Recently, Schneider Electric's APC and Liebert both introduced new data center power products.
APC's new power distribution unit (PDU), the Modular Three-Phase PDU,
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distributes power at 415 V. That is higher than the traditional 208 V for three-phase power. The company says the change allows users to deliver more power at the same amperage, which can reduce power consumption, floor space and heat load on cooling systems. The "modular" part of the product's name comes from its hot-swappable circuit breakers, which APC says allows electricians to quickly add or subtract power to the rack.
Meanwhile, Liebert rolled out new uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units catering to small and medium-sized businesses that need backup power in small data centers, server closets, and office desktop or laptop computers. The Liebert PSI-XR is for small data centers, is 2 rack units (RU) high, and comes in 1,000- to 3,000 volt-ampere (VA) configurations. The Liebert PSA is for small-office computers and electronic equipment, and comes in 500 10 1,500 VA configurations.
Managing data center power and fixing itSentilla and EDSA Micro Corp., have come up with hardware and software solutions to measure data center power consumption and keep it in check.
Sentilla has two products, a clamp and a plug-in, plug-out device, that literally tap into the power stream going through power cords to determine how much power a data center consumes. Information then travels wirelessly from the devices to server software, which can see real-time data and examine power trends.
"It analyzes all the power going in," said Joe Polastre, co-founder and chief technology officer. "Based on CPU usage you can see how many cores are on, whether there are power spikes and whether some servers could be candidates for shutting off or scaling back from load predictions of the past."
EDSA Micro updated its Paladin Live software, which allows users to measure data center power and find ways to cut back. It can show exactly where, when and how energy is used and make recommendations on how to reduce overall consumption.
Air-side economizing by Advanced Data Centers
In August we wrote about Advanced Data Centers' quest to get a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.1 on a new facility it's building in Sacramento, Calif. They hope to get there partly by using air-side economizers 75% of the year. The ability to take advantage of the cool outside air, ADC won't have to power up its chillers and can therefore save some serious money.The Sacramento Bee recently reported on data centers, and created a graphic depiction of free air cooling, which is worth the visit.
Let us know what you think about the story; email Mark Fontecchio, News Writer. You can also check out our Data Center Facilities Pro blog.