By Roger Crombie, XL House Supplement

            CCS Group provided the telecommunications systems for XL House, which included all aspects of XL Capital Ltd's computer systems and telephones. All XL's more than 300 computers are linked to each other via a central computer room, which houses 16 cabinets the size of refrigerators. Yet the company's entire computer systems can be operated from a single command console.

            " Three divisions of CCS were involved in XL House: networking, cabling and telephony", explains chief executive officer Robert Loxton, adding that CCS provided some software assistance as well.

            A state-of-the-art Category 6 unshielded, twisted pair, a very high quality fibre-optic system, is at the heart of XL's telecommunications connections, which allows significant bandwidth and speed. "XL could have chosen a less capable system, but they selected the best and the fastest", says Mr. Loxton, who points out that CCS has guaranteed the system for 16 years, which is a very long time in the changing world of electronics.

            All cables and wiring run under the floors at XL House, which allows the look of the offices can be kept crisp. "We put cables in throughout the building in such a way as to minimise the need for additions or change in the future, and to allow XL staff to make whatever changes they want with a minimum of disruption", Mr. Loxton says.

            CCS began its work at XL House once the basic structure was in place and had been waterproofed. Although all systems were operational before XL staff moved into their new building, CCS will not finish its work until the end of May, when every cable will have been tested and a certain amount of documentation completed.

            " The networking division of CCS provided the hubs and the routers that connect XL to the rest of the world and then distribute information internally to each floor, using Cisco Systems", explains Alex Burrows, chief engineer at CCS.

            " CCS installed all the cabling at XL House to Building Industry Consulting Services International (BICSI) standards", explains Jim Dumont, cabling foreman at CCS, who is himself sanctioned by BICSI.

            " We installed a Via Definity G-3 switch for all the telephone systems", notes Bobbie Osborne, project manager for CCS. "There are more than 300 handsets in XL House. The company has chosen a very sophisticated and capable system."

            CCS began business in 1982 as housepainters, but moved into telecommunications in the mid-1980s as Bermuda's corporate sector began demanding sophisticated solutions for its growing telecommunications needs. CCS has grown from six to more than 60 employees since then. XL House is the largest project the company has worked on. In all, CCS installed 4,500 cables and half a million feet  about 100 miles of wiring.