LC Uniboot Fiber Patch Cable – An Optimum Cable Management Option

With the ever lasting advancement of networking technology, there comes an increasing demand for data centers to accommodate higher density cables and more bandwidth. However, it is generally acknowledged that data centers are often with limited space. Then how to handle those massive cables in such circumstances becomes a vital issue. This article will introduce the LC uniboot fiber patch cable, an optimum alternative for cable management that is designed to deliver maximum connectivity performance.

LC Uniboot Fiber Patch Cables Description

LC uniboot fiber patch cable consists of two LC connectors that wrapped by a common housing with one boot. It is terminated on a single, round, two-fiber cable to achieve duplex data transmission. LC uniboot patch cable allows for up to 68% savings in cabling volume due to a compact design, and it can ensure easier maintenance and operability with tool-less field reversible polarity and color identification. All the features presented by LC uniboot fiber patch cable make it an ideal option for high density network environment.

LC uniboot fiber patch cable

Comparison Between LC Uniboot Fiber Patch Cables and Standard Ones

LC fiber optic connectors offer higher density and better performance in most environments when compared with other fiber optic connectors, making it a reliable and popular choice for many applications and equipment. This can explain why uniboot fiber patch cables are terminated with specially designed LC connectors. The innovative LC uniboot fiber patch cable, with its unique structure and compact design, performs even better than standard LC fiber patch cables in high density cabling environment. Here, we present the obvious differences between the LC uniboot patch cable and the standard LC fiber patch cable in the following picture.

LC uniboot fiber patch cable vs.standard fiber patch cable

Features of LC Uniboot Fiber Patch Cables

Genarally, there are three primary features concerning the uniboot fiber patch cables:

Adjustable Pitch—the unique style of the clip allows the LC Connectors to easily adjust for the increasing demand of a 5.25 pitch, as well as the standard 6.25 pitch. Eliminating the requirement for hybrid patch cables.

Reverse Polarity—with a few simple steps, the connectors polarity of the LC uniboot fiber patch cables can be reversed at will without connector re-termination.

Quick Release Latch—the latch of LC uniboot fiber patch cable allows for the quick and easy release of this connector from the adapter panel, which makes great sense in the growing trend of high density applications.

What LC Uniboot Fiber Patch Cables Can Achieve?

As we have mentioned previously, LC uniboot fiber patch cables are especially vital to space sensitive data centers and high density cabling environments, so what exactly we can benefit from deploying LC uniboot fiber patch cables?

Cable Congestion Reduction

With two fibers for duplex transmission firmly enclosed in a single cable, LC uniboot fiber patch cable effectively cuts down the cable count up to 50% compared with the standard LC duplex patch cords. Thus the space requirement of cabling can be significantly reduced by it, naturally result in less chance of cable congestion in data centers.

Effective Polarity Reversal

Changing the polarity of a standard LC duplex fiber patch cable may be annoying to many data center operators, especially when there happens to be a high density cabling system. This is sort of a time and energy consuming task since some minor mistakes could lead to various troubles. However, with LC uniboot patch cable, the polarity replacement can be much easier even without any additional tools. In terms of different types of LC uniboot patch cables, the polarity reversal steps may vary. We just illustrate two most used ones as follows.

LC uniboot polarity reversal

Conclusion

To address the increasing demand for high density applications and smaller fiber cable, the LC uniboot fiber patch cable is designed to help cut down cabling space and provide more effective polarity reversal solution, and to streamline cable management and logistics. Without doubt, LC uniboot fiber patch cable is the savior of popularized high-density cabling system. Hope this article could help you to choose the right LC uniboot patch cable for your applications, and for more products information and solutions, please visit www.fs.com.

First published: http://www.fiber-optic-components.com/lc-uniboot-fiber-patch-cable-optimum-cable-management-option.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.

High density cable management

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.

Blanking panel

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