KeyCruncher.com

As many of you know, I recently got a new job (it is a neat one, too!). Being a commodities trading business, we have a lot of computers, a lot of monitors (15 between two traders) and LOTS of computer cables to organize.

When I set out to find a solution to our current cabling mess, I knew that I wanted something aesthetically pleasing, affordable and most importantly modular and easy to change cables in and out of. Over the years, I have found it inevitable that as soon as you finish organizing all of your cables, you realize you need to take one out or put one you forgot in and the whole thing is screwed up. I needed something that was easy to make changes to and durable so that I could quickly move equipment between people or desks.

Luckily, I stumbled across two really innovative products in my search for a better cabling organizer:

Cable-Safe: This is a 100-in-1 kind of tool that allows a multitude of different configurations to accommodate differing cable setups at your workstation; you can mount it below or above a desk, through a cable hole, with screws or without. The kit comes with a plethora of Velcro cable ties (far superior to zip ties any day), screws for permanent mounting, pads to protect your desk surface, bungees to strap in unwieldy components like network switches and surge protectors and, best of all, a quick and easy guide that gives multiple different example configurations. The guide is especially good as there are a number of configurations that I never would have thought of. All in all, this is by far the best overall packaging of a technology related product that I have *ever* seen and this product deserves a lot more attention because it is so innovative. The OEM’s web site gives lots of pictures of example configurations and you can even buy additional add-on pieces if you need them. I bought five of these for our office as a test and I will be buying them for home as well.

Buy the Cable-Safe Here

Vertebrae Carrier WireManager: The name Doug Mockett & Company, Inc. was not one that I had ever run across in the past, but take notice to their full line of very inventive and simple wire management solutions. These are wire managers that you are proud to show off. My personal favorite is the very durable Vertebrae Carrier Wire Manager as it is an elegant, very well made and extremely flexible product that allows one to clean up workstation clutter on a budget.

Unfortunately, about the only places near me in Richmond, Virginia that carry any sort of wire management products are Lowe’s and Home Depot and their markups are quite insane. One can easily spend upwards of $50-75 organizing wires on just one computer station and the products themselves are not the most durable nor do they allow any flexibility in use. By and large, these particular solutions carried by the major retailers are focused on carrying one or two wires, of equal length, to one location. These products do not work very well for these very reasons; no two cables are the same length, they never need to go to the exact same location and usually you have more than 6 cables to run.

Enter the Vertebrae Carrier Wire Manager. This thing just plain rocks and makes you think ‘why didn’t I think of that?‘. The spine-based design allows cables to enter and leave the structure at any point, making cable management a dream. Each kit ships with 20 vertebrae pieces (I did not use more than 15 on any one rail) and the whole setup is very, very durable and flexible; I do not see this product breaking like others I have used in the past.What was not a dream was assembling the pieces on to the rail; this is not a project for those with arthritic or delicate hands because the pieces fit very tightly together. One other thing that baffled me was the fact that you have to order double-sided tape separately because it does not come with the kit by default. I forgot this when I ordered but substituted indoor/outdoor carpet tape instead and am very happy with the result; I am sure I saved quite a bit too on buying tape as a 45′ roll of carpet tape only costs $4.99. These couple of shortcomings are easily forgotten when you deploy one of these and realize how easy it is to use and how elegant the result is.

Buy the Vertebrae Carrier Wire Manager Here

Filed under: Technology