Patchy intelligence

Now, new intelligent patching systems are appearing on the market that monitor networks in real time, bringing significant management advantages and cost benefits. And, with the complexity of cabling infrastructures growing, the demand for such systems is expected to rise.

Data logging dilemmas
In small organisations patching records or cross-connect logs are often held on paper. This is simple and effective for small numbers of ports that are only occasionally reconfigured. In firms with up to 1000 points, spreadsheets are usually used.

For larger systems, specialist databases are used to document the connection pattern from voice or data host equipment through the patching frames in the telecommunications room and out to the work area cabling.

However much these systems vary in size and complexity they all have one thing in common; they are as good, or as bad, as the information they hold. They generally need to be updated manually and the upkeep can therefore be overlooked in the bustle of everyday business. The data held in these systems ranges from very nearly accurate to badly out of date.

In firms with a high churn rate it can be difficult to keep the documentation up to date. As a result, the network manager is faced with the time-consuming task of auditing changes prior to implementation. This affects the cost of each move radically and it is not uncommon for managers to be so daunted by the time and costs that they subcontract the whole process to their cabling system installer.

This is often supplemented by a periodic network audit to establish the entire communications infrastructure connection pattern, at further cost. If such an audit is not carried out regularly, it is common to find that patch leads have been left connected to hub or switch ports with no ongoing connection to the work area. This can lead to the impression that the hub or switch in question has reached capacity and the network needs additional equipment.

It has been estimated that in some industry segments this level of 'ghost utilisation' of network equipment can be as high as 40%.

Tracing faults
Without an easily readable and accurate record of connections, fault tracing in the event of a network outage can be difficult and time-consuming.

The inadvertent disconnection of a server or important wide area link could cause a network segment or even the whole network to be out of service for as long as the mistake takes to correct. It is not easy to estimate the cost of this downtime accurately, but in some cases it can be immense.

Now network managers are starting to address these issues by using intelligent patching, which monitor systems in real time. Connection information is fed back to a cabling management software package that automatically updates the records held in its database.

A good intelligent patching system deals with these issues and more; the horizontal patch panels, voice host ports and hubs or switch connections within the system can be monitored, and any change in connection status is reported to the database. This removes the possibility of the database information lagging behind reality.

The ability to detect the presence of a connector in a given port also means that any changes can be guided electronically. The network manager creates a work order to disconnect a user from one location and repatch them to another, giving the port identifiers to the technician in real time.

This information can be presented via a web browser interface on a terminal within the communications room or to a hand-held device with an IP connection. The technician can then effect the changes and confirm on the database that they are correct before committing them to record. The database can report any connections that are incorrect and the technician can correct them immediately. Because the network manager can be confident of the accuracy of the records, there is no need to pre-audit the process.

There are other advantages delivered by the ability to detect the insertion or removal of a connector. Unauthorised connections or disconnections (those not related to a work order) can be reported to the network manager within seconds of them happening by automated event manager routines within the software. This can be by a simple network level message, e-mail or even an SMS message. With a network camera positioned near the patching frames, a photograph of the culprit can be attached to the e-mail alert or logged for investigation at a later date.

Networking equipment ports are monitored so that the database can report which are connected to a user and those that are unused. The software can be linked to network management packages so that the connection at the physical layer can be compared to the connection pattern at the layers above.

The addition of intelligence to structured cabling turns it from a flexible network to a powerful controlled infrastructure and, while not every end-user will need this level of control, there are those for whom downtime, churn, security or network audit costs are significant. An intelligent patching solution with real time feedback can make a significant reduction in the cost of ownership of communications cabling.