Whether your company’s data center is a big room or a small closet, it will be more functional if it is well organized. At ShowMeCables we are passionate about well-ordered data centers. Many of our 15,000+ products exist to make your job easier by organizing your IT equipment.

The two main types of these products are equipment organizers and cable organizers.

Equipment Organizers

The best way to organize and protect your electronic components is to put them in either floor-mounted racks or wall-mounted racks.

Floor-Mounted Racks

Most companies install their servers and related IT equipment together in floor-mounted racks, aka server racks, which hold not only computer servers but patch panels, network switches, power distribution units and other components related to the network. They are floor-mounted on feet or on wheels, and some have a wall-securing option. They offer up to 45U of vertical capacity and depths of up to 42 inches.

Floor-mounted server racks offer four big benefits.

  • Our server racks have built-in fans to enable thermal management. Doors and side panels are vented for circulation. On most models, top panels are either vented or have dedicated ports for installing fans. For the best circulation, we offer open-frame racks.
  • Networking equipment is too expensive to keep on office desktops and shelves, especially in high-traffic areas. Server racks protect components from foot traffic and theft. Many of our cabinets have steel locks on the sides and doors. Most are made with rugged steel panels over a welded frame.
  • If you want to reconfigure cables between your network components, it is easier if everything is in the same server rack. Install a patch panel in your cabinet and your routing possibilities become endless. Another product to give you flexibility is rack space adapters, which enable you to mount a 19-inch-wide device into a 23-inch rack. Our gangable racks can be expanded by connecting them to one another. Accessories such as shelves and drawers make your server rack even more flexible.
  • When installing networking components, the closer together they are, the better. Closer means shorter cable runs, which improve signal integrity. Closer also makes maintenance easier – shorter cables are simpler to re-route, to troubleshoot for problems and to replace.

Wall-Mounted Racks

Wall-mounted racks offer many of the benefits of floor cabinets – they’re rugged, have pro features like cooling fans and locking front and side doors, and come in many sizes − up to 35U and 30 inches of depth. Some are enclosed cabinets and others have an open frame.

Two benefits make wall cabinets unique.

First, they don’t hog floor space. Install one or two instead of a floor cabinet and you will marvel at how much bigger the room suddenly is. Or keep the floor unit and use the wall cabinet for new components that improve your capabilities.

Second, you can install wall-mount cabinets in your previously unused spaces. For examples, our vertical wall-mount racks have a skinny profile for spaces too narrow for a 19-inch rack, our tilt-out wall racks are our most low-profile holders, and our pivoting panel-mount racks allow you to access the back of the rack simply by swinging the top of the panel forward.

Cable Organizers

Cable management has three main benefits:

  • It reduces maintenance costs. Especially popular are products that provide cable strain relief and thus lengthen cable life. They attach to an equipment rack or cabinet and prevent incoming and outgoing cords from being routed at sharp angles.
  • Well-organized cables make it easier to install, remove or re-route cords and to troubleshoot wiring problems. You can find a cable immediately. Faulty connections are harder to find in a tangled mass of wires.
  • An ordered, visually appealing work environment reminds your staff and clients that your organization is well organized and detail oriented.

The two main types of cable organizers are cable fasteners and rack-mount cable managers.

Cable fasteners include plastic cable ties, aka zip ties, and hook-and-loop ties. Both are inexpensive yet strong, can be loosened or tightened to add or remove from the bundle, and come in different lengths and colors. Hook-and-loop ties are especially useful for bundles that might be moved around a lot, as they are easier to loosen than zip ties.

Rack-mount cable managers can be arrayed either horizontally across the width of the rack or vertically down either side. There are three types of products. A raceway is a housing that keeps cables tucked away as it directs their path. Cross bars, or lacing bars, mount horizontally and extend a few inches from the front or rear of a rack to provide stress relief for cable connections. D-rings, or distribution rings, direct cables away from the front of a rack, making it easier to monitor the components and adjust their controls.

Most of ShowMeCables’ rack equipment and cable organizers are in-stock and available with free standard same-day shipping. If you have product questions or need recommendations, contact our U.S.-based team of experts at 1-866-308-2158 or email us.