3M (NYSE: MMM) has formed a strategic business alliance with FiberZone Networks, a supplier of Automated Fiber Management (AFM) platforms, to bring FiberZone's AFM system to the data center market. The companies say the system enables remote provisioning of a data center’s fiber network, for a reduction in operational costs and downtime associated with manual operation of traditional patch panels.
Aimed at multi-tenant data center operators and tenants in these facilities, the AFM system is designed to allow data center operators to dynamically manage fiber connectivity based on load requirements and customer needs, enabling on-demand services and new service offerings such as managed cage and expedited cross-connect services. The companies contend the AFM system enables a degree of fault tolerance and management for the fiber infrastructure that manual patching cannot offer.
The system's patented Latched Optical Coupling (LOC) technology creates a secure, physical optical fiber connection within the system which can be changed to a different port configuration on-demand through a software interface or programmed automatically. The fibers can be re-arranged in a NxN, non-blocking manner.
3M has entered into a strategic business alliance with FiberZone Networks to offer the Automated Fiber Management with Latched Optical Coupling to the data center market as an authorized sales representative. Founded in 2003, FiberZone Networks is a privately-held corporation with offices in the United States and Israel. More information on Automated Fiber Management from 3M and FiberZone Networks is available at http://www.3M.com/AFM.
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