Software views energy usage in data center/branch offices.
March 10, 2009 -
Offering reporting and analytics capabilities, Power IQ(TM) tracks and keeps repository on all types of granular power information from multiple platforms. Reports generated by software are kilowatts per hour energy usage; energy costs per kilowatt hour; power capacity; and compliance and carbon reports. Software helps manage distributed Dominion PX PDUs by enabling bulk firmware updates, configuration management and health monitoring to be accomplished remotely through single Web interface.
Raritan Adds New Data Center Energy Management Capabilities to Power IQ Software
o Power usage insights help data centers save energy, improve uptime, find capacity, and track carbon footprint reductions and other green initiatives
SOMERSET, N.J. (January 6, 2009) - To provide a more complete and accurate view of energy usage within the data center and branch offices, Raritan today introduced new reporting and analytics capabilities to its Power IQ(TM) Energy Management Software. Power IQ tracks and keeps a repository on all types of granular power information from multiple platforms to help IT and Operations managers analyze power-related issues - ranging from IT energy costs to rack capacity to IT equipment health.
Power IQ provides a consolidated view of power information gathered from IT devices plugged into DominionŽ PX intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) and a wide range of other rack PDUs, including APC, ServerTech and Geist. It also tracks rack temperature and humidity information collected by the Dominion PX's environmental sensors.
Information is presented in user-configurable graphs and reports that can be accessed from anywhere with Power IQ's Web-based dashboard. Reports can be easily tailored to look at power over any user-defined time periods and at any point(s) in the path from where power enters the building -- from the PDU, to the outlet, to the circuit breaker, branch circuit, the data center, to the entire building. It also can provide energy views by division or business unit, by application, by offices and other entities.
"The cost and supply of energy are critical problems for corporate data centers and hosting companies," said James Cerwinski, Senior Product Manager at Raritan. "Detailed power information turned into useful insight is how Power IQ can help customers solve today's energy-related data center issues. Our goal is to help customers reduce energy costs and their carbon footprint, find stranded capacity and improve data center operations."
Power IQ's open database compliant (ODBC) system can be integrated with customer's existing data warehouse and enterprise reporting systems.
Reports that Power IQ generates include:
o Kilowatts per Hour Energy Usage Reports -- Energy consumption information based on user-defined criteria are shown on these reports. Graphs can easily depict what devices are consuming the most energy, whether power conservation efforts are working, and if there are problem hot spots or over-cooled areas.
A financial company, for example, used Raritan's power solutions to determine that it could raise the ambient room temperature in its data center by 3 degrees and still meet the equipment's cooling requirements. The move reduced the company's cooling cost by 15 percent.
o Energy Costs per Kilowatt Hour Reports -- These reports, which can be used to bill back energy costs to users and customers, provide details on the cost of power consumption by user-defined groups, such as a department or business unit, or types of equipment, or applications.
A U.S.-based hosting company, whose server racks often contain IT equipment for multiple customers, is now able to charge customers for energy usage. Power IQ and Dominion PX PDUs measure energy usage at the IT device and customer level for the company. With the addition of peak and off-peak cost per kWh information, Power IQ generates energy cost reports by customer. The hosting company plans to also generate cooling energy cost reports.
o Power Capacity Reports -- By reporting on actual power used by IT devices in a rack and comparing that to allocated rack capacity, IT organizations can use the information to optimize power resources across racks. Racks with available power capacity to add more IT equipment can be identified. Also, project delays and downtime due to lack of power supply or circuit overloads can be avoided.
With Raritan's power solutions, a financial firm in Europe is able to measure actual power at the IT device and rack levels, giving the data center staff accurate active power usage and enabling them to find the stranded power capacity -- the delta between the actual usage and derated nameplate values. By identifying the stranded capacity, the data center staff was able to add more applications and devices to the existing infrastructure, and delay the cost of a data center expansion project.
o Compliance and Carbon Reports -- To comply with government "green" regulations or corporate green objectives, Power IQ can track improvements on energy savings and carbon dioxide (CO2) reducing initiates.
A technology company, for example, uses Power IQ to track and certify CO2 reductions in its data center in Japan, where there is a carbon trading program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon trading enables companies to buy credits to cover their carbon generation, while more energy-efficient companies have an opportunity to sell carbon credits. In both cases the need is real to track the amount of carbon generated and document changes. With Power IQ, the Japanese technology company is able to record CO2 generated by the IT equipment in its data centers. Power IQ also issues carbon usage and change reports for independent certification in order for the company to receive carbon credits. The company now has a systematic, auditable approach to tracking carbon generated and changes over time.
Another unique capability of Power IQ is PDU management. It simplifies managing distributed Dominion PX PDUs by enabling bulk firmware updates, configuration management and health monitoring to be accomplished remotely through a single Web interface. Security is ensured through standards-based authentication, Web session timeout and IP-based access control.
Availability
Power IQ 1.3, which is available worldwide through Raritan's channel partners, is available in two models -- a virtual appliance and a hardware appliance. The virtual appliance is tested to run on a customer's VMwareŽ platform - saving rack space, energy and hardware costs. The hardware appliance is a turnkey solution on an enterprise-class server. Visit www.raritan.com/poweriq for more information on Power IQ.
About Raritan (Raritan.com)
Raritan is a leading provider of intelligent power management and secure IT infrastructure management solutions that provide IT directors, managers and administrators the control they need to optimize data center productivity and enhance branch office operations. In more than 50,000 locations around the world, our power management and integrated secure in-band and out-of-band server access-and-control products help companies better monitor and manage energy consumption and server access and utilization. Raritan's OEM division provides advanced embedded hardware and firmware for server and client management including KVM-over-IP, IPMI, intelligent power management and other industry standards-based management applications. Based in Somerset, N.J., Raritan has 38 offices worldwide, serving 76 countries. For more information, please visit Raritan.com Company Information: Name: Raritan Computer, Inc. Address: 400 Cottontail Lane City: Somerset State: NJ ZIP: 08873 Country: USA Phone: 800-724-8090 FAX: 732-764-8887 http://www.raritan.com
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