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About 20 years ago I was working in IT, and I was responsible for the physical build out (from a shell) of 599 North Mathilda, Sunnyvale - The foundations and outer walls/roof were up - but nothing inside.

I had responsibility (working with consultants who did this for a living) to work with the project manager, and architect/GC. All of the datacenters (back when companies put data-centers in their buildings), IDFs, MDFs. The MDF in particular was complex as it combined the floors IDF + the buildings MDF/telco connections, punchdowns, and a massive Nortel Option51c set of cabinets. We carefully laid out the room - measuring the minimal possible distance for cable techs to get in between the racks. Everything was designed down to the 1/4" in the room.

I showed up (mostly randomly) with a tape measure during construction - internal walls were up - and they were off by almost 14" - which would have made the internals almost unusable for their original purpose. They had to tear down their framing, pull everything out - thankfully before any electrics/racks/hvac had been put in place.

Having something like this would have greatly reduced that possibility. Bet they end up on every site (if they aren't already).



Unfortunately not much has changed in 20 years


Can confirm.


Was there ever a 'why' given? Did someone not take into account the width of the framing or something weird?


Hah, I briefly worked in that building! Never dealt with the MDF/IDF though, was just doing software at that point.




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