Cabling
offer in the industry. Typically, it will only be the experienced operators actually running data centres who can see just how valuable such features are.”
The work undertaken with Brand-Rex to date represents only the first stage of data centre improvements. Now, a major new programme is about to be implemented within BT Operate - its Data Centre Transformation Project - which will run for seven years, and the Brand-Rex fibre frame will play a central role in this. As Woodward says: “Like everyone else, the challenge we face is to minimise usage of space, so we are looking to virtualise all of our server estate and at the same time reduce the number of physical sites by vacating some premises. Brand-Rex’s fibre frame will help us to do that because it enables us to get more cable into a smaller space without loosing manageability.”
Woodward is impressed with how the new frame makes life for the end user as easy as possible.
“For example, the network systems are located at the top half of the rack, the servers at the bottom half, so to connect a server to a network board requires a single cable. You are not constantly taking the floor up to run cables in all the time, as you used to do, and it does not require as skilled a person to do the job. It also improves security because you can lock the cabinets and leave them like that. The
only time you would need to go back into cabinets would be in times of failure.
“Redundancy is another important feature. Two cable routes are used, a yellow route and a blue route, to connect to a server, which do not cross anywhere. So as well as having backup in power, and in server capability, we also have backup in the physical connectivity.
Also involved in the overall data centre project was Fujitsu, in the form of its Infrastructure Cabling Services operation, which was responsible for designing the BT Data Centres and worked with Brand-Rex on the new frame. Alan Bird, Fujitsu Senior Technical Consultant for Cabling, explains.
“We were implementing central patching systems for BT, both Class EA and OM3 fibre. BT wanted an alternative source for its copper and fibre frames so we worked with Brand-Rex to develop the high density cabinet designed to take Brand-Rex’s angled copper panels. The aim was then to go on and develop the same thing for fibre.
“We put a lot of emphasis on the cable management aspect, because we knew people would be putting 500-600 cables into a single cabinet, with 1000 duplex ports on one cabinet face. It was also important to cater for both the installer and especially the end user. I used to be a data centre
manager so I know from experience what happens if you don’t make life easy for the end user – you end up with a mess!
“The result is a high density, cabling solution that gives BT Operate a patching backbone at the heart of its data centres. It means you can connect any piece of equipment to any other just by doing a patch. It has become a core element in their approach to the cabling of their data centres.”
The result is a high density, cabling solution that gives
BT Operate a patching backbone at the heart of its data centres. It means you can connect any piece of equipment to any other just by doing a patch
36 | DATA CENTRE SOLUTIONS |
www.datacentresols.com Winter 2010
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