Data Center Power Featured Articles
Data Center Power Company Server Technology Makes Mark in Major University
By Carrie Schmelkin TMCnet Web Editor
When a major university in New York constructed a new data center that is being referred to as one of the “greenest” data centers ever created, it still had a couple of challenges that needed to be sorted out.
While they had accomplished creating the “greenest” data center by delivering 3-Phase 415V power to the equipment racks, the school was looking for the following – a cabinet power distribution solution that would support 415V, outlet control and outlet level monitoring for device power monitoring, environmental monitoring, redundancy, and logging and power trending so as to help measure Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).
That’s where Server Technology (News - Alert) came in.
Server Technology, a data center power monitoring company, was chosen as the solution provider. While Server Technology has a whole host of Cabinet Power Distribution Units (CDUs) that support 415V, the product selected for this project was the CWG-24V5Z411A1: a Switched, 3-Phase, 415V, vertical, (POPS), 24-outlet (18 IEC (News - Alert) C13/ 6 IEC C19), circuit breakered PDU.
The data center power company’s POPS Switched PDU not only allows each individual outlet to be turned On, Off, or Rebooted through the network interface but also measure the power draw on each device in Amps. All intelligent Server Technology CDUs offer two temperature and humidity probes that can be read from the network interface, and power monitoring is available via the network interface and the local LED, according to company officials.
In addition to the implementation of the CDU, the university installed an expansion unit alongside the master CDU to support the dual power supplies of their installed devices. With the ability to monitor their power, each CDU was loaded so that if a power in-feed was lost the remaining in-feed could support the entire load. One IP address can support both CDUs as well as the two temperature and humidity probes.
Server Technology’s flagship technology Sentry Power Manager (SPM) was also utilized to provide a central interface to access multiple network monitored CDUs as well as store power and environmental information so it can be viewed over time, according to company officials. The SPM helps the university keep tabs on their data center efficiency and ratings from the Green Grid and PUE and DCIE.
The SPM also aggregates all the measurements, such as temperature, humidity and current and device status, onto one single interface which makes the management of the switched CDU outlets much easier.
“Today, the university data center is taking full advantage of the power being delivered to them,” Server Technology explained in a customer case study. “Using 415V, they are getting an efficiency gain with their power distribution system and with their devices. Using SPM, they can see their power usage globally which allows them to trend and measure it.”
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It’s also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
Carrie Schmelkin is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Previously, she worked as Assistant Editor at the New Canaan Advertiser, a 102-year-old weekly newspaper, covering news and enhancing the publication's social media initiatives. Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in English from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
Data Center Power Resources
Featured White Papers
This article explores the various monitoring systems typically found within the data center ecosystem and how to navigate getting the required power and environmental information needed to make better decisions within your data center facility.
[Read More]RF Code provides an enterprise class, wire-free sensor solution that is ideal for monitoring in real time the environmental conditions in IT dense areas such as data centers and IT closets.
[Read More]Within enterprise data centers, power used for operating the facility, lighting, running IT loads and cooling is the largest operational expense. Numerous papers and articles have been published by The Green Grid, The Uptime Institute, PG&E, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and others discussing ways to measure, monitor and increase efficiencies. This paper discusses the effect on efficiency of load balancing across phases in a 3-phase distribution system.
[Read More]