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Ortronics' Andrew Birch discusses bent and kinked patch cord cables...
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2008-02-18
Bent and kinked patch cord cables impair data transfer performance, an increasingly undesirable state of affairs as the pressure for higher transmission speeds increases. Fortunately, says Andrew Birch, Ortronics’ country manager for the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia, there is an answer.
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| Fiber patch and splice tray |
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| Mighty Mo 6 patching frame |
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Until three years ago, IT technicians had no choice but to use flat patch panels and then purchase a separate management panel comprising a flat piece of metal with rings mounted on the front through which patch cords were arranged and aligned. However, as data transmission speeds have increased from 10 Mbit/s in Cat 3 cabling to the 10 Gbit/s in the latest Cat 6a cables, the configuration of patch cords and RJ45 plugs around them has become far more critical.
For horizontal solid-state cabling which is hidden behind walls and never moves, the installation engineer will have adhered to the standards on bend radii and all the wiring will be neatly laid out. However, at the patch panel end in the rack or cabinet, people tend to bend patch cords down at 90 degrees to get them into the management rings and then at 90 degrees to either the left or right and again either up or down as they reach the end of the frame as they plug and unplug cabling to suit a business’s changing configurations.
The problem is that a kink in copper cabling can cause a ‘return loss reflection’. This effectively means that, as the signal is transmitted down a cable, some of it bounces back which slows down data transfer and causes error rates to increase. We also have to remember that when the cord is bent some of the copper strands, by necessity, will be stretched and, while the insulation material will have certain ‘elastic’ properties, the copper has none.
It used to be that data transmission only involved two of the four pairs in the cable – one pair would transmit and another pair would receive. Nowadays, the demand for higher data transfer speeds often means that all four pairs transmit and receive simultaneously. So, data is flashing backwards and forwards at massive speeds. A kink in one of the cables will disrupt the signal and slow it down.
Typically, a patch panel will have a management panel underneath which is the same size and has four metal rings coming off it at 90 degrees through which the patch cords are fed. What tends to happen is that the IT technician will bend the patch cord sharply to fit through these rings.
However, there is a solution – angled (or sometimes curved) panels. Instead of comprising a flat piece of metal, these include a 25 degree bend in the centre similar to a pitched roof. That means that the patch cords follow a natural curve rather than being forced into sharp bends.
There are several benefits to this. First, the patch cords are set up correctly leading to fewer error rates and faster data transfer. This, in turn, protects the network’s uptime, minimises disruption and optimises the system’s performance.
Secondly, they are space saving; in a typical installation, for every two patch panels there is one management panel. However, you do not need a management panel with angled or curved panels. Our own Ortronics Clarity angled patch panels, for example, allow you to increase the rack capacity up to 33% because the customer can use the entire rack for patch panels rather than having to take out every third panel for horizontal cable management. The angled patch panel is recessed, so when it is mounted, it does not protrude.
This leads onto a third benefit – cost saving. Angled or curved patch panels do tend to be a little more expensive than conventional flat versions, but with the latter, the customer would have to buy two patch panels and a management bar; no management bar is required with angled or curved panels.
Fourthly, there is a time cost saving because it is easier to manage a system if it is properly patched and looked after. A ‘spaghetti’ of cabling looks like a dreadful tangled mess but, more importantly, the disarray makes it far more difficult to trace cables and identify their purpose. If IT staff can hardly see switches and patch panels through the intertwined cable, how are they to manage the system effectively?
There is also a fifth benefit of angled / curved patch panels – the dynamics of appearance. Aesthetics really do matter. After all, the senior managers of a company will typically spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on an IT system. If, when they walk into the IT room, they see a tangled mess of wiring, they are bound to wonder what all this money has been spent on. A completely structured and managed system, on the other hand, shows a level of professionalism among the IT staff and gives senior management confidence that their investment is being spent wisely.
Patch cords are the ‘tyres’ of a data network and the introduction of curved and angled panels is like the introduction of traction control. It will ensure the system lasts longer and runs more smoothly and at higher speeds.
To find out more about Ortronics, contact the company using the information provided below or visit the Ortronics website.
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Related contacts
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Ortronics UK and Ireland
Great King Street North
Birmingham
B19 2LF
Tel : 0121 515 0669
Fax : 0121 515 0667
Email : info.ortronics-uk@ortronics.co.uk
www.ortronics.co.uk |
Email Ortronics
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Source: Ortronics Uk |
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