Suggestions on Selecting Cabling Component

Cabling component selection actually serves as the very primary stage of installing the system, and it can pose continuous impact on the reliability and flexibility of the whole network. It is sometimes overwhelming for installers to narrow down and select the right combination of cabling components since there are quite amount of them available on the market. Deploying the right equipment can avoid future cabling issues. So, before making the decision, you’ d better consider compatibility, ease of installation, cost, density, durability, aesthetics, accessibility, flexibility, and delivery times. Here, we offer you some advice on how to choose the right cabling component.

Patch Cables

Patch cables are used to connect end devices to patch panel ports, and to connect ports between two patch panels. A big problem concerning patch cables is the design and quality of the terminations, especially for RJ45 copper terminations. The quality of patch cables matters a lot since they will experience the most wear and tear. Hence when purchasing patch cable, please take the following aspects into account:

• Specification of the cable, avoid cheap, low-quality cables
• Compliance to EIA/TIA/IEEE standards
• Thickness of the copper cable, the thicker the better
• Flexibility of the cable, the less cable memory the better
• Connector design and quality
• Availability of colors and categories, prepared for current and future needs
• Support for future applications

Patch Panels

Patch panel enables easy management of patch cables and links the cabling distribution areas. Multimedia patch panels are ideal since they allow several different cable connectors to be used in the same patch panel. As for the types of connectors, consider LC for fiber and RJ-45 for copper. While mixing cable types within the same patch panel is not best practice, it is more flexible for housing ad-hoc cable types. The best solution is to separate the fiber cabling from the copper cabling in separate patch panels. Patch panels also come in modular styles, for example, for an MPO structured system, which features faster installation and lower labor cost. And there are angled patch panels for high-density areas cabling. Consider the following when selecting patch panels.

• Spacing between ports aids insertion and removal of cables
• Sturdy connectors: some panels have loose connectors and tend to fall out during cable installation and removal
• Orientation of ports in the panel
• One-piece dust covers for ports (recommended for high traffic areas)
• Density supported (24 ports or 48 ports per 1U panel)
• Compatibility with industry standard connectors and racks, and space for labeling on the front of the panel
• Added cable support for the intended cable types on the back of the panel, this is critical and overlooked by many manufacturers.

Horizontal and Backbone Cables

Choose the fire-rated plenum type. There are no high-density copper solutions, but you can choose a modular cabling system. As for fiber, high density involving 24-strand to 96-strand cables in adequate. MPO trunk cables (up to 72 fiber strands can be housed in one MPO connection) can be installed if you are using MPO style cabling. It is necessary to evaluate the cost of materials and labor for terminating connections into patch panels. These cables will most likely end up under raised floors, or over the ceiling, or in overhead cable pathways.

Cable Managers

There are horizontal and vertical cable managers for different cabling methods. Horizontal cable managers contribute to proper and neat routing of the patch cables from equipment in racks and protect cables from damage. It is vital to reach a balance between cable manager height and cable density supported. 1U and 2U horizontal cable managers are the most common ones, with metal and flexible plastic available. The ideal cable manager has a big enough lip for positioning and removing cables easily, and has sufficient depth to accommodate the quantity of cables planned for the area. Remember that 30% space in the cable managers should be left for future growth.

As for vertical cable managers, additional space is required to manage the slack from patch cords. And you should ensure that the managers can easily route the largest cable diameter in your plan. Allow for 50% growth of cables when planning the width and depth of the vertical cable manager. For dynamic environments, d-rings type cable managers are used to manage cables on the back side of the racks. Whereas for static environments, consider installing another vertical cable manager behind the rack, which allows for access to components in the space between the racks.

Overhead Cable Pathways

Known as overhead cable trays as well, they allow placement of additional cables for interconnecting devices between racks on an ad-hoc basis. Check support for cable bend radius, weight allowance, sagging points for cables, and flexibility in installing the pathways. Besides, ensure that pathways allow cable drop points where needed.

Cable Ties

Cable ties are used to hold a group of cables together or to fasten cables to other components. Since there is a tendency for users to over-tight zip ties, which definitely can impact performance, it is advised to choose velcro cable ties versus zip ties. Velcro cable ties are available in a roll or in pre-determined lengths. Using cable ties to bundle groups of relevant cables together will help you better identify cables and facilitate overall cable management.

Conclusion

It is clear that selecting the right cabling components to best satisfy your specific cabling structure can be time and energy consuming, with the components range from patch cables to ports to panels and to cable managers. The article simply provides you a reference guideline to compare and select. And we hope it could release you from the laborious and demanding selection task.

Originally published: http://www.fiber-optic-solutions.com/advice-select-cabling-component.html

How to Achieve Efficient High Density Cable Management

For some data center professionals, organizing cables and devices with high density enclosures can be a stressful and time-consuming chore. However, one can never ignore or underestimate the importance of the structured and organized cabling system. Fortunately, thanks to the flexibility of new enclosure designs, a standard for organizing enclosure space, as well as power and data cables can be easily implemented. In this article, we will explain the significance and benefits of efficient high density cable management and provide a five-step guidance towards how to achieve this goal.

Why High Density Cable Management Matters?

Data center managers and operators may have realized the fact that crowded enclosure and cable mess would pose potential threat to overall network reliability, not only on efficiency and uptime, but also on the overall look and feel of the data centers. It is generally accepted that data center efficiency is driven by energy consumption, which is closely related to the structure and organization of the cables in each enclosure. Therefore, cable management in high density cable environment plays a significant role in determining whether the network can operate smoothly and efficiently. In addition to that, the overall appearance and circumstance of your cabling system generally indicates the cleanliness and professionalism of the entire data center.

Benefits of High Density Cable Management

After talking about the necessities and importance of managing equipment and cabling inside of the enclosure. Let’s move to what we are supposed to benefit from an organized and optimized high density cabling system.

Proper management of high density data and power cabling within an enclosure will deliver various benefits that will enhance your system availability and improve your bottom line.

Reduced signal interference—the elimination of crosstalk and interference between cables will enhance system performance.

Improved maintenance and serviceability—easier access to internal rack components reduces maintenance time and improves safety.

Cooler performance—cooling efficiency within the rack is enhanced thanks to proper positioning of cables to avoid air flow blockage.

A roadmap for growth—effective cable management solutions provide the ability to scale and adapt to changes in the IT infrastructure while minimizing service time.

Five Steps for Efficient High Density Cable Management

In this part, we will illustrate five essential steps for facilitating the goals of improved and efficient high density cable management.

Step 1. Plan for higher density

In most cases, two distinct enclosure configuration scenarios can be adopted to high density cabling system. The first consists of an enclosure populated with 1U / 2U servers. The second consists of an enclosure with blade servers. So firstly, an appropriate enclosure environment needs to be assessed. When planning, the first element to consider is whether any of the existing data center enclosures are suitable candidates for hosting higher densities.

Step 2. Calculate enclosure power requirement

Before deploying the specific kind of fiber enclosure, one must determine the maximum power required per enclosure. The estimated power requirement will dictate the particular input power cord and plug configurations needed for the enclosure. All PDUs should have the ability to meter the input current at the branch circuit breakers. This allows the user to determine whether the circuit is approaching the maximum capacity or whether imminent danger of a circuit breaker tripping exists.

Step 3. Select proper enclosure size

For higher density situations, an enclosure either wider than the 24 inch (600 mm) or deeper than the 42 inch (1070 mm) is chosen to provide the space needed for organizing additional data and power cables inside the enclosure. Wider enclosures are now considered a logical choice for higher density server applications. Overall, the wider enclosure provides the most flexibility for equipment and cable organization. Deeper enclosures become an option when the uniqueness of the floor layout dictates a deeper rather than a wider enclosure or when more than two rack PDUs are required.

Step 4. Implement smart cable management

The most effective method for managing cables in high density environments is to implement patch panels or switches dedicated to cabling for a particular row of enclosures. These patch panels or small switches will be terminated back to the core switch or router feeding its section of the data center. The core switch is typically located in another enclosure. This approach is effective because it separates the cabling inside the enclosure from the rest of the data center cable load.

Step 5. Organize for efficient cooling

A simple solution is to install airflow management blanking panels to cover all unused U spaces. Airflow management blanking panels are tool-less and quick and easy to install. In addition, many enclosures have cutouts or other features to route cables from the front to the rear of the enclosure. If these air management features are unused, they can introduce access paths for hot air to enter and circulate inside the enclosure. These cutouts must be closed with panels or grommets to optimize for high density air flow patterns.

Conclusion

Today’s high density rack-based IT server and switching installations provides higher and higher levels of performance and capacity. Therefore, to achieve efficient high density cable management becomes even more important since massive cable must be managed within these tightly spaced rack environments. Hope the five steps we mentioned above could help to manage and optimize your cables and infrastructures.

First published: http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/how-to-achieve-efficient-high-density-cable-management.html

Fiber Termination Box Overview

Fiber termination box (FTB), known as optical termination box (OTB) as well, is a compact fiber management product of small size. It is widely adopted in FTTx cabling for both fiber cabling and cable management. In some circumstances, fiber termination box can be regarded as the mini size of fiber optic patch panel and optical distribution frame (ODF).

Fiber Termination Box Classification

Currently, the market embraces a great amount of fiber optic termination boxes and other devices for cable management. And the names and model numbers of these fiber termination boxes vary from the design and idea of different manufacturers. Hence to identify the detailed classification of fiber termination box could be a hard task.

Roughly, fiber termination box can be categorized as fiber optic patch panel and fiber terminal box according to the size and applications. Judging by the appearance, fiber patch panel is of gibber size whereas fiber terminal box is smaller.

Fiber Patch Panels

Fiber patch panels are of wall mounted type or mounted type usually with 19 inch size. Generally, there is a tray inside the fiber box that helps to hold and protect the fiber links. Various different kinds of fiber optic adapters can be pre-installed in fiber patch panels as the interface, via which the fiber box could connect with the external devices.

Fiber Terminal Boxes

Besides fiber patch panels, one can also count on fiber terminal boxes for fiber distribution and organization. While typical fiber terminal boxes are with 12 ports or 24 ports, 8 ports, 36 ports, 48 ports and 96 ports fiber are available in the markets now. They are often installed with FC or ST adapters on the panel, either on the wall or put in horizontal line.

According to the design, FTB can be further divided into wall mount type and rack mount type.

The wall mount fiber termination boxes are designed for either pre-connectorized cables, field installation of connectors, or field splicing of pigtails. They offer an ideal solution for building entrance terminals, telecommunication closets, main cross-connects, computer rooms and other controlled environments.

The rack mount slide-out type fiber termination box usually for fiber splicing, distribution, termination, patching, storage and management in one unit. They support both cross-connect and interconnect architecture, and provide interfaces between outside plant cables and transmission equipment.

Moreover, in terms of installation environment, there are indoor FTB and outdoor FTB.

Indoor fiber termination box acts as the transition point between the risen cable and the horizontal cable, in this way, it provides operators much more flexibility when managing cables. Besides, indoor FTB makes it possible to leave space for overlength and terminated fibers, as well as for fiber splicing.

The outdoor fiber terminal boxes are environmentally sealed enclosures to distribute fibers for FTTX networks. They are also designed for fiber splicing, termination, and cable management.

Features of Fiber Termination Box

Fiber termination box contains the shell, the internals (supporting frame, set fiber disc, fixing device) and optical fiber joint protective element. Prominent advantages of fiber termination box lie in efficient cable-fixing, welding and its protective role in machinery of the optical fiber.

A insulation is always demanded between cable metal components and cable terminal box shell in a fiber termination box, which provides space for cable terminal and remained fiber storage. In addition, fiber termination box also facilitate the installation of different occasions since it is easy to access, which turns out to be time and cost saving.

Fiber Termination Box Application

Fiber termination box is universally used in telephone, agricultural telephone network system, data and image transmission system, CATV cable television series, indoor cable through force access and branch connection. Fiber termination box is available for the distribution and termination connection for various kinds of fiber optic systems, especially suitable for mini-network terminal distribution, in which the optical cables, patch cores or pigtails are connected. In addition to that, fiber termination box can be applied to joint fiber pigtail, protect fiber optic splices and share out the connectivity to individual customers.

Conclusion

Fiber termination box nowadays plays an indispensable role in the field of communication network with greater reliability and flexibility. This article may simply provide you a guideline when choosing fiber termination box for your infrastructure, for more detailed information and tutorial, please visit www.fs.com.

First published: http://www.fiber-optic-components.com/fiber-termination-box-overview.html