Operability and Management: Based on experience, many of the
most advanced tech companies cannot comprehend their own
cabling infrastructures. Support and manageability of these growing
fiber interconnects has come to a point where it is easier to discard
them than fix them. Designers and installers should follow the
best practices and guidelines for labeling, documentation, DCIM,
and other pertinent information in BICSI 009-2019, Data Center
Operations and Maintenance Best Practices.
46 I ICT TODAY
Flexibility, Scalability and Compatibility: In many cases, the wide
range of evolving technologies has resulted in infrastructures that
are disaggregated, incompatible, and unusable from one iteration
to the next.
FIGURE 16: In part, disaggregated and incompatible infrastructures
lead to many teams’ inability to deploy the aforementioned expediency
of the connected infrastructure on time and at lower costs.
FIGURE 17: Many technicians find it difficult to support the many fiber interconnects
in their cabling infrastructures, thereby adversely affecting essential troubleshooting
and moves, adds, and changes (MACs).
WHAT THE STANDARDS HAVE TO SAY
Before delving into how some manufacturers are meeting
the challenges discussed through new connector innovations,
it is also important to consider compliance with
standards used to design the data center infrastructure.
ANSI/TIA-942-B specifies the LC connector for one or two
optical fibers and MPO for more than two fibers. ISO/IEC
11801-5 and CENELEC EN 50173-5 specify the same connectors
for optical fiber connectors at the equipment outlet
and external network interface (LC and MPO). However,
unlike TIA-942-B, they permit the use of other
connectors that meet the performance requirements
of the standards (i.e., some of the connector innovations
that will be discussed that use port adapters, proprietary
patch cables, patch panels and fanout cables)
in other places, such as in distributors (main distributor,
intermediate distributor, zone distributor) and the local
distribution point.
If designers want to design the data center cabling
infrastructure and comply with the standard applicable
to their data center (e.g., TIA in the U.S. and Canada,
CENELEC in Europe, ISO/IEC in many other countries),
then the choice of connector can often be limited. Strict
adherence to the standards in the above analysis diminishes
the “compatibility with existing infrastructure” for
some of the latest connector technologies.
Designers may opt to ignore the connector requirement
specified in the standards but may be required
to adhere to the standards by organization policies or
contract with the customer. Thus, designers and installers
should work closely with the customer to consider
the benefits and end-user goals gained by new innovations
not yet covered or incorporated in the standards,
while making every effort to follow standard best practices
to ensure the overall reliability of the data center
and enterprise network.