CASE STUDY
High Density Fibre Solutions to Optimise Use of Space Tight Fit By Neil O’Sullivan Space today is an
expensive commodity, and nowhere more so than in data centres. The need to pack ever more equipment, including cabling, into more and more confined spaces is being driven by the increasing costs of the buildings that house them, and the land they sit on. UK-based telecoms company BT has attempted to keep its use of space in its data centres to a minimum, while also increasing their cabling density.
BT Operate, the operations division of BT, runs communications services for customers over BT’s core network and systems, as well as handling BT’s global 21CN platform. It implements and operates the software, hardware and networks that supply BT’s services to its own other divisions – retail, global services and wholesale – as well as their external customers. In order to help the company
optimise use of space in its nationwide chain of data centres, a high density fibre frame was custom built for BT Operate by Brand-Rex. The relationship between the two companies started when BT Operate was looking for a new source of fibre frames. “Effectively, we often wanted a
half rack solution,” explained Paul Woodward, lead data centre technical specialist for BT Operate, based in Cardiff. “Also, the cable management in the original rack was not as good as we thought it could have been. So, we turned to Brand-Rex and worked very closely with them and the cabinet manufacturer on the development of custom built cabinets. “As the end user, we were able to give
them constant feedback on what was positive in terms of the design work. The result is, we have produced what we think is one of the best high density patching frames for both fibre and copper on the market today. That is why we are using them as standard in all BT Operate data centres.” Woodward estimates the new high
density frames are giving BT Operate around 30 % more capacity, with an increase in footprint of about 5 %. “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, UK, 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,” said Ken Hodge, Brand-Rex’s R&D
40 NETCOMMS Volume I, Issue 4 2011
A slack-storage system enables you to stock and use only one length of patch cord regardless of the distance between ports.
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manager. “They could see 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.
Open patching fields
“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 explained. “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 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 to date
represents the first stage of data centre improvements. A major new programme is about to be implemented within BT Operate - its Data Centre Transformation Project. This will run for seven years. Woodward commented: “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. The new fibre frame will help us to do that because it enables us to get more cable into a smaller space without loosing manageability. “The network systems are located at
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