06
NEWS IN BRIEF
Networks Europe helps you to understand the art of
the possible as the news desk highlights some of the
stories currently catching their attention.
Power distribution in
confined spaces
Manufacturers are moving away from stand-alone power
distribution enclosures for individual control units. Instead, they
are looking to create an overarching system within a single
enclosure, serving multiple controllers – each one assigned to
a specific machine. The new Rittal RiLine Compact, designed
for control units that require a maximum current of 125 A,
addresses this need. Despite its size, the busbar system distributes
power effectively and reliably, in compliance with all applicable
standards.
RiLine Compact comprises a board with busbars entirely
enclosed in covers that safeguard against unintentional contact.
A connection can be easily established anywhere along the
length of a busbar via a series of access apertures (called the
pitch pattern) in the board. Switchgear and control units can be
simply “plugged in” using a variety of adaptors. In addition, an
adapter for connection to round conductors is available, as well as
a variety of functional modules for motor and power control. One
of RiLine Compact’s primary strengths is that it can be rapidly
configured, assembled and installed. n
28-AWG Data Centre
Cabling announced
Panduit EMEA has announced its 28-AWG cabling system
offering up to 50% space saving and reduced costs over
24-AWG cabling systems. New developments in cabling
technology and the need for increased efficiency within data
centres have provided the impetus for introducing 28-AWG
copper cable in these installations. 28-AWG cabling offers
significantly smaller diameter wire than the ubiquitous 24-
AWG copper conductors generally used in network cabinet
and rack installations, and maintains data integrity.
Dependent on the cable type, Panduit 28-AWG cable offers
between 48% and 41% reduction in size. For example, a
Category 6 cord with 28-AWG wires is 0.15 inches (3.8mm)
in OD, which is 41 percent the size of the typical 24-AWG
Category 6 cord. Category 5e and Category 6A patch cords
have similar size savings.
The requirement to provide increased IT capabilities in the
same or smaller spaces has led to over-crowded cable runs
and racks within many data centres. This leads to congested
cable pathways, insufficient space for new equipment and
the challenge of patching bulk when using high-density patch
panels.
Standards committees have started discussing the addition
of 28 AWG cabling to the standards. Today, Panduit 28-AWG
cabling meets all performance standards, but does not meet
the 22-26 AWG size requirement. n
Cavium QLogic
accelerates NVMe over
fabrics adoption
Cavium’s family of QLogic Gen 6 Fibre Channel and
FastLinQ Ethernet adapters will support NVMe over Fabrics
(NVMe-oF) technology, enabling the scale out of flash
storage platforms.
NVMe-oF defines an efficient mechanism to utilise NVMe
devices in large-scale storage deployments and provides
investment protection by leveraging the latest innovations
and advances in low latency SSD flash to be realised over
proven Fibre Channel and Ethernet RDMA fabrics. NVMe
over Fabrics enables NVMe storage devices to be shared,
pooled and managed more effectively across a fabric.
With support for 32GFC and 100Gbps Ethernet, the 2690
Enhanced Gen 5 and 2700 Series Gen 6 Fibre Channel,
and FastLinQ 45000 series Ethernet adapters, provide
streamlined access to low latency NVMe SSDs enabling
scale out architectures, simplifying design, reducing
overhead and improving performance.
Cavium has commenced an early access program for
NVMe over Fibre Channel (FC-NVMe) and NVMe over
Universal RDMA (NVMe-oF) for select partners, with plans
to expand the program in Q2’17. n
www.networkseuropemagazine.com