For a data center owner with a growing need of additional data center or infrastructure capacity, acquiring a company or its data center assets may be a good option. It
Why we still don’t understand contained aisles and why we need to take more care in their design. 2011 ASHRAE guidelines are the beginning of a new era in data center air cooling.
ASHRAE is getting ready to finalize its third edition of TC 9.9. In advance of the release expected later this year, it has just published a 45-page white paper titled, “2011 Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments – Expanded Data Center Classes and Usage Guidance,” which is now publicly available from ASHRAE.
Microgrids are an
important emerging mechanism for incorporating distributed energy generation,
both from renewable as well as fossil fuel power sources, into the larger
electrical distribution system. Such microgrids may either be operated in
conjunction with, or “islanded” from, the utility power grid and are utilized
in a variety of settings including commercial applications, community/utility
deployments, institutional power systems, military installations, and off-grid
microgrids that provide electricity to remote villages and other sites.
The Green Grid
Association, together with The Data Center Metrics Coordination Task Force, has
delivered its latest recommendations for energy-efficiency measurement and
reporting.
The National
Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced the initiation of the
NEMA Premium Efficiency Transformer Program, which will help utilities,
commercial buildings, and industrial plants incorporate super high-efficiency
electrical transformers into their operations.
The Atlantic basin is
expected to see an above-normal hurricane season this year, according to the
seasonal outlook issued by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center-a division of the
National Weather Service.
Geist and Opengate
Data Systems announced that Geist has made a financial investment in Opengate
Data Systems. Geist will begin offering and promoting Opengate’s line of data
center airflow management solutions to their broad customer base.
Siemon announced that
its MTP-based OM4 and OM3 plug and play fiber optic cable assembly products
have passed key IEC and TIA/EIA performance tests. The test results showed
strong performance margins to the 10Gb/s and 40/100Gb/s limits currently
covered by the standards. Performed by Experior Laboratories, a leading
independent, third-party testing facility, these tests confirm that Siemon’s
40Gb/s and 100Gb/s-ready plug and play assemblies exceed the standards’ strict
insertion loss and endface geometry requirements with margins up to 60 percent.
IT procurement or
sourcing managers challenged with finding sourcing options that reduce costs at
tolerable risks should examine nine contractual terms to reduce risk in cloud
contracts, according to Gartner, Inc. The cloud delivery model is gaining
popularity, but it includes risks that are often unclear or overlooked when
assessing the appropriateness of the sourcing model.
TechWeb’s
InformationWeek Government releases key insights from its 2011 Government IT
Leadership Forum, an event that brought together more than 200 chief
information officers, chief technology officers and other technology decision
makers in federal, state, and local government on May 5th in Washington, DC.
Multistack’s Virtual Movable End Cap II system can utilize a combination
of 10-, 15-, 20-, 30-, 50-, 70-, and 85-ton Dedicated Heat Recovery
Chillers (DHRC), to create systems from 20 to 600 tons that produce
simultaneous cooling and heating.
Tate has expanded its line of in-floor cooling
solutions for data centers to include the new DirectAire X2 airflow panel and
multiple control options for both the SmartAire variable-air-volume (VAV)
damper and the PowerAire fan-assist module.
Dranetz has released two significant
communications options for its Encore Series power quality, demand, and energy
monitoring system. The first is the company’s IEC 61850 communications option
that will be bundled, when specified, into Dranetz 61000 Series instruments.
Zonit Structured Solutions has received approval
from the Underwriter’s Laboratory for its Micro Automatic Transfer Switch
(µATS)-a feature-rich, affordable, ultra-small-form-factor, highly efficient
(zero “U”) automatic power transfer switch for data centers.
Raritan’s Dominion KX II-101 is a one-port,
KVM-over-IP remote management device that delivers secure, unblocked access to
servers from anywhere in the world. Small enough to fit in the palm of a hand,
the KX II-101 V2’s size and features provide versatility in managing data
centers, test labs, and branch offices.
Data Aire, Inc.’s Unity Cooling System software
dynamically manages the volume of conditioned air into the data center,
providing only the amount of air required to cool the servers. The resulting
savings from the cooling system operation and fan power required are
significant.
APC by Schneider Electric’s online IT Carbon and
Energy Allocation Calculator Trade-Off Tool demonstrates the impact that data
center efficiency, load characteristics, and location have upon the carbon and
energy cost allocation between servers, storage, networking, and physical
infrastructure equipment.
Generac Power Systems, Inc. has improved its
Customer Connection Interface (CCI) that will be incorporated into all lines of
its industrial generators. One of the most significant CCI improvements
concerns the wiring design.
Eaton Corporation’s 400-V configurations for its
ePDU power distribution product line are designed to help reduce power
distribution costs in enterprise class data centers where high-density
computing is required.
The Liebert APM is a transformer-free, on-line
UPS that allows quick power capacity increases with the addition of internal
FlexPower core hardware assemblies. The FlexPower core assemblies allow the
system to expand for capacity or redundancy in 15 kW increments up to 45 or 90
kW within a single cabinet.
Crenlo has added NEMA Type 4 and Type 12
wall-mount enclosures to its standard lineup of Emcor enclosures. The NEMA
wall-mount enclosures are designed to house and protect critical electrical
components such as terminal blocks, electrical controls, and instruments from
harsh industrial settings.
Snake Tray’s Snake Feet ballasted roof-mount
anchor uses common cement block ballast and supports Solar Snake Tray cable
tray and conduit in carrying PV cables from solar arrays to the combiners boxes
and inverters.
Hammond Manufacturing’s Eclipse Junior (EJ
Series) enclosure series is now available in 316 Grade stainless steel material
as well as the traditional 304 Grade stainless steel for applications where the
properties of 316 are not required.
Siemon’s QSFP+ (Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus)
high-speed active optical interconnect cable assemblies have been tested and
accepted by the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) as compliant to the
InfiniBand Architecture Specification.
S&C’s 6800 Series Automatic Switch Controls are now available for
overhead and underground switching and sectionalizing applications.
They replace the existing line of 5800 Controls and are capable of running
S&C’s IntelliTEAM SG Automatic Restoration System.
McQuay International has added a RapidRestore option to its Daikin McQuay Pathfinder Model AWS air-cooled chillers with variable frequency drive (VFD). The option provides peace of mind to facility managers who need to maintain necessary cooling levels in missioncritical applications.
Marway Power Solutions has released its model MPD 100R-003 Power
Distribution Unit (PDU) as a standard product offering. Previously
available only as a modified custom solution, this rack-mount, singlephase
PDU meets a wide variety of power quality, protection, and
distribution requirements at an affordable cost.
Emerson Network Power now offers catalog sheets
that illustrate and describe new ASCO Services preventive maintenance service
plans and digital microprocessor controller (Group 5) upgrades.