Cable Manager Brings Cable Routing Back to Life

Along with the trend for high density connectivity in server rooms or data centers, cable management has become more difficult than ever before. Cable mess often occurs on the racks causing tremendous problems for later installation and cable maintenance. Network installers are searching for effective tools to make structured cabling. Cable manager appears to be an optimal management accessory. Today, many places adopt this component for cable routing in a simpler way. This article aims to introduce some cost-effective cable manager solutions for you.

cable manager

Benefits of Cable Manager

With the help of cable manager, cables are perfectly protected from strain to ensure the network reliability. Besides, cable manager also ensures the data integrity in a more organized way. Space is rationally used with a safer cable routing. It is pretty simple to install the cable manager and use it to arrange large amount of cables. The cost of cable manager is always affordable which is a necessary invest to avoid huge loss caused by cable mess in the future.

Cable Manager Solutions
Orientations

Cable manager can be used for either horizontal direction or vertical direction. The horizontal cable manager allows neat and proper routing of cables from devices in racks. It is important to make sure the rack height and cable density is supported by the cable manager. Typically, 1U and 2U horizontal cable managers are more popular in use. You also need to ensure that the horizontal cable manager is not obstructing devices in racks and cables are free to add or remove. Another solution is vertical manager. It can arrange the slack patch cables in vertical space allowing for 50 percent growth of cables and eliminating the use of horizontal cable managers.

cable manager orientations

Styles

Cable manager usually has various styles. First is the type with finger duct. The flexible finger ducts can maximize the care and protection of the equipment and cables. The holes are easy to pass through for convenient cabling. Second type has the D-rings and is available for horizontal, vertical or diagonal positions in cable management. Third is the cable manager with brush slots. This unique design can protect the cable from most contaminants and effectively increase the air flow at the same time. Last cable manager style is especially used for telephone line. It is often constructed by a base within two 110 cable management blocks.

cable manager styles

Structure

Structures of cable manager can be divided into single sided and dual sided types. Single sided manager provides a convenient cable run between equipment and racks, while dual sided manager supports patch panels by keeping different cables separate for better distinction.

cable manager structure

Material

Generally speaking, cable manager can be made of three kinds of materials as plastic, metal and semimetal. Plastic and metal are the most common materials. Plastic cable manager is definitely lighter in weight for easier installation. Metal cable manager is more solid to protect the cables from any damage.

Conclusion

In summary, cable manager is now widely used for cable routing in racks. Having a structured cabling is beneficial to future management of cables. It’s never too late to sort out the cables if you want your network to achieve a higher performance for data transmission. FS.COM provides all kinds of cable managers mentioned above. If you are interested, please visit www.fs.com for more information.

Different Kinds of Cable Lacing Bars for Cable Management

Cable lacing is a method widely used for cable management. For applications in telecommunication, navy, and aerospace, it is often used for tying cables in an organized sequence. Traditionally, cable lacing will use a thin cord to bind together a group of cables with a series of running lockstitches. Today, cable lacing bars and cable ties are typically used to perform cable lacing. Cables can be bound by the cable ties onto the cable lacing bar. Of course, cable lacing bars also have different shapes to meet different cabling demands. This article will guide you to explore the world of cable lacing bars.

cable lacing bars

Introduction to Cable Lacing Bars

Cable lacing bars or lacer bars are made of metal designed to mount above, below, behind, or in front of your network devices. They are often seen in racks (between switches and patch panels) or enclosures. The pressure of cable connections is greatly relieved by the support of cable lacing bars. Installing the cable lacing bar is pretty easy. Only several screws are needed to fasten each end of the bar onto the rack. The width of cable lacing bar is the standard 19 inches, but the height is usually optional of 1U or 2U.

Benefits of Cable Lacing Bars

Why are cable lacing bars so popular for cable management? Here lists some advantages of using the assemblies.

  • Point 1, cable lacing bars are space-saving. The bars use less than one U space, or none at all if mounted in front of or behind equipment. Thus, the valuable U space is saved for other network installation needs.
  • Point 2, cable lacing bars provide numerous cable lacing points. Almost entire length of the bar is neatly covered with lacing slots, which allows for easy cabling along the whole bar.
  • Point 3, cable lacing bars relieve the strain of cables. When large amounts of cables are installed in the rack, cable stress will also increase accordingly. Using cable lacing bars can relieve cable stress and avoid pulling cables when routing them from one side of a rack to the other.
  • Point 4, cable lacing bars promotes good bend radius. If bend radius of fiber cables is well-protected, risks like slower data speeds and broken cables will no longer exist.
Six Types of Cable Lacing Bars

In general, there are six types of cable lacing bars. Each one is designed for a specific cabling environment. From the descriptions below, you can know which one is the perfect solution for your application.

Round Lacer Bars

Round lacer bars are used for individual or a small amount of horizontal cables. The rod has flattened ends and its diameter is 1/4 inch.

round-lacer-bar

Round Lacer Bars with Offset

When lacing small bundles or individual cables off the rear of equipment, patch panels and other components, round lacer bars with offset are used to relieve cable stress from the connections. Appropriate offset should be selected based on the distance from the rear of equipment to the rack rail.

round lacer bar with offset

Square Lacer Bars

Square lacer bars are suitable for cable routing at the rear of equipment. They are also used for vertical or horizontal cable lacing. Similarly, they are still designed with 1/4” diameter rod and flattened ends.

Square Lacer Bar

L-Shaped Lacer Bars

L-shaped lacer bars are much stronger and provide fixed lacing points. More cables can be supported by this type of bar. You should also mind the distance from the rear of equipment to the rack rail for offset choosing.

L-Shaped Lacer Bars

90 Degree Bend Lacer Bars

90 degree bend lacer bars are special for the 90 degree bend which provides a full-width support. They can also be used for clearance around components that extend past the rear rack rail.

90 Degree Bend Lacer Bar

Horizontal Lacer Panel

Horizontal lacer panels are typically used for large lacing amounts of cables or mounting devices. They have large flanges, numerous lacing points and more surface for mounting.

Horizontal Lacer Panel

Conclusion

Since cable management takes an important role in structured cabling, cable lacing bars are an ideal solution for efficient and safe cable routing. Choosing the right type of cable lacing bar is also necessary for making the best use of it. Thus, you’d better choose wisely and consult the professionals if needed.

Reasons for Choosing LC HD Plus+ Cable in Data Centers

Many data centers are now upgrading into unprecedented higher bandwidth. In order to realize the massive data capacity in a restricted area, reducing the connectivity space is rather important. Therefore, many high-density devices are designed to meet this requirement. One of the most popular products is the LC HD plus+ cable. It has become an effective solution for 10G / 40G / 100G applications. Why does data center constantly use this type of patch cable for equipment connections? This article will give you four irresistible reasons of choosing LC HD plus+ cable.

Construction of LC HD Plus+ Cable

You may wonder what makes LC HD plus+ cable so special. From its construction, you can see the differences. LC HD plus+ cable is mainly structured with uniboot connector, push pull tab and bend-insensitive fiber. The uniboot connector combines two LC connectors into one boot housing, which means that two fibers are bundling in a single patch cord. The connector polarity is also reversible without using special tools. As for the push pull tab, it is a tab attached to the connector used for pushing or pulling the whole connector into or out of the equipment. It is also known that fibers are usually sensitive to stress, but LC HD plus+ cable is no more afraid of bending thanks to the bend-insensitive fiber.

LC HD plus+ cable

Four Reasons of Using LC HD Plus+ Cable
Advantage of Uniboot Connector

The compact uniboot design reduces the cable management space by 68%, which has efficiently offered airflow and visibility of equipment in high-density networks. Its reversible polarity design also enables the change of polarity with a finger latch release greatly eliminating the cable congestion in racks and cabinets. In this way, uniboot connector significantly eases the issue of cable management in high-density connectivity.

uniboot-connector

Advantage of Push Pull Tab

When manual access to the connector is limited in areas like the slider or rear part of the connector, the use of push pull tab will greatly simplify such connectivity problem. The flexible connector can be freely extracted or inserted into the port with the help of extension tab. No tool is need for the connecting and disconnecting process which makes the use of push pull tab much simpler. Therefore, it is also an ideal solution of dense applications to save space for the stacking of devices.

push-pull-tab

Advantage of Bend Insensitive Fiber

In general, when fiber is stressed by bending, the light in the outer part of the core will leak out of the fiber and no longer stay in the core. This can cause huge fiber loss and lower the transmission performance. However, using the bend insensitive fiber can avoid such situation. Bend-insensitive fiber adds a layer of glass around the core of the fiber which has a lower index of refraction that literally “reflects” the weakly guided modes back into the core when stress normally causes them to be coupled into the cladding. Bend-insensitive fiber becomes more and more vital to the high-density applications where fiber bending is almost inevitable.

bend-insensitive-fiber

Advantage of Low Insertion Loss

Apart from the above benefits, LC HD plus+ cable also supports low insertion loss. Lowering the insertion loss can achieve higher data performance. The insertion loss of LC HD plus+ cable is lower than 0.15dB due to its integrated design.

Conclusion

Uniboot connector of the LC HD plus+ cable perfectly reduces the space for high-density connectivity in data centers. The push pull tab and bend-insensitive fiber also simplify the installation process. FS.COM has provided the custom service for LC HD Plus+ fiber cable. Trunk cable and harness cable can all be customized with LC HD Plus+ designs. Please visit FS.COM for more information.

Considerations for Setting up a Small Server Room

Generally speaking, data center is designed to keep the continuous operation of computer servers in an entire building or station. Likewise, server room is also devoted to this purpose but with a much smaller space. If you are only running a small business, then a small server room is enough. But you should not think that a small server room does not need proper building plan. Actually, having a solid design is very necessary to prevent future headaches. Well-organized server room ensures the effectiveness and viability of your business. This article will provide you with some considerations for setting up a small server room.

server-room

Select Right Sized Rack

With the growth of company, equipment may pile up day by day. It is dangerous to expose these equipment randomly to the working environment. A minor accident like coffee spill or stumble can cause great loss. Gladly, using server racks will effectively solve these unnecessary problems. But how to choose the suitable racks? Most importantly, server racks with sufficient inner space is beneficial to future equipment expansion. Today, server racks are usually in free-standing style or wall-mounted style. But you need to remember that no matter which type you choose, following the installation instructions can secure your racks from rack movement which may cause further disruption and damage.

server-racks

Isolate Servers to Prevent Noise

If budget permits, having a separate server room can both effectively reduce the equipment noise and secure the equipment from theft, physical tampering, and accidents. However, small company may have no choice but to place the rack in the corner of the room. Therefore racks with sound-dampening properties are welcome to be set up within such small areas. Completely soundproofing is impossible, but overall sound reduction can be achieved.

Get Control of the Heat

High temperature in your server rack will dramatically shorten equipment lifespan or even lead to crashes or outages. For the safety of the equipment, environment and company, you need cooling strategies to control the heat. Installing air-conditioning units is a good way to keep your equipment cool and lower the surrounding temperature. Also, a structured cabling will contribute to the heat control.

Keep Good Cable Management

Do not regard cable management as an unnecessary trifle. Sometimes it is the hidden danger in the future. You’d better keep good cable management right from the start. Properly bundling cables together behind equipment allows easier access to servers. When bundling your cables, it’s common practice to bundle by server and then group those bundles together. Related tools such as cable ties can be used to support the management process.

good-cable-management

Use Labels to Mark Everything

Another tip for managing your sever room in good order is to label all the cables. In this way, you can easily identify the right cable within a short time. Other accidents like systems being unplugged or restarted without warning can also be prohibited. When labeling your cables, you should include the information of where the cable connects to and from and a unique ID identifying the cable. Nowadays, many types of cable ties are available with the marking function.

Conclusion

Server room is an essential part of your company which contains all the important pieces that keep your business operating smoothly. Setting up a nice server room can keep your equipment away from damage and increase the working efficiency. Of course, if you are not professional, consulting a specialist for help is always recommended.

Different Kinds of Cable Tie Solutions – Which Do You Prefer?

When you first saw a cable tie, you might feel nothing special about it. It’s just a tie for holding cables together, what more could it be? But the fact is that if you want to completely get rid of messy cables, cable ties are of great importance. They are generally inexpensive, and can be ordered in various colors and sizes. There are many types of cable ties on the market. Different types are made for various applications. Using the right cable tie can speed up your working efficiency. This article will introduce some common cable tie solutions. Maybe one of them is perfect for your project.

Self-locking Cable Tie

Self-locking cable tie has the classical oval lock structure for easy installation. It is the most common cable tie consisting of a flexible nylon tape with an integrated gear rack, and on one end a ratchet within a small open case. With a good locking design, cable tie can provide firm locking for the cables. This kind of cable tie is shorter and thinner for small spaces and light wire management. Its curved tip is easy to pick up from flat surfaces and allows faster initial threading to speed installation.

Self-locking-cable-tie

Stainless Steel Cable Tie

Stainless steel cable tie is used when there is liquid involved and when extreme temperatures are involved. This cable tie can withstand temperature ranging from -100 to +1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The stainless steel cable tie has a tensile strength of 100 lbs. And it has the capability to endure most chemicals that will cause corrosion. It can be used for the most extreme environment or where additional strength, security and fire resistance are required.

Stainless-steel-cable-tie

ID Marker Cable Tie

ID marker cable tie or identification cable tie features a large marker area for the imprinting or handwriting of cable assembly numbers and other vital information, making cable and wire identification in an extensive range of applications a fast and easy task. Whenever cable colors are not enough for cable identification, ID marker cable tie plays a part.

ID-marker-cable-tie

Mount Head Cable Tie

Mount head cable tie combines the zip tie and mounting eyelet together. It allows you to bundle cables and then mount them to a surface using screws, nails, clamps or clips. Surfaces including walls, ceilings, server racks, trailers, vehicle chassis, and other areas are able to handle the cables easily with mount head cable tie.

Mount-head-cable-tie

Releasable/Reusable Cable Tie

Releasable cable tie is actually reusable nylon self-locking cable tie. The common nylon cable tie can only be used once. If you need to re-bundle or rearrange the cables, then releasable cable tie is your best choice. By pressing the latch on the tough of cable tie, it can be easily released from the cables.

Reusable-cable-tie

Velcro Cable Tie

Velcro cable tie or hook and loop cable tie is made of a self-attaching hook and loop material. It is reusable and adjustable to support frequent moves, adds, and changes of cables. Usually sold in rolls, velcro cable tie can be easily cut down to any length you want. No matter for factory devices or household appliance, velcro cable tie is very convenient to be used for cable management. It also has many other types with different shapes such as the T type velcro cable tie, the voltage type velcro cable tie and the buckle velcro cable tie.

Velcro-cable-tie

Conclusion

Cable management is especially essential for device installations where large amount of cables are needed. As a cost-effective tool, cable tie can be simply mounted to arrange the cable mess which enables higher performance of devices. The above options are some common types in the market. You should choose the right cable tie according to your actual application.

Fiber Splice Tray & Wall Mount Network Cabinet–For Better Cabling

Cabling is not some easy thing. Many problems might come out while cabling. Sometimes the fiber optic cable is not long enough. Sometimes there are too many fiber optic cables that need great efforts to ensure the management of them. The protection and maintenance of the fiber optic cable are also essential. These are just some of the most common problems that people meet during cabling. In this article, two common and useful products will be introduced to help you solve the most common problems while cabling. They are fiber splice tray and wall mount network cabinet.

Fiber Splice Tray
Fiber splice tray is a kind of optical distribution frame. Generally, fiber splice tray is a container used to organize and protect fibers and spliced fibers. It is designed to provide space for the connection of fibers and spliced fibers.
Different fiber optic cables can be melted connected directly via the fiber splice tray. In addition, fiber optic cable can be connected with pigtail via the tray, and via the pigtail it can connect out to their fiber optic equipment. With the help of fiber splice trays, the problem that the fiber optic cable is not long enough can be solved. Fiber splice tray is made of engineering plastics and it features as flame retardant, high strength and aging resistance. Thus it can protect the fiber and spliced fibers very well. In addition, as the fiber splice tray provides space to hold the melted connected fibers and spliced fibers, it can help to manage the fiber optic cables to some degree. This function can be seen from the picture of a splice tray below:
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Fiber splice tray is one of the most common components being used during cabling. It can offer various of unique and flexible splice and storage possibilities.

Wall Mount Network Cabinet
Wall mount network cabinet is one of the most commonly used distribution cabinets. It provides a flexible fiber management system for transitioning outside plant cable to inside cable and connector assemblies and can be installed on the wall.
Wall mount network cabinet has great advantages in fiber optic cable management and protection. The wall mount network cabinet is usually layered structure, which helps a lot while organizing equipment and cabling in limited space. Moreover, the maintenance of fiber optic cables connected with wall mount network cabinet is very convenient and efficient. The cabinet generally contains power supply and fan, which can help the fiber optic cables work well and work longer. Various sizes and types of wall mount network cabinets are provided. Factories install different adapters in the cabinet to satisfy the needs of the markets. Costum-made cabinet is also very popular.

wall mount cabinet 2 wall mount cabinet
With the help of wall mount network cabinets, cabling work will be much more easier and systematic. The cabinet provides a safe place for the fiber optic cables connection in limited space. It is now widely used in the cabling of various areas.

The choice of appropriate components during cabling does not only simplify the work, but also helps a lot in cost saving, space savings, products operation and maintenance. Fiberstore Inc. designs, manufactures and sells a comprehensive line of high performance, highly reliable fiber optic communication systems and modules for metropolitan area, local area and storage area networks. Fiberstore can provide different sizes of wall mount network cabinets and various types of fiber splice trays which can contain 4 fibers, 6 fibers, 12 fibers, 16 fibers, 24 fibers, 32 fibers and so on.