What to Look for in a Cable Management System

In one of our earlier blogs, we talked about the serious issues poor cable management can present as well as the numerous benefits proper cable management can produce. Today, we will go into exactly what to look for in a cable management system: from best practices to top products.

When creating a system for cable management for your IT environment, the first thing to consider is how well-protected your cables will be in this system. This includes making sure that the routing structures you use are not made from flammable materials such as wood. Instead, use metallic structures such as the Kendall Howard 1U Tool-less 5 D-Ring Cable Manager. While using metallic structures is key, make sure that they are capable of bearing large cable loads (if necessary), so that the metal pieces do not slice through other cables under the weight of the load. Another important aspect of protection is making sure that the bend radius of your cable routes is sufficiently large to avoid having detrimental effects to network performance in the long-term. Ensuring a proper bend radius is especially important for fiber-optic cables.

Next, one must consider how well your cable management system will be at adapting to changes in your network. For example, if you know that a node in your system will soon receive double the amount of cable that it currently uses, implement a structure that allows for these cables to be grouped within the structure, like the Kendall Howard 1U Managed Cable Minder. Anything tech-based is subject to growth, so it is important to plan for the future in this way.

A somewhat obvious quality that one would look for in any product is ease of use. When it comes to cable management, there are some products that are extremely simple and easy to implement, but can have large benefits and make working with your cable network almost effortless. Namely, Black Box One-Wrap Cable Wraps and Black Box Cable ID Tags, which both come in a variety of colors and help keep your cables neatly organized.

The final thing to look for when developing your cable management system is whether or not the company that makes the product offers quality customer service. This can go a long way if you ever run into issues with a product or simply want to make sure you’re running an optimal configuration.

For a full list of cable management products offered here at Rackfinity.com, take a look at the Cable Management section of our site.