Article for James Hunt and Alex Duncan, Wired In, for the May cabinets/racks feature Applying Maslow's Hierarchy to cabinet selection Barry Maidment Technical Marketing Manager APW Enclosure Solutions While it may initially appear somewhat fanciful to compare choosing a networking cabinet with the famous humanist approach to management espoused in a paper by Abraham Maslow in 1943, there are, however, striking similarities. Maslow's influential paper set out five fundamental human needs and their hierarchical nature. The lower the needs in the hierarchy, the more fundamental they are and the more a person will tend to abandon the higher needs in order to ensure meeting the lower needs. For example, when we are ill, we care little for what others think about us: all we are interested in is returning to full health and being free from pain. Figure 1: Maslow's hierarchy of needs The five levels: Physiological needs are the basics: air, food, drink, shelter and so on. Safety needs: protection, security, stability and law. Belonging needs introduce our tribal nature, covering relationships, family and work group. Esteem needs are for a higher position within a group: achievement, reputation and recognition. Self-actualisation needs include fulfilment and personal growth. Applying this approach to a choice of cabinet is perfectly valid. Starting with the most important physiological needs, every cabinet on the market will, by definition, give you some 19" panel mountings, side panels and doors. So far, Maslow isn't much help in making the cabinet choice. However, moving up to the next level, safety, starts to narrow down the selection. In this context, safety covers the issues of safety of self: is the cabinet properly finished with no sharp edges where one might cut oneself; it also covers the safety of the housed equipment. Are the locking options: mechanical, electromechanical or electronic adequate to prevent unauthorised access to give security? Are there thermal management options available to give adequate protection against overheating? Does the cabinet conform to the applicable laws or standards? Does the cabinet provide sufficient rigidity and stability to take the expected weight of the equipment? Now, by just moving one level up the needs hierarchy, differentiators between different products are beginning to become apparent, enabling choices to be made. Examining the belonging need raises further questions that have to be answered. If an existing installation is being extended, how do the cabinets under consideration fit in with the group already there? What activities are carried out in the work group? Are the enclosures to be used as patching cabinets or server housings, applications that place very different requirements on the configuration and features of the cabinet? In a cabling rack, from the installer's perspective, ease of entry through the top, the base and the rear, cable guidance and routing, all round accessibility and the overall space available for cable runs are the most important requirements. One innovative design enables cables to be brought into the enclosure without having to thread them through the rack's framework, allowing the rack to be offered up to existing runs and the appropriate cables brought into the unit. Similarly, in bayed suites, cables can run vertically between cabinets, breaking out into the enclosure as required. An additional benefit is if the rack itself combines light weight with rigidity, transport and manoeuvring on site will be relatively easy. Once the original installation is complete, the network manager's requirements take priority. Effective cable management capability to preserve the network's integrity, as much space as possible around the 19" patch panel area for cable runs, dedicated front to back cable runs, the ability to run cables to adjacent cabinets within the footprint of the cabinet, recessed mountings to provide space for front patching and access security are the primary requisites. It is in server racks that the most demanding advances from the enclosure manufacturer's point of view have taken place. 1U servers have become the most popular option, and they have been becoming steadily deeper with time, so any server rack should be available in a 1000mm deep version to ensure that the deepest standard form factors can be housed without modification. Thermal management requirements are becoming steadily more onerous and difficult to meet as power densities increase; this also puts increasing pressure on the ways of distributing power around the cabinet. As would be expected from Maslow's original theory, the next two levels become more abstract, but nevertheless still relevant. Esteem can be related to the reputation of the supplier for quality products, good technical support and high service levels. Recognition and achievement can also be applied to the trading relationship between the supplier and purchaser: does the supplier correctly identify the requirements of the application and offer a suitable solution? Finally, self-actualisation refers to fulfilment: in the context of cabinet selection, how well does it meet the needs and do the job? From the above, it is very clear how the process of specifying a cabinet conforms to the hierarchy of needs first identified by Maslow, even if a considerable proportion of the assessment and decisions are arrived at in an unstructured and unconscious way. When the specification is first drawn up, quantifying and ranking the various factors that will influence the decision in accordance with Maslow's Hierarchy may well prove beneficial. *** Ends: body copy 862 words *** Notes to Alex Duncan and James Hunt 29 March 2006. Copy supplied by email, images to follow on CD today. For further information: Barry Maidment APW Enclosure Solutions Electron Way Chandlers Ford Hants SO53 4ZR tel: + 44 (0)23 8026 4705 fax:+ 44 (0)23 8026 4520 barry.maidment@apw.com www.apw.com/enclosuresolutions Agency contact: Nigel May Parkfield Communications Limited Parkfield House Damerham Hants SP6 3HQ tel: + 44 (0)1725 518321 fax: + 44 (0)1725 518378 nigel.may@parkfield.co.uk www.parkfield.co.uk APW provides global capabilities in the design, manufacture and integration of electrical and mechanical solutions. The home of world-renowned brands: Enclosure Solutions, VERO, EMI and I.engage.