Data Center Solutions

Due to the large market potential many solutions arise for each aspect of Data center design: Cooling, Power, Management and Infrastructure, resulting in a large range of solutions. This creates another issue: When to select what kind of products in what type of situation suitable for what type of Data center, commercial, corporate, small or large?

Following fundamental principles, especially during the design, will create a solution that pays-off during the whole lifetime of a Data center. In terms of energy efficiency and the way it complies with its function and/or business goals. An optimal performing Data center will create a stronger position in the market or within the company.

We can deliver the complete portfolio of physical layer infrastructure products anywhere in the world: from data cabling, connectivity and pre-terminated assemblies, to transceivers and fiber containment systems.

What is Data Center?

A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and security devices. Large data centers are industrial scale operations using as much electricity as a small town and sometimes are a significant source of air pollution in the form of diesel exhaust.

Why Do We Need Data Centers?

• High internet connection speed.
• Improved electricity network and back-up power system.
• Professional cooling.
• Environmental monitoring and controlling.

Pre-terminated Cabling System

As we all know, field termination has been widely used during the deployment of data center in the past years. However, with the data center increasingly depending on high-density cabling, traditional field termination methods will result in extended deployment time, higher installation costs and increased downtime. To solve these issues, pre-terminated cabling system, which can accelerate the installation process, reduce costs and errors, is introduced to the data center. There are many reasons to consider pre-terminated cabling system in data center solution. The following part will illustrate them one by one.

Benefits of Pre-terminated Cabling System in Data Center

Time Saving

Pre-terminated solutions help to save time in a number of ways. Firstly, as the products are terminated in a factory environment and delivered to site, minimal engineering or assembly work is required on site. Many leading pre-terminated cabling solutions are provided in a cassette format, allowing the installer to plug-and-play multiple connections with one cassette, which contributes toward installation time saving when compared with the traditional method of individual connections. Pre-terminated solution also saves testing time. The pre-terminated solutions can be tested at the factory and the test reports including test results for attenuation, propagation delay, near end and far end crosstalk or more, will be transported to the site with the cable assemblies. Ultimately, only continuity testing is left to perform in the field, saving testing and rework time on site.

Labor Saving

Generally, when using conventional cabling system, groups of engineers should be employed to make connections, testing and troubleshooting during the deployment of cabling in data center. The use of pre-terminated cabling system simplifies the entire manpower planning process. As all the connections are pre-terminated, the need for labor to make terminations on site will be mitigated. And fewer labor means more savings on the labor bill.

Reducing Space and Material Wasting

Traditional cabling installations require loose components and tools to be brought to site. So much space will be needed to store these components and engineers also need work area to make termination. However, with pre-terminated cabling solutions, the wastage of space can be reduced, since the pre-terminated links are “made to measure” and if they are delivered to site at appropriate time, they can be used immediately without being stored. Additionally, some manufacturers have developed recyclable reels for pre-terminated links in the effort to minimize the material wastage.

Pre-terminated Cabling Assemblies

With all the advantages listed above, there is no doubt that pre-terminated cabling system is an ideal solution for data center and other applications where speed of installation is important. The following part will further introduce some commonly deployed pre-terminated cabling assemblies.

MTP/MPO Pre-terminated Fiber Trunk Cables

Pre-terminated with high-quality and good-performance MTP/MPO connectors, this pre-terminated cable can meet the demand for high speed and high density in the current and future network. Generally, there are MTP/MPO trunk cable and MTP/MPO harness cable in this category. Both these two pre-terminated cables can be used for 40G, or even 100G applications. The following image shows a 12-fiber female to female MTP single-mode trunk cable for 40G network.

Pre-terminated fiber trunk cable, here we refer to MPO or MTP trunk cable, is a cost-effective alternative to time-consuming field termination. It facilitates rapid deployment of high density backbones cabling in data centers and other high fiber environments Reducing network installation or reconfiguration time and cost. This trunk cable has 12-fiber or 24-fiber MPO/MTP connectors terminated at its both ends, available with 12 to up to 144 fibers, which provides permanent fiber links between patch panels in a structured cabling. Besides, it is capable of offering the flexibility in case any decision is made to change the connector style in the patch panels, new cassettes can be installed with the new connector style on the cross-connect side of the patch panel without having the change the connector on the cable trunk. The following image shows MTP trunk cable terminated with one or two MTP connectors at both ends.

Pre-terminated Copper Trunk Cable

Pre-terminated copper trunk cables provide a quick plug-and-play solution for links between switches, servers, patch panels, and zone distribution areas in the data center. With the right upfront planning and coordination, these trunks can offer major benefits over terminating twisted-pair cable in the field. Copper trunks are typically comprised of bundles of 6, 12, or 24 and factory terminated with jacks and plugs. There are various pre-terminated copper trunk cables available in cat6 and cat6a UTP and STP cable construction with different termination types, such as jack to jack, jack to plug, plug to plug, etc. on the market.

Guide to Pre-terminated Trunk Cable Assemblies

Pre-terminated cabling systems have been around since the beginning of computing, well before the inception of structured cabling. They were considered as a somewhat quirky or an alternative kind of cabling solution when first launched on the telecommunication market, but nowadays, they are regarded as building blocks for the data center, following and connected extremely cable lengths. These systems are the ideal solution for data centers, storage area networks (SANs), or any networking environment where downtime is not an option and rapid deployment, reliability and performance are critical. Pre-terminated trunk cable is the most commonly used cable types in pre-terminated cabling system to provide ultra-low loss and high performance in connectivity.

Benefits of Pre-terminated Trunk Cable

It is known that field termination is the most time-consuming, labor-intensive part of the cable installation process, but with pre-terminated trunk cable, installation time will be shorten up to 75 percent over field termination. And with it, data center managers can make changes quickly based on network growth, business decisions, or shifting requirements. Besides, pre-terminated trunk cable contributes to data center modularity and consistency, making cabling more accessible and organized.

Due to the critical nature of business, many mission critical data center installations are conducted on weekends or evenings to minimize network downtime and disruption. Flexibility and growth are driving factors when it comes to these complex environments which have led to the growing popularity of scalable and modular structured cabling solutions.

Pre-terminated cabling systems were designed specifically to accomplish these objectives:

• Ensured performance, factory tested
• Supports both fiber and copper mediums
• Supports Migration from 1GbE, 10GbE, 40GbE to 100GbE
• Faster installations, more than 85% faster than traditional field-terminated assemblies
• Minimized network downtimes and lessened security risks
• Immediate and continuing return of investment
• Available as a Zero U Solution
• Improved cable management and cost-effective work force utilization
• Flexibility for a variety of applications
• Easier and more accurate job estimations

Power Distribution Technologies

The power management product range for power distribution in the data center is based on the consistent implementation of plug-&-play expansion – with no need to interrupt current operations. Down-times are avoided and future operating costs are lowered.

How to select the Right PDU for your Data Center?

During the build-out your company’s data center, you finally going to choose which PDU to run with. There are some very interesting and innovative PDU options on the market, but do they make sense for what you are trying to achieve? Before you decide whether to go with a Smart PDU or a basic solution, there are a few questions that need to be addressed. Choosing the right PDU will go a long way to influence how flexible, scalable, and ultimately dependable your data center will be over time.

It’s important to know certain specs before getting started regarding your data center’s power-strip selection. Do you want a vertical or horizontal rack PDU? How about the approximate amperage and voltage requirements for your data center? Based on your region, what are the plug types and cord lengths required? Finally, how important is scalability and real-time transparency into your power utilization?

Once you have a solid understanding of where your IT team stands regarding these questions, as well as where you are heading in terms of growth, then you can select the right PDU for your data center.

Basic PDU

If your organization is on the smaller side, a basic PDU may really be all you need, and in the long-run will save you money and potential confusion. The basic solution is exactly what you would expect, nothing too fancy, just a power strip with a pre-selected number of power outlets. A lot of manufacturers will offer options like surge protection, color-coded receptacles, and even “basic-upgradeable” power strips that are designed for growth.

Provide power to the IT equipment without any advanced features such as metering or monitoring. They are widely available, easy to use and have a lower cost.

Metered PDU

The first of our three smart PDU options is the “Metered PDU”. Unlike the basic solution, the metered PDU tracks your company’s power consumption through a local GUI that shows key metrics like current, amperage, power factor and more. Certain metered PDUs come equipped with a light communication-enabled GUI. This allows access to your authorized staff to scan non-readable code on a digital display using a mobile device camera. This light communication-enabled GUI transfers the power consumption metrics to the device where they can be exported and utilized for capacity analysis and electrical load balancing. 

Smart/ Monitored PDU

Smart PDUs make remote power management fast, simple, flexible, and secure. Unlike basic PDUs which require you to be physically present in your data center, it can be managed from afar over a network. Manage a single PDU or groups of PDUs simultaneously. Users can define thresholds and receive alerts via SNMP, email, and syslog when thresholds are crossed for both power and environmental events. This simple features may prevent unplanned downtime by warning data center managers when a rack is about to exceed its load and provide the opportunity to move applications elsewhere.

Switched PDU

For large-scale or physically data remote data centers, there’s no better option than a “Switched PDU”. By far the most innovative among the choices of smart PDUs out there, the switched PDU has everything that the monitored PDU has with one big difference: it can be controlled remotely.

A switched PDU solution enables your data center personnel to shut down individual power outlets from a web interface. Using this functionality, they can power-cycle equipment for troubleshooting or to power down equipment during non-peak hours. The switched PDU is especially useful for cloud providers that need to activate and deactivate equipment in a major facility or even an entire network of facilities.

Halogen free Fiber Optic Ducts

VOYGAR Fiber Raceway is a fiber ducting system that guarantees a secure and stress-free fiber management channel. The fiber ducting system has been specifically designed to route fiber optic cables between different fiber optic distribution points.  Unlike conventional cable basket and ladder solutions, VOYGAR Raceway system provides lateral support along the complete fiber length.

In Data Centre room environments it is best practice to segregate fiber optic cabling from all copper services. Utilizing an enclosed fiber ducting containment system clearly defines the fiber optic cables by means of distinctive yellow containment, providing protection against compression and ensuring the minimum bend radius of the fiber cables is never exceeded.

We can also provide a full range of colors to enable a containment system in line with corporate color schemes. Phoenix Optics have installed thousands of meters of fiber and copper cabling ducting systems both above data cabinets and underfloor. We are certified installers of both Panduit and Warren & Brown Solutions.

We also install full basket tray containment, powder coated with bespoke color and inlay matting if required.

Secure Cage mesh partitions are a very cost-effective solution for providing a high level of protection in warehouses and storage spaces in industry and logistics. People are protected from harm and valuables can be stored securely. Secure Cage is a modular system of mesh panels and doors designed for material handling. Warehouse and industrial partitions are available in various levels of protection and also as solid sheet metal partitions.

The system is flexible, very strong, with fully welded mesh contained within a strong steel framework. The mesh partitions are specifically adapted for your needs using the system's smart accessories.

Secure Cage are mesh partitions that are constructed from modular panels of various sizes. The system can vary in height from 800 mm up to the height of your ceiling. It is installed as a free-standing unit or anchored to the walls in any type of space or premises. Panels can be cut on-site to fit any width or height whilst still retaining the strength of a welded panel. Panels can be re-configured, to expand or reduce the caged area as future requirements change. They are powder coated in grey as standard, but you may also have them in your choice of RAL colour or galvanised for use in cold premises or outside.