What's Your Ideal Telecom Room? Here's a Guide for Getting Started.
June 03, 2021
IT professionals must have a clear vision when going into the build-out or upgrade of a telecommunications room. Much of that centers around aesthetics. Daring to dream is an important part of the process, but developing and implementing a thoughtful plan for achieving that vision is critical to not only getting the aesthetic, but more importantly, preparing for future network growth and the support of advancements in technology.
In an effort to help you get started, here are five useful tips you can lean into as you work to make your dream become a reality.
1. Define the Main Purpose
Do you want a bright and spacious room that helps to ensure installers and technicians can easily make moves, adds and changes (MACs)? How about a high-tech room with sleek Black cabinets, low lighting and attention to the valuable space savings you'll need when looking to overall footprint?
Zeroing in on the purpose will help to set a foundation for how you'll continue development and implementation, and communicate your company's culture and intentions to customers.
2. Select Your Rack
Selecting your rack will really depend on your room design and equipment requirements. Consider floor space and airflow management, as well as if you need to support larger equipment.
Also, take into account who will have access to the room. If anyone outside of IT personnel will have access, consider data center cabinets with perforated, locking doors. Taking it a step further, depending on what type of business you operate, you may want to consider an RFID electronic locking solution that allows you to keep a record of every access attempt and tamper. Remember, cabinets take up more space than racks.
Finally, determine a rack or cabinet that can help you prepare for the future. The weight of equipment, its footprint and power capacity will all increase over time. Plan for proper sizing of cable pathways and consider airflow management as you make your cabinet or rack selection.
3. Select Rack-Level Distribution
You'll need to distribute effective, efficient power to equipment. Advanced, power-hungry equipment requires robust PDU functionalities that allow monitoring down to the outlet level, so IT professionals can measure and maximize efficiency.
Ask yourself, how will you manage ongoing capacity planning and energy usage. Intelligent PDUs help prevent equipment failures and empower IT professionals to prepare for maintenance without disturbing the system's uptime. You can also quickly identify underutilized servers and schedule decommissioning.
4. Select Cable Management and Pathways
With so many styles, sizes and price points, it's important to understand your cabling infrastructure.
Select open frames for easy access to equipment, and cable managers and pathways that will help you remain compliant with industry best practices. Advanced cable management solutions include several intuitive features that facilitate reduced installation time, optimal signal quality and easier MACs while also allowing for maximum space utilization.
Consider what type of cable you'll be installing and be sure to identify the recommended cable fill values of the cable management and pathway products you use. Consider future growth and sizing of overhead pathways. Remember, you'll need separate pathways for backbone fiber and copper cables, horizontal workstation cables, patch cables and other low-voltage systems.
5. Build for Efficiency and Continuous Maintenance
The complexities of maintaining uptime, while optimizing efficiency and overall costs can be overwhelming. Partnering with a supplier who can provide total end-to-end solutions can help simplify the supply chain and ensure compatibility and integration.
Consider how you can work with your total solutions provider to implement airflow management strategies and containment to ensure a significant return on investment over the long-term.
Ensuring that you take inventory of where equipment is located and document your systems is important. Invest in a power management strategy that includes rack- and room-level power monitoring. Consider data center infrastructure management software (DCIM) that integrates with intelligent power distribution units as you work to stay organized, manage assets and optimize overall data center operation.
To learn more, download the full Technical Tip.
Posted by Brittany Mangan, Digital Content Specialist at 6/3/2021 1:35:03 PM