Load Balancing Leads to Greater Efficiencies

There are volumes written about the notion of balance in our lives, and for good reason.  It is commonly recognized that the key to happiness is about more than just work/life balance, but you have to take into account the physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, and spiritual needs of the individual.  It just so happens that as a blogger with a passion for three phase PDUs, my idea of balance comes in the form of equalizing the X/Y/Z phases in my rack.

Go ahead, say it.  I get ‘power nerd’ a lot.

Besides the Zen-like state that comes with achieving X/Y/Z balance, there are a number of efficiencies that accompany this act of data center transcendentalism.

Power and Cooling

In most data center environments, cooling is a challenge with origins inside, not outside, the rack.  One source of the problem is imbalanced loads.  As equipment is added to the rack, either on day one or after it has been installed, it could be powered from a branch that is already loaded.  As these loads become more imbalanced, additional heat load is created by the IT equipment.  Not only does this decrease your electrical efficiency and increase your power bill, but it compounds cooling demands by artificially inflating the heat load of the rack.

 Airflow

Another common issue is related and exacerbates the original one.  I’m talking about excess cabling at the back of the rack.  As if managing the communications wiring were not headache enough, add to the mix the thick power cables whose plugs need to be routed to different elevations of the rack in order to find an open receptacle.  With Server Technology’s Alt Phase PDU, that open receptacle is now adjacent to the IT gear, which means far shorter power cables traveling an even shorter distance to find a home.  This means no more woven mesh of power cables to act as a curtain trapping the heat being rejected at the back of the server equipment.  It’s like a breath of fresh air for your equipment.  

Risk/Uptime

 Now we arrive at the issue of risk management.  As the power and communications cabling gets more entangled, it becomes more difficult to complete move, add and change work within the rack.  This makes the task of documentation more difficult, and it also makes it more likely that removing equipment will become a risky activity.  Keeping cabling close to the source device takes the guesswork out of removing the old and installing the new. 

For more information about our Alternating Phase products, take a look at our Alt Phase Technical Sheet, or head over to the PDU Buying Guide.  At Server Technology, we are your Alternating Phase power nerds.