Rack solutions are designed to make the lives of both your employees and your IT team as easy as possible. Simply put, server racks are enclosures that are designed to make mounting pieces of computer and networking equipment as easy as possible. They’re supposed to help keep things organized, which makes it easier to both maintain a server and keep things running on a day to day basis.
As your organization continues to grow and evolve, one of the most important questions that you’ll need to answer involves whether or not you should build your own server rack or buy an existing manufactured solution. Building your own server rack definitely has a number of different advantages and disadvantages that should be considered before committing to your decision.
Let’s explore some of the pros and cons below:
Pro: The “One Size Fits All” Myth
When it comes to networking in the business world, one of the biggest myths that exists has to do with a “one size fits all” solution to server racks. No two organizations are created equally, so it doesn’t make sense to assume that two businesses would require the same exact network infrastructure.
This is true even if those two hypothetical businesses are in the same industry and have the same number of employees. All companies will use technology a bit differently – as a result, you may have difficulty finding existing rack solutions that will meet your specific needs. Building your own rack therefore becomes the easiest way to make sure that all of your requirements are taken care of.
Pro: Getting Ready for the Future
As a business leader, only you have an idea of how your business is going to grow and evolve in the future. One of the most important things to remember when selecting rack solutions such as the 42u server rack cabinet or building your own concerns not just your current needs, but the needs you’ll need to fulfill five, ten or even fifteen years down the road.
Building your own server rack is a great way to give your organization room to grow from a technological standpoint. If you purchase existing server racks, you will likely need to spend a great deal of money replacing those racks at a certain point due to the ever evolving needs of your employees and the changing tides of technology in general.
Con: The Overall Cost
For every advantage that exists with building your own server rack there also exists a disadvantage of equal or greater value. One of the biggest disadvantages of building your own rack equipment solutions has to do with the overall cost associated with such a feat.
Remember that when you purchase exThe Pros and Cons of Building Your Own Server Rackisting equipment, you aren’t paying for the amount of money required to build that product – it’s already built into the price that you pay. Costs associated with operating and maintaining that equipment are also a non-issue. You’ll be taking all of those costs on, however, by building your own equipment.
About the Author
+Katrina racks them in for the market leader of custom racking products at RackSolutions.com
Photo credit: RackSolutions / Cam-Fu
