By Josh Taylor, CABLExpress -- I cringed during the blackout that occurred at the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans. The reaction was not due to the delay of the game, nor the effect it may have on the teams’ momentum. It was due to the fact that I know all too well what was going on behind the scenes. DOWNTIME! Sheer panic!
The impact was huge. Everyone was talking about it, which created embarrassment for the city of New Orleans. According to TV blog reporting from the Washington Post, it even appears to have affected the ratings. Bottom line is that this blackout cost the city and the NFL money… big money!
That is why I cringed when I saw this happening. I knew this was going to cost lots of money, and potentially some people’s jobs! Even when things are going right 99.9% of the time, with power and facilities wiring there is always the potential for something catastrophic to happen at the worst possible time. This is what we saw at the “Blackout Bowl.” When all is said and done, no excuses are accepted. The blackout happened and heads will roll!
I have seen this in my line of work far too often. I work directly with data center staffing to help design structured cabling solutions for their data centers. Too often, customers have approached me for help after they experienced downtime due to a faulty piece of cabling infrastructure.
It is a tough lesson that many have experienced. You are only as strong as your weakest link! It seems that, no matter what the facility, the focus is always on the hardware and too little attention -- in both an economic and a planning sense -- is paid to the cabling infrastructure.
Related: CABLExpress offers free data center structured cabling guide
When the cost of downtime is so high, and can even result in job terminations, it is amazing to me that people focus on “costs” of a job and skimp out on the cabling infrastructure! Think of it this way – would it be worth saving $5 on a fiber-optic patch cable that ends up failing after being plugged in for the third time? Consider that this patch cable failing could cost your company $XX per minute! The initial savings on the patch cable could be very insignificant compared to the impact of 5 minutes of downtime!
Having respect for Layer One is critical in any data center. With a well-planned infrastructure, downtime related to cabling can be reduced drastically.
Do yourself a favor - look for the weakest links within your cabling infrastructure and address them immediately! Also, don’t allow cabling to be purchased on price alone. Do some research and find the best overall value for your situation.
Also, put pressure on your cabling supplier to provide documentation on certifications and testing procedures (or lack thereof) that ensure you won’t experience downtime due to a cabling failure!
Josh Taylor is a Senior Product Manager with CABLExpress (www.cablexpress.com)
