Patent ID: 7787260

Claim:
A telecommunications system, comprising: a) a telecommunications frame having a front, a rear, and first and second opposing sides, the front, rear, and sides defining a frame interior; b) a patch panel region located within the frame interior, the patch panel region defining a number of patch panel zones, each of the patch panel zones defining a plurality of patch panel connections, the patch panel connections being accessible from the front of the telecommunications frame; c) an active equipment region located within the frame interior, the active equipment region defining a number of equipment connection zones, the equipment connection zones defining a plurality of equipment connections, the equipment connections being accessible from the front of the telecommunications frame; d) first and second slack storage panels, each slack storage panel having a single cable routing pathway, the single cable routing pathway including a pathway entrance and a pathway exit through which patch cords are routed in a generally horizontal direction, wherein no portion of the cable routing pathway overlaps another portion of the cable routing pathway; e) a first vertical cable channel located at the first side of the telecommunications frame, and a second vertical cable channel located at the second side of the telecommunications frame; and f) patch cords having a length defined between first and second connection ends, the first and second connection ends of the patch cords being interconnected to the patch panel connections and the equipment connections, the length of the patch cords being routed within the first and second vertical cable channels, a middle portion of the lengths being stored within one of the first and second slack storage panels; g) wherein patch cords interconnected to the connections at one patch panel zone are routed to the first slack storage panel, and patch cords interconnected to the connections at another patch panel zone are routed to the second slack storage panel, each patch cord interconnected to a particular patch panel zone being routed to the same one of the first and second slack storage panels as that of the other patch cords of that particular patch panel zone.