Power and cooling vendor Eaton announced new management capabilities for data centres and colocation facilities that can measure energy consumption and control power at the outlet levels.
Called the ePDU, its Eaton’s third-generation platform featuring one per cent revenue-grade power monitoring along with outlet metering with switched rack power distribution units for advanced power management.
This product is intended to offer more cost saving opportunities for data centres and colocation facilities, according to the vendor.
Hervé Tardy, vice president and general manager, Eaton’s Distributed Power Quality Division, said the ePDU G3 managed models are designed to help data centre and facility managers control energy costs, enhancing business value with capabilities for pinpoint accuracy in monitoring power consumption.
Tardy added that power monitoring can be a strategic and cost-saving asset given the budget and resource constraints faced by many of today’s data centres and colocation facilities. One option for data centres to increase power savings can be by shutting down certain servers at different times of the day. This level of control can also help facilities take advantage of rebate opportunities with utilities.
Network connected ePDU G3 models are optimized to work with Eaton’s Intelligent Power Manager software, offering end-users an integrated power management platform to monitor multiple units through virtualization systems like VMware vCenter Server. Network connected ePDU G3 models can also daisy chain with other units, so that four devices can share one network port and IP address, reducing network connection costs by up to 75 per cent, Eaton claims.
In addition, outlets can be grouped across power feeds to facilitate reboot of multiple power supplies at the same time, simplifying control of servers and switches.
Eaton ePDU G3 managed and metered input models offer a hot-swap network meter module so that, in the unlikely event of a failure, users can replace the module without shutting down servers; therefore, maintaining business continuity and enhancing serviceability. With ePDU G3 managed models, data centres gain the capability to meter power at the outlet level, which is the innovative functionality needed for accurate Level 3 power usage effectiveness (PUE) calculations.
All Eaton ePDU G3 models feature a new patent-pending International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) outlet grip designed to eliminate the common and often costly problem of plugs falling out of outlets due to bumps or vibrations. The solution can protect data center managers from incurring additional expenses related to cable trays or special power cords, which can increase purchase costs by several hundred dollars per unit, the company said.