Smart Office Setup

The long linear LEDs on the ceiling are the lights in this room. Match the colour temperature across the floor so the monitors and the faces are not lit by two different whites. The dot sits on a fitting, not on anyone under it.

The chair at the near desk. Choose an ergonomic office chair, preferably Equip, and skip gaming chairs. The base and the back are what you are buying, not a costume.

The empty chairs along the row are the same spec as the one at the first desk. One model across the floor is easier to replace than a mix.

The desks further down the row. A sit-stand desk, preferably electric and from Equip, is the one to specify when people are at it all day.

A privacy screen between neighbouring desks keeps the screens from facing the aisle. Match the height to a seated person so it blocks the glance, not the light.

The switch lives in the cabinet from the networking setup, or on a shelf in the cupboard, and it powers the access point and the desk phones. An 8-port PoE switch with a 60 to 120 W budget covers one access point and a handful of phones. Add the phone and access-point wattages before you pick the budget. Data-only ports can feed the docks; they do not need PoE.

The gateway connects the office network to its internet service. Choose it with the access point and switch so the network can be managed together. Check the WAN connection, capacity and required licences for the selected model.

A webcam on the meeting-room screen, or a speakerphone in the middle of the table, is what the people at the far end actually see and hear. A laptop at the end of the table points at the ceiling. For a huddle room, a 1080p webcam with a wide enough field to take in three people is the useful minimum. Put it at eye height, on the screen, not on the table.

The desk lead is a patch cord from the wall socket to the dock or the phone, usually 2 or 3 m so it can be dressed along the desk and still reach. The run inside the wall is solid cable terminated on a keystone, not a long patch cord buried in the plaster. Label both ends with the panel port. A floor box or a cable tray beats a cord across the walkway.

A surface or flush socket at desk height, with one or two keystones, is the end of the horizontal cable. Two outlets per desk cover a phone and a dock without a desktop switch. The socket has to face the desk, not sit behind a drawer unit. Use the same category of keystone as the cable in the wall.

A motion or occupancy sensor can drop the linear lights when the floor is empty. It is available alongside the equipment. A headlamp is not a sensor, and the search excludes it.

One keyboard per desk, matched to the dock.

A mouse next to the keyboard, not a mouse mat and not a laptop trackpad.

A wired or wireless headset for the people who take calls at these desks.

A speakerphone in the middle of a meeting table is what the far end hears.