Data Cabinet Tidy Essentials A tidy communications cabinet has three defining features: equipment, cables and their respective connections are easy to identify, equipment and cables are segregated by function and connections, and cables have correct routing parameters such as length and bend radius. All three factors are essential for efficient network management and growth: combined, they ensure the quality of maintenance operations, thermal management, and H&S regulation compliance, and support further scaling of the company’s core network capabilities. Historically, data cabinet tidy services have been employed to reduce mounting maintenance costs within the data centre environment. The high port density of modern network equipment (with 24, 48, or even 96 ports per unit or more) inherently results in a high cable density of the modern data centre, with hundreds of cables going between various devices, sometimes spread across several cabinets. As the complexity of the network grows, so does the congestion inside the cabinets, especially when cable management protocols are not followed. Identifying the cable responsible for an unstable connection, confirming that a physical connection exists when two devices do not link up, inspecting or replacing bad cables are routine maintenance operations which become inefficient and error-prone when patch cords are twisted around each other in a jumbled mess and cannot be identified through any distinctive feature, such as colour or labeling.

Maintenance incurs large costs not only in its planned form (where longer execution timeframes can at least be managed), but also in its unplanned form. Slow unplanned maintenance is, in fact, slow disaster recovery. According to the Ponemon Institute’s study, most of the losses incurred during a data centre outage are in the form of indirect costs (organisational efforts, time and effort) and lost opportunities. In other words, improving maintenance efficiency is not only a good way to prevent downtime in the first place – it also has the potential of mitigating major losses in case of an outage. Disorderly cable and equipment also have a negative impact on your London office’s day-to-day network operation and growth. Something as simple as mounting a 1U equipment can end up taking up to an hour if it involves moving and disentangling patch cords to get them out of the way. Installing or upgrading network equipment is hampered at every point and, if you factor in the additional room for human error and post-installation troubleshooting, the time required even for non-radical network upgrades can increase dramatically. Thermal management is another major concern that is addressed partly through regular data cabinet tidy operations. Virtually all data centre equipment today uses forced cooling – the forceful expulsion of hot air from inside devices’ cases through fast-spinning fans. In order for forced cooling to work, the flow of air must be regular and unimpeded – and twisted cables hanging at the rear of the cabinet are the most common obstacle against regular, high-quality airflow.