Lessons From Cisco Live 2022: Why It's Time to Eliminate Cassette-Based Fiber Cable Management

September 26th, 2022

Global adoption of applications leveraging emerging technologies like 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual/augmented reality, and advanced data analytics is continuing to increase. As a result, mission-critical spaces across the world’s evolving continuum of distributed digital infrastructure are under pressure to accommodate a need for more compute power and to handle more external and internal traffic.

Traditional cassette-based fiber cable connectivity solutions have become a significant constraint for many critical infrastructure operators trying to meet these growing demands. In this blog, we examine how Legrand’s Infinium acclAIM cabling solution erases this frustration by eliminating the cassette and replacing that kind of product with a simple, 3-part design that enables direct connections and provides virtually unlimited scalability for critical infrastructure operators.

Download our free whitepaper to discover how Legrand’s Infinium acclAIM solution helped Cisco achieve significantly improved optical performance, increased scalability and mobility and an overall lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for its critical infrastructure at the 2022 Cisco Live event.

Overcoming the Challenges of Limited Space, Optical Performance & Infrastructure Mobility

A quick online search reveals that by 2025, the world will produce over 180 zettabytes of data, up from 79 in 2021. In an article we wrote for Embedded Computing Design, we noted that critical infrastructure operators are struggling to deliver on demands for higher densities, greater speeds, and improved performance because of the limits of their existing fiber cable infrastructure. However, when they attempt to upgrade by relying on a cassette-based connectivity layout, they’re faced with obstacles that revolve around making the correct interface and cable type selections, addressing reversed polarity issues, matching connectors and spending on inventory.

This is really a no-win scenario for the mission-critical spaces of the future. As data volumes increase globally, infrastructure managers will need the capability to accommodate both High Density (HD) and Ultra High Density plus (UHD+) deployments within existing floorspaces and with limited headroom inside the server racks. Even for new data center build-outs, for example, mission-critical spaces must be optimized to allow for future innovation and reduced long-term operating costs.

Here is an added challenge, however. As data volumes increase globally and data gravity shifts to the edge, IT and network infrastructure is no longer confined to any one facility. Anywhere can now be transformed into a mission-critical space that requires rapid deployment of vital equipment, including fiber cabling. As a result, today’s critical infrastructure operators need a new kind of solution for fiber cabling connectivity – one that simplifies and streamlines their operations so they can innovate and create the new data storage, compute, and networking architectures of the future. Legrand’s Infinium acclAIM solution does just that.

Infinium acclAIM in Practice – Download the whitepaper

Legrand’s creatively reimagined fiber cabling solution is vital in helping critical infrastructure operators meet the density, scalability, and mobility demands of the future by simplifying deployment, lowering costs, and improving optical performance. Here’s a quick overview of how our solution works.

As can be seen from the image, Infinium acclAIM connectors mate directly to an array of 2-fiber duplex MDC patch cords through an Infinium acclAIM Conversion Adapter Panel. The acclAIM solution utilizes its Conversion Adapter Panel as a pass-through adapter, which passively adapts the acclAIM octal fiber connector to four MDC 2-Fiber Duplex Connectors. This simple yet robust design makes acclAIM a vital building asset that will transform mission-critical spaces for decades. 

By replacing pre-terminated cassette-based cabling solutions with direct connections, Infinium acclAIM eliminates the need to inventory costly components and waste time dealing with gender, polarity, interface or cable type issues. It’s also the only fiber cabling connectivity solution on the market that offers the lowest optical loss as well as a significantly faster installation and configuration process. Simply put, Legrand’s Infinium acclAIM takes the current inefficient and messy way of connecting or mating cables within mission-critical environments and reimagines that connection to be simpler, smaller, more intuitive, better performing, and easier to use.

To understand better how Infinium acclAIM works and how it impacts real-world mission-critical operations, download our free eBook. Inside, we share the success story of how our product enabled the rapid deployment of critical infrastructure as well as vital mobility for Cisco's team members at the 2022 Cisco Live event in Las Vegas, NV.  

To speak to a Legrand team member about how Infinium acclAIM can support your needs, contact us here.