What is a Patch Panel?
A patch panel is a device or unit featuring a number of jacks, usually of the same or similar type, for the use of connecting and routing circuits for monitoring, interconnecting, and testing circuits in a convenient, flexible manner. Patch panels are commonly used in computer networking, recording studios, and radio and television
The term patch came from early use in telephony and radio studios, where extra equipment kept on standby could be temporarily substituted for failed devices. This reconnection was done via patch cords and patch panels, like the jack fields of cord-type telephone switchboards.
A patch panel also referred to as a patch bay, patch field, or jacket field, is a piece of hardware assembly with several ports for connecting and managing incoming and outgoing LAN cables or fiber/copper cables. Patch panels can be quite small with just a few ports, or very large with many hundreds of ports. They can also be set up for fiber optic cables, cat5 cables, RJ45 cables, and many others.
What is a Patch Panel Used for?
The patch panel is one of the few components used in both copper and fiber cabling networks and almost all business network setups use patch panels for cabling installations. So what can be a patch panel used for?
Providing More Flexibility - First, they can give you flexibility and prevent the need to re-run cables or swap equipment places around if you need to change something or if something breaks. For example, punching down the cable to patch panels can allow mechanical relief to the comparatively expensive switch ports. If the cable from the wall or ceiling were to be plugged right into a switch port, that port could be subject to pulling, pushing, etc. and it does not take much for an RJ-45 plug to lose some connectivity like that - either with the inside of a switch port or with the connection to the cable itself.
Simplifying Your Network Cable Management - Some businesses use structured cabling for phones or you may have multiple businesses sharing office space. In these circumstances, a patch panel would also multiple different equipment to be easily connected to any outlet. The cables on the back of patch panels correspond to permanent jack locations in the users space, which can bring easy and accurate patch panel wiring for network newbies. Besides, the ability to label individual cable runs in a patch panel creates a cleaner and more organized way of identifying signal flow, and troubleshooting technical problems becomes an easier chore.
Shop now at Genuine to buy Network Accessories Online at uae.