A large, nationwide media and communications provider – delivering cable television programming as well as Internet connectivity – had a datacenter expansion project to support increasing consumer and business usage of broadband Internet access when it selected AFCO Systems, a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced enclosure technology for mission-critical datacenter environments.
Challenge
Together, customer and vendor faced a dilemma: How do you squeeze a large datacenter facility into a small space? As a media and communications provider, the customer had unique cabling requirements. In addition, the low ceiling height of its datacenter meant that AFCO Systems engineers needed to build a custom computer rack, cable management system and datacenter enclosure – space and cable management were key to the success of the datacenter expansion.
Solution
AFCO recognizes that companies in industries as demanding as media and communications require quick turnaround of precision engineering and that nothing can happen in a datacenter build-out until the cabinets are installed. It’s a responsibility that AFCO takes seriously. The tight relationship between the customer’s cable design team and AFCO engineers enabled them to quickly generate multiple iterations of technical specifications and create a prototype rack within one week for testing.
Unexpected Benefits
Ultimately, AFCO began delivery of over 100 racks to the site four weeks later – all on spec and well within the tight time schedule required.


