What Is the iX7™ Advance PDU Controller and How Could It Improve My Data Center Operations?

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Gento

The iX7™ intelligent controller is Raritan’s newest advancement in the PDU industry. Before going into the details of what the iX7™ encompasses and why it’s changing the industry, it’s important to know the basic components of an intelligent PDU to help further your understanding. 

First, what is an intelligent PDU, and how does it differ from a basic PDU?   A basic PDU simply provides reliable power distribution to IT devices, that’s it, while on the other hand, an intelligent or smart iPDU provides sophisticated features like power metering, environmental monitoring, and remote outlet control. If you are interested in learning more about the differences download our free eBook “Basic vs. Intelligent PDUs - Understanding the Differences”.

The most intricate and important component of an intelligent power distribution unit (iPDU) is the controller. An iPDU controller is the center of intelligence, the brains of your PDU, it is composed of the computing, display and connectivity ports. All metering elements across the PDU (inlet, outlets, and circuit breaker) are connected back to the controller, as it centralizes all the data. The onboard local display allows for easy viewing, monitoring, and some configuration of the data. Now with a stronger understanding of the fundamentals, it is time to discuss the latest PX intelligent PDU controller, the iX7™.

The iX7™ is the latest in iPDU controllers that provides a future-proof design, with more computing power, higher efficiency processors, a host of extra ports, and standard Gigabit Ethernet. iX7™ also delivers the longest technology life-expectancy of any intelligent PDU.  Built off the success of earlier PX intelligent PDU models, iX7™ ensures more reliability to your connected devices and smarter management capabilities, making your day to day easier. So you might be asking yourself what does this all mean for me and my data center. Simply, the iX7™ can help you manage your data center operations more efficiently and at a lower cost.

One of the most important concepts employed was a future-proof design architecture. After thorough research and beta testing, one of the top goals disclosed by data centers was having continuous operational uptime. The future-proof design helps solve this problem by enabling the PDU to grow with your data center providing technology to allow adding new applications and connections without having to replace the PDU.  This results in continued delivery of its core functions (powering the equipment and monitoring the power). The pivotal component allowing the iX7™ to be future-proof is Xerus™, a technology platform which is the foundation and brains behind all of Raritan’s power products.

Xerus™ is a state-of-the-art technology platform, leveraging both proprietary firmware and a physical circuit layer board, owned and designed by Raritan. Xerus™ Technology Platform future-proofs your PX intelligent PDU with the most powerful embedded processor, along with a battle-tested firmware counting millions of hours of uptime across all Raritan power products. With Xerus™ open firmware architecture you will be able to leverage your PX capabilities in all programming languages and scripting methods to develop your own data center applications. Overall iX7 makes the PX iPDU the easiest to use, most reliable, and most supportive for future technology developments.

To learn more about the capabilities of the advanced iX7™ PDU controller watch this video – http://www.raritan.com/landing/most-advanced-pdu-controller-ever-built, also listed below are additional features.

iX7™ Dual Networking

Standard Gigabit Ethernet

The iX7™ controller features a Gigabit Ethernet port facilitating your PDU connectivity to modern gigabit network appliances, in addition to a fast Ethernet port, for standard connectivity in most data centers.

Dual Network Access

Dual Networking, allows users to access and operate their PX intelligent PDU on two simultaneous, separate networks or VLAN. This functions can be used a number different ways, to give access to 3rd parties to a given set of PDU deployed, or back-up the network connectivity for a specific location, or connecting the PDU to two internal networks.

Extended Cascading

Choose the best way to daisy chain PDUs using one of the two USB ports of the iX7™ controller. Or leverage the Gigabit Ethernet port for cascading and the free USB ports for other applications. You can mix and match USB and Ethernet connections, and even include other PX and EMX products as part of the daisy chain, and even create closed loop eliminating single points of failures in case of an outage.

iX7™ Power Sharing

The ultimate uptime feature. Power Sharing provides active redundant power between two iX7 controllers linked through the expansion port, in the case of a feed power-loss on either A or B side. With Power Share, your PX will alert you right away of the power outage, displaying a critical red screen and forwarding preconfigured traps and emails for quick remediation.