— Knowing where each server is located and how it is performing goes a long way to improve energy efficiency, uptime performance, and extending the life of data centers —

LAS VEGAS (December 5, 2011) — Raritan will be showing at the Gartner Conference its comprehensive solution for managing data center infrastructures, and how the solution helps data center professionals tackle key issues related to energy efficiency, resources, and uptime performance.  Raritan’s Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution focuses on managing Assets, Capacity, Change, Power, Environment, and Energy.

“We believe that smart racks are the best way to get accurate, real-time information on infrastructure performance so that customers can develop more efficient ways to manage their data centers and reduce costs,” said Herman Chan, Director at Raritan.  “Through our smart PDUs, environmental sensors, and Smart Asset Sensors and Tags for tracking IT equipment, we have instrumented the data center rack to tell us what is happening in and around IT equipment. 

“The smart rack can tell you how much energy each server is consuming if a server is moved if there’s enough capacity to add a new server to the rack, and if the environment is at the target temperature,” said Chan.  “Raritan’s DCIM software solution pulls together and analyzes the intelligence gathered by Smart Racks.  As a result, customers gain a more accurate and clearer picture of their infrastructure—across all data center racks globally—in order to manage smarter.”

Based on open standards and communications protocols, key information is shared among the Raritan solutions.  The server adds, moves, and changes that are tracked by Raritan’s new Smart Asset Sensor solution, for example, are shared with the Raritan DCIM database, as well as other databases. 

On exhibit in Raritan Booth # 42 are:

DCIM SOFTWARE SOLUTION

dcTrack 2.5 DCIM software provides real-time information about facilities, networks, and IT in order to more efficiently place IT equipment, manage capacity, and track assets.  The intelligent capacity search extends the life of existing facilities by revealing valuable stranded power, space, and network capacity.  Unlike spreadsheets and Visio diagrams, dcTrack’s advanced visualization capability, and point-and-click operation provide users with accurate information on assets, complete power chain, and end-to-end network connections when they need it.  This can save considerable time and money that is spent on capacity management and audits.

Power IQ 3.1 Energy Management software measures and manages energy usage down to the outlet level, providing you with greater control of energy consumption.  Enterprise-wide data collection at the device level enables Power IQ’s analytics to calculate and chart active power, energy consumption, cost, and carbon footprint for servers and other IT devices.  Power IQ’s configurable dashboard provides a vendor-agnostic centralized view of power and environmental health, energy capacity and consumption. 

SMART RACK DCIM SOLUTION

To provide a complete and accurate picture of IT resources in a rack and their health, Raritan’s intelligent rack PDUs (power strips), environmental sensors, and smart asset tracking sensors and tags have built-in intelligence to measure, monitor, and track activities.

Smart Asset Management Tag and Sensor Solution — The first-of-its-kind solution tells operators exactly where a server is located in the data center (down to the 1U level), and every move and change—using ID chips and scannable ID barcodes.  If a server is moved to a new location in the same rack or to a different rack, its new location is automatically recognized when the server’s Smart Tag (the size of a small mailing label) is connected to the Smart sensor at the new location.  The solution also provides visual guidance to help installers find the correct space in a rack by looking for color-coded indication lights among rows of racks.  It provides accurate inventory records on where servers are located in racks reducing the efforts around inventory audits while maintaining an accurate DCIM database to support reliable data center operations.

PX intelligent rack PDUs — industry’s largest portfolio of intelligent rack power distribution units (iPDUs) that make server racks a lot smarter.  Its built-in intelligence provides real-time monitoring of data center energy and loads, as well as environmental conditions when using optional plug-in sensors.  Raritan’s intelligent rack PDU portfolio—ranging from the PX-1000 to the PX-5000 Series—includes single-phase, three-phase, high power (400V), outlet-metered, outlet-metered and outlet-switched, and metered rack PDUs, as well as inline power meters, to meet the needs of diverse IT environments.

Environmental Sensors — Raritan offers a wide range of sensors to monitor and collect information on the environment around the rack.  Sensors include temperature, humidity, airflow, air pressure, smoke, water, and contact closure.

EMX Smart Rack Controller — provides, in one place, key information on data center operations collected from Raritan’s environmental sensors, cameras, and from Raritan’s Smart Asset Management Tag and Sensor solution.  At a glance, operators can see if their data center is working at optimal temperature, monitor humidity and airflow in racks, locate a server’s exact location, and see live views of the data center.  They can detect when a cabinet door is opened, see who has entered the data center, and be alerted if there is a problem—such as smoke or a security breach.

About Raritan (Raritan.com)
Raritan is a proven innovator of power management, infrastructure management, KVM, and serial solutions for data centers of all sizes.  In more than 50,000 locations worldwide, Raritan’s award-winning hardware and software solutions—including intelligent rack PDUs; energy management software; DCIM software solution; KVM-over-IP, and Serial-over-IP access products—provide IT and facility directors, managers, and administrators with the control they need to increase power management efficiency, improve data center productivity and enhance branch office operations.  Based in Somerset, N.J., Raritan has offices worldwide serving customers in 76 countries.  Visit us at Raritan.com or follow us on the Raritan blog.  Raritan is an active member of the Green Grid, Climate Savers Computing Initiative, and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design associations.  The company has been recognized by the EPA for its contribution to the agency’s data center initiative.

All marks are the property of their respective owners.

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