For context, we’ve got:
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120 websites overlaying an space spanning 150 miles down the US East Coast
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80 websites have Three Comms Room or much less (1-2 switches per room), the remaining have 40+ Rooms (3-Four switches per room) unfold over a Campus (Suppose College/Hospital)
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Presently utilizing an Energetic/Passive rack setup (e.g. Rack 1 = Patch Panels solely, Rack 2 = Energetic Gear)
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Typically we’re solely patching what’s required on the present time (e.g. someplace between 30-60% of shops). Which means we’re additionally solely shopping for sufficient switches to cowl the present demand. In a room with say 500 drops, we’re possibly offering 200-300 shops. This leads to a number of patch jobs and truck rolls for our Workforce and musical chairs. We’ve each Senior and Junor Engineers, driving to websites a minimum of as soon as every week (if no more) for patch jobs
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Our requirements mandate min. 2 shops per drop for a Workstation or WAP.
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Struggling principally as a result of Interrack cabling inflicting congestion factors and this leads to Provides/Strikes/Modifications taking a very long time (Patching an outlet can take 30-120 seconds) because of the problem of feeding the patch cable
I’ve seen a number of speak round 1:1 patching in r/cableporn or TikTok/Shorts/Instagram (e.g. Patch Panel, Change, Patch Panel, Change and having all ports patched). The patch panels used are twin 48p panels and patch leads are 6-12 inches. More often than not, the Switches are middle-of-the-road models usually not stacked. All shops are patched (therefore the 1:1)
A query to the group. How sensible is any such patching and do you personally do that in your organization? We’re mandated by our Governing physique to purchase sure Switches that price a bomb per 1 Gbps port (Suppose high-end Cisco/Juniper). For the time being we’re buying and selling our time to make it cheaper for our Enterprise Items. However in saying that, I at all times really feel like we’re working round like idiots patching shops as a result of someone determined to maneuver Desks and the shops are usually not working on the new location. Not solely is that this burning out time throughout new builds (Having to attempt to optimize the variety of used shops vs. the Variety of Switches), however truck rolls imply folks get to go for a day journey down the coast to actually plug into $5 value of Copper.
I assume this can be a balancing act solely we are able to do the cost-benefit evaluation on. Within the trade, how many individuals on the market are simply simplifying their lives and flooding the rooms 1:1
Thanks!
