When it comes to managing hundreds of servers and thousands of cables in order to seamlessly service an entire school system, the Information, Communications and Technology Services department of the Orange County Public School District earns an A+.

Before: Office labels could not withstand the heat in the data center and had to be taped onto the cables

After: RHINO labels stay securely in place, withstanding the data center environment

The Orange County Public School district of central Florida consists of over 170 schools with over 177,000 students in grades Kindergarten through 12. While each school maintains it own onsite school-specific file and print servers, the heart of the district's IT functions is the Educational Leadership Center (ELC) Data Center in downtown Orlando. Here, the facility houses all of the district's business, student and email servers and all major applications.

To keep the district's schools and business offices humming along, it is critical that the equipment in the ELC Data Center remains organized and well managed. This is the responsibility of the Information, Communications and Technology Services department (ICTS).

“The Data Center has hundreds of servers connected to Cisco switches via Ethernet,” explained Rob Carlisi, Systems Engineer at ICTS. “That means there are a LOT of cable connections, and keeping those connections organized plays a key role in our operations efficiency.”

As with any data network, the ability to quickly locate and properly identify cable connections is critical, especially during troubleshooting. Quickly identifying the connection, fixing any problem, and getting the system up and running is key to keeping any downtime to a minimum. “With so many connections, we felt it was important to label every one of our cables and servers clearly and correctly,” said Carlisi.

With this in mind, the ICTS staff began a project to comprehensively label the entire data center. They began by using an office hand-held label printer to create the labels. However, due to the heat typical in data centers, it wasn't long before the labels began falling off. “I'd label 30-40 cables one day, and the next day the labels would be peeling off!” Carlisi recalled. “They just wouldn't stick to the cables, so I began to go back and wrap each label with Scotch tape. Not only did they look messy, it wasn't an efficient use of my time. I thought, "There's got to be a better way!”

Searching for an answer to his labeling dilemma, Rob contacted Steve Spiro, Area Datacom Sales Manager for Rexel. Rexel carries a full line of quality electronic and telecommunications products and provides the Orange County Public Schools' Data Center with many of its telecom solutions. Steve Spiro immediately recommended RHINO industrial label printers and labels. RHINO labels are an ideal solution for data center environments due to their industrial-strength adhesives that resist heat, ensuring that the labels adhere securely in place.

“Following Steve's suggestion, I went to the RHINO website (www.rhinolabeling.com), checked out the printers, and liked what I saw,” Rob continued. “ Then Steve brought Al Feaster, RHINO Strategic Account Manager, to visit us at the ELC. He gave us a demonstration of the printers, highlighting their easy operation, advanced functions and adhesive strength… and we were sold!”

The Orange County Public Schools' ICTS department now keeps the Data Center network connections clearly identifi ed and organized using RHINO label printers.

“They are fantastic,” stated Carlisi. “Compared to the other brand of labels, they are like night and day. I haven't had one RHINO label that ever peeled even a little.”

While keeping the data center organized, the ICTS staff also wants to keep it looking professional – a model in organizational management. For aesthetic purposes, the blade servers are labeled using the RHINO 5000 printer with metallic permanent polyester labels – keeping the servers' sleek appearance intact. To keep the thousands of data center cables clearly identifi ed, they are labeled with wire wraps using RHINO flexible nylon labels. And in the future, for fi ber connections, the RHINO 3000 printer will be used to create flag labels – ideal for the thin diameter of fiber strands.

“We are constantly installing new servers in the data center, and we will continue to keep them labeled with RHINO,” summed up Carlisi. “RHINO printers have saved us countless amounts of time in doing our job. They have easily paid for themselves. Everyone who uses them here loves them.”

Have a RHINO installation story you'd like to share? Email it to RhinoCrash@dymo.com.

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