Zaiwalla & Co Solicitors, Holborn: communications room consolidation
A live cabinet migration that released a Holborn law firm’s communications room in a single weekend.
Zaiwalla & Co had already retired its on-premise servers, but an oversized full-height cabinet and the live infrastructure inside it still occupied a dedicated room. ACCL was appointed to consolidate everything the practice depended on into a smaller, modern 24U cabinet, entirely outside office hours.
The result
ACCL delivered a complete live cabinet consolidation over a single weekend. The completed project provided Zaiwalla & Co with:
- Comms room released for other business use
- New 800mm x 600mm 24U cabinet installed
- Incoming ISP fibre relocated
- Active network and security equipment migrated
- Structured cabling re-patched and reorganised
- Tested to TIA Category 6 Permanent Link standard
- Two pre-existing faults documented for future recabling
Services delivered
Overview
Zaiwalla & Co had already reduced its reliance on on-premise servers. The server hardware was gone, but an oversized full-height communications cabinet, and the live infrastructure retained within it, still occupied a dedicated room inside the practice’s Holborn office.
The cabinet continued to support internet connectivity, network switching, routing, security appliances and the structured cabling behind the wider office. ACCL was appointed to consolidate this live environment into a smaller 24U cabinet, so the room could be released for other business use without disrupting the working week.
The challenge
The brief was not to remove an old cabinet. It was to safely migrate everything live inside it, while handing Zaiwalla & Co back the room it stood in.
Incoming ISP fibre needed relocating. Network and security equipment had to be transferred, restored and validated inside an agreed out-of-hours window. Existing cable routes needed adapting, and fire-rated building elements governed exactly where new containment could go.
Every connection, route and risk had to be understood and planned before a single cable was touched, because all physical work had to happen outside core working hours.
Survey, audit and installing the new cabinet
Live infrastructure migrations leave no room for surprises once the delivery window opens. ACCL mapped the cabinet layout, active equipment, ISP entry routes, available fibre slack, power provision, containment and cable pathways, then confirmed the fibre entry point and slack needed to establish that relocation was genuinely feasible.
The survey confirmed the retained infrastructure could be consolidated into a single 800mm x 600mm 24U cabinet. Cabinet elevations, patching schedules, a sequenced migration methodology, a testing strategy, an access plan and a logistics plan were all produced before works began, backed by a full RAMS package: Method Statement and Risk Assessment.
The new cabinet was installed and positioned first, ahead of the live migration window, so the sequence that followed was execution against a plan rather than improvisation on the night.
Project context
24/7 legal practice · Holborn Tower, High Holborn, London
Structured cabling in Camden →Need to reclaim space occupied by legacy comms infrastructure?
ACCL surveyed, planned and migrated Zaiwalla & Co’s live cabinet into a smaller, modern footprint without a single disrupted working day. If ageing infrastructure is holding a room hostage in your office, a site survey is the place to start.
Out-of-hours live migration
Physical works ran across Friday 26 and Saturday 27 June, scheduled entirely around Zaiwalla & Co’s working week. Every element of the cutover followed the pre-agreed sequence rather than being worked out on the night: containment was re-routed ahead of the move, the incoming ISP fibre was relocated to its new entry point, and active equipment was taken down, transferred and restored in a controlled order.
Nothing in the office was affected during the day, because none of this work happened during the day.
Migrating and patching, live
Active network and security equipment was transferred into the new cabinet, re-patched and reorganised methodically, port by port, against the pre-agreed patching schedule. Incoming ISP fibre was relocated and reconnected as part of the same sequence, containment was re-routed, and everything was verified before being left live overnight.
The redundant legacy cabinet was removed once the new one was fully carrying the load.
Tested, commissioned and handed over
Around 70 outlets were tested to TIA Category 6 Permanent Link standards as part of commissioning. Testing also surfaced five pre-existing cabling faults that predated ACCL’s involvement: three were rectified during the delivery window, and two that needed recabling were documented and handed over rather than left for someone else to find later.
By Monday morning, Zaiwalla & Co’s live infrastructure had been migrated, tested and documented, and the former communications room was cleared and available for other business use, without a single working day lost.
Technologies used
ACCL’s role
This project required a great deal more than swapping one cabinet for another. ACCL provided Zaiwalla & Co with a complete live migration service, including:
- Full infrastructure audit and feasibility assessment
- Technical feasibility assessment and consolidation design
- Migration methodology and patching schedules
- RAMS package: Method Statement and Risk Assessment
- Access and building management coordination
- Installation of the new 24U communications cabinet
- New containment and revised cable-entry arrangements
- Relocation of incoming ISP fibre services
- Migration of active network and security equipment
- Re-patching and reorganisation of structured cabling
- Removal of the redundant legacy cabinet
- 70 outlet tests to TIA Category 6 standards
- Identification and rectification of pre-existing cabling faults
- Final elevations, schedules and documented handover
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Related guidance
Foreword by Wayne
“Zaiwalla & Co is a good example of a project where the risk isn’t the install, it’s everything that has to keep working while you do it. Nothing in that room was allowed to go down during business hours, so the whole job had to be planned around a weekend window with zero margin for surprises. We audited every cable, every route and every piece of live kit before we touched anything, which is exactly why we could find and flag pre-existing faults that had nothing to do with our own work, rather than just working around them. Zaiwalla got a smaller, better documented cabinet and a room back, with nothing left to chance.”Wayne Connors, Managing Director, ACCL
Frequently asked questions
What was the main goal of the Zaiwalla & Co project?
To release the communications room at Zaiwalla & Co’s Holborn office for other business use, by consolidating the live infrastructure inside an oversized legacy cabinet into a smaller, modern 24U cabinet, without disrupting the working week.
Why couldn’t ACCL simply remove the old cabinet?
The old cabinet still carried live infrastructure the whole office depended on: internet connectivity, network switching, routing, security appliances and structured cabling. The challenge was migrating everything it supported, not just removing the box itself.
How long did the migration take?
Physical works ran across a single weekend, Friday 26 and Saturday 27 June, entirely outside Zaiwalla & Co’s core working hours. No working days were affected.
What size cabinet was installed?
An 800mm x 600mm 24U communications cabinet, replacing the oversized full-height cabinet that previously occupied the dedicated comms room.
What testing standard was used to verify the new installation?
Around 70 outlets were tested to TIA Category 6 Permanent Link standards as part of commissioning.
Did ACCL find any problems with the existing cabling?
Yes. Testing identified five pre-existing cabling faults that predated ACCL’s involvement. Three were rectified during the delivery window, and two that require recabling were documented and handed over.
What happened to the incoming ISP fibre during the migration?
The incoming ISP fibre service was relocated as part of the migration, after ACCL confirmed the fibre entry point and available slack during the survey stage.
Why did the work have to happen out of hours?
Zaiwalla & Co needed every connection and service in the office to keep working during the day. All physical work, from installing the new cabinet to removing the old one, was scheduled outside core working hours to avoid any disruption.
How did fire-rated building elements affect the project?
Fire-rated interfaces within the building governed exactly where new cable containment could be installed, so ACCL had to plan revised cable-entry arrangements and containment routes around them as part of the survey and design stage.
What documentation did Zaiwalla & Co receive at handover?
Final cabinet elevations, patching schedules and full test records were produced and handed over, along with documentation of the two pre-existing faults still requiring recabling.
What is left in the released communications room?
The room has been cleared of the redundant legacy cabinet and is available for other business use, while the consolidated live infrastructure now runs from the new 24U cabinet.
Legacy infrastructure holding a room hostage in your office?
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