One embodiment is directed to a tray for use in a subrack of a rack. The tray comprises a printed circuit board configured so that a plurality of connections can be made at a plurality of positions on the printed circuit board, each of the plurality of connections involving at least one connector positioned on a patch side of the plurality of positions and the least one connector having a device associated therewith in which information is stored. The tray is configured so that either side of the positions can be used as the patch side. The tray is configured so that the devices associated with the connectors involved in making the connections at the patch side can be read via the tray. The devices associated with the connections can be implemented, for example, using RFID tags or connection point identifier (CPID) storage devices (such as EEPROMs).