Logistics Company Builds Out 28,000 sq ft Warehouse with Cameras, Access, and Wi-Fi

The starting point

Concrete floor, metal racks going up, two stories of mezzanine, a freezer section, a 30-bay loading dock, and a 4,500 sq ft front office area. The customer’s IT requirements: handheld scanners must work everywhere, including in the freezer; cameras must cover every dock door, every doorway, and every cash-handling area for insurance; access control on every external door and the freezer; back-office network for the dispatch and admin team; clean documentation for the insurance underwriter and the customer’s audit team.

Design phase

Two-week heat-map survey using Ekahau on a similar warehouse to model what the new facility would need. Initial design called for 14 Wi-Fi 6 APs at specific mounting heights, with directional antennas inside the freezer to maintain coverage through the metal walls. Camera coverage modeled at 32 cameras for full visibility — every dock door, doorway, ceiling-mounted in cash-handling and shipping receiving areas, and external corner coverage. Access control for the eight external/critical doors with mobile credentials integrated with the company’s M365 tenant.

Installation phase

Sequenced with the GC and electrical contractor. Cabling rough-in happened during framing (week 2–3). APs and cameras were mounted as racking went in (weeks 4–6). Network infrastructure went into the IDF (week 7). Cameras and access points were configured and brought online in waves (weeks 7–9). Final commissioning and pre-acceptance testing in week 10.

What we deployed

Structured cabling. Cat6A copper to every IT location, ruggedized cabling and conduit in production areas. OM4 multimode fiber from main IDF to satellite IDFs in the warehouse. 100% certified, labeled, and documented.

Network. Cisco Meraki MX firewall, MS switching, and MR46 Wi-Fi 6 access points with 4x4 MIMO. Centrally managed via the cloud dashboard, which lets us monitor coverage, throughput, and per-device performance across the entire facility.

Cameras. 32 Verkada IP cameras across the facility. Full visibility on every loading dock, doorway, the cash-handling area, and the freezer. Cloud-managed VMS with mobile app for the operations and security teams. Retention configured to meet insurance requirements.

Access control. Eight access-controlled doors with Verkada Access. Mobile credentials issued through Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Integrated with the company’s M365 tenant so onboarding/offboarding flows happen automatically when HR adds or removes a user.

Endpoint and handheld infrastructure. 18 ruggedized handheld scanners (Zebra), 6 forklift-mounted tablets, and back-office workstations. Standardized image, MDM, and the same managed IT support agreement that covers the entire fleet.

What it changed

The facility opened on schedule. The customer’s audit team walked the floor on day three of operations and found nothing to write up. Insurance carrier signed off on the first walk-through. Their handheld scanners maintain connectivity through the entire facility, including in the freezer — which their previous warehouse never managed. The operations director can pull up any camera, any door event, or any access record on her phone, from anywhere.

This kind of build-out is exactly the sweet spot for an integrated IT-and-low-voltage provider. Splitting the work across separate cabling, network, camera, and access vendors is twice the coordination cost and three times the finger-pointing when something does not work.