Vertiv GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL 42U Floor-Standing Server Rack Enclosure

Overview

The Vertiv GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL is a 42U floor-standing server rack enclosure from the Vertiv EX Series, built for data centers, server rooms, and network equipment deployments where physical depth and cabinet volume are primary planning factors. At 800mm wide and 1600mm deep, this enclosure provides the footprint needed to house high-density compute, storage, or networking gear — including deep 2-post servers, cable management infrastructure, and rear-mounted power distribution units — without forcing airflow compromises. The white finish suits facilities with strict color-coding or aesthetic standards, such as enterprise operations centers, healthcare IT rooms, or co-location environments with visual organization requirements.

The GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL ships on a pallet in a floor-standing configuration, meaning it arrives ready for fork or pallet-jack positioning before final installation — a practical detail when placing heavy, pre-populated racks in tight raised-floor environments or during large-scale deployments where multiple cabinets are staged and populated before going live.

Key Features

• 42U Usable Height: 42U of rack space translates to roughly 73.5 inches of equipment-mounting height. That is enough for a fully built-out compute stack — hypervisors, top-of-rack switches, patch panels, and a power strip — without stacking cabinets or splitting workloads across enclosures. If your equipment list is under 40U populated (leave headroom for hot-swap access and cable routing), this enclosure fits a complete node.
• 800mm Cabinet Width: The 800mm width (versus the narrower 600mm standard) accommodates equipment with wider chassis or side-mounted cable bundles that physically cannot fit in a narrower enclosure. It also provides more internal clearance on both sides of mounted equipment, simplifying cable dressing on dense 1U/2U servers.
• 1600mm Cabinet Depth: A 1600mm internal depth is among the deepest available in this form factor. Deep-chassis servers (Dell PowerEdge, HPE ProLiant, Cisco UCS blade chassis) that run 900–1000mm in length fit with room remaining for front and rear cable management. This depth also supports back-to-back equipment mounting or secondary cable runway installation inside the cabinet.
• Floor-Standing Mount: Designed to stand independently on a raised floor, concrete slab, or sub-floor tile — no wall anchoring required. The floor-standing form factor is the correct choice for any enclosure that will be populated to a weight where wall-mounting is impractical, which describes virtually every 42U fully loaded build.
• Stand with Pallet Form Factor: The pallet-integrated stand means the enclosure is shippable and repositionable as a unit using standard material-handling equipment. For facilities receiving pre-staged racks from an integration shop, or for data center buildouts receiving multiple cabinets in a single delivery, the pallet simplifies logistics and reduces installation labor at the site.
• White Colorway: The white finish on the GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL is not cosmetic only — many enterprise facilities use cabinet color as a zone or function identifier (white for compute, black for AV, grey for networking). Ordering the correct color at procurement eliminates retrofit painting or color-mismatch issues in audited environments.
• Vertiv EX Series Platform: The EX Series is Vertiv's commercial enclosure line, engineered to accept EX Series accessories — side panels, roof units, base/plinth kits, blanking panels, and cable management guides — without custom fabrication. That matters when you expand, reconfigure, or add cable management post-deployment. Replacement hardware is available through the same channel as the enclosure itself, unlike proprietary or house-brand alternatives.

Integration and Compatibility

The GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL is a standard EIA 19-inch rack enclosure and accepts any 19-inch rackmount equipment at standard U spacing. The 800mm x 1600mm external footprint should be confirmed against your facility's floor grid before ordering — particularly on raised floors with fixed tile sizing, where a 800mm-wide cabinet may span tiles differently than a 600mm cabinet and require tile cutouts or cable routing adjustments.

The enclosure is compatible with the Vertiv rack and enclosure accessory catalog, including EX Series power distribution, blanking panels, and mounting rails. Integrators building out server rack enclosures in multi-cabinet rows should confirm row spacing with the 1600mm depth in mind — aisle clearance standards (ASHRAE and TIA-942) set minimum hot-aisle and cold-aisle distances, and a deeper cabinet reduces available aisle space at a given room footprint.

For deployments requiring UPS protection, the cabinet depth accommodates most tower-to-rack converted UPS units or 2U–4U rack-mount UPS solutions positioned at the base of the enclosure. Review our power distribution options for compatible in-rack PDUs and UPS units that pair with this enclosure size. For network-heavy builds, managed PoE switches and patch panels can be integrated at the top of the cabinet, keeping structured cabling routed through the rear of the 1600mm depth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the internal usable depth of the GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL?

A: The external depth is 1600mm. Usable internal depth will be somewhat less due to front door and rear door thickness, mounting rail positions, and cable management channels. Confirm exact internal rail-to-rail depth from the Vertiv EX Series installation guide for precise equipment fit planning.

Q: Can the GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL be used in a raised-floor data center?

A: Yes. The floor-standing form factor is compatible with raised-floor environments. Confirm tile cutout and cable grommet requirements for your specific floor grid, and verify that the 800mm cabinet width aligns with your facility's tile layout before installation.

Q: Is the pallet a permanent part of the enclosure or is it removed after installation?

A: The pallet is a shipping and positioning aid. Once the enclosure is in its final location, the stand base remains and the shipping pallet is typically removed. Consult the Vertiv EX Series installation documentation for base and leveling foot configuration.

Q: Does this enclosure accept standard 19-inch rackmount equipment?

A: Yes. The GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL is a standard EIA 19-inch rack enclosure and accepts any 19-inch rackmount equipment at standard U spacing, up to 42U total.

Q: Why order the 800mm wide version instead of a 600mm enclosure?

A: The 800mm width provides additional internal clearance for wide-chassis equipment, dense cable bundles, and side-mounted accessories that physically cannot fit in a 600mm enclosure. It is the correct choice when equipment specifications exceed the usable internal width of a standard 600mm cabinet.

Q: Is a white enclosure available as a standard product or is this a special order?

A: The GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL is a standard white variant in the Vertiv EX Series product line, not a custom or special-order finish. Availability is subject to stock; confirm lead time at order.

James Everett

When I spec the GL42UEX-80160W-MM-PL into a project, the 1600mm depth is the deciding factor — not the 42U height, which is common, but the depth that lets you house full-length blade chassis, rear-mounted PDUs, and still have cable runway room without pulling rails to their absolute limit. That extra depth is what separates a cabinet you can actually maintain from one you regret six months after go-live.

Technical Highlights:

• 1600mm Depth: Accommodates server chassis running 900–1000mm in length with clearance remaining for front and rear cable dressing — a spec that eliminates the need to mount PDUs externally or compromise on server selection.
• 800mm Width: The wider footprint versus a 600mm enclosure adds meaningful internal clearance for side-cable bundles and wide-chassis blades; if your equipment list includes dual-corded servers with high-density patch runs, this is the width you need.
• Pallet-Integrated Shipping Stand: Arrives as a complete, fork-liftable unit — practical for phased data center buildouts where cabinets are populated at a staging area before final positioning on the floor.

Deployment Considerations:

• Verify aisle clearance before finalizing cabinet placement — 1600mm depth in a standard 48-inch cold aisle layout consumes a significant portion of the available floor depth; TIA-942 recommends a minimum 1200mm hot aisle and 900mm cold aisle, which a 1600mm cabinet can stress in smaller rooms.
• The white finish, while standard in the EX Series, may have longer lead times than black variants; confirm stock availability before including it in a hard-deadline project schedule.

This enclosure is the right specification for enterprise compute deployments in purpose-built server rooms or co-location suites where deep chassis, high cable density, and white cabinet color-coding are all procurement requirements — not for smaller IT closets where a 600mm x 1000mm cabinet is sufficient and the extra floor space matters.