Raritan solves intelligent PDU retrofit problem without downtime

ENGLAND, UK: Raritan, leader in high accuracy intelligent power monitoring and metering has designed a completely new retrofit power monitoring system suitable for both new and existing data centres. The technology is designed for ‘live' installation, without any need for downtime or business interruption.

Operators of legacy data centres often look enviously at more modern facilities with intelligent power distribution units (PDUs) and their metering and monitoring reports. Without these modern systems, data centre operators cannot easily tell how much additional equipment they can safely put in a rack - or how dangerously close they are to tripping a circuit breaker. (If a circuit breaker trips a whole rack or even row could lose power - with disastrous results for services and customers).

The problem in most legacy data centres has been that retrofitting in-line PDU's involves downtime, which is normally unacceptable. Until now, that is.

Launching the new product, Raritan's Richard May, said: "Raritan's new BCM (Branch Circuit Monitoring) needs no downtime for installation. It uses high accuracy split-core clamps that simply attach around existing supply cables. The data from these clamps is combined with voltage monitoring information. The non-invasive BCM installation then supplies the business with invaluable data including, power (kW), apparent power (kVA), energy (kWh) plus power factor (PF) as well as load balance on three-phase systems."