Note 006 · S2 Selection · 29 Oct 2026
Front service or rear service: what it costs to get it wrong
Service access is decided by the wall the panel is fixed to, not by the panel. On a corridor wall there is no rear, and a rear-access cabinet is a permanent maintenance problem bought at a discount.
Front-only or front-and-rear is fixed by the wall behind the panel. Fortis opens from the front, in cabinets 33 mm deep and 3.0 kg at the smallest 500 × 250 mm size, which works where there is no rear void. Fort and Flare also open from the rear.
Access is a property of the room
A front-access cabinet is opened from the audience side: the module comes off the front, and the technician never leaves the room. A rear-access cabinet needs a gap behind the wall wide enough to stand in and to swing a module out. That gap either exists in the architect's drawing or it does not, and no cabinet specification can create it after handover.
This is why the argument is usually won before the panel is chosen. On a corridor, a lift lobby, a glazed façade or a wall built tight to a stair core, there is no rear. In a plant room, a service corridor or a freestanding structure, there is.
What each series gives you
| Series | Access | Depth / lightest | Typical situation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Front | 27.5 mm / 4.2 kg | Boardroom wall on plasterboard |
| Fortis | Front access | 33 mm / 3.0 kg | Lobby or corridor, no rear void |
| Fresco | Front | 33 mm / 25 kg | Feature wall, moving panel |
| Floor | Front maintenance | 80 mm / 11.6 kg | Floor tile, lifted from above |
| Flame | Front access | 84 mm / 8 kg | Outdoor rental, flown |
| Flare | Front and rear | 84 mm / 8 kg | Indoor rental, struck weekly |
| Fort | Front and rear | 83 mm / 21 kg | Outdoor fixed on a structure |
Depth is the cabinet thickness on the sheet; it is not the clearance a rear-access cabinet needs behind it.
The rule to settle it at design stage
If the wall has no rear clearance in the architect's section, then specify front-access only and stop discussing rear service. If a rear void exists but is under 600 mm, then treat it as no void — it will be filled with conduit, insulation or ductwork before handover.
The 600 mm figure is our working threshold for a person to kneel and lift a module, not a published dimension, and it is the number we ask the architect to confirm in writing. Where the section is unclear we ask for a drawing rather than accept a verbal yes — the answer decides whether the wall can be repaired in an hour or in a night with a scaffold.
Where rear access stops being an advantage
1. The rear void is shared with other services. A plant room with ductwork and cable tray is not a service corridor. Access that exists on paper and is blocked in practice is worse than no access, because it removes the option of a front-access cabinet from the conversation.
2. The wall is outdoors and high. Rear access on a façade at 9 m needs a platform either way. Below that height, or inside, front access genuinely saves the scaffold; above it, the saving is smaller than it looks.
3. The failure is in the power supply rather than the module. Front access covers modules and receiving cards. Where the PSU sits on the rear of the cabinet, even a front-access panel needs the wall opened for that specific repair — ask where the PSU is before assuming front access covers everything.
4. The room cannot be closed for service. Then the decision is not front versus rear, it is whether to specify spare cabinets and hot spares so a repair happens out of hours. Access alone does not solve an availability requirement.
One thing we got wrong ourselves
We used to treat front access as a feature to upsell on permanent indoor walls. It is not an upgrade, it is a consequence: on a wall with no rear void it is the only option that can be serviced, and on a wall with a plant room behind it, paying for front access buys nothing. We now ask for the building section before we quote either.
- Datasheet — Series sheets: Fortis front access, 33 mm cabinet depth, 3.0 kg at 500 × 250 mm; Focus front access, 27.5 mm; Fresco front, 33 mm; Floor front maintenance, 80 mm; Flame front access, 84 mm; Flare front and rear, 84 mm; Fort front and rear, 83 mm.
- Practice — Our working threshold of 600 mm rear clearance for a technician to service a cabinet in place. It is an internal planning rule derived from site experience, not a manufacturer dimension.
Questions we get on this
Not inherently. On Fortis it is simply how the cabinet is built — the same cabinet is front access at 33 mm deep across all four sizes. The cost difference appears in the cabinet mix and the structural detail, not in an access option.
No. If a cabinet is specified with rear access only, the module is released from behind. Assuming otherwise is the mistake that turns a one-hour repair into a scaffold hire.
It needs a small clearance for the module to come forward and for a hand to reach the release, but not a standing void. That is exactly why it suits corridors and lobbies where 600 mm behind the wall is impossible.
Send the building section through the wall.
We will state which side the panel is serviced from and where the power supplies sit — in writing, before the cabinet mix is fixed.