The Raritan Blog

Common Electrical Terminology

Posted on August 20, 2019 by Jessica Ciesla

Data center managers are on a constant road of innovation. As they implement new solutions, and respond to increasing demands for power, they must consistently consider a wide range of electrical factors. Whether you are exploring the benefits of high-power rack PDUs with sensors, or just beginning to delve into best practice approaches to reduce the carbon footprint of data centers, the following electrical term definitions can help you to better understand the intricacies of rack PDUs. 

Comparing Annualized and Peak PUE

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Jessica Ciesla

The Green Grid introduced the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metric in 2007, and it’s currently the de facto standard for measuring a data center’s efficiency. The traditional method of calculating a data center’s PUE is to collect the required data manually and add it to a worksheet at predetermined intervals, whereupon an application calculates the PUE. A more advanced method of obtaining the PUE is to use intelligent rack PDUs that take the measurements and transmit them to a DCIM power monitoring solution that automatically calculates the PUE. Many data center managers are still unclear on what PUE is, how it’s calculated and what it’s used for. Most managers understand that their PUE should be as close to 1 as possible, but they may not know why this measurement is desirable.

Intelligent PDUs: More Than Just Power Distribution

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Jessica Ciesla

Thanks to emerging technologies and increased capabilities, power distribution has become only one component of effectively managing rack PDUs. In fact, rack PDUs are now available with additional capabilities, such as multi-level power metering and power capacity planning, which makes it easier for data center managers to effectively meet established SLAs. 

Intelligent PDUs also play a crucial role in eliminating periods of unexpected downtime in the data center. Keep reading to learn more about the true power of an intelligent PDU.

High-Density, High-Power Rack PDUs With Sensors

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Jessica Ciesla

To date, the data center industry has had to become innovative as they seek to respond to the increasing demand for power. As part of their innovation best practices, forward thinking data center managers have turned to high-density and high-power rack PDUs with sensors. This technology is designed to help data centers become "green," reduce their carbon footprint, and effectively respond to the ever-increasing demand for power and density of IT equipment at the rack level. 

ASHRAE: Best Practices for Environmental Monitoring of Humidity and Temperature

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Jessica Ciesla

Data centers now consume an estimated 1.8 percent of electricity within the United States. As energy consumption has risen, so too have the associated costs. These costs, coupled with the fact that approximately 30 percent of data center servers are either idle or underutilized, have resulted in unnecessary expenses that could have been mitigated with the right environmental monitoring best practices. These best practices include monitoring temperature and humidity in accordance with ASHRAE 90.4. 

What Is ASHRAE 90.4 ? 

In its simplest forms ASHRAE 90.4 is a new standard that is designed to help data centers effectively monitor temperature and humidity levels so that downtime is reduced, and enhanced efficiencies can be introduced. This standard focuses on the use of on-site and off-site renewable energy. It uses both Mechanical Load (MLC) and Electrical Loss (ELC) to better determine the maximum allowable values for climate zones. At its core, ASHRAE 90.4 helps data center managers understand when they are undercooling their machines and operating at detrimental humidity levels, so that power utilization can be enhanced for the entire data center. 

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