Console Server Expands Data Center IoT Capabilities

Emerson Network Power, soon to become Vertiv, today introduced a new advanced console server that expands the company's Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities and brings enhanced IoT functionality and features to the data center. The Avocent® ACS8000 console server is available globally starting October 31, 2016.

The introduction of the Avocent ACS8000 represents a strategic pivot in the role of the console server across the network. While its function of ensuring high availability and out-of-band management remains unchanged, the new Emerson Network Power portfolio of console servers will enable widespread machine-to-machine communication and allow organizations to fully leverage increasingly intelligent equipment in their data centers and across their networks.

“Whether it’s a critical network switch or a thermal management system in a colocation facility, a high-performance UPS system or rack PDU located in an IT closet, today’s equipment is designed with two-way communication and remote management in mind,” said Jay Wirts, vice president and general manager of Avocent core products for Emerson Network Power. “The Avocent ACS8000 console server makes that possible in the data center. As the portfolio expands, we’ll see those same capabilities – focused on network health, security, ease of use and compatibility with third-party equipment and tools – applied to edge environments as well.”

Connectivity is the key to unlocking IoT capabilities, and the Avocent ACS8000 models have up to 48 serial ports, integrated dual Gigabit Ethernet and SFP fiber, and external cellular connectivity via Cradlepoint, providing multiple ways to connect to the network; eight integrated USB ports for connecting with USB-based devices; and sensor and digital ports for connecting to environmental and security sensors. The Avocent ACS8000 can collect and analyze data from all of these inputs and communicate actionable information to the proper authorized personnel. If temperature spikes or a rack door is opened when it shouldn’t be, the ACS8000 will be alerted and react accordingly.

The Avocent ACS8000 further expands its connected interfaces with multiple vendors and solutions, including the Emerson Network Power Liebert® GXT4 uninterruptible power supply systems, Liebert MPH2 rack power distribution units and Avocent DSView™ management software.

The Avocent ACS8000 has the power and memory to support today’s modern architectures, with integrated dual power supplies, a powerful dual-core ARM processor and 16GB of flash memory.

The Avocent ACS8000 is the first of three planned console server product launches over the next 12 months. This will expand the Emerson Network Power console server portfolio to deliver cross-vendor, cross-platform management capabilities and IoT functionality to the edge of the network and capitalize on the value of the Emerson Network Power family of data center solutions that will integrate with these new console servers.