ServerTech Blog - Information for the Data Center Equipment Manager

3 Phase Power Distribution

Lately, we've been getting quite a few questions from customers, channel partners and just about everyone else on 3 phase power. It seems everyone is searching for an effective solution to deliver power to all of the varying devices in their high density cabinets. Rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, we invite you to explore the following resources, all of which we have found to be extremely helpful in discussing 3 phase power with customers.

3 Phase Basics
Ohm's Law Calculator
Three-Phase Circuits (pdf)

Enjoy and if you have any further questions be sure to post them here!

Eaton Announces Acquisition of Aphel Technologies Limited

From the Powerware.com website:

CLEVELAND… Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation (NYSE:ETN) today announced it has acquired Aphel Technologies Limited. Terms were not disclosed.

Based in the United Kingdom, Aphel Technologies is a global supplier of high density, fault-tolerant power distribution solutions for datacenters, technical offices, laboratories and retail environments. The company has approximately 90 employees. In 2006, Aphel Technologies had sales of $12.3 million.

"The acquisition of Aphel Technologies expands our power quality and distribution offerings to customers in key European markets," said Randy Carson, Eaton senior vice president and president - Electrical Group.

Eaton Corporation is a diversified industrial manufacturer with 2006 sales of $12.4 billion. Eaton is a global leader in electrical systems and components for power quality, distribution and control; fluid power systems and services for industrial, mobile and aircraft equipment; intelligent truck drivetrain systems for safety and fuel economy; and automotive engine air management systems, powertrain solutions and specialty controls for performance, fuel economy and safety. Eaton has 60,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 125 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com.

Join Us in Dallas or Las Vegas Next Week!

Next week we're heading out to Dallas for the BICSI 2007 Spring Conference and to Las Vegas for the NAB Show.

From the BICSI website:

Educate. Motivate. Lead. Succeed. That is the theme for BICSI conferences         this year, and the Spring Conference promises to provide you with education         and motivation to lead your organization to a new level of success. Whether         your career is in data centers, security or design, you will be able to         choose from different concurrent sessions based on your ITS interest.

NAB has been considered the largest electronic media show in the world. It brings together more than 100,000 professionals and 1,400 exhibitors from 130 countries. It has become THE essential destination for anyone in electronic media who's looking for comprehensive education, inspiration and innovation.

We invite anyone attending these events to stop by and say hi!

Add Remote Management to Centralize System Administrators

Alan Chhabra has a great post over on his blog about going dark in your data center by adding remote management tools. While Alan's post focuses on server management and implementing virtualization and associated remote management tools, the conversation can easily be extended to remote power management as well.

By implementing power distribution units or managers with remote capabilities, facilities and system administrators can eliminate the need to dispatch personnel to remote locations for management. For example, if a server locks up, the system admin can remove power from that outlet via a web management tool like Server Technology's Sentry Power Manager software. Such tools could prevent massive hardware failures as well by showing you hot spots within the data center floor. By setting environmental parameters unique to each facility you could then begin to shed non-critical devices when those thresholds are exceeded.

So, if you're going dark in your data center the best practice would be to marry your remote server management tools with remote power management.