :)

[SayBeano]

FWIW - Observium is just fine for traffic analysis. It's just collecting packets - no metadata in regards to websites or protocols. But it's fine in adaptive environments / finding a network hog / informing QoS.

It's runs fine and is speedy on a 4core with 2gig of RAM. It's got an 80GB disk and has over two years of history occupying 7gig of space for dozens of devices on a network that shifts on average a few TBs per month.

It knows what the devices know so there's no identifiable info. besides which port, router, modem, bridge, or switch did what.

If you want to analyse at the level youse are talking (wireshark / tcpdump) about you'd do so adhoc there's no call to potentially enable DPI on a little network like this and the data you'd generate would be a sack of bricks.

Observium can monitor servers / workstations too so you can have all your infra in it it can be a piece of mind as well as quality tool.

http://www.observium.org/screenshots/

[xj25vm]

It looks interesting - but unfortunately, based on their website, it looks like the useful bits - such as threshold and state alerts, and traffic accounting, are missing from the community version

[fawkesley]

@amcewen I suggest that we could set it so the more-segregated-network is opt-in, in that it's not the default. e.g. it could be a hidden SSID or something.

Regarding monitoring tools, can I suggest we take that discussion to the mailing list and keep this issue focused on principles for the network? Thanks!

[mattwilsondotuk]

Hi Guys,

Quick update from me and what I'm doing in the building...

Access wise - I'm putting a 10GB pipe into the building straight from our DC as I'm building an Internet Exchange the other end of the building which will have FOC access onto IOT LAN.

I'm opening up 500MB for shared access between internal clients at the Tapestry to keep costs low for you guys and others, but I can open more if required in 1GB segments, just need a few hours notice. It's not broadband, its synchronous internet, so same speed both ways (too much hassle to water down the beer!)...I can deliver this via fibre to the doES floor if you have a fibre switch, or cat6...your choice..John already has pricing on this...

IP Addresses - Can give you what you need, IPV4 or IPV6

WIFI - Down to Does but I would like to do something with this and supply say 3/4 AP's for 2G and 5G access, for the guest access I can use client isolation and keep each guest in its own VLAN with zero routing but for internet only etc to aid security..

City wide network name - we are already doing, and if we do the WIFI inside, you can use the service outside around the fabric district (roam)...and many other locations around the city that we have service at...all for free..essentially taking some of your doES desk benefits with you..

Wired points, I suggest a good managed GB switch and can get a good price on these and will setup VLANS foc for network segregation

Monitoring - We will supply tools for free if we do the WIFI for monitoring speeds, signal from devices, blocking, setting QOS, guest access polices etc etc..

USB dongles - not required, just setup fat free SSID, we can traffic shape to suit

NAT - I can supply firewall, but you don't have to use NAT, I can give every device an IPV6 address with direct access so just use firewall to port block?

Service Prioritisation - doES clients can prioritise certain sites or services, like Github, Facebook, yada yada...see more at https://www.balticbroadband.com/features/

[mattwilsondotuk]

Just another announcement from a meeting we had today with the landlord and the news about what the Internet Exchange will bring plus how we are making it a Baltic Broadband Enabled Building coupled with the exchange...

Having an Internet Exchange in the basement of the building brings many benefits from speed to direct connections to other networks world-wide that by-pass the Internet giving low latency and high speeds, helping applications like Virtual Reality, Financial Services,Cryptocurrencies and Autonomous Systems,

We are also installing ports so that residents of The Tapestry can access the following services by simply connecting up a cable to our point of presence in the basement.

Direct Ports (by-passing the Internet) to the following Cloud Providers:

Amazon Web Services Google Cloud Platform Salesforce.com Oracle Cloud IBM Bluemi SAP Alibaba Cloud Webair Telecoms Cloud We are also an LINX IXP Reseller, meaning that we can connect Tapestry Tenants to other Internet Exchanges, such as:

London Internet Exchange(LINX) (tenants can peer directly with networks or with anyone on the root servers, see those networks at https://www.linx.net/tech-info-help/members-by-ip-asn)

Manchester Internet Exchange (IXManchester)

Private Peering sessions or any networks in Telehouse Campus or Manchester Data Centers

Please let me know if anyone is interested as I'm wanting to get commitment/intent from interested parties asap so I can plan a go live date for everyone.

Details about the building pipe that is being installed for the landlord is at https://www.balticbroadband.com/enabled-buildings/

[amcewen]

On a more practical note (more of an FYI for when anyone gets to installing things), there's a fair bit of Cat6 cable in the "might be useful for fit-out" area of the staging room, and also 6 double-gang (i.e. the size of a double mains socket) 4-way RJ45 sockets (that I scavenged from the staging room).

We might be able to get more elsewhere in the building if they're useful. There's also assorted bit of white plastic trunking to run cables in, but I don't know if we want that or not?

[mattwilsondotuk]

@amcewen plus anything that DoES had left over ,they could donate to IX Liverpool...they are desperately looking for a load of IT gear see www.ixliverpool.net/contributions/

[DoESsean]

Have there been any further ideas about this? Or some movement on whatever needs moving on?

(As you may be able to tell, this is about a million miles over my head.)

[mattwilsondotuk]

Hi Sean, i agree I think we need to bottom out what is happening with the WIFI etc, as this will only cause delays when DoES are moving in and could be without service for some time.

[amcewen]

We need to work out exactly where the fixed network points are going to be in the new space. @paulfurley, can you sit down with a copy of the floorplan sometime and spec out where the cables should be run, then we can liaise with the electrician to sort out getting them in.

[amcewen]

Any update on where any of the cables are going to go? Where are the main patch panel and switches going? Who is installing any WiFi access points? Where are they being positioned?

I realise it's hard to say for definite without knowing exactly where the desks are being positioned, but it's getting to the point where we need to be making our best guesses...

This issue is also pretty long and wide-ranging, so it would be great if we can spin out a bunch of more focused issues and then close this one as the "planning" phase will be over. If they all get the DoES Move: The Tapestry and System: Network labels then it'll still be easy to get an overview as well as the detail.

[johnmckerrell]

My hope has always been for minimal but I know @paulfurley has strongly suggested maximal! I agree that it's better to do stuff now than wait and have to run it in conduit unnecessarily. The main thing would be that we get at least 1 cable to each area, and then if we have 1, why not 2.. or 3??

Right now the electrician we're talking to has stated he does not do data. Perhaps we can do it ourselves before the stud work is fully boarded and while the electrician has any floorboards up, or I believe @mattwilsondotuk has someone we can ask to quote.

If anyone is taking on the project of defining where the cables need to terminate, the diagrams on the electric issue #664 should give good suggestions.

[johnmckerrell]

Also I've arranged to have a meeting with @mattwilsondotuk on the 12th but that's mainly to discuss Wi-Fi positioning, if someone wants to make strong suggestions before then feel free, and bear in mind that some of these cables will want to go high up for the access points.

[amcewen]

If @paulfurley wants something nearer to maximal then he should pull his finger out and start speccing where it should go ;-)

[mattwilsondotuk]

Yeah I know someone who can run some cables in for you for a good price. I would suggested some ceiling and wall mounted AP's (next to sockets) and fed by the conduit, assuming that is the wiring system that you are going for, so you will need to get the cables in like pronto before anything is boarded.

Be aware that we need to run such cables totally away from any cabling carrying heavy loads due to induction, which will cause interference, so care must be taken to route cabling away from electrical and other cables as part of the design.

Do you have architects drawings of the proposed cabling system and the specified routes being taken?

[fawkesley]

Arg sorry only just saw these updates from a week ago, for some reason.

I'm in London atm and abroad next week, but can join the meeting on the 12th if that helps?

[johnmckerrell]

Here's my starter-for-10. Big "N" is a required port, little "n" is more of a nice-to-have. This is IMHO, so anything can be changed, but at a minimum we do need wired connections in the event room, meeting room and soundproof room.

I haven't covered the access points largely as we don't know where they're going. I'm wondering if two back-to-back on the central RSJ would work.

[magman2112]

I would tend to agree with the "Flood" wiring of Cat 6 cabling that has been mentioned above. It is possibly going to be used for telephones and possibly IoT devices with PoE and IP Camera's as well as LAN and internet, so for future flexibility we need to agree a wishlist then see what is practical.

It is quite a few years since I designed and installed any structured wiring, but the one practical thing to remember is that the volume of wires add up. The cable may only be 5-6mm nominal diameter, but can add up to quite a few square inches of volume at the hub (mixing my measurements, but I'm old enough to get away with it :-)).

I don't see a designated location for the Wiring closet as yet - all of this Cat 6 has to be terminated somewhere, along with LAN switches and possibly WLAN controllers. Somewhere in the Kitchenette may be favourite, being reasonable central to shorten the cable run lengths. We will also likey need a rack cabinet of some type, either floor or wall mounting - and will other equipment/servers want to live in this same rack? eBay is normally favourite for this kind of thing, especially if it can be picked up.

Another consideration is chosing the quality level of the installation, as this has a significant impact on cost. Such as metal trays under the floor for grouping the cables back to the wiring closet. Plastic trunking (with lids that invariably come off over time), or plastic conduit (with how many cables can you fit in one conduit being a consideration), again a cost v quality issue.

Last, but no means least, I'm happy to donate my time/tools to help with the installation if needed, but I doubt that I could undertake an installation on my own in a timely manner.

[amcewen]

As I mentioned in #680, it looks like the Internet will be terminating in the area between the kitchenette and the meeting nooks. We should have this small server cabinet to house the patch panels and switches...

[xj25vm]

Sorry - I haven't had any update from this thread in at least a month, for some reason. Looking at the diagram above, it looks like quite a few x's to mark network points. The cabinet above is not that big. I still have lots of scars on my hands (and traumatic memories to go with them :-) ) to prove that stuffing and organizing even fewer cables into a cabinet of that size is no fun job. Also it is amazing how cabinets attract all sort of other bits of equipment in the long run - CCTV dvr's, UPS's, fibre/ADSL modems, separate PoE network switches, even the odd server or two. I have never been sorry for installing a cabinet which was bigger than needed :-)

[zarino]

stuffing and organizing even fewer cables into a cabinet of that size is no fun job. Also it is amazing how cabinets attract all sort of other bits of equipment in the long run

If you need space for a server cabinet (or just shelves with switches/routers on them), it’s currently looking like there’ll be a storage large cupboard, roughly 1.8m wide, 0.9m deep, and up to 3m high, at the exact spot you’re talking about – between the kitchen and the meeting nooks. Access will be via standard full height doors incorporated into the "back" of the bench at the end of the meeting nook.

See the side-on plan in https://github.com/DoESLiverpool/somebody-should/issues/680 for more detail.

If we end up filling that cupboard with gadgetry, though, I guess we’ll need to think about ventillation?

[amcewen]

@magman2112 and @ajlennon started working out cable runs yesterday, using @johnmckerrell's plan from above. @magman2112 and Simon Derwent should be started on running actual cables today, and will be proceeding as quickly as possible to get it laid out.

As there's been some concern over the size of the small server cabinet that we liberated from next-door, @magman2112 suggested we take the rails out of the full-height server cabinet that we'll be using to house the Ultimakers; then we can cut them to whatever length we like and screw them to some studwork in the large cupboard. So we'll need to work out exactly how that gets built into the cupboard, maybe as part of #680?

[ajlennon]

Yes we started looking at this yesterday. @magman2112 has this all in hand and we discussed what needs to be done to route the networking cables asap to unblock the builders and enable them to continue with finishing the partition walls. As of yesterday they had to stop to wait for us to finish this work and hopefully will be able to resume from tomorrow (Tuesday 13th)

I'm going to put my notes here and if I misrecollect anything I hope @magman2112 will correct me

• the electrics have already gone in mostly. There are plastic and metal housings on the partition walls with the power cables dropping down through floor boards and then bring routed along underneath the floor boards through holes which have been drilled in joists. Joists run at right angles to floor boards (for the uniniated like me) and there's an issue as quite a lot of holes have to be drilled through joists to get cables from A to B.

• we contacted the electrician about doing the work as we need a special joist drill to be able to to the job but ultimately the electrician felt he'd have to do at least half the work again to drill out everything for the networking cables. Thus this would cost us.

• @magman2112 is very much on the case with all of this and as such with @jackie1050 we decided to rent a "Joist Drill" from HSS for a couple of days to enable him to drill through the joists today to enable us to move forward. He's picking/picked up the drill from St. Helens this morning and will return it tomorrow night I assume

[ajlennon]

Related – discussion here about what our power/internet requirements are in the open “room” to the left as you enter the space: https://github.com/DoESLiverpool/somebody-should/issues/686

Show the original comment

PARTITION / POWER / NETWORK / SINK in this area First off - slightly away from networking but we were looking at this panel by the entrance to the main area. This is where it has been suggested we put a sink. Apparently plumbers think this might be a problem as the soil pipe is a way away by the kitchenette area. So number one: Do we want a sink here? If not do we have two sinks in the kitchenette area (clean versus dirty as in Gostins?) Or something else? Then number two: There don't seem to be any network points or power points here. If we put in network points and power points then we'd be set in future if we wanted to close off this space and make another meeting room. Now is the time to do it if we are going to do it. What are your thoughts? If we really don't want to have power or networking points in this space then presumably the builders are free to finish up the partition wall here.