Data Center Patch Cords Organized - Fiber Optic Cabling Solutions

The benefit of having neat and organized cabling obviously applies to patch cords as much as structured cabling. When you go beyond green considerations, it can be argued that it’s more important to have neat patch cords than structured cabling. Data Center users typically interact with a patching field when installing or servicing hardware rather than structured cabling. Patching fields can be more challenging to maintain in some server environments, however, due to frequent hardware changes and sometimes minimal management of how patches are run.

You can follow several strategies to keep Data Center patch cords organized, thereby improving airflow to equipment, reducing energy consumption of your cooling infrastructure, and easing troubleshooting. (Not to mention maintaining the professional appearance of your Data Center.)

■ Employ a distributed cabling hierarchy: Already mentioned as beneficial for structured cabling, this approach can help with Fiber Optic Patch Cables as well. Having Data Center networking patch fields divided into smaller segments around the Data Center mitigates cabling density and potentially improves airflow to the associated networking equipment.
■ Right-size port counts: Planning the correct number of ports in your Data Center – and reserving space for future expansion of patch fields – helps avoid messy cabling. Installing too many ports can result in unnecessarily large cable bundles; installing too few can trigger picemeal cabling additions in the future that fit awkwardly with the original cabling infrastructure.
■ Use ample wire management: However many connections you install in your network patching fields, be sure to include sufficient vertical and horizontal wire management to handle the maximum quantity of patch cords you plan for. This is of particular importance for some Category 6A patch cords because of their increased outsied cable diameters and soild copper core wire construction. This type of cord promotes a cable memory that can be increasingly difficult to manage as the number of patch cords multiply.
■ Prepatch networking connections: Hardware density in modern Data Centers can involve thousands of cable connections in a single server row. Prepatching networking devices and patch fields all together, before servers are installed, helps ensure that cabling is routed neatly.
■ Provide patch cords in different length – and use them: Stock commonly used types of patch cords in your Data Center in multiple lengths so that whoeer install your hardware can make a neat connection between devices and patching fields. That means correctly routing cabling through the available wire management rather than making a straight-line connection that blocks access to hardware or patch panels. It also means choosing the right length of cable length, so there is no slack to be either coiled up and hidden in the wire management system or left hanging at the end of a connection.

Implementing these cabling practices, first when designing a new Data Center and then when operating, doesn’t just make the facility greener by improving airlow and conserving cabling material, it also makes it easier to use and less prone to accidental down-time.

Fiberstore manufactures and stocks fiber optic patch cables. Our stock cables feature FC/PC, FC/APC, and SMA connectors, and use single mode (SM), polarization-maintaining (PM), or multimode (MM) fiber. Buy LC fiber optic cable series, same day shipping to your countyre now. We offer ar-coated cables for fiber-to-free space use, lightweight cables for optogenetics, high-power cables, and many other specialty fiber patch cables from stock. We also offer multimode fiber bundles, as well as custom patch cables with 24 hour turnaround on many orders. If you do not see a stock cable that is suitable for your application, please contact us.