APC by Schneider Electric AR3150CTO 42U NetShelter SX Rack Enclosure
Overview
The AR3150CTO is APC by Schneider Electric's NetShelter SX 42U server rack enclosure — a 750mm wide by 1070mm deep cabinet purpose-built for data centers, server rooms, and network equipment deployments where floor space discipline and equipment density both matter. At 42U of usable rack height, it handles full-depth servers, network switches, UPS units, and dense patch panel buildouts within a single structured cabinet footprint. If you're speccing a rack for a mid-to-large IT closet or edge equipment room, the AR3150CTO is a well-established baseline in the APC by Schneider Electric NetShelter SX line.
The 1070mm depth (42.10 inches) provides meaningful clearance for today's 1U and 2U servers, which frequently reach 900mm in chassis depth before accounting for cable egress. The 750mm width (29.50 inches) is the standard mid-density footprint — wide enough to route structured cabling on both sides without violating the 45mm equipment envelope, while still fitting within standard raised-floor tile grids. Black finish blends with mixed-vendor environments.
Key Features
- 42U Rack Height: 42U gives you room to build a complete stack — top-of-rack switching, patch panels, 1U and 2U servers, and a UPS — without splitting across multiple cabinets. Fewer cabinets means simpler cable management and lower facilities cost per rack unit.
- 1070mm Depth (42.10 in): Accommodates full-depth enterprise servers without the back-panel crowding that plagues shallower cabinets. Cable management arms and rear PDU rails have room to function without forcing cable bend-radius violations.
- 750mm Width (29.50 in): The 750mm footprint is wide enough to run vertical cable managers on both sides of the equipment bay while keeping a manageable physical footprint on the data center floor. Works with standard 600mm rail sets when horizontal management panels are not required.
- NetShelter SX Platform: The SX line supports APC's ecosystem of toolless mounting rails, blanking panels, side panels, and airflow management accessories — meaning you can expand cable management or add baying hardware from a known catalog without custom fabrication.
- Black Finish: Black anodized finish integrates with mixed-vendor rack environments and reduces visual glare in low-light server rooms and NOCs — a practical detail, not just aesthetic.
- CTO (Configure to Order) Designation: The CTO suffix indicates this unit ships with a defined factory configuration. Verify your specific option set at order time — CTO units may differ from baseline AR3105 stock configurations in included accessories or hardware options.
Integration & Compatibility
The AR3150CTO is compatible with APC's rack power distribution lineup, including vertical and horizontal PDUs across the AP7xxx and AP8xxx families. It integrates with APC's InfraStruxure ecosystem and supports standard 19-inch EIA-310 equipment mounting. The 1070mm internal depth accommodates rear-mounted vertical PDUs without consuming rack unit space. For high-density deployments, consider pairing with APC's hot-aisle/cold-aisle blanking panel kits to maintain airflow efficiency — the 750mm width supports standard blanking panel widths across the SX accessory catalog.
Organizations building out structured cabling infrastructure can reference a structured cabling guide when planning patch panel density and cable pathway routing within the cabinet. The 42U height supports up to four 1U 24-port patch panels plus switching and compute, which is a common tiered-access design in mid-market deployments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the internal usable depth of the AR3150CTO?
A: The overall depth is 1069.30mm (42.10 inches). Internal usable depth for equipment mounting is typically less due to front door, rear door, and mounting rail offset — verify with APC's configuration guide for exact rail-to-rail depth before speccing long-chassis servers.
Q: What does the CTO designation mean on the AR3150CTO?
A: CTO stands for Configure to Order. It indicates this enclosure was produced with a specific factory-selected option set rather than a fixed standard configuration. Confirm included components (side panels, doors, rail kits) with your order documentation or APC's product configurator.
Q: What rack unit (RU) capacity does the AR3150CTO provide?
A: The AR3150CTO provides 42U of rack height, which is the full standard height for a floor-standing data center cabinet. This accommodates a full stack of 1U servers, patch panels, switches, and a rack-mount UPS without requiring a second cabinet.
Q: Is the AR3150CTO compatible with standard 19-inch rack equipment?
A: Yes. The NetShelter SX line follows EIA-310 19-inch rack standards and is compatible with standard rack-mount equipment from all major server, networking, and storage vendors.
Q: Can the AR3150CTO be bayed (joined side-by-side) with other NetShelter SX cabinets?
A: The NetShelter SX line supports baying with APC's side panel and baying hardware kits. The 750mm width is a standard SX footprint, making it compatible with the baying accessories available for other SX-series enclosures. Confirm compatible baying kit part numbers with APC's accessory selector.
The AR3150CTO's 1070mm depth is the spec that matters most when you're selecting this cabinet for a dense compute deployment. At 42.10 inches internal depth, you have room for full-chassis 2U servers — which routinely run 900–950mm before accounting for cable management — plus rear-mounted vertical PDUs, without forcing cables into sub-minimum bend radii at the back of the enclosure. That's the problem I see most often with teams that select 900mm-deep cabinets to save floor space and then fight their cabling for the life of the deployment.
Technical Highlights:
- 42U Height: Full-height 42U cabinet supports complete rack buildouts — compute, top-of-rack switching, patch, and UPS — in a single footprint, reducing the inter-cabinet cabling complexity that adds latency and maintenance burden in multi-cabinet stacks.
- 750mm Width: 29.50 inches of internal width is the practical sweet spot for 19-inch equipment plus dual-side vertical cable managers. Narrower 600mm cabinets force cabling compromises; the 750mm SX format avoids them without requiring the full 800mm footprint of high-density co-location cabinets.
- CTO Configuration: The AR3150CTO's configure-to-order build means your unit arrives with the specific hardware options selected at order time. Document your CTO configuration during procurement — field-swapping doors or side panels post-delivery can be difficult if the original options are not recorded.
Deployment Considerations:
- Floor load: a fully populated 42U cabinet at 1070mm depth with UPS can approach or exceed 1,000 kg. Confirm raised-floor tile ratings and structural loading before finalizing placement — 42U cabinets are routinely placed directly on building slab or on reinforced floor sections for this reason.
- The 1988.80mm (78.30 inch) overall height exceeds standard 84-inch door clearance in some IT closets and utility rooms — measure the room's door and ceiling clearance before delivery scheduling, particularly for retrofits into existing facilities.
For a mid-market server room buildout running 10–20 rack-mount servers with dedicated top-of-rack switching, the AR3150CTO's 42U height and 1070mm depth deliver the headroom to grow into, rather than requiring a second cabinet within 18 months as compute density increases.
