Intelligent Cabling: The Genius Is Inside

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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