Data centre cabling: P2P vs structured cabling

BANGALORE, INDIA: In a data centre, direct connections, also known as "Point-to-Point" (i.e. from switches to servers, servers to storage, servers to other servers, etc.) are problematic and costly for a variety of reasons.

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This is according to Siemon, a networking infrastructure company, who published a new white paper, 'Data Center Cabling Considerations: Point-to-Point vs Structured Cabling'.

Carrie Higbie, author of the whitepaper, said that in the best of data centre ecosystems, a standards-based structured cabling system will provide functionality and scalability with the maximum available options for current and future equipment.

While top of rack (ToR) and end of row (EoR) equipment mounting options are now available, these should supplement, not replace, a structured cabling system.

ToR and EoR equipment placement both rely heavily on point to point cables, typically fiber jumpers and either twinax copper assemblies or stranded patch cords to connect the network or storage equipment ports to servers.

Point-to-point cabling system has a fairly long history in the data centre and although they have been largely out of favour for some time, some active equipment manufacturers have recently advocated a comeback.

This is due in large part to recent developments in top of rack and end of row switching, which promise to reduce cabling in the data centre by up to 70 percent, according to the manufacturers.

While this may seem attractive at first, these savings are not always realised and can be negated by additional equipment requirements, increased power and repeatedly higher annual maintenance costs.