Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions. SYSTIMAX Solutions. Resolving Today s Network Challenges and Business Issues.

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1 SYSTIMAX Solutions Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions Resolving Today s Network Challenges and Business Issues 1

2 Vision + Knowledge = Control Challenges Bandwidth Robustness Reliability Redundancy Security Manageability Maintainability Network Support, Management and Monitoring To secure the information needed to run your network in fact, to run your business network connections in every part of the organization must be constantly monitored and managed. With business environments constantly changing, it can be an uphill struggle to stay on top of the demands. Is your physical layer a blind spot, or do you have the vision to detect changes as they happen? Do the tools you use today give you the knowledge you need? Are you in control of your network infrastructure? Honestly? How many hours are consumed chasing down the unknown? Can you report switch capacity accurately? Are you in compliance? Can you prove it? Do even simple changes cause downtime? How quickly can you recover? How much does it cost to do an annual audit? Do you even know? Do you survive on manual processes? Are they working? Is there a better way? The Demand for Intelligence In the world of network infrastructure, nothing stands still. IP Convergence is a reality. Gone are the days of separate voice and data networks. Video and other content-rich traffic will also share the same infrastructure, as will intelligent building control devices. Your network is now truly a fourth utility. It has to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether anyone is in the office or not. Maintenance windows are shorter than ever before, so any change to the network must be made quickly and accurately it has to be right the first time, every time. Consolidation also drives the need for quick, accurate changes along with more effective planning tools. As more computing power and storage is concentrated in mission-critical data centers, reliability, availability and security become paramount. Productivity must be greatly increased to meet the ever-expanding demands on IT operations personnel. Without the right tools, IT professionals will not be able to keep up with the networks they must control. CommScope understands your world and the challenges you face. We know you need a high degree of intelligence in order to do your job well. As technology and demands for connectivity continue to spiral, the demand is for more intelligence, faster. With SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions, your physical layer is more than a reliable, high performance communications foundation it gives you the VISION and KNOWLEDGE you need to be in CONTROL. Are you ready to take control? Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions 2

3 The Convergence Trend To meet the demand for intelligence, an expanding number of networks are moving toward IP convergence. Convergence eases the strain of managing multiple systems and a complex network. Bringing video, data, voice, wireless, factory controls, building controls, building devices and factory devices into one IP network will continue into the foreseeable future. Convergence brings with it a host of opportunities. Since building systems are linked, operations can be taken to a new level of efficiency. Maintenance becomes simpler and productivity more effective. With real-time reports and monitoring, convergence makes record keeping and decision making manageable. However, convergence also has its challenges. When you bring systems together, you want to retain a comfortable level of robustness, reliability and manageability. Bandwidth and security demands have to be met. How can you ensure that bringing your systems into one IP will succeed? The trend is toward convergence. The demand is for intelligence. You need a solution that can provide both while also overcoming the challenges and easing the demands on your time and resources. VIDEO VIDEO DATA VIDEO VOICE Opportunities Operational efficiencies Reduced infrastructure materials Reduced maintenance Increased productivity WIRELESS IP FACTORY CONTROLS Real-time reports and monitoring BUILDING CONTROLS BUILDING DEVICES FACTORY DEVICES 3

4 Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions surpass network demands Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions are designed to enhance your network s effectiveness and ease of use through the power of intelligence. For each of your network-driven concerns, Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions respond with a host of features that relieve your workload, increasing your vision and knowledge so you have the control you need. Security Unauthorized Access Know in real-time when and where an unauthorized access occurred, down to the office or cubicle. Switch Port Control Ensure that all necessary physical connections are correctly in place before enabling switch ports. Rogue Asset Location You have systems that can determine whether you have computers infected with malicious software or unauthorized wireless access points or other devices connected to your network. Now you can find out exactly where these assets are physically located as well. Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions 4 Change Management Automated Documentation Eliminate documentation errors as well as the need to update patch connections in a spreadsheet or other manual system. Improved Planning Increase your understanding of existing capacity. Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions augment the infrastructure view provided by switch/router planning tools. Increased Service Availability Decrease the chance of impacting critical services during moves, adds and changes (MACs). Accurate documentation decreases cycle time, allowing you to skip the step of documenting what you have done. Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions also decrease rework, since guided patching ensures MAC work is performed right the first time. Availability Troubleshooting Check the last known location of devices you can no longer communicate with. Determine whether unplanned changes have been made to the physical infrastructure. Critical Circuit Notification Improve your response time and service availability by receiving notification when critical circuits are about to be impacted. Guided Patching Ensure the right connectivity changes are made, efficiently and on time, alleviating the possibility of unplanned downtime.

5 Compliance Control Activities In order to comply with industry best practices, all internal control activities, such as connectivity change management, should be automated wherever possible. Audit Trails Know who authorized connectivity changes and when the work was performed. Unplanned Changes Determine whether unplanned changes have been made to physical layer connections. Physical Location Asset Tracking Track IP devices as they are moved within an office building or data center. Auditing When it comes time for the annual IT audit, you will know where your assets are physically located. Tracing View the physical layer path from a switch port all the way to an IP endpoint. User Location Enable call centers or help desks to lend support by finding the nearest resource for a user (such as a printer), or by dispatching a technician to fix a device. Ideal Environments Emergency Response Aid emergency response authorities in finding a person in need when VoIP is used to call an internal or external emergency number. Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions fit to your network needs, no matter your environment. These solutions are a perfect fit for: Data Centers Workplace/Enterprise IT Intelligent Buildings Healthcare Facilities Financial Institutions Educational Institutions Productivity Automation Spend less time documenting your infrastructure and tracking down the precise location of assets. MAC Cycle Time Reduce the time needed for move, add, change work with guided patching and automated documentation. Avoid Rework Plan your MAC work and use guided patching to ensure your work is performed correctly the first time. Capacity Planning Increase the utilization of existing resources through an improved understanding of unused capacity. 5

6 SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions Giving you Vision and Knowledge to Control your network CommScope understands the demands placed on you for convergence and your corresponding need for intelligence. We know the challenges you have to overcome. After all, we have been a major player in the intelligent infrastructure market since its beginning. Today, we continue to lead the industry in developing innovative solutions that give you the Vision and Knowledge you need to Control your network. Your Network Dashboard Our SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions are engineered to document, monitor and manage your network. Bringing together software and hardware, provide you with a real-time, comprehensive view of your physical network infrastructure. Because they tie into each aspect of your infrastructure, updating you on moves, adds and changes, you will have a dashboard that gives you the Vision and Knowledge you will need for unprecedented Control of your network. Components With a Web-enabled dashboard for your network, you will know the status of your physical layer network, and you can be alerted to completed, overdue or unexpected changes. ipatch System Manager Intelligent Infrastructure Operations Software Documents the physical layer Discovers IP devices, mapping logical connections to the physical layer Initiates and manages electronic work orders Detects unauthorized physical layer changes and alerts external systems Provides a wide range of reports API for integration with other industry-leading solutions ipatch Rack Manager Plus Infrastructure Control System Local display for technicians Traces cabling from end-to-end and displays services being provided Guides patching activities with audible and visual cues Displays alerts for critical circuits and unplanned changes SYSTIMAX 360 ipatch Panel Manager Innovative, cost effective, space-saving technology and design simplifies deployment, requiring no more than 1 RU of space Supports up to 45 panels, depending on specific panel configuration Localized display language support includes Chinese, Danish, English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish Panel Manager package contents contains: universal power supply, 1 6-inch panel bus jumper, 7 ft. patch cord, forty four position bus panel SYSTIMAX 360 ipatch Network Manager Innovative, cost effective, space-saving technology and design simplifies deployment which easily mounts on the 1 U bracket provided with Panel Manager Utilizes the display of the Panel Manager for configuration, including IP settings Supports PING response for use when troubleshooting IP connectivity Network Manager package contents contains: 6-inch patch cord, power jumper cable ipatch Intelligent Copper and Fiber Patch Panels Built on industry-leading SYSTIMAX structured connectivity hardware Use standard copper patch cords and fiber optic jumpers 6

7 Because the solutions alert you when failures occur, isolating each problem to its exact physical location, you will also have a diagnostic tool to help you quickly make repairs. Here are some of the benefits you can expect from SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions: Automate documentation of physical layer connectivity and attached IP devices Augment the infrastructure view provided by common planning tools Alert on unauthorized changes, providing specific physical location Notify you of impacts to critical circuits Track location of IP endpoints Govern your workflow process Reduce move, add and change cycle time and rework through electronic work orders, guided patching, and automated documentation Your Network GPS Today s infrastructure deployments are like complicated mazes. Finding your way is never straightforward, and simple questions can become overwhelming. Where is my IP endpoint? What network connections are needed? Which switches provide the required services? Where do I need to add patch cords? are your network GPS. They eliminate your blind spots, guiding you to your destination on the most efficient route possible saving you time and money. ipatch hardware and software deliver Vision, Knowledge and Control, and are a perfect part of any Intelligent Infrastructure Solution. Do you know where you are going? With Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions, the route is obvious. SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions: Automate change management Track physical location Secure your network Enhance availability Promote compliance Improve productivity Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions are like GPS for your network, guiding you along the most efficient route. Vision is the ability for ipatch hardware to see changes in the physical layer as they occur. Knowledge is the ability for intelligent infrastructure operations software to correlate that Vision with information from other sources, such as LAN switches, SAN switches and IP endpoints. Control is the ability for intelligent infrastructure solutions to use Vision and Knowledge to provide accurate change management, enhanced location information, capacity planning, security, and compliance with greatly increased productivity. give you the Vision and Knowledge you need to Control your network. 7

8 Case Study With electronic work orders and guided patching, trusted teaching assistants could perform work normally done by expensive and overworked IT personnel, saving time and operational costs. An Intelligent Infrastructure empowers the IT department Large campus environments are difficult to manage. Spread out over a large area with dozens of buildings, IT managers can spend hours a day just traveling between buildings to make connectivity changes. Having to know how every building s telecom room is configured makes it even more challenging to do it right the first time. Students depend on fully networked classrooms, and it is critical to minimize any unforeseen network outages. By deploying an Intelligent Infrastructure, one college was able to reduce by 30% the time it took to troubleshoot network outages because they could monitor network connectivity in real-time, seeing any changes as they occurred and being informed if any of them were unplanned. By automatically discovering the physical location of IT assets, they spent 50% less time tracking down specific computers, printers and IP phones. With electronic work orders, they were able to reduce by 60% the time it took to do moves, adds and changes ensuring they were done right the first time, every time. They could also get trusted teaching assistants to make the changes, reducing the need to send out expensive IT management personnel. give you the Vision and Knowledge you need to Control your network. It also reduces your operational costs for far-flung campus environments. SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions bring operational efficiency. 8

9 Case Study Accurate Change Management No matter how sophisticated or reliable a network infrastructure gets, there still remains the capacity for human error. Given the escalating demand placed on IT personnel, that capacity for error becomes greater with every technology surge. The ideal network world would be a system that meets or exceeds all needs, combined with a team that never makes a mistake. One company knew just how costly human error could become. Their Dynamic Managed Services Data Center used 100% manual processes built on applications like Microsoft Visio, PowerPoint and Excel. When a manual server provisioning process was carried out, it took 15 days to complete, and documentation was found to be inaccurate 60% of the time. Inaccurate data not only caused deployment times to skyrocket, but they had several incidents where existing customers accidentally had their circuits disconnected. Additionally, billing was problematic, as they did not necessarily know which ports were being used by which customers. The company decided to incorporate intelligence into their infrastructure by deploying ipatch hardware and software. The key driver was their desire to greatly improve the efficiency of the IT staff and their overall productivity in the data center. They expect to reduce connectivity errors by at least 90% and server deployment cycle time by 50% to 75%. give you the Vision and Knowledge you need to Control your network. They also bring you exacting accuracy. SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions bring exacting accuracy. With an accurate, up-to-date record of the connectivity in the data center, one company believes they can reduce their error rate from 60% to near zero, helping to eliminate significant rework, delays in providing services and accidental disconnets of existing customers. 9

10 Application Note With the added vision given by SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions, an extra dimension of aid is available for emergency situations. Enterprises must be prepared to handle emergencies effectively. However, 60 million Americans go to work each day without the same level of protection they get at home for emergency response. Dial 911 from an IP phone, and too often the operator will have only limited information with respect to your location, and no way to contact you if the call is disrupted. One company installed ipatch into their infrastructure because of the productivity improvements its Vision, Knowledge and Control brought to their network. However, no one initially anticipated how valuable it would be in an emergency situation. Because an intelligent infrastructure tracks devices, including IP phones, as their connectivity changes, ipatch always has an up-to-date view of their exact physical location. When an employee was having a medical emergency late one evening, she called 911. The call was bridged to a corporate security officer along with the 911 operator. On the corporate security officer s IP phone, information related to the caller was immediately displayed, including the caller s name and extension. With the integration of ipatch hardware and software, the system was also able to display the exact physical location of the caller, including the building address, floor number, office number even down to the jack number on the wall. With this information, the corporate security officer was able to pull up the building floor plan in the ipatch System Manager software and determine the quickest way to reach the employee. He was able to provide explicit directions to the incoming emergency response personnel, greatly improving the odds that help would arrive in time. give you the Vision and Knowledge you need to Control your network. They also bring you enhanced location information for emergency response. SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions deliver greatly enhanced location information for emergency response. 10

11 Vision + Knowledge = Control document, manage and monitor your physical layer network. Combining intelligence with legendary SYSTIMAX copper and fiber connectivity, ipatch hardware and software work together to provide you with a comprehensive, real-time view of your physical network infrastructure. ipatch hardware and software see into each aspect of your infrastructure, updating you on moves, adds and changes while acting as a high-level dashboard for your network infrastructure. Because SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions also alert you when failures occur, isolating each problem to its exact physical location, they give you a diagnostic tool designed to help you quickly make repairs. provide all the support you need for a powerful, responsive network. Contact your CommScope BusinessPartner or visit for more information on the Vision, Knowledge and Control that SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions, featuring ipatch technology, can bring to your network. SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions give you the Vision and Knowledge you need to Control your network. SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions 4 Automate change management 4 Track physical location 4 Secure your network 4 Enhance availability 4 Promote compliance 4 Improve productivity 11

12 12 Visit our Web site or contact your local CommScope representative for more information CommScope, Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks identified by or are registered trademarks or trademarks, respectively, of CommScope, Inc. This document is for planning purposes only and is not intended to modify or supplement any specifications or warranties relating to CommScope products or services. 04/11 BR-E-1