It’s Time to Declare War on Data Center Power Inefficiency

RJ Tee
July 25, 2016

its-time-to-declare-war-on-data-center-power-inefficiency - https://cdn.buttercms.com/Tf7ddCYSZKSohnHoryyC

Your data center is suffering from severe power inefficiency, with electricity bills costing your business thousands of dollars every month.

As a result of your exorbitant power bills, your data center is consistently over budget. As a result, your business is pumping too much money into the data center, and not enough into areas that are critical for organizational growth, like product development and customer acquisition.

For this reason, it’s imperative that you get a handle on your data center’s power consumption before management decides to slash your budget or, worse, outsource operations to a hosted provider.

It’s time to declare war on power waste in your data center. And the target in this war will be your cabinets, where as much as 60 percent of all energy in the data center is consumed.

Now, it may be tempting to start making changes in your data center environment on your own, by adjusting cabinet densities without any supporting technologies.

Take our advice, and avoid doing this at all costs.

Without a reliable power management solution, altering cabinet densities can be very risky. You will be in grave danger of overloading your circuits, and increasing temperatures in the back of your cabinets. This could, in turn, damage your equipment and even start a fire.

If you want to win the war against power waste, here is the ultimate weapon: Server Technology’s advanced PDU power management platform, PRO2. PRO2 is a line of Switched PDUs—available for either single- or three-phase power distribution—that was specifically designed to help enterprises manage heavy data center workloads.

PRO2 provides the real-time and historical data required to understand how your data center is using electricity, as well as the tools that are required for taking action and improving efficiencies.

Here is a look at how PRO2 can help your business streamline power management:

Advanced monitoring and alerts: All PRO2 outlets come with per inlet power sensing (PIPS), for directly monitoring inlets/infeeds. Three-phase PRO2 units can also be used for per-outlet power sensing POPs, for monitoring the outlet or device. What’s more, PRO2 units enable monitoring for individual branches and phases. Should a circuit breaker or fuse trip while PRO2 is being used, an alert can be sent via SNMP or email so that action can be taken. This is where PRO2’s switched feature comes in handy, too; managers can toggle power on and off as needed, to save time and restore service quickly.

Critical environmental monitoring: With its built-in temperature and humidity probes, PRO2 solutions collect environmental temperature and humidity data external to a cabinet’s devices. This information is important for a number of reasons. It will let you know how much cooling is required, which can possibly lead to reduced cooling costs. Plus, keeping equipment at the right temperature prolongs its lifespan and improves its operational effectiveness. You will also be able to reduce downtime from accidents related to overheating. It should also be noted that PRO2 was specifically designed to perform in high density/high-temperature environments.

Easier capacity planning: PRO2 will let you know how much power your cabinets require. It will also let you know how much power you have available. By using PRO2, it’s possible to determine whether it’s safe to install new equipment into your data center, without causing an outage. Use PRO2 to guide new purchases and installations.

More uptime: One of the greatest benefits of PRO2 is the redundancy that it affords. As a standalone product, PRO2 offers the highest level of density for its form factor on the market. Additionally, you can link PRO2 units together. It’s possible to link one master unit with up to three linked units; and doing so will only require using one IP address. This setup can even be split between two cabinets. The benefit of linking—aside from greater cost savings and added flexibility—is that if one unit fails, the others continue running. As a result, power will not be lost in the cabinet.

Here is a list of PRO2 products to choose from:

  • Single-phase PIPs switched 200-240v, up to 32A
  • Single-phase PIPs + POPs switched 200-240v, up to 32A
  • Three-phase PIPs switched 208v, 30A
  • Three-phase PIPs switched 415v, 32 A
  • Three-phase PIPs + POPs switched 208v, 30A
  • Three-phase PIPs + POPS switched 415v, 32A

Interested in seeing all products Server Technology has to offer? Head to our rack PDU selector here. 

Server Technology’s Secret Sauce: Support