I actually do like the verticals but they present a couple of unique challenges. The outlets don't typically line up to the power supply of the servers. So if we're mounting a 1-U starting at U-3, of the cabinet, the closest plug on the veritcal will be about 10 inches up and out from where the server is actually mounted.
The other issue I have is that they take up valuable cable management space in the rear of the cabinet, and that I'm not able to install lacing bars because of that space being used. The problem there is that a lot of the server rail kits we get will not collapse far enough to be able to create that space. The Dells are most notorious for this such as the 25-2900 series rail kits we've been getting. I run a highly mixed density data center with just about every conceivable device type, manufacturer, and model. So trying to establish a congruency with regards to the power strips and cable management is tough.
I have used horizontals but I think they're just terrible when mounted either at the bottom or tops of cabinets. You end up with this huge mass of power cables that's almost impossible to manage. We've also side mounted horizontals that worked out better. We would mount them between the vertical posts along the sides of the cabinets, but then access became a real headache and there was still some problems with power cable management.
The only thing I can think of here is to start getting 3rd party racking kits that will collapse as deeply as I need and can be uniformally configured.
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