Re: Direct wiring
Have a downvote for missing the point of structured cabling. It's structured cabling, not network cabling. I'm guessing you must be one of those stupid people who put structured cabling in for the network, and then run separate cabling for the phones, fax, serial terminals, serial printers, ISDN-2, video, ... All things I've run over structured cabling over the years - never used token ring or twinax but I'm sure some here have. OK, I'll admit that most of these are on the decline, but defintely not completely dead yet.
Fine, if you really rally are never going to use any of those then go ahead and fully patch every port to a network switch, but ... It means you are either spending a lot more than you need on unused network ports, or it means you're one of those that ignored advice and only put in a fraction of the points that would be recommended by people with experience. And of course, with the rise of PoE, every port will need to be PoE enabled - otherwise you are back to having different types of port again, and PoE ports don't come cheap, especially on business class switches.
I have experience with manglement just absolutely refusing to pay for the points recommended and then finding a shortage (and hence switches under desks) on the day they moved in, but on the flipside having put in what I'd recommended but having points unused when one or more foreseeable layouts didn't get used.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
