DIN EN 50173-5:2013-04

DIN EN 50173-5 (VDE 0800-173-5) provides the operators and planners of data centres for the first time with a tool which allows for structured cabling and at the same time takes into account the special needs and characteristics of these facilities. Data centres are characterized, amongst others, by an extremely high volume of data cables needed for provision of central server services (for example, web hosting) to a large amount of users, both internally as well as to the outside world. The cabling topology defined in this standard provides a flexible structure which quickly and sufficiently supports modifications and expansions on the cabling with minimum operational disruption and thereby also takes into account the need of redundant network designs. The high-performance channel classes provide a technically future-proof and economically attractive cabling infrastructure even at quickly increasing transfer rates of the transfer facilities in data centres. Amendment 2 which has now been published, supplements the specifications of the standard by a new functional element: the intermediate distributor and the associated cabling. With this the need of increased flexibility in the topology of large-scale data centres is taken into account. The responsible committee is Joint Subcommittee GUK 715.3 "Informationstechnische Verkabelung von Gebäudekomplexen" ("Customer premises cabling") of the DKE (German Commission for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies) at DIN and VDE.