data centre

Global power management company Eaton has launched an automatic transfer switch for data centres in North and South America.

Eaton’s newest rack automatic transfer shift is designed to shift non-phase AC powers for equipment with a single power supply, in the event of power interruption.

The eATS30 is a network connected and monitored solution capable of delivering a 10 milllisecond transfer time, allowing power supplies to remain on during transfer. The transfer shift adds dual source redundancy or acts as a UPS maintenance bypass.

Eaton’s new automatic transfer shift is optimised to work with the company’s UPS systems and power distribution units (PDU). If connected to Eaton’s latest PDU platform it will also be able to distribute power to multiple devices.

Power management specialist Eaton has launched an app that aims to predict and manage power outages at data centres.

The “Blackout and Power Outage Tracker” is designed to enable data centre managers to check their susceptibility to grid outages, claimed Eaton.

The app works on the state of the power grid locally and across the national coverage of the UK and Ireland.

The system can identify causes, duration and number of people affected by power outages. It calculates the regional impact and gives data centres background information for submitting damage claims against their utility provider, according to Eaton.

Blackouts caused by accidents, grid over-demands or natural disasters are unpredictable, but Eaton wants to focus on prevention.

“Although some of these causes may be unpreventable, with the right power protection a company can help protect its data and equipment during any blackout,” said Steve Spicer, sales manager at Eaton.

Eaton claimed it uses the app to draw awareness to the need of uninterruptible power supplies.

The company recently introduced its power management system, which is integrated with EMC’s VSPEX infrastructure system.

Emerson Network Power has launched a family of rack power distribution units (PDU) to monitor changes in data centre power and capacity management.

The MPH2 rack PDU offers remote monitoring and control of connected loads. It is designed to enable environmental input options with multiple power input selections and output configurations, allowing data centre power control to the receptacle level, as well as monitoring of the strip and rack temperature and humidity. The MPH2 rack PDU is designed to operate at temperatures up to 60°C. The metering is at +/-1%. Up to four MPH2 rack PDUs can be interconnected as a rack PDU array.

The RPC2 communication module enables upgradable network communications, precision sensors and a display interface that be accessed locally or remotely.

“Intelligent rack power distribution units are becoming ever more important to businesses, which require ever increasing speed, intelligence and economy in their data centres,” said Dr Peter Koch, senior vice president engineering and product management, at Emerson Network Power.

Emerson claimed that the MPH2 has the highest level of availability and efficiency in comparison to other rack PDUs, based on a test run by DfR Solutions, an independent testing agency.

The product is available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Industry professionals believe the data centre of the future will be powered by on-site generation and will use high-efficiency AC UPS systems for backup power, according to a new survey.

Emerson Network Power’s report, The Data Center 2025: Exploring the Possibilities, surveyed 800 data centre professionals around the world.

A majority of survey respondents (65%) said they believe the future’s ‘hyperscale’ data centres will run on on-site power by 2025. Respondents in the Asia Pacific region overwhelmingly predicted a move to on-site power, with 33% saying it will definitely happen and an additional 44% considering it likely.

Solar power was in the lead for respondents’ future power source of choice. Asia Pacific and Latin America were optimistic about solar’s potential, with each region predicting that 25% of future data centres’ power will come from solar, while Western Europe (18%) and the US (15%) projected lower levels of solar use.

For backup power, 30% of participants expect high-efficiency AC UPS systems to be the primary source in 2025. According to the respondents, these UPS systems are less likely than other technologies to be displaced by competitors due to efficiency advancements in recent years.

But some said hardware approaches could challenge the AC UPS, including a momentary duty inverter that provides just enough ride-through power to switch to an alternate source (27%) and DC UPS (13%). And about one in four participants said software failover could become the new backup paradigm, displacing today’s UPS/generator combination.

As part of a European project, power systems firm Emerson Network Power is to develop ‘greener’ UPS backup power systems for data centres.

The European Commission’s Product Environment Footprint (PEF) project aims to develop standards for environmentally friendly data centres. It will define a method for gauging the facilities’ environmental impact and track the energy used and wasted during operations.  The project’s larger aim is a single European market for green products.

The PEF was adopted by the Commission last year and is undergoing a three-year trial, which entered its second phase in late March.

According to Franco Costa, Emerson’s vice president and general manager for power systems in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the company will be submitting products to PEF for testing with performance benchmarks, and working with partners and stakeholders to validate compliance and verification. He added that Emerson’s next-generation UPS systems will be committed to the new standards.

In another forward-looking move, in January Emerson launched its ‘Data Centre 2025’ initiative, with the goal of engaging industry thought leaders worldwide to develop a vision for the data centre of the future.