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Article: Physical layer gets smarter: an intelligent physical-layer management solution provides network visibility.(communications protocols)
- Article from:
- Communications News
- Article date:
- December 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Nelson Publishing. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Technology has advanced to such an extent that IT managers are required to relate to the physical layer (i.e., where the devices are connected to one another to actually create the network). The more dynamic the enterprise layers become, the more stress is placed on the physical layer. Despite this fact, an estimated 80% of U.S. organizations using patch panels employ non-managed physical-layer solutions. This means that, for the most part, physical-level configuration, troubleshooting and tracking are performed manually--a time-consuming, error-prone and highly resource-inefficient process.
A conventional patch panel is a panel of network ports contained ...