Rack Mounted Short Hauls: The Three Cs

You're up against a familiar problem. A "good" problem. You're the Network Administrator of a small firm that's growing by leaps and bounds. You're adding users weekly (or daily) and you can hardly keep a working machine on everyone's desk--let alone contain the hardware sprawl in what used to be your office, but now looks more like a wiring closet. Along with your LAN hardware, you've got an increasing brood of short range modems (those little boxes stacked on top of each other all over the place). Whether you realize it or not, you're at a crossroads: You could continue to install stand-alone short hauls, or you could take the plunge and go for a rack mount solution. Here are three Cs in favor of rack mounting with a Patton rack chassis:

Convenience Right now, each little short haul has its own power supply, so each one needs an outlet. With a Patton rack, up to 32 short hauls can be consolidated onto a single, dependable power supply that's much easier to condition too. Patton's rack-mount short hauls have diagnostic LEDs that let you monitor connections at a glance. And you can swap out one or more cards while the rack is powered up and the other cards are functioning.

Class Clutter does not make for a classy appearance. You no doubt pride yourself on how clean your solutions are at the data level. A well organized hardware layout tells whoever sees your "computer room" that the parts of the network they can't see have been executed with equal style and efficiency. So imagine all those little boxes replaced by a sleek, compact Patton rack chassis--with a single power supply.

Cost After the initial purchase of the rack chassis, Patton rack card short hauls cost less than comparable stand-alone units. And when you calculate the value of the time you'll save in simplified support and maintenance, moving to a Patton rack mount solution makes good economic sense. So go ahead and "rack 'em up" with Patton!