


Three Best Practices of Data Center Design – Part 1

What You Should Expect From a Structured Cabling Provider

The Basics of Backbone Cabling for Enterprises

Structured Cabling Fundamentals for Businesses – Part 2

Structured Cabling Fundamentals for Businesses – Part 1

Guide to Proper Cable Management at Your Business
Most companies depend on cabling for data and electricity, but its management is often overlooked. However, safety, functionality and organization are important, no matter what type of business you have. The following will discuss how your company can benefit from proper cable management.
Safety
Management is responsible for ensuring that their facilities are up to code and their company areas are safe for customers and employees. Companies should deploy cable floor cord covers to prevent liability issues and to protect cables from crushing foot traffic.
Reduce Maintenance Time
Staff can reduce cabling maintenance time by being able to quickly and easily differentiate types of wiring. Otherwise precious time and labor costs are wasted in untangling and sorting through strands of cables. Best structured cabling practices call for properly classifying and labeling cables while consulting with professionals regarding proper implementation.
Conserve Resources
Proper cable management will give your workplace a tidier and organized appearance. A benefit from this practice is maximizing the service lives and performance of the cables of your network. If cables are piled up on the floor or left hanging behind racks, they are more vulnerable to being damaged. The introduction of an efficient and market-proven cable management system will allow you to conserve financial resources and delay the replacement of network cables by extending their lifespan.
Clean Work Environment
One aspect of proper cable management that is rarely discussed is the need to clean cables regularly. A clean work environment will not only be healthier and safer for employees, it will give your company an image of professionalism. Consult with an experienced cabling expert regarding highly-rated products in the market that will help to efficiently organize cables in your workplace so they can be easily cleaned.
Progressive Office Cabling
Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

Five New Approaches for Data Center Cabling – Part 2
As discussed in Part 1, a properly designed network infrastructure is a prerequisite for being able to adapt emerging technology and support crucial systems cost effectively. Part 2 will discuss Modular Design, Optimized Network Infrastructure, and Virtualization.
Modular Design
An approach that has recently gained traction is building new data centers capable of supporting the demand for excellent networking capability. Companies are increasingly participating during the construction phase by becoming more involved in decisions that help decrease costs. Specially designed and portable, modular data centers utilize engineered modules and components that offer the ability to scale and allow the creation of a converged infrastructure where necessary. Such modular designs are described as portable modular data centers or containerized data centers. Structured cabling is the foundation for every modular data center.
Optimized Network Infrastructure
According to data center providers, copper and fiber technology are sufficient for current networking infrastructure. However, there is a greater demand for more speed and streamlined connectivity for PCs, servers, and data storage. Optimizing data cabling is the method for achieving both. Optimized network infrastructure typically uses component standardization, including copper and fiber cabling, racks, and cabinets. Teamed with a physical-layer cable-management system, this approach results in a network that is both accessible and organized.
Virtualization
Research has found that more than half of small and medium-sized enterprises have their workloads running on virtual machines. In addition, more than 9 in 10 data center providers are now offering virtualization services to businesses. Proven to be scalable and cost-effective, virtualization technology is being commonly used for these four functions: desktop, server, network, and storage. As the popularity of IT infrastructure virtualization increases, ensuring that your organization has well-designed structured cabling will grow in importance.
Progressive Office Cabling
Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

Five New Approaches for Data Center Cabling – Part 1
Organizations and data centers have concluded that structured cabling provides a durable foundation for a sound and efficient network infrastructure. As a result, management teams are reconsidering their existing data cabling configurations. For example, organizations are thinking of transferring some or all of their IT systems to cloud-based data centers that utilize virtualization.
A properly designed network infrastructure is a prerequisite for being able to adapt emerging technology and support crucial systems cost effectively. Conventional cabling met network requirements in the past, but the growth of data and demand for speed are rapidly transforming what a business will need in the future.
New companies are planning their data center cabling structure well ahead of their first day of business to attain high efficiency, maximum utilization, and optimal provisioning. During the conception stage, data center architecture needs to address issues revolving around space, power, cooling, security, and costs.
Data transmission and storage, communications, power, and video should also be prioritized. However, monitoring, network security, system updates, backups, software support, and maintenance are also of great importance.
As you may be considering improving your company’s network, it may be helpful to keep in mind four new approaches for data center cabling discussed below.
Convergence
The concept of convergence has been applied to networking and data cabling. Functions for data, phone, and video are being offered on a single network by service providers. Introduced several years ago, the convergence approach is gaining in strength via structured cabling for data centers.
Applying this approach allows for greater cable density or minimizing cable usage, resulting in providing the proper network capacity for a particular architecture and delivering the advantages below:
- High density server racks and storage arrays reduce cable pathways for improved air flow.
- Input and output convergence offers simplified data cabling and greater design flexibility.
- Higher-density connectivity and higher-capacity cables provide improved performance.
Part 2 will discuss Modular Design, Optimized Network Infrastructure, and Virtualization.
Progressive Office Cabling
Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

The Importance of Structured Cabling to Your Company
Structured cabling provides consistently high performance because of its proper design and installation, which also allows for expansion and flexibility. When designed and installed by expert technicians, a structured cabling system is composed of several components that communicate with each other. As a result, it performs with efficiency and reliability. In addition, cabling can be transferred, adjusted, and expanded with ease. The system is also future proofed, so the system can evolve with technology as the company grows.
Conventional vs. Structured Cabling
Running point to point, conventional cabling directly connects hardware by utilizing jumpers or patch cables. Differing in approach, structured cabling deploys a series of trunks or patch panels that connect to hardware. These patch panels then link to another patch panel within the Main Distribution Area (MDA), the nerve center of a structured cabling system. MACs (moves, additions, and changes) at the MDA can be accomplished with ease by using short patch cords.
Why Use Structured Cabling?
Providing a more secure, rapid, and efficient method for connecting an office, structured cabling utilizes compact and standardized patch panels connecting to the MDA. This permits easier revisions and additions. The superior organization of structured cabling lets teams address issues faster, resulting in less labor cost and downtime.
Structured cabling’s goal is a well-organized cabling system that results in rapid connections and a leaner server room. As a result, cabling requires less room and is tidier, permitting improved airflow. The regulation of temperature is optimized, which helps preserve sensitive server room equipment.
Advantages of Structured Cabling
- Cable and port tracing performed faster
- Decreased downtime due to improved cable organization
- MACs eased because of improved MDA configuration
- Reduction of cabling mass, increasing airflow and cooling
- Speedier connections and easier troubleshooting
- Tidier and better organized cabling
A transition to structured cabling will improve the aesthetics and organization of your company’s cable system. It will also help your team function with more speed, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Progressive Office Cabling
Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.