Reliable data center power is an important element in the data center as failure can put the entire business and critical data in jeopardy. As a result, redundancy is an important focus to ensure that the data center can continue to function as expected at all times.
Server Technology (News - Alert), a provider of data center power management solutions for over two decades, focuses on delivering this redundancy in its data center power and celebrates client success stories. One recent story highlighted the benefits experienced by one of the largest printers in North America.
This company was searching for a way to add redundancy to its critical single-corded devices after experiencing a number of power failures and costly downtime. As a result, the company was examining different Fail Safe Transfer Switches (FSTS) to determine the best solution for its environment.
There were two specific features that were at the top of their priority list, including the transfer of a power source from A to B or B to A, and the remote management of outlets. The company was concerned with data center power and knew that any solutions that met with their criteria would be better suited to meet their needs.
After evaluating different products and conducting their own testing, the company selected Server Technology’s FSTS solution. This solution stood out from the rest in that it offered the ability to add two temperature and humidity probes for environmental monitoring, and environmental conditions can be viewed through the network interface.
Server Technology also offered 16 outlet models, half of which are routinely powered by the A in-feed, and the other half are powered by the B in-feed. This redundancy ensures consistency in data center power for the customer. The “Fail-Safe” method also offers a number of advantages when compared with the standard automatic transfer switch (ATS) as it does not prohibit load balancing between the two supplied circuits.
The standard ATS will contain two in-feeds, yet will run all outlets from just one source. The secondary source is only used if an outage occurs. Data center power is protected and the result is less heat, less resistance and, consequently, less of a voltage drop as compared to the same load existing on just one source.
With the implementation of the Server Technology FSTSs, the customer has reported that he now has peace of mind in knowing that if power goes down his single corded devices will still remain up. At the same time, the client can now reboot devices that become unresponsive, while the environmental probes are providing the e-mail alerts and SNMP trap notifications necessary when conditions exceed defined thresholds.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Carrie Schmelkin