Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1219491
46 I ICT TODAY 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. 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 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). 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. WHAT THE STANDARDS HAVE TO SAY Before delving into how some manufacturers are meeting the challenges discussed through new connector innova- tions, 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 con- nectors for optical fiber connectors at the equipment out- let and external network interface (LC and MPO). How- ever, 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 innova- tions that will be discussed that use port adapters, pro- prietary 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 dimin- ishes the "compatibility with existing infrastructure" for some of the latest connector technologies. Designers may opt to ignore the connector require- ment specified in the standards but may be required to adhere to the standards by organization policies or contract with the customer. Thus, designers and install- ers should work closely with the customer to consider the benefits and end-user goals gained by new innova- tions not yet covered or incorporated in the standards, while making every effort to follow standard best prac- tices to ensure the overall reliability of the data center and enterprise network.