Raritan iPDUS first certified by UL for new safety standard

First global rack PDU vendor to achieve IEC 62368-1 requirements; Safety standard addresses converging technologies and new design approach

Capelle aan den IJssel, The Netherlands (20 December 2012) – Raritan Inc. announced today that its intelligent rack PX Power Distribution Unit (iPDU) portfolio has been awarded the first IEC 62368-1 certification issued by UL (Underwriters Laboratories), the world leader in advancing safety sciences, for the distribution equipment product category.  Raritan PX iPDUs monitor energy usage and power capacity in data centers.

The new product safety standard (IEC 62368-1) for audio/video, information technology and communication technology equipment, which will become mandatory globally in 2015, will replace current standards for these product categories. 

The standard’s groundbreaking testing methods accommodate for the convergence of technology—where computers, audio/video equipment, and other information and entertainment products have become interconnected and interchangeable, where those originally designed for business have entered the home and where new users, such as children, have mastered and embraced equipment almost exclusively used by adults.

“IEC 62368-1 overturned the traditional safety specification thinking of setting or modifying standards after an accident has occurred, and redefined the safety design principle of information and multimedia products.  UL has fully participated in the development of IEC 62368-1 for a very long time, and has actively helped many companies to understand the transformation that will be brought by the new standards.  Raritan, as an innovator in the data center space for almost three decades, has a wealth of experience in creating new technologies and has had a front-row seat to witness the incredible transformation of data centers and the convergence of all types of technologies.  We congratulate Raritan for becoming the first data center rack power product to pass UL certification and receive the certificate,” said Ralph Tang, General Manager of UL Taiwan.

“Raritan’s achievement of UL certification for its PX iPDUs marks a breakthrough for data centers because IT organizations now have a stringent safety benchmark to use in evaluating products for current and next-generation heterogeneous data center infrastructures,” said Herman Chan, Vice President of Product Management at Raritan.  “We are proud to have this prestigious UL organization certify that Raritan products are certified to the highest safety standards.

IEC 62368-1 also marks an important change in safety standard approaches. The new standard promotes a move from a traditional, prescriptive approach to a new, hazard-based approach—Hazard-Based Safety Engineering (HBSE)—that emphasizes safety design in the early product development phase.

Using the new HBSE approach, Raritan’s engineers integrated safety compliance early in the PX iPDU product design cycle. To achieve certification, PX iPDUs passed a rigorous UL examination process that included energy source measurement, humidity test, electric strength test, temperature rise test, capacitor discharge test, earth continuity test, current leak/expected contact voltage testing, impact testing, power cord tensile testing, internal stress release testing and wall-hanging strength tests.  Raritan worked with UL Taiwan CB Testing Laboratory (CBTL).

About UL
UL is a premier global independent safety science company with more than 118 years of history.  Employing more than 10,000 professionals with customers in over 100 countries, UL has five distinct business units – Product Safety, Environment, Life & Health, Knowledge Services, and Verification Services – to meet the expanding needs of our customers and to deliver on our public safety mission.  For more information on UL’s family of companies and network of 95 laboratory, testing, and certification facilities, go to UL.com.

About Raritan
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, 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.eu 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. 

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