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Flexible rack system adds benefits: hodge-podge cabinetry and steel replaced by advanced racking design - Infrastructure

Communications News, March, 2003

As senior network technician for the network services division of payments titan TSYS in Columbus, Ga., Steven Thillen still sees value in uniformity and clean, orderly ranks--virtues he once helped instill into new recruits as a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army. His current troops are fast and efficient-and neat: the scores of modems and routers that sit in trim, taut lines in new racks designed for the realities of the highly competitive and complex business of keeping billions of payment transactions humming along smoothly and reliably.

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"The old racks were like Erector sets-a real hodge-podge of cabinetry and steel," says Thillen, recalling the earlier series of dissimilar metal- and wood-framed cabinets that used cumbersome connectors and screw holders. That approach to racking underscored the nature of a rapidly expanding information industry, in which the data and the hardware were the stars of the show, while scant attention was paid to the logistics of organizing them physically.

With more than 226 million accounts on file, TSYS serves as the integral link between buyers and sellers in the rapidly evolving universe of electronic payments--providing credit, debit, stored value, commercial, smart and retail cards on a grueling 24x7 basis. Given the critical nature of the TSYS system's mission, even one second of downtime could translate into thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

Several years ago, TSYS assistant network director Jim Pound talked to a friend at Carmike Cinemas, headquartered nearby, and learned of racking systems made by Middle Atlantic Products/DataTel, which the national movie theater chain was using. After the line was presented to TSYS by Lake City, Fla.-based Accurate Communications, Thillen ultimately supervised the transition of all of the routing technology in the TSYS network services center into a racking environment that is as high tech as the equipment it holds.

FLEXIBILITY, EASE OF USE

"We needed a uniform, consistent but flexible rack system that allowed one person to make critical changes in configurations," Thillen says. "The old vertical rail systems required at least two sets of hands to change out equipment, but first you had to find a slot with the right amount of space." TSYS' WRK and MRK racks allow one person to easily make equipment changes, and their configuring capability allows for more organizational latitude.

Housing routers and other equipment from such a wide array of manufacturers inevitably means a wide range of dimensions. "We are now able to consolidate racks based on the type of equipment and applications," Thillen says. "We have all the frame relay circuits in two cabinets, and 56k point-to-point circuits in another, for instance. We can combine based on whether clients are using routers or CSUs/DSUs. Larger clients have dedicated cabinets, while we colocate smaller customers. Some systems need special brackets," Thillen says. "We liked the fact that the cabinets could adapt to the realities of the technology."

Equipment installs and deinstalls, while other movements during tightly timed planned system outages, now go much faster, according to Thillen. Other tangible benefits of the transition to the new racks include improved cable management and thermal control.

"In the old racks, the cabling was totally tangled," he says. "The new cabinets have a 32-inch depth, which gives us plenty of room to tie the cables neatly and keep them that way for future maintenance.

"On some of the older, 24-inch-depth cabinets, We literally had to saw through the side to get at some of the cabling," he says. "Because our new cabinets are adaptable, we can easily pull off the side of one to get at the cables deeper inside the line of cabinets, making installation and troubleshooting much easier."

AESTHETIC UNIFORMITY

The TSYS center has its air conditioning circulated and vented under the floor, so the racks are cooled from beneath. The rack's design, however, allows additional fan ventilation to be installed from above for racks that house firewall systems, which generate considerable additional heat.

While the operational and functional aspects of advanced racking design are dear, less immediately apparent, but equally important, is the aesthetic improvement uniformity brings. "We're set up in a glass-walled area that clients can view whenever they tour the facility," Thillen says.

"What they see is rows of neat and orderly racking, which inspires confidence. You get the impression that there is attention to accuracy and detail going on, that your business is in good hands. Sloppiness leaves a bad impression. The Army didn't tolerate it, and TSYS shares the sentiment."

For more information from Middle Atlantic Products/DataTel: www.rsleads.com/303cn-262

Technology Industry

Flexible rack system adds benefits: hodge-podge cabinetry and steel replaced by advanced racking design - Infrastructure

Communications News, March, 2003

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