As the population of power distribution units (PDU) continues to burgeon exponentially – leaving managers with the mammoth task of managing hundreds or even several thousands of PDUS -- many companies are remaining hush-hush with regards to how they are going to quell managers’ concerns over PDUs, according to Server Technology (News - Alert).
“We looked at the industry and we said that there’s getting to be a lot of commodity like attributes of PDUs themselves,” Mark Harris, vice president of marketing at Server Technology, told TMCnet. “They are starting to all look the same and the one area that is not being addressed by anyone is how do you manage the growing population of PDUs? That’s one of those dirty little secrets that no one wanted to talk about.”
But now, Server Technology is ready to jumpstart that conversation with the launch of its new Sentry Power System. Server Technology – a provider of data center power distribution units –today unveiled its Sentry Power System, which integrates Server Technology’s Sentry family of cabinet PDUs with Sentry Power Manager (SPM) software through Server Technology’s exclusive SNAP technology to create a single system of power.
Having been in the industry for over 25 years, Server Technology listened to its customers and the message that clearly resonated is that rack-level PDU business is much more demanding than “mere sheet metal and wires,” according to Harris. Conversely, modern data center power delivery function is about intelligence, reliability and simplicity. With Sentry Power System, customers can now enjoy the industry’s most complete rack-level power management solution.
“We are recognized as the leader in delivering the world’s most reliable data center rack-based power and have consistently looked for innovative ways to increase the intelligence of our devices, while at the same time simplify the management associated with typical intelligent PDU deployments,” said Harris in a statement. “Our new Sentry Power System with SNAP technology is in direct response to these challenges and provides our customers the industry’s only global structured approach to data center PDU management.”
“Sentry Power System enables true ‘Plug & Play’ functionality and the ability to easily manage hundreds or thousands of PDUs across the enterprise from a single management console,” he added. “Our customers can take a PDU out of the box, plug it in to the network and the system will auto discover and configure the unit. Immediately, they’ll start receiving power and environmental information and reports and trends. The customer gets value right away.”
Server Technology’s SNAP is based upon XML over SSL technology and is included in Sentry CDU hardware and SPM software. SPM software coupled with SNAP enables true “Plug and Play” simple PDU auto discovery, auto configuration, hierarchical change management and auto firmware updates across the network along with all the capabilities found in previous versions of SPM including power control and state management, advanced reporting and trending, and power and environmental alarming, according to company officials.
Sentry Power System, featuring SNAP, is included in all shipped products today and is delivered as two components: SPM version 5.1 software/management application and Sentry CDUs, the cabinet hardware power distribution units, with firmware 6.1.