A telecommunications patching system includes: a rear panel, the rear
panel including a plurality of cutout areas; a series of central
compartments mounted to the rear panel, the central compartments being
disposed in adjacent, vertically stacked relationship in at least one
column, the rear ends of the central compartments being aligned with at
least one of the cutout areas; and at least one series of lateral
compartments mounted to the rear panel, the lateral compartments being
disposed in spaced apart, vertically stacked relationship and laterally
positioned from the central compartments, the rear ends of the lateral
compartments being aligned with at least one of the cutout areas. The
system also includes at least one central patching module with a
plurality of connectors, the central patching module residing in one of
the central compartments, the plurality of connectors being oriented to
receive a communications cable from a lateral direction, a rear end of
the central patching module extending rearwardly through a respective one
of the cutout areas; and at least one lateral patching module with a
plurality of connectors, the lateral patching module residing in one of
the lateral compartments, the plurality of connectors being oriented to
receive a communication cable from a lateral direction, a rear end of the
lateral patching module extending rearwardly through a respective one of
the cutout areas.