Columbus, Ohio [October 18, 2012] – Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE:EMR) and a global leader in maximizing availability, capacity and efficiency of critical infrastructure, today announced that the North American version of the modular, row-based Liebert APM^T uninterruptible power supply (UPS) has received ENERGY STAR certification. The Liebert APM UPS is available globally.

A transformer-free, on-line UPS with best-in-class efficiency, the Liebert APM enables capacity on demand with the addition of internal FlexPower^™ core assemblies. The assemblies allow the system to expand for capacity or redundancy in 15 kW increments up to 45 or 90kW within a single cabinet.

> Read more here

The fallout from the Sunday September 23rd NY Times front page article entitled “Power, Pollution and the Internet” which was purported as an “investigative reporting” piece has begun to spread.   In my last blog, I jokingly remarked that “the general public would go out and tweet and post Facebook tirades on their newest iPhones”.  Well it has clearly moved beyond that.

Only a few days later on Sept 27, Ranking Committee Members of the US House of Representatives Henry A. Waxman, Member Bobby L. Rush and Anna G. Eshoo sent letters to the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “to request an update on efforts to improve energy efficiency in data centers across the county”.  

This was posted as an open letter to the US EPA and DOE in effect demanding an explanation of how and why they could allow the apparently flagrant energy and environmental disaster equivalent of the Exxon Valdez oil spill happen, while these two major government agencies ignored the travesty. The letter specifically cited the NY Times article as the cause for their concerns and the motivating force behind the letter. Perhaps by triggering the open letter from members of Congress, the NY Times may feel they have brought “justice” to the ostensibly polluting, wasteful world of the Data Center Industry,  in the same vein as the Washington Post’s breaking open of the Watergate scandal.  

I agree that there are many "older" data centers that are less efficient than the newest designs.  There is no question that there is always room for improvement in almost any system or process and the data center is no exception.  However, the NY Times article did not provide both sides of the issue, perhaps because that would have made it less controversial.

Published on 8th October 2012 by Julius Neudorfer, Data Center Dynamics

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Emerson Webcast:  "Outside the Box"

Trends in Data Center Modularity

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 | 4 PM Eastern

Register Here

As demand for high-availability, rapid-deployment IT infrastructure continues to increase with the proliferation of on demand I T services and mission-critical applications, modular data center solutions have emerged as a favorable option for businesses that need to add data capacity and capability quickly – offering users a turn-key solution that is not only portable but flexible and scalable.

Explore emerging market demands for modular data center solutions and how these approaches are being used to achieve cost effective just-in-time growth, serve as “satellite” data center extensions or become stand-alone solutions. Then see how modular approaches are being applied to power and cooling to extend the efficiencies a modular approach can offer.

• Presenters
• Ron Bednar
• David R. Pickut, P.E., President , Pickut Technologies

New NFPA Electrical Safety Rules Mean Changes for Your Data Center

A service professional is working on a piece of electrical equipment. He’s done it hundreds of times before, but in a moment of carelessness or by total accident, an arc flash occurs. Most of us think this couldn’t happen to us. The truth is that electrocutions are the fourth leading cause of traumatic occupational fatalities, and according to the American Society of Safety Engineers, more than 3,600 workers suffer disabling electrical contact injuries annually.

Check out the Is Your Data Center Prepared for an Outage? whitepaper

To help prevent electrical injuries and deaths, the new 2012 version of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E: Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace makes important changes in the areas of safety, maintenance and training.

> Read Full Article

Proper gear and procedures are critical when working with energized electrical equipment. Employees working on electrical equipment without adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) risk serious injury or death when an electrical arc occurs.

Is your organization trained on NFPA 70E requirements?

Ever have one of those days which turn into weeks, where nothing seems to be going your way? Your boss is constantly nagging you to reduce the power usage in your data center in an effort to curb costs; a cable becomes loose somewhere (and it takes you hours to figure out where it is); a server goes down yet again, causing the network to crash. And just when you thought things were starting to go right – a power failure in the whole region has your data center shutting down for days. In this post, I am going to probe the concept of whether your data center is controlling you, rather than the other way around.  

HOW DO YOU CONTROL YOUR DATA CENTER?

-Pursuit of Efficiency

-Gaps in the Market

-Combining the Software with the Hardware

-Total Control of the Data Center

>> Read more here

Data Center Knowledge

The Question Remains:  Do you prefer hot aisle or cold aisle containment?