Black Box RM260 Specifications

1

Compact rack system
occupies just 2U of
vertical space.

Order the SNMP/HTTP
Card for flexible rack
management.

Load-sharing, dual­redundant power
supplies.

Daisychain up to 8
racks for additional
connections.

A wide variety of cards
available for different
interfaces.

Cards for mDSL, hDSL,
and iDSL connections.

Up to 50-km distances
between two single­mode fiber cards.

W

hen space is tight, choose the
BLACK BOX

®

16-Port Managed
MicroRACK system. Resilient dual­power supplies and the ability to
mix different types of access
solution cards add up to a compact,
reliable solution—all in only 2U
(3.5") of vertical space in a 19" rack!

Two sturdy front handles allow
the rack to be installed, extracted,
or transported easily. Plus, it’s
expandable; you can cascade
multiple racks and establish up to
320 card connections.

The 16-Port Managed
MicroRACK can not only save you
space and effort, but it also has
slots for a pair of power supplies
that provide redundant power to
keep your mission-critical
applications alive. Each power
supply is capable of providing 100%
of your rack power requirements.
In the event of a power failure, the
other supply immediately takes
over and the MicroRACK alerts you
to the failure. The rack also notifies
the central site operator of the
power failure through the network
management system.

Install up to 16 interface cards in only 2U of rack

space—and manage them via SNMP/HTTP!

Key Features

16-PORT MANAGED MICRORACK

There are two types of rack
power supplies. The AC version
(PS466A) plugs into any standard
AC outlet (90–264 VAC, 50/60 Hz);
the rack comes with one of these
already installed. The DC supply
(PS466A-DC) can be attached to a
site’s -48-VDC power (actual
voltage range can be from -42 to

-60 VDC). Each of these power
supplies—as do all of the function
cards designed for the
MicroRACK—consists of a front­mounted “front card” and a rear­mounted “rear card”; these cards
meet at a midplane interface inside
the rack.

A Managed MicroRACK can
take any combination of the power
supplies. A single supply provides
power to up to 16 rack cards. With
a pair of power supplies, you can
provide redundant power for up to
14 rack cards. This way, you can
keep your system operating
smoothly; it won’t come to a
standstill if one supply fails.

Once powered, the rack begins
operating automatically—it has no
on/off switch—and you can check

the status of the power supply via
front-card LEDs.

There are five possible

configurations for the rack:

• Standard—16 cards and
1 power supply;

• Managed—15 cards,
1 SNMP/HTTP Card, and
1 power supply;

• Redundant—14 cards and
2 power supplies;

• Managed/redundant—13
cards, 1 SNMP/HTTP Card,
and 2 power supplies;

• Daisychained/redundant (up to
8 racks)— 13 cards, 1 SNMP/
HTTP Card, or 1 Control
Module, and 2 power supplies.

A wide variety of function
cards are available. You may also
want an SNMP/HTTP network
management module, which
enables you to configure and
perform diagnostics using SNMP
or HTTP over a 10BASE-T Ethernet
connection. If you want to
daisychain racks together, order
the Control Module (RM262C).

Black Box Corporation • 1000 Park Drive • Lawrence, PA 15055-1018 • Tech Support: 724-746-5500 • www.blackbox.com • e-mail: [e-mail]

© 2002. All rights reserved.

Black Box Corporation.

02/19/2002 #25821

2

Card Choices

M

ix and match the widest range

of cards, whether you want to
provide high-speed G.703 access,
router links, or short-haul modem
hook-ups. We offer cards for
various DSL, mDSL, hDSL, and iDSL
connections, including V.24, V.35,
X.21, 10BASE-T, G.703, and RS-530.
And as new DSL technologies
develop, this range will expand!

As with the Managed
MicroRACK’s power supplies, the
rack’s function and SNMP/HTTP
cards come in two parts: a front
card and a rear card.

QuikConnect

™

technology
enables you to hot-swap rear
modules and switch interfaces.

G.703/E1 Fiber Line Driver Cards

These cards are designed to
link a local G.703/G.704 or E1 device
or network to a remote site across a
single strand of fiber optic cabling.

They’re ideal for extending the
G.703 signals on multiplexors or
cellular base stations. In a mobile
telephony application, for instance,
you can use the G.703/E1 Fiber Line
Driver Cards to connect cell towers
with your native G.703 equipment.
Or you can extend the reach of a
G.703 network to any location not
served by a traditional G.703
transceiver.

The cards operate full-duplex
over just one fiber strand,
maximizing your cabling investment.
And with fiber, there’s no need to
worry about electrical interference,
surges, or unauthorized access to
your data.

Several models are available:

• The multimode version can
transmit across as much as

2.5 km (1.5 mi.) of 62.5/125-µm
multimode cable. It has ST

®

fiber connectors.

• The single-mode versions can
transmit across as much as
50 km (31 mi.) of 9/125-µm
single-mode cable. These
cards are available with FC
and SC fiber connectors.

The G.703/E1 Fiber Line Driver
Cards accept either 120-ohm
twisted-pair or 75-ohm dual-coaxial
E1 or G.703/G.704 connections. They
each have an RJ-48C jack for the

twisted-pair and two BNC jacks
(one TX, one RX) for the coax.

You can set the cards to use
any valid combination of internal
clock, network clock (external from
the attached device or network), or
receive-recover clock (across the
fiber line from the other driver card).

The drivers typically use HDB3
coding for E1 or G.703/G.704 data.
But if you have older equipment,
you can set them to use AMI data
coding instead.

Six front-panel LED indicators
alert you to for fiber-line and E1-line
status, loss of sync, test mode,
error, and no signal.

The cards also have two
switches for running V.54-compliant
local analog loopback and remote
digital loopback tests and for
controlling the injection of V.52­compliant 511-bit and errored 511­bit BERT patterns.

For more information, request
Product Data Sheet 25838, which
also includes details on the
standalone models.

2-Wire Short-Range DSL Line
Driver Cards

Choose these cards for fast DSL
connections to the Internet as well
as ATM, Frame Relay, and campus
networks. With multiple interface
options, we have a driver that’s right
for you!
mDSL

Cards

These cards provide high-speed
2-wire connectivity to ISPs, PTTs,
and organizations using mDSL
(multi-rate Digital Subscriber Line)
technology. Multi-rate DSL delivers
the maximum bit rate that a twisted­pair line can accommodate.

Supporting multiple line rates
from 144 kbps to 2.320 Mbps, the
mDSL Card provides “Megabit”
speeds to leased-line, LAN-to-LAN
interconnection, and WAN access
networks over 3.6 mi./5.8 km (1.054
Mbps on 24-AWG/0.5-mm wire).
DTE speeds range from 64 kbps to

2.3 Mbps in 64-kbps increments.
Transmitting at shorter distances
gives you the highest speeds.

Features include loopback
diagnostics, out-of-band
SNMP/HTTP remote management
capabilities when using the
SNMP/HTTP Card, and three
externally accessible, eight-position
configuration DIP switches. Along
with its two proprietary loopback
test modes, the card has a built-in
V.52 BER test-pattern generator,
which evaluates the condition of
the modems and the
communication link.

As a symmetric DSL NTU, the
mDSL Card gives you the same data
rates in both directions over a single
pair of regular phone lines using
Carrierless Amplitude and Phase
(CAP) modulation.

You can configure the DTE rate
for the link from the rack card at the
central office. This application
includes a standalone line driver
unit (such as Black Box part
number ME0005A-xx) at the
customer premise site. The
standalone unit can automatically
configure itself to the DTE rate of
the rack card while other
configuration parameters fall to the
default state. This way, you can
make configuration changes from a
single end of the link.

The mDSL Cards are available
in six fixed-interface versions. We
have models for V.24, V.35, X.21,
10BASE-T Ethernet, G.703/G.704,
and RS-530 networks. Each of these
options supports one DTE interface
connection and one 2-wire line
connection.

For details on the standalone
line driver models, request
Product Data Sheet 25869 or

25852. Or simply call Tech
Support.
hDSL Cards

These cards are similar to the
mDSL ones but offer high-speed 2­wire connectivity to ISPs, PTTs, and
other organizations using hDSL
technology. They, too, offer the
ability to deliver the maximum bit
rate that a twisted-pair line can
accommodate.

As a symmetric DSL NTU, hDSL
(high-speed DSL) offers the same
data rates in both directions over
a single pair of ordinary telephone
lines using 2B1Q modulation, which
also lessens crosstalk between
adjacent lines and improves signal­to-noise ratios.

The card supports multiple line
rates from 144 kbps to 1168 Mbps,
bringing Megabit speeds to leased­line, LAN-to-LAN interconnection,
and WAN access networks over

2.9 mi./4.7 km (1.152 Mbps on
24-AWG/0.5-mm wire).

With the card, you can achieve
DTE speeds from 64 kbps to

1.152 Mbps in 64-kbps increments.
Use lower speeds to achieve the
greatest distances. Features
include loopback diagnostics,
out-of-band SNMP/HTTP remote
management capabilities, and
easy-to-access configuration
DIP switches.

The same fixed interfaces
available on the mDSL cards are
available on the hDSL models.
Choose from cards for V.24, V.35,
X.21, 10BASE-T, G.703/G.704,
and RS-530 networks. Each card
supports one DTE interface
connection and one 2-wire line
connection.

For details on the standalone
hDSL line driver models, request
Product Data Sheet 25869 or

25852. You can also call our Tech
Support.

A Managed MicroRACK Card

includes front and rear cards that

snap together inside the 16-Port

Managed MicroRACK chassis.

(continued on page 3)