
It’s no secret that as data
centers increasingly deploy high-density computing
platforms such as blade-server technology, power
density, energy efficiency, and cooling are becoming
highly critical requirements.
If you manage, engineer, or are responsible for planning
future changes within your data center or network
operations center, you are already aware of the critical
issues that these platforms can have on your operations,
including:
Expanding power demands.
Today's blade servers are certainly satisfying growing
business demands, but can also have a significant impact
on the demands for power consumption within the same
footprint. Rack power requirements that were once at 60
watts per U may now have to be delivered at levels up to
600 watts per U with redundant power supplies.
Increasing power costs. Utility
rates have a common recurrence. They always go up. IDC research
reports that energy costs represent a dominant influence
on IT spending.(1) Most organizations are researching and
developing plans for the selection of new data center sites
based on the proximity of affordable power facilities. The
need for more cost-effective power solutions is confirmed
in a recent Gartner research report. Power will grow to
account for 50% of total
data center operational costs.(2)
Excessive heat. Blade servers generate a lot of
heat–translating into a high demand for additional
cooling capacity. A fully loaded rack of blade servers
can use close to 30kW of power. This
equals over 100,000 BTU/hr in heat generation that requires
cooling–wasted heat that is not utilized in any way. Since
data center cooling adds huge costs to data center operations, IT organizations
are forced to increase their power.
Considering
these challenges, what is your strategy for providing efficient
power protection and distribution for growing loads, while
simultaneously managing costs?
DirectNET Inc., the nation’s largest
provider of server management and data center infrastructure
solutions, recognizes this growing power need and has partnered
with Eaton Powerware to expand its product suite to include complete power distribution
solutions including:
- UPS products—Rackmount
and freestanding power protection systems for the
small office or desktop system to the largest government, healthcare or industrial
facilities.
- Power distribution systems—Rackmount
and freestanding products to streamline the distribution
of power throughout a data center,
server rack or computer
enclosure.
- Power reliability measures—Auditing
tools
and advanced technologies to provide backup power, create
redundant UPS configurations, and assess and improve
power conditions.
- Services—Maintenance
plans and extended warranties, 24x7 support, remote
monitoring and diagnostics, turnkey project management,
electrical contracting and system integration – with
more than 350 customer support engineers in North
America, alone.
Specifically, DirectNET Inc. now
offers several pivotal technologies that provide much-needed
relief for high-density computing environments including:
- The revolutionary
Powerware
BladeUPS™ delivers 12kW of power in only 6U of rack
space, up to 60kW in a rack, including internal batteries.
This UPS operates at an industry-leading 97 percent
efficiency in normal operation, and dissipates less
heat than other modular UPS products on the market.(3)
- The
Power XPert Architecture™
integrates power quality meters, gateways, time servers
and software to unify the management of the multi-vendor
power infrastructure. IT and facility managers have
complete visibility of and access to real-time, accurately
synchronized information related to power quality at
both the system and equipment levels.
The addition of these
UPS system
product lines means you can count on the same high level
of service that you have come to expect from DirectNET Inc.
as you look for options to meet the changing power requirements
within your data center.
To learn more about the
potential benefits of a conditioned power solution in
your environment, please click on the power project
evaluation below or call us at 800.638.2638 to speak
with a member of our technical sales organization.
References:
(1) IDC U.S. Market Watch Survey,
Q2 2006, September 7, 2006
(2) Gartner RAS Core Research, August 18, 2006
(3) (2007) Eaton Corporation “Eaton PowerWare. Powerware®
BladeUPS™ Uninterruptible Power System, Product Focus” Eaton,
If you would
like to send us feedback about this article, or have any
questions, please
write to
us.
|