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Background

Cisco Systems is a company that produces computer networking products and services, specializing in everything from consumer electronics to communications technologies.  Having collaborated on several projects over the years, Cisco asked Speck Design to assist with the industrial design for the Nexus 7000 Series 18-Slot chassis.

Cisco’s Nexus 7000 18-Slot chassis is designed to support end-to-end data-center connectivity by fulfilling the routing, switching, and storage networking requirements of the most mission-critical data centers.  With exceptional serviceability, the Cisco Nexus 7000 was designed to provide integrated resilience and features optimized for ease of management.

• Maximize the serviceability and manageability of the chassis.
• Designing front security doors, cable management, and an air intake bezel.
• Develop an industrial design solution that addresses the issues of functionality, human factors, ergonomics, usability, materials, aesthetics, manufacturing processes, and system performance.

Challenge

The primary challenges of the project were working with the dimensional constraints and material requirements of the chassis door, while still maintaining enough space for the cable management.  In addition, the industrial design of the chassis door required a consistency in the color and style to the existing DC3-10 slot system.  Cisco development challenges included: creating a dual hinged door with a lock-out mechanism that insured that the door could not accidentally come off, and ensuring that the door handle closed and engaged the top and bottom hinge pins; molding a water-clear part with ID details; cable management that could accommodate 48 CAT6 cables per slot, per side; and mitigating the sag effects from opening and closing the dual hinged door.

Solution

As part of the project, Speck Design provided ID, ME, prototyping and on site manufacturing support at China Foxconn to help bring up tooling (injection and casting tooling) and First Article Inspection.  In terms of the cable management, Speck Design focused on designing the components to be robust and small, preventing the cables from pushing open the cable retainers.  Through sketches, detailed mechanical and industrial design, and full-scale models, we delivered several concepts of the chassis door, which maintained consistency in the visual design of the Nexus chassis family.

Speck Design implemented several advancements including: a double hinged door that opens on both sides for simpler cable installation, a user intuitive door handle and lock, a technician-friendly cable management system, and the largest transparent door manufactured by Foxconn, allowing for easy observation of the internal system.

Results

Collaborating with Cisco, Speck Design not only succeeded with the user focused product development of the Nexus 7000 18-Slot chassis, but also contributed additional design ideas, specifically for the chassis door.  In developing projects like Cisco’s chassis that had specific constraints, Speck Design focuses on ergonomics and human factors, while still preserving the personality of the product.  Speck Design described the overall process as a challenging yet valuable exercise for the engineering team, ultimately resulting in the design of a new type of chassis door.

PROJECT INFO

• Client:

  Cisco

• Project:

  Nexus 7000 Series 18-Slot Chassis

• Industry:

  Industrial & Commercial