Raritan Adds Features To Dominion PX PDU For Measuring & Monitoring Data Center Energy & Health

Raritan introduced new features to its Dominion® PX rack power distribution unit (PDU) solutions – which provide detailed power information, down to the individual outlet level – to help data centers optimize operations and manage energy.

The new firmware for the PX intelligent power strips enables companies to gather from servers and other data center IT equipment more useful and more accurate information – including total apparent and active power for devices with multiple power supplies, and kilowatt hour metering for energy cost and charge-back applications.

"Customers are using the PX to solve basic data center problems -- such as determining rack capacity based on actual loads or identifying power consumption of servers and IT equipment," said Herman Chan, Director of Raritan’s Power Management Solutions group. "They also are using the device-level data gathered by the PX with our Power IQ™ energy management analytics software to gain even more insight on how their data centers consume energy, so that they can take steps to be more efficient. With the new PX features introduced today customers will be able to determine their energy costs down to the server and application level."

Devices with multiple power supplies can be plugged into multiple PX outlets. Outlets can be grouped so the apparent and active power drawn through those outlets is summed and displayed for the device. Data center managers can see at a glance the power metrics for a device with multiple outlets, rather than having to take the time to calculate each individual outlet to come up with a total.

The device supports lower critical and lower non-critical current thresholds for individual outlets. Data center managers can set thresholds and receive alerts to detect devices that have been powered off, that have failing power supplies or loose cord connections, or that have simply been accidentally unplugged.

Actual, real-time accurate kwh metering is now available to support billing and internal customer charge backs. Kwh metering is far more accurate than measuring current, and then calculating kwh based on assumptions for voltage and power factor.

Dominion PX PDUs work with Raritan’s Power IQ energy management software that tracks and generates energy usage reports based on all types of granular power information gathered at the IT device level. This information helps IT and Operations managers with "what if’ analysis, tracking energy changes, finding rack capacity and billing back energy costs to internal departments.