Uptime and the Job of Predicting the Unpredictable

Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? If one were to take the second half of the title of this blog at face value, it would be. A thing that escapes prediction is by definition unpredictable, and it would be a fool’s errand to spend time finding a thing that is impossible to find.

You might find yourself in a perilous predicament that impedes your prosperity. Or something like that.

But besides the catchy title and having some fun with alliteration, we would like to take a moment to recognize the men and women who indeed seem to do the impossible. You know who you are.

You’re in charge of a data center.

And if you are, you likely share with us the amusement of keeping up with the latest trends in our industry. By amusing, we do not mean that they should not be taken seriously; on the contrary, as an industry we tend to do a pretty good job of tracking future trends. But amid the excitement and promises of things like Artificial Intelligence in the Internet of Things,we tend to forget that there is something more basic and less newsworthy that we are all aiming for.

That would be uptime.

If you have ever experienced standing in a data center when the power goes out, you know that there is nothing more unsettling than the sound of silence in your facility. You instantly miss the gentle rumble of the mechanical systems delivering cold air to your cold aisles, just as quickly as you are aware of the sound of the beeps coming from inconsolable power protection gear and frightened server equipment.

Yes, downtime is a scary place, which is probably why nobody likes to blog about it. One of the best ways to keep from having to go there, both literally and figuratively, is through the intelligent features found in Server Technology rack PDUs.

• Real-time environmental alerts: manage environmental challenges like heat and humidity with rack-level monitoring.
• Capacity planning: know how new equipment will impact existing loads at the rack or row level.
• Consumption data: get power draw information so that you can keep a close watch on your facility at all times.
• Remote management: make critical adjustments at any time, even from outside the facility.

At Server Technology, our goal is to help you stay online even if things are predictably unpredictable. For more on how we do that, head over to our HDOT PDU configuration tool to learn more.