What is Cross-connect?
A cross-connect is a cable, usually fiber or copper, run between two locations in a data center, such as a customer's cabinet and a carrier's equipment or another customer's cage. Operators such as Equinix describe it as a point to point cable link between two customers in the same data center.
Cross-connects are ordered through the data center operator, which normally installs or approves them, and each end terminates at a patch panel or device port. The party that orders it, the party that pays for it and the party that installs it can all be different, so the order process matters.
The term is also used in telecommunications for the hardware that links circuits within a facility. In a colocation setting it refers to the cabling product above. Media options, lead times and testing differ between operators, and some operators limit the media types they accept for new orders.
How it shows up in practice
- Collect both parties' details before ordering: building, hall, cabinet or cage, panel and port at each end.
- Agree the media type and connector, for example single-mode or multimode fiber, so both ends match.
- Ask for test results or at least light level readings, and for labels at both ends and a photo of the finished link.
- Record the circuit identifier in your documentation so the link can be traced when something fails.