APC by Schneider Electric AR3150B2 42U NetShelter SX Gen 2 Server Rack Enclosure
Overview
The AR3150B2 is a 42U freestanding rack enclosure from APC's APC by Schneider Electric server infrastructure line — purpose-built for data center, server room, and IT closet deployments where structural integrity, cable management, and long-term scalability are non-negotiable. At 1991mm tall with a 750mm width and 1070mm depth, it accommodates the full spectrum of modern 1U to 4U server, storage, and networking hardware in a standard 19-inch form factor. Side panels are included out of the box, giving you a self-contained enclosure that's ready to populate on delivery.
This is the Gen 2 revision of the NetShelter SX family — one of the most widely deployed open-frame and enclosed server rack platforms in commercial IT infrastructure. If you're standardizing a multi-rack row or adding capacity to an existing NetShelter SX environment, the AR3150B2 fits directly into that ecosystem.
Key Features
- 42U Usable Space: 42 rack units in a single enclosure means you can densely pack an entire server stack — compute, switching, patch panels, and UPS — without the floor sprawl of multiple smaller cabinets. For a mid-market server room, one AR3150B2 can consolidate what might otherwise require two or three aging 25U units.
- 1814 kg Static Load Rating: That's just under two metric tons of supported equipment weight. In practice, even a fully populated rack with high-density blade chassis, storage arrays, and dual-corded UPS hardware won't approach this limit — but the rating matters because it determines long-term floor planning confidence. For rolling moves, the rated rolling capacity is 1020 kg, which still accommodates most real-world populated configurations.
- 750mm Width × 1070mm Depth Footprint: The 750mm width is the wider of the two common NetShelter SX profiles (600mm being the narrower), providing meaningful side-cable routing clearance and compatibility with deeper 2-post-style equipment. The 1070mm depth handles modern 1U rack servers that commonly run 900–1000mm cable-to-cable — leaving margin for rear cable management.
- Adjustable Mounting Depth — 286mm to 915mm: This is the spec that determines compatibility with your actual hardware. Shallow network switches, 1U servers, and dense blade enclosures all have different depth requirements. The 286mm minimum accommodates shallow patch panels and KVM switches; the 915mm maximum handles the deepest rackmount storage arrays in production. Verify your deepest unit's rack-mount depth before ordering, but the AR3150B2 covers virtually every commercial hardware category.
- 270° Door Swing: Doors that open a full 270° swing flat against the adjacent rack side or the wall — letting technicians work without fighting a half-open door in a tight row. In high-density rows where aisles run 900–1200mm, this is a real quality-of-life factor that speeds up hardware installs and maintenance windows.
- Key-Lock on Door and Side Panels: Both the door lock and independent side panel key lock are included. This matters in shared spaces — co-location suites, mixed-tenant server rooms, or campus IT closets — where physical access to cabling and rear ports needs to be restricted separately from front-panel access.
- Adjustable Leveling Feet: The rack ships with adjustable feet for floor leveling, critical in older facilities where concrete or raised-floor tiles aren't perfectly level. Combined with the 1814 kg static rating, the structural base is designed to stay stable under full load on imperfect surfaces.
- Side Panels Included — Black Finish: Matching side panels are included, so the enclosure ships as a complete sealed unit. The black finish is the standard for the NetShelter SX Gen 2 B-series. If you're deploying in a mixed-color environment or need a different finish, verify finish compatibility with your existing rack row before ordering.
Integration and Compatibility
The AR3150B2 follows the 19-inch EIA-310 rack standard, making it compatible with every major server, storage, and networking vendor's rackmount hardware. The adjustable mounting rail depth range of 286–915mm covers essentially all commercial 1U–4U servers, top-of-rack switches, and storage enclosures in production today. As part of the NetShelter SX Gen 2 family, this enclosure is designed to pair with APC's own power distribution units (PDUs), cable management arms, and blanking panels, though any EIA-compliant accessory will fit the standard rail spacing.
For deployments pairing racks with in-row or overhead cooling, the 1070mm depth aligns with common hot-aisle/cold-aisle containment systems designed around the standard 1000–1100mm rack depth envelope. If you're building a UPS and power infrastructure stack alongside this rack, APC's own symmetry-rack APC Smart-UPS and Symmetra PX series are designed to mount and integrate directly within the NetShelter SX enclosure footprint.
Planning a larger deployment? Review our server rack and enclosure selection guide to compare enclosure depths, widths, and load ratings across the APC NetShelter portfolio before committing to a rack row configuration.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the maximum static load capacity of the AR3150B2?
A: The AR3150B2 is rated for a maximum static load of 1814 kg. The rolling load capacity — for moving a populated rack — is rated at 1020 kg. For most commercial server deployments, neither limit will be approached in practice.
Q: What mounting depth range does the AR3150B2 support?
A: The adjustable mounting rails support a minimum depth of 286mm and a maximum depth of 915mm. This range accommodates shallow patch panels and switches through the deepest modern 1U rack servers and storage arrays.
Q: Does the AR3150B2 include side panels?
A: Yes. Side panels are included with the AR3150B2 and ship as part of the enclosure. Both the front door and the side panels have independent key locks.
Q: What is the external footprint of the AR3150B2?
A: The enclosure measures 750mm wide × 1070mm deep × 1991mm tall, fitting within a standard data center floor tile footprint. Confirm your ceiling clearance — at 1991mm, the unit is approximately 78.4 inches tall without additional cable tray accessories.
Q: Is the AR3150B2 compatible with standard 19-inch rackmount equipment?
A: Yes. The AR3150B2 conforms to the EIA-310 19-inch rack standard, which is the universal mounting standard for servers, switches, storage, UPS, and patch panels from all major vendors.
Q: How wide does the door swing open on the AR3150B2?
A: The doors open to 270 degrees, allowing them to swing flat alongside the rack. This is particularly useful in tight aisle environments where a 90-degree door swing would block access to adjacent racks or equipment.
The detail that matters most when speccing the AR3150B2 is the 286–915mm adjustable mounting depth — not the U count. Most integrators anchor on 42U as the buying criteria, but it's the rail depth range that determines whether your hardware actually fits without shimming or custom brackets. I've seen deployments stall at install because the rack depth was ordered without accounting for the deepest unit in the planned stack.
Technical Highlights:
- 1814 kg Static Rating: Exceeds the realistic maximum load of any fully populated 42U commercial rack — gives long-term floor planning confidence and eliminates any structural concern when mixing dense storage, blade chassis, and in-rack UPS.
- 270° Door Swing: In a standard 1200mm hot-aisle, a 90° door swing leaves roughly 450mm of working clearance. The 270° swing removes the door from the work zone entirely — meaningful during hardware installs that involve cable routing and rail alignment simultaneously.
- Independent Key Locks — Door and Side Panels: The separate side panel lock is frequently overlooked but critical in co-location or shared facility environments where rear-panel access needs to be independently controlled from front-panel access.
Deployment Considerations:
- At 1991mm tall, confirm ceiling and cable tray clearance before placement — many data center drop ceilings run at 2100–2200mm, leaving limited margin for overhead cable management accessories mounted to the top of the enclosure.
- The 750mm-wide profile requires a correspondingly wider floor tile or clearance plan compared to the 600mm NetShelter SX variant — verify your raised-floor grid spacing before committing to a row layout with this width.
The AR3150B2 is the right call for mid-density server room consolidation projects — specifically environments running a mix of 1U compute, top-of-rack switching, and in-rack PDUs where the 1070mm depth and 915mm maximum rail extension give you the flexibility to handle every hardware generation in a single standardized enclosure.
