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Server Technology Helps Stock Company Manage Data Center Power
By Ashok Bindra TMCnet Contributor
In order to closely monitor its power consumption, and analyze its data center power usage while monitoring environmental conditions, a global stock trading company with offices in Chicago, New York and London has turned to the aggregate power monitoring solution from Server Technology, a data center power monitoring company based in Nevada.
The stock company, which has its servers stored in colocation facilities near major exchanges to minimize latency issues, came to Server Technology (News - Alert) and said that while it anticipated growth in its near future, it didn’t want to expand before it confirmed that it had “a reliable and efficient network.” They also wanted assurance that they were getting the most out of their racks.
This company was also looking to be able to have the capability to closely monitor power consumption, store and analyze power usage, monitor environmental conditions, and maximize circuit usage across multiple cabinets, in multiple rooms, at multiple sites at all its colocation facilities.
To address the stock trader's power initiatives, Server Technology’s three components were combined to offer an aggregate power monitoring solution. These included per outlet power sensing (POPS) PDUs, smart power distribution units (PDUs) and sentry power manager (SPM).
To monitor power, POPS PDU (CWG-24VYM311A1) was used in the test lab environment to determine actual power consumption for specific configurations of devices compared to the nameplate power consumptions. This information was then projected throughout the network and used to develop anticipated consumption figures for comparison with the actual PDU readings.
Likewise, the IP-addressable smart PDU (the CS-24VYL30MA) was deployed in each cabinet to provide a local LED power meter, a network interface with power, temperature and humidity, email and SNMP based alarms for defined thresholds, along with reliable power distribution. In essence, with smart PDUs, the company could monitor its environmental condition, as well as power, while maximizing each power circuit by realizing the current draw. The PDUs were mounted in IMS-AMCO cabinets that utilize Server Technology's button mounting system with AMCO's optional power panel. Finally, the SPM manager was implemented to provide global aggregate power usage data for all the PDUs on the entire network, including trend reports on power information like kW and kW-hour.
With the addition of SPM manager to their operations, the company then had the capability to easily monitor all of its power usage and environmental conditions across the globe, store that data, graph it and trend it. The POPS PDU allowed them to experiment and test power draw of the devices being used so they could fill equipment racks efficiently, according to Server Technology.
Recently, TMCnet sat down with Edi Murway, head test engineer for Server Technology to hear more about the company’s decision to 100 percent product test.
For the past 25 years, Server Technology, a global leader in power distribution products and power monitoring software, has tested product performance prior to shipping. The process in the past few years has become even more robust and the company that creates solutions related to data center power and telecommunications prides itself on offering 100 percent performance testing.
Ashok Bindra is a veteran writer and editor with more than 25 years of editorial experience covering RF/wireless technologies, semiconductors and power electronics. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Carrie Schmelkin
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