Riding Out the Pandemic: The Importance of SmartSensors for Remote Management

Jessica Ciesla
March 8, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the data center industry’s reliance on remote management.  In this blog, we discuss the role of Raritan SmartSensors while looking back a year.

What a difference the perspective of a single year can make. In a blog posted last year—in March of 2020, just at the onset of what we now know to be a global pandemic—we addressed the issue of remote management. Specifically, we proposed a readiness plan that encouraged readers to prepare for what appeared to be the very real prospect of doing a lot of work from home. Little did we know that we would all become far too familiar with the term “remote,” particularly as an adjective: remote classes, remote learning, remote sessions, and even remote management.  

Fine Tuning Remote Management

With the IT industry’s increased focus on remote operations, more rack PDU manufacturers have begun offering environmental sensors. These include sensors to measure rack air temperature at the server inlets, as well as the humidity, airflow, vibration, smoke, water, and air pressure. Some PDUs may have pre-installed sensors; while others provide for optional, plug-in external sensors. Another common approach is to deploy a completely independent rack-management system, which can be outfitted with a wide range of environmental sensors; however, this option has the disadvantage of consuming additional rack space.

Coupling smart sensors with intelligent PDUs answers the call for efficiency. Here's why:

•    Easily deployed with scalable sensor technology
•    Keeps you alerted to service-impacting conditions, 24/7
•    Allows scaling of new implementations under a single reliable technology platform
•    Gives you a clearer vision into your environment with higher accuracy sensors
•    Improves field-response time to alerts with status LEDs

Sensors are an easy-to-install, cost-effective way to reduce energy costs, improve reliability, and increase capacity for future data-center growth. By using environmental sensors, you can optimize your data-center ecosystem to ensure that you are meeting equipment guidelines, reducing operational costs, deferring capital investments, and improving your power-usage effectiveness (PUE). 

SmartSensors Make Smart Sense

Raritan’s SmartSensors are a comprehensive set of sensors that monitor the environment within a data center and support remote work and remote-management applications. They are engineered to facilitate easy deployment while providing the most accurate data and insight into your operation.  

Contact us here at Raritan to learn more about SmartSensors and how they can support your remote monitoring and management needs.