Power and Environmental Monitoring in the Data Centre
EDP Europe offers a range of data centre power and environmental monitoring solutions to better manage power distribution, capacity, and proactively identify issues with environmental conditions within the Data Centre or IT Room.
Our data centre power solutions include: Basic and Intelligent Power Distribution Units (PDUs), Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS), Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS), Bespoke Power Solutions and Power Monitoring. On top of this EDP Europe offers a range of Environmental Monitoring solutions for managing and reporting on a variety of critical measurements including: temperature and humidity, differential pressure, and leak detection. EDP Europe also provides vendor agnostic DCIM solutions to centralise the management of sometimes disparate monitoring feeds, management of IT assets and data centre capacity. If you have concerns over your power management EDP Europe offers specialist advisory services for optimising Power Efficiency within the Data Centre.
Basic Power Distribution Units (PDU)
Basic PDUs provide power distribution to equipment within the rack but do not include intelligent power management options (see Intelligent PDU). Determining the type of Basic PDU will depend on the phase required (single-phase or three-phase), the number of outlets needed and the amount of energy used by each piece of equipment.
EDP Europe’s range of basic power distribution units can be custom made and are available in horizontal or vertical mount. Additional options include: number and type of outlets, circuit breakers, MID approved metering, individually fused outlets and locking outlets to prevent the accidental unplugging of equipment.
Intelligent Power Distribution (Smart PDU)
Intelligent PDUs, such as EDP Europe’s iPower ACU, monitor and track power consumption and report through a web browser interface so Data Centre Managers can optimise existing power and plan efficiently for future requirements. Smart PDUs have a number of features which enable companies to save time and optimise revenue, such as:
- PDU Usage Reporting – All Intelligent PDUs provide data related to the power load of the entire power strip. This is helpful for managing and tracking the usage trends to ensure loads are balanced and to identify remaining capacity in the rack.
- Socket Based Billing – More sophisticated models of Intelligent PDU have the ability to monitor usage by socket and to manage individual outlets. This is particularly useful in co-location environments where the power being used by individual pieces of equipment need to be billed to customers.
- Remote control – Some Intelligent PDUs enable the power to be remotely cycled by strip or by socket and can save the cost and time of sending an engineer to site.
- Scheduled Power Offs – Intelligent PDUs can also be used to schedule power downs and power ups for equipment that is not used regularly or as part of a power management schedule.
As well as being accessed via web browser, many Intelligent PDUs have the option of a software management solution that provides Data Centre Managers with power usage data to identify trends, manage power deployments by rack and efficiently plan for future capacity requirements.
Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)
In order to ensure continued uptime in the Data Centre or local on premise IT, having redundant solutions for power back up is vital. In large facilities, high-capacity standalone UPS units and batteries are used to provide this redundancy in the case of a mains power outage. In smaller Data Centres and Comms Rooms, rack mounted UPS units with internal battery back-up are used to provide continuous power to data centre equipment. All UPS units vary by capacity and battery run-time and should be selected according to the user requirement.
Transfer Switches
For equipment with one power input, additional redundancy can be achieved through the use of an Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) – also known as a Power Transfer Switch (PTS). The ATS is fed by two sources, so when single corded equipment is plugged in and one side of the power fails, the ATS automatically switches to the second feed to maintain continuity.
Bespoke Solutions
EDP Europe also offers a range of bespoke power solutions for requirements such as power splitter boxes for 63A or 32A power feeds and custom PDUs.
Data Centre Environmental Monitoring Solutions
Some intelligent PDUs, as well as Rack Security Solutions, provide basic environmental monitoring such as temperature and humidity. But, in situations where only monitoring the environment conditions is required, EDP Europe provides a number of data centre environmental monitoring solutions. Identifying issues with environmental conditions and rectifying them quickly is vital not only to the protection of the IT equipment but also plays an important role in maintaining the efficiency of the Data Centre hall or IT Room. EDP Europe’s range of IP-based environmental monitoring systems can be configured to issue alerts when thresholds are exceeded or trigger a relay to carry out another action. Basic environmental monitors tend to only monitor temperature and humidity, whilst more sophisticated models have the ability to monitor other conditions such as smoke, water, airflow, sound level and light levels. Some have other sensors, such as door sensors, and can also trigger audible and visual alarms as well as sending alerts via SNMP or SMS. For more information on environmental monitoring read our ‘Guide to Monitoring Solutions in Data Centres’.
DCIM Monitoring and Reporting Software
DCIM monitoring and reporting software provides centralised management of IT assets and the associated infrastructure resources to run them. DCIM, or Data Centre Infrastructure Management, solutions enable the systems running the data centre to be managed from one place and can incorporate power monitoring, environmental monitoring and much more. DCIM central management software lets Data Centre Managers visualise the Data Centre, manage their IT assets, collate data to produce reports and even identify areas that require improvement. Sensorium™, EDP Europe’s DCIM offering, is a powerful DCIM monitoring solution that enables custom dashboards to be built to show data such as room layouts that can display operating and alarm statuses of data centre racks, power loads and performance, CCTV footage, asset management and even building services integration.
Learn More About Power & Monitoring in Data Centres
If you want to know more about power & monitoring in the Data Centres read our guides ‘Guide to Managing Power in Data Centres’ and ‘Guide to Monitoring Solutions in Data Centres‘.
To find out more information or if you have a requirement that you would like assistance with please get in touch.
