In the data center, as power costs are going up and power availability is going down, it’s really all about power and cooling. The more power you use, the more cooling you need. What if you could overlay the power usage over the temperature in your data center, see the effects in any particular cabinet, and be able to plan your power requirements?
Enter Server Technology (News - Alert). The provider of data center power solutions such as power distribution units (PDUs) and power monitoring products has launched the newest version of its data center power monitoring and management solution, Sentry Power Manager (SPM), featuring predictive analysis and trending capabilities to help you maximize your power efficiency.
SPM is a power monitoring, measurement and management software application designed to help data centers monitor and manage their power usage and achieve their green initiative goals. Users can install SPM into many different PDUs and cabinets, and the application will bring all of that information into the SPM for reporting, inventory, power information, trends, scheduling and more.
“It’s an overall management tool that really gives the user complete access control,” said Calvin Nicholson, Server Technology’s director of Software and Firmware, in a recent TMCnet interview. “It can really be standalone depending on the facility and what it wants to accomplish or it also may be a gateway to get power information out to other tools they have in their data center.”
Version 5.2 is the latest version of SPM and features new functionalities and more “bells and whistles” rather than a focus on core competency. One of the major upgrades is the software’s trending capabilities, including predictive trends, showing thresholds and combining temperature, humidity and power.
“This is a very exciting new version of SPM because of the unique predictive trending analysis,” said Brandon Ewing, president of Server Technology, in a statement. “We’ve listened to our data center customers in developing this feature and now they will really have the critical power information from IT equipment to make informed decisions about power and energy use. SPM can actually show them the right choices to make for improved energy efficiency.”
One of the breakthrough functions of the predictive trending feature is the ability to explore “what if” scenarios, allowing users to get a preview into future trends and see what will or will not work in your data center.
“Our data center power customers will be able to use the predictive trending analysis to view and analyze past and future data related to all aspects of cabinet power – total system, circuits, lines, locations, zones and temperature,” said Nicholson. “Customers can overlay trend types and will immediately see a ‘red alert’ if future trends cross currently set thresholds for power or environmental conditions. This new version of SPM also delivers a new capacity planning tool and new redundancy functionality – all key benefits to data center professionals.”
The capacity planning device management tool lets you run reports by available capacity, or “U” space. The redundancy tool allows the user see if the power provided to the cabinet will keep devices powered if either the A or B power source is lost.
Sentry Power System integrates Server Technology’s Sentry family of cabinet PDUs with Sentry Power Manager software through Server Technology’s exclusive SNAP technology to create a single system of power. One of the chief benefits of Sentry Power System is that when coupled with SNAP, it enables true plug and play functionality and the ability to easily manage hundreds or thousands of PDUs across the enterprise from a single management console.
Further, the SNAP feature lets customers take a PDU out of the box, plug it into the SPM network and the system will auto discover and configure the unit. Data center customers will immediately start receiving power and environmental information through SPM’s world class user interface and popular “single pane of glass” dashboard view.
SPM provides data center power and environmental information via an Application Programming Interface (API), supporting SNMPv3. Additionally, SPM can monitor PDUs from APC (News - Alert), Raritan, Geist and others.
To learn more about SPM, visit www.servertech.com.
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Edited by Jamie Epstein