Patch Panel—the “Traffic Light” for Cabling Network

srijeda , 11.01.2017.

Patch Panel Overview
The patch panel, also known as the patch bay, patch field or jack field, is a functional unit with a number of same or similar jacks, designed to conveniently and flexibly connect, disconnect and monitor circuits in the cabling network. There is no doubt that the patch panel plays an important role in collecting data and routing it to the intended destination, with the function of enabling the ease of cabling network management and avoiding the data transmission error or failure.

At present, there are both copper and fiber patch panels available on the market, both of which are very popularly used due to their features and advantages. To better know about the patch panel, here offers a kind of 48 port cat6 patch panel in the following figure. From this figure, you can easily learn the appearance of the front and rear of the 48 port cat6 patch panel.

Patch Panel Importance to Cabling Network
We used to regard the patch panel as the “traffic light” for our cabling network. Is there any evidence to support this statement? In fact, we can’t deny that no matter how large or small the patch panel is, it is always the crucial element in our cabling network that has the ability to terminate cable elements and transmit the signal to the final destination. Moreover, using the patch panel can better install and manage the multiple cables in our cabling network, for an easier cabling management.

With the mentioned above advantages and constantly improved functions, the patch panel becomes more and more commonly used in computer networking, recording studios, radio, television, etc. Since it is so important to our system, we should ensure that there is no problem with the patch panel before our system runs. Because if there is something wrong with the patch panel, the data would be transmitted wrongly or unsuccessfully.

Selecting a Suitable Patch Panel for Your Cabling Network
As the patch panel is so crucial in the administration of the telecommunications network, it is highly recommended to select a proper patch panel for better cabling management. Since there are both copper and fiber patch panel available on the market, let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two kinds of the patch panels and select one type which is the most suitable for our system.

It is well known that the patch panel can be part of networks with either fiber or copper cabling. As fiber can transmit the signals faster than copper, does it mean that fiber patch panel performs better than copper patch panel in the cabling network? The answer is no. Why? Because all the patch panels are subject to the same standards that provide signal and speed performance ratings for other network components, no matter which materials the patch panels are made up of. Meanwhile, the patch panel is primarily used for directing signal traffic rather than move signal at a required speed. Hence, the materials of the patch panels do make little difference in the cabling performance. As for the manufacturing cost, fiber patch panel is much expensive than copper patch panel that can be up to 40 percent higher. In short, copper patch panel is really a good choice for cabling network if the three factors mentioned above is considered.

Is there any advantage if we choose the fiber patch panel for our cabling network? Of course. The fiber patch panel has only two ports and doesn’t require the hardwiring, which is much easier to install than the copper patch panel. After all, each pair of the wires should have a port if you choose the copper patch panel, which may take more time to install.

Conclusion
The patch panel is the “traffic light” in cabling network which allows for terminating long and troublesome cables, enabling the signals to be transmitted directly through a patch code to its destination. Although there are both copper and fiber patch panel available on the market, the copper patch panel is highly recommended as an cost effective solution. Do you consider owning one copper patch panel at hand? You can simply get it from FS.COM that offers 24 port cat5 patch panel, 48 port cat5 patch panel, 24 port cat6 patch panel and 48 port cat6 patch panel.