News

Raritan’s Smart Rack PDU Reaches Billion-Hour Milestone

January 14, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

Raritan, Inc. has celebrated the PX2 iPDU's first billion hours of monitoring power and energy in data centers around the globe. The PX2 iPDU – Raritan's second-generation intelligent rack power distribution unit introduced three years ago – provides real-time, outlet-level monitoring of data center energy and loads. The information is used to help make data centers more efficient and operate better. "Our PX2 has more than 1.2 billion hours of proven field experience in data centers in every industry," said David Wood, Director of Power Management Solutions at Raritan. "We are the leading provider of intelligent PDUs because of our partnership with customers who are in the forefront of efficient data centers. By listening to our customers we were the first, for example, to provide 1% billing-grade accuracy to measure real-time kWh energy consumption, first to introduce a portfolio of color PDUs to make managing equipment in racks easier, and the first to add fully functional USB-A and USB-B ports to a PDU."

Raritan’s smart rack PDUs include: intelligence for monitoring data center energy usage and performance; a port for adding sensors, including temperature and humidity sensors, to monitor the health of a rack's environment; and, a USB port to expand capabilities. The USB port, for example, can be used to add security webcams or to install Wi-Fi connections or to configure and maintain the intelligent PDUs.

With more than 625 unique models, Raritan's rack iPDU portfolio is the largest in the industry. To meet the needs of diverse IT environments, the portfolio includes single-phase, three-phase, high power (400V), outlet-metered, outlet-switched, and unswitched rack PDUs and inline power meters.

The intelligence built into Raritan iPDUs provides real-time, outlet-level monitoring of data center energy and loads, as well as monitoring of environmental conditions when using optional plug-and-play sensors. Raritan iPDUs are available in 10 color choices to help save time in identifying and locating power distribution pathways and in differentiating between multiple PDUs in a rack.

The two USB ports on the PX2 can be used by data centers to: Add USB webcams for security. Reduce Ethernet drops by either using the USB port to plug in Wi-Fi networking (802.11 a/b/g/n), or to cascade up to four PDUs using one Ethernet drop. Turn a laptop into a serial console without adapters. Plug a configuration USB stick to perform fast and efficient firmware upgrades and/or to change PDU settings and network configuration -- and, the work can be done even before the data center network is online. And/or connect an iPad for remote display or local troubleshooting.