A patch panel is a piece of hardware with multiple ports that helps organize a group of cables. Each of these ports contains a wire that goes to a different location. 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
Patch panels connect various IT devices together. They are in many different environments including communications closets, telephone company central offices, and data centers. Understanding the role they play can help to determine if your facility requires a patch panel, and if so, how to set it up
Each port in a patch panel goes to a different device somewhere in the facility. Each panel bundles all the connections together in order to connect to another network. This is often how a LAN connects to a WAN, or to the Internet. Patch panels are also commonly used in facilities with a lot of telephone lines, in which one mainline is used for all phones
Advantages of Patch Panels
Patch panels are an important piece of equipment in the data center. Using a patch panel comes with many advantages that make it well worth the investment. Some of the most significant benefits of using patch panels include
Scalability After installing a patch panel, you can easily add new devices without having to run new cables end-to-end
Reduces Cable Clutter : Patch panels are typically located closer to the actual equipment. This makes it possible to use a shorter patch cable
From the panel, a fiber optic or other high capacity connection runs to the next network or the internet
Inexpensive Patch panels aren’t considered “smart” devices in that they don’t perform any function other than facilitating the passing of data. This means they are very inexpensive
Lowering Cable Cost Having a patch panel allows you to use shorter cables, which cost less than longer ones. Typically, you can also use inexpensive cat-5 cables to get to the patch panel rather than costly fiber optics
Easier Maintenance If you ever need to run a test cable, test a port, or perform any other common maintenance tasks, it can be done more quickly and is much easier than if each device had a cable run to its final destinatio