Kevin Considine,
Cablesoft Inc.
You can manage your networking system and components with cable management software by using its equipment, inventory or asset management to document and track inventory, warranties and maintenance contracts. You can document not only cable and connectivity, but also the entire infrastructure. You then have a disaster recovery tool in place by using the software`s search-and-report capabilities.
In the event of a disaster at a securities company, for example, they do not want to shut down the information flow to brokers and customers. In the days of computer mainframes, if you had a power outage on three floors of your building, you just picked up and moved to another facility and routed your networks into it. But with today`s environment of complex networks that have grown rapidly, you need documentation to know what`s in your system.
Once you have built your physical system to include cable management software, if a fiber backbone cable is accidentally cut, the CMS database can immediately identify the affected equipment and users. To get a critical department up and running quickly in another location, all you need to do is search for, and generate, a report on available PCs, telephones, jacks and other necessary equipment in the new location. Then you just match the users to the available equipment and redeploy them. In addition, you should do a damage assessment and use the asset information from the database to cut a purchase order and replace that equipment as soon as possible.
Kevin Considine is a vice president at Cablesoft Inc., Arlington Heights, IL.