How to create space when there is no space in the data center.

One of the most common problems in today’s data center is real estate. For those that have seen their data center evolve over time, they may see that what was once an expansive open “white” space is now a maze of racks and cabinets that are stuffed to the brim with hardware and cables. Space has become a premium for many organizations. Combine this with a lack of flexibility and time to consolidate hardware and cabling because of the need for maximum uptime, and you now have the current state of affairs for most data centers today. “Space saving” products are needed!

There are many innovative products that address the space issue. Here are a few of them:

 Z-Mount Brackets:

These brackets eliminate the use of rack space for patch panels. They mount to any standard rack spacing with EIX-310D specs (which includes most racks and cabinets on the market today). This simple design allows for a TIA-942 recommended structured cabling system and utilizes no “U” space.

Ladder Rack Enclosure:

This is an enclosure that mounts above a rack or cabinet. It can be affixed to either ladder rack and/or basket tray. This is a good option for those that use overhead conveyance. Much like the Z-Mount brackets, it does not use rack space and allows for a TIA-942 recommended structured cabling system.

In the latest episode of Cable Talk™, I talk about the ANSI/BICSI 002-2011 standard that covers data center design, cabling, structured cabling design, power, cooling, and other topics. The importance of cabling when planning or upgrading a data center is critical in both fiber optic and copper cabling alike.

Our CABLExpress® RSD Series fiber enclosures are ideal for your structured cabling environments, where their front acrylic glass panel protects cabling from disruptive elements.

In this episode of Cable Talk™, Josh Taylor talks about the “Respect Layer One” message. It is important to view the cables within structured cabling systems as an investment rather than a cost. By viewing it simply as a cost, you could be short-changing your data center and miss the long-term vision of how your cabling infrastructure will need to grow and change. This is particularly true with migrating to 40/100G Ethernet and 16G fibre channel.

We’re gearing up for another great year in CABLExpress webinars. Last year, we covered such topics as Virtualization and the Cloud, Data Center Fiber Optics, and Migrating to 40/100 gig. We also started offering BICSI Continuing Education Credits (or CECs) for select webinars to help you stay compliant on your RCDD or other credentials. Want to catch up on what you missed? You can view any of our archived webinars here.

Our webinars are an easy way for you to keep up on data center trends, best practices and implementation how-to. This year, we’re hoping to cover such topics as:

• Next-gen data center design
• 16 gig fibre channel
• Structured cabling
• Minimizing data center downtime

But we also want to know what you want to learn about this year.  Email webinars@cablexpress.com and let us know your 2012 priorities, projects or data center technologies you’re just curious about. And if you want to be included on our webinar email list, let us know!