Patent ID: 8719205

Claim:
A network cabinet comprising: at least one intelligent patch panel installed in said network cabinet, said at least one intelligent patch panel having stored therein a patch panel physical location information that represents the physical location in which said at least one intelligent patch panel is installed; at least one piece of network equipment installed in said network cabinet and connected to a patch port of said at least one intelligent patch panel; at least one power outlet unit installed in said network cabinet, said at least one power outlet unit having a power outlet unit management port that is connected to said at least one intelligent patch panel such that information about power consumption in said network cabinet can be collected by said at least one intelligent patch panel and associated with said network cabinet, said at least one power outlet unit further comprising a sensing and control port; and at least one environmental sensor connected to said sensing and control port of said at least one power outlet unit, environmental data from said at least one environmental sensor being collected by said at least one intelligent patch panel and associated with said network cabinet.