INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling
Cabling design for
traditional enterprise
data centres
Data centres come in many
different shapes and sizes
and with that there are vast
differences in how cabling
is used. Arafat Yousef,
Managing Director – Middle
East and Africa, Nexans
Cabling Solutions, focuses
on the traditional enterprise
data centres, what its needs
are and how these impact
the cabling infrastructure.
For the sake of simplicity let’s say
there are three types of data centres:
enterprise, hyperscale and cloud type
data centres. All of them fall under the
same cabling standards. The international
standard ISO/IEC makes a split between
ISO/IEC 11801-5 (cabling) and ISO/IEC
14763-2 (pathways, spaces). The American
TIA standard groups are all under TIA-942-B.
The waning of enterprise
data centres?
The enterprise data centre is one of the
most varied as well as smallest out of the
three types highlighted above. Millions exist
worldwide and they are typically designed
to be used by one single owner. We do see
a trend developing where enterprise data
centres are moving towards a hybrid
cloud model.
Part of their non-mission critical applications
are transferred to a private or public cloud,
while the critical applications remain in the
enterprise owned data centre. Examples are
dedicated servers with their own protocols
or systems which cannot be moved off their
premises for security, maintenance or other
business reasons.
Key issues
As the enterprise data centre is only one
stage removed from traditional structured
cabling, its needs are somewhat similar.
The key issues for most of these
customers are:
• Ease of installation so they can use a
variety of technicians
• Ease of maintenance to facilitate regular
moves, adds and changes (MAC)
• Plans for migration since the data centre
is typically a cost centre that needs a
strong ROI
• Cost minimisation to avoid having to
move to the cloud
Cabling for enterprise data centres
The reach inside enterprise data centres
tends to be shorter compared to the cloud
or hyperscale ones, favouring copper and/or
multimode fibre connections. The data rates
are also the lowest as it is typically used to
connect to dedicated servers and switches.
In the larger enterprise data centres, space
constraints can be a significant problem as
MAC work is considered the norm.
Therefore, Ultra High Density (UHD) patch
panels are common to allow for periodic
maintenance and cabling evolution. A
UHD panel is typically defined as one that
contains an average of 144 LC connectors
in 1U.
These facilities must be designed with the
intent to last through multiple generations
of equipment, and this is one of the
primary reasons that structured cabling
was developed in the first place. It is also
important to recognise the on-going work
Arafat Yousef, Managing Director – Middle
East and Africa, Nexans Cabling Solutions
that will be done by the operators (normally
at the front of the rack) versus that done
by the installers (normally done at the rear
of the rack). Each have their own set of
accessibility requirements. •
WE DO SEE
A TREND
DEVELOPING
WHERE
ENTERPRISE DATA
CENTRES ARE
MOVING TOWARDS
A HYBRID CLOUD
MODEL.
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