Cabling
with an increase in footprint of only about 5 per cent.
“It’s a major plus for us, because we can use this extra space to deploy servers, for instance, and achieve a significant cost benefit.”
The first data centre to take the new system was in Derby, which was installed and implemented in November 2008. Since then, it has been put into operation in several more BT Operate data centres, including ones in Cardiff, Rochdale, Croydon, and Oswestry.
“All along, BT people have been very enthusiastic about what the new frame offers them in terms of the cabinet and the fibre management facilities,” says Ken Hodge, Brand- Rex’s R&D manager. “They could see
Winter 2010
that it had the potential to solve a lot of handling and operational issues, and give major benefits to the installer. In fact, they were so impressed with it, they took what was effectively a prototype, which has been the basis for the design of all the other systems that have followed since.”
The 45U cabinet accommodates up to 1,824 fibre ports in standard configuration and measures 900mm x 500mm. It can be deployed as a standalone unit, or bayed back-to- back, or side-to-side directly against walls, to save floor space. When bayed back-to-back, a pair of cabinets’ footprint is the same as that of a conventional server cabinet (1000mm deep). The unit features removable panels and doors at the front, side and rear, which can be closed and locked to secure the
equipment.
“For operators, the main thing is that they get a good density of cabling within the cabinet, which they can use as a patching field as they operate the system,” Hodge explains. “This patching field is open and front- facing, which is an advantage as it offers lots of patch cord management space. Also, the clever slack-storage system enables you to stock and use only one length of patch cord regardless of the distance between ports, which helps reduce the inventory required.
“These built-in working advantages of the design make the lives of installers and operators much easier, but such factors are not obvious, many people don’t appreciate how important they are, and they are generally not on
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