There is a scarcity of network management staff and,
therefore, remote access and management of devices is logical. “Remote
management is the biggest attraction of intelligent cabling solutions,” says
Dr Ispran Kandaswamy, VP and managing director, Asia Pacific, Systimax
Solutions. “The manager can have the convenience to be located anywhere in the
campus or off-site and still be able to view the entire data center without even
going to the actual site,” he adds.
| Intelligent Patch Cord |
|
While large cabling
companies are rolling out high-end real-time cable management solutions,
there are low-cost options also available. DAX Networks has launched
low-cost intelligent patch cords called PatchSee, ideal for the small-mid
sized enterprises.
PatchSee is a patented
patch cord that allows you to find the other end of the patch cord in
seconds without disconnecting either of the plugs. To achieve this you
simply use the Patchlight tool to inject light into the back of one
connector. The cable has tiny light tubes that carry the light to other
end making the corresponding connector glow. Save time tracing patch cords
and avoid accidental disconnections and downtime. The cost per lead is
roughly twice that of good quality conventional cords. PatchSee
Intelligent Patch Cords are available in the following range: Cat6 costing
Rs 975-Rs 1,250, Cat5e patch cords in UTP and FTP costing Rs 650 to Rs
850.
|
|
When Patchlight tool injects
light into one end of a patch cord, the other end lights up |
|
 |
Time for Intelligence
Here are some startling statstics:
-
An estimated 70% of network outages and downtime are
related to cabling issues.
-
An estimated 40% of the data circuits in a network
require a MAC or servicing annually, and an average MAC or service call
takes about 90 minutes to complete.
-
80% of the time is spent identifying the problem and
20% actually performing the repair.
|
"Remote
management is the biggest attraction of intelligent cabling
solutions"
-Dr Ispran Kandaswamy
VP and managing director of Asia Pacific, Systimax Solutions |
|
"Although
intelligent cabling systems are considered not so cheap, it goes a long
way in showing good return on investments"
-Dileep Kumar, enterprise product
manager, ADC Krone |
Imagine all this affecting a nerve center of a bank-the
implications could be severe in terms of money and time lost. As a result, one
can see sporadic mushrooming of intelligent cable deployments across the
country. Rajesh Kumar, country manager, Siemon points out the trendsetters in
the industry of early intelligent cabling adopters, “Cabling systems are
increasingly getting intelligent due to the establishment of the BPOs, call
centers, disaster recovery centers and data warehousing in India. Increasing
need for complex networks that deploy state-of-the art technologies to meet the
demands of these mission critical businesses aids the momentum of intelligent
cabling.”
On the high cost factor, Dileep Kumar, enterprise product
manager, ADC Krone believes it is of little significance. “Although
intelligent cabling systems are considered not so cheap, it goes a long way in
showing good return on investments. Intelligent cabling reduces the cost of
network ownership by solving issues like unplanned downtime, inefficient manual
moves, adds and changes, redundant ports, inaccurate records etc.”
There are some cheaper alternatives available as well that
do not promise real-time cable management system, but help the system
administrator in tackling the spaghetti mess nevertheless. One such option is
PatchSee (See box), an intelligent patch cord that helps in identifying both
ends of a patch cord without disconnecting. K Surender, country manager, Dax
Networks says, “I hope this is adopted widely by the industry instead of
traditional patch cords. I feel it's a must for all users especially for
mission critical areas. The additional investment is just 2%.”
|
Kiosks
for Intelligent Cabling Solutions (India specific)
|
|
Vendor
|
Product Name
|
Feature
|
No of installations
|
|
Tyco
|
AMPTRAC Intelligent
Cable Management System
|
Automatically generates
a complete physical topology of the network at the data center, enabling
troubleshooting the network remotely.
|
200,000 ports in last
fiscal with over 30 customers
|
|
Systimax
|
iPatch System
|
An integrated real time
infrastructure management solution comprised of intelligent copper and
fiber patch panels, a Rack Manager Plus unit for managing and monitoring
the panels in a rack or cabinet and System Manager software.
|
NA
|
|
ADC Krone
|
TrueNet PLM (Physical
Layer Management)
|
TrueNet PLM drastically
speeds and simplifies daily network provisioning, maintenance and security
providing Network Managers with full visibility and control of the network
and its assets.
|
Over 10 installations
|
|
Molex
|
Premise Networks Real
Time Patching System
|
Comprises of
intelligent patch panels, patch cords, integration strips, cable and
physical layer management hardware and software.
A key feature is that it can be retrofitted to legacy cabling
systems in addition to new installations.
|
Over 14,000 drops
|
|
Panduit
|
Panduit PANVIEW
–Intelligent Cabling Systems
|
Provides real-time
information on the state of patch field connections.
|
One installation
|
|
Belden CDT
|
RiT's PatchView IPLMS
(Intelligent Physical Layer Management Solutions)
|
It consists of a
comprehensive, standards-based, end-to-end SCS with intelligent patch
panels and software agents. It presents complete view of physical layer
connectivity and its relation to the logical layers.
|
Over 16,000 drops
|
The cabling vendors are unanimous in asserting the
increasing popularity of intelligent cabling. Indian IT sector have been early
adopters of intelligent cabling. Milind Tamhane, VP, Manufacturing,D-Link India
says, “There are bright signs of intelligent cabling gaining ground in India
as this solution is sought after by few specific customer categories that are
independent of geographic boundaries. We expect the presence of such companies
to increase in India.”
|
"There
are very bright signs of intelligent cabling gaining ground in India"
-Milind Tamhane
VP, Manufacturing, D-Link India |
Tyco claims to be the market leader in intelligent cabling
installations, with over 200,000 ports installed so far. “Most of our clients
are from banks, telecom and ITeS verticals for both end-to-end and data
centers,” informs Shetty. Leading customers include GE, HSBC, Philips, iGate,
Hutch, Orange, AOL, Verizon and CTS. “Many of the customers have gone for
selective intelligent cabling along with regular cabling options. Handful of
companies have opted for end-to-end intelligent cabling to address security
management, ease of documentation, and to improve efficiency of LAN
installation.”
Among the rising trends, intelligent cabling is a sure
winner, one that guarantees a robust and reliable infrastructure. Although
expensive compared to a traditional cabling solution by over 70%, the customers
feel it's a small price to pay in exchange for an ensured peace of mind for a
long time.
Malovika Rao
malovikar@cybermedia.co.in
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