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Look for Our Next Issue
The fourth issue of Mission Critical is in the mail and should be in your mailbox within a day or two. I'm very excited about this issue.
You will find extensive coverage of a roundtable of industry experts looking in detail at the challenges faced by SME data center operators. I moderated this very special event, which was sponsored by ASCO Power Technologies. In addition to this very exciting coverage, please take a moment to look at our cover story about new developments in the Tier structure, plus we include features on reliability, cooling, generator maintenance, power management, and a data center case history.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this issue. Please take a moment to let me know what you think.
Kevin HeslinEditor, Mission Critical
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Mission Critical today!
I'm also very happy to announce that we have begun developing the
Mission Critical Online Buyer's Guide. We are looking forward to make this directory as complete as possible. Just
click here to be listed.
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 Small
Businesses Are Unprepared For Power Outages, Says Emerson Report
According to the results of a recent survey commissioned by Emerson Network Power, many small businesses are unprepared for a power outage, despite having recently experienced a service interruption.
Consider these statistics:
• 79 percent of the small-business decision-makers surveyed experienced at least one power outage in 2007.
• 67 percent of respondents anticipate experiencing outages again in the next 12 months.
• Even more alarming is that of the small businesses that experienced outages in 2007, 42 percent had to close their businesses during the longest outages.
And while small-business decision-makers ranked outages above fire, government regulation, weather damage, theft, and employee turnover as threats to their businesses, only 39 percent of them have back-up power systems, leaving 61 percent vulnerable to the negative business impacts of outages.
"Keeping the lights on, the computers running, and employees working during a power outage is important for any business, but particularly for small businesses," said Ed Feeney, an Emerson executive vice president who heads up Emerson Network Power's Systems business, which provides back-up power technologies. "Their margin for error is thinner and the competition's tighter, so even a brief outage can do significant harm. This makes back-up power systems a fundamental part of business continuity."
In a tight economy, a plunge into darkness could put a small business in the red. On average, power outages cost about $80 billion each year, with most losses - 98 percent - borne by businesses, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
"Emerson's survey findings are alarming considering that more than 99 percent of all American businesses are small businesses, with these companies generating 45 percent of the total U.S. payroll," said Steve Strauss, nationally syndicated business columnist and author of "The Small Business Bible." "It is critical that small enterprises have a business-continuity plan that includes back-up power systems to keep the business running when the main power source goes down."
John Zagara, owner of Zagara's Marketplace, a Cleveland-area supermarket, needs no convincing. "During the massive blackout of August 2003, the power went out mid-afternoon. Our back-up power system automatically switched my electrical source to a natural gas-powered generator which ran all registers and certain refrigerated equipment," Zagara said. "Our front-end staff continued to check out customers until closing at 9 p.m. Our customers were in awe of our service delivery." Zagara's back-up power equipment enabled him to not only continue serving customers, but to save meat and frozen foods, valuable perishable inventory.
Zagara utilizes a back-up generator and an ASCO power transfer switch from Emerson Network Power. A power transfer switch automatically detects a loss of power from the main power source and turns on a back-up generator within seconds. When the main source of power returns, the switch safely shuts down the generator and reconnects to the main power source.
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 ASHRAE, The Green Grid Collaborate to Develop Data Center Efficiency
ASHRAE and The Green Grid
expect that new publications that provide improved guidance for data center design and operation will result from a new agreement between the two organizations.
The cooperative publication agreement between ASHRAE and The Green Grid encourages the sharing of technical information, particularly guidance regarding energy efficiency, between the two groups.
"This agreement raises our collaboration efforts in the electronics industry and enhances our efforts to provide data center operators with important information to improve the energy efficiency of data centers, paralleling the work already being done by ASHRAE to improve energy efficiency in all types of buildings," said Roger Schmidt, chair of ASHRAE's technical committee on mission critical facilities, technology spaces and electronic equipment. "ASHRAE's unique membership makeup of manufacturers, designers, facility managers, architects and code officials will go a long way in assisting the member companies of The Green Grid."
"With energy shortages and rising energy costs now topping the list of concerns for large scale organizations, the movement to reduce data center and other IT energy usage patterns is quickly gaining momentum," said Geoffrey Noer, a director of The Green Grid. "We believe achieving greater IT energy efficiency is a crucial step to ensuring that growing companies can control costs while enabling future expansion."
Verari Financial Announces Trade-Ins for IT Assets
Verari Systems announced a Trade-In Program offered by its
Verari Financial Services (VFS) Group. The VFS Trade-In Program offers customers competitive values for older IT assets and applies to Verari and most IT vendors' equipment.
The VFS Trade-In Program not only reduces stranded or unutilized IT assets, it resolves any potential book value write-off issues and helps eliminate the tediousness and logistical headache of equipment disposition. The program also substantially reduces the purchase price or monthly lease payment for new equipment, providing a cash infusion that helps justify new projects. By installing new equipment, customers can lower the costs of data center real estate, power and cooling and ensure a smooth migration path to new IT environments, such as the Connexxus desktop consolidation solution. The VFS Trade-In Program applies to all IT assets including PCs, servers, networking, and
telecommunication equipment.
"As the former CIO for T. Rowe Price Group, I know how valuable the Trade-In Program offered by VFS will be for customers as they initiate energy-efficiency projects globally and face the enormous challenge of safe and secure asset disposition," said Michael A. Goff, managing partner, Peachwood Partners. "The program not only reduces risks and costs associated with removing older IT assets, it provides a partner who really understands both IT life cycle and lease financing services. The customer is the clear winner here."
VFS has developed a unique program around the Connexxus desktop consolidation solution, making it easier for customers to migrate smoothly and quickly to Connexxus' energy-saving and 100 percent secure technology. Since Connexxus centralizes compute/storage capacity in the data center, many existing workstations, servers and desktops can be eliminated. Recognizing that the disposition of hundreds or even thousands of workstations, servers and desktops can present a challenge to customers, VFS has developed an integrated trade-in credit and IT asset disposition program for Connexxus purchases or leases. Logistics and costs related to responsible equipment disposition are included in the
lease with one easy monthly payment.
VFS manages the pick-up, transportation and green disposition of older IT assets, providing a tremendous convenience for customers. Logistics are tailored to meet the customer's schedule and, if applicable, to comply with local labor union provisions to help ensure minimal business disruption and rapid cutover. Data wiping services for hard drives can be provided in compliance with current regulatory standards. This saves customers time and money.
News Briefs
Server Power Characterization & Power Modeling will be the focus of the lead-off paper in the Mission Critical Facilities track during Darnell's fifth-annual Digital Power Forum (DPF'08). Kevin L. Ravo, P.E., High Tech Industry Manager NA for Underwriters Laboratories (UL) will review the latest developments in UL's efforts to characterize actual energy usage of servers in Data Centers and the agency's "Energy Efficiency Certification" program. DPF '08 features
three tracks of papers including Power Conversion, Mission Critical Facilities, and Advanced Components.
Aperture announced that its Aperture VISTA Data Center Service Management suite of software products has contracted with the State of Minnesota's Office of Enterprise Technology (OET) to manage 30,000 square feet of data center space, power, and cooling and to help plan and implement energy-saving initiatives within the state's primary shared data center.
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Datacenter Dynamics recently announced that approximately 250 professionals attended the group's first Seattle, WA, conference and called it a successful event.
Active Power deployed one of its 1200-kVA systems at Sun Microsystems'
Broomfield, CO, data center facility. Sun estimates that the flywheel will help it save an estimated $100,000 per year in electricity costs for this single application.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking input on the Draft 2 of its
Energy Star specification for Computer Servers. The Draft 2 document reflects discussions held during the Energy Star stakeholder meeting on July 9th in Redmond, WA, and subsequent comments and data received over the last few weeks. Interested parties are encouraged to submit comments to
Rebecca Duff, ICF International
, by September 19th. EPA is proposing a simple idle categorization system for server systems based on system redundancy, number of processors, and the amount of installed memory.To assist in the development of these new categories and associated performance levels, server manufacturers are encouraged to submit idle and configuration data using the data collection sheet by September 19th. Questions regarding the data collection sheet can be sent to Arthur Howard, ICF International.
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New Technologies
Snake Tray announced that Mega Snake high-capacity cable tray can now be configured
 with 1900 electrical boxes to give the easiest overhead power distribution in today's market. With Mega Snake's patented rail system, Snake Tray 1900 boxes can be easily mounted anywhere along the cable tray to offer convenient power overhead. Mega Snake is a high-capacity cable tray for overhead applications.
The Snake Rail, a built-in suspension system, requires no brackets and allows for random placement of the hanging rod system. The Snake Rail can seamlessly interface with other size Snake Trays as well as patch panels, power distribution boxes, strain relief and fiber optic pass over devices. Mega Snake comes with pre-manufactured turns, tees and cross sections to save on costs. Mega Snake's patented nesting feature significantly saves on shipping and handling costs.
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 The low voltage 7000 Series Generator Paralleling Control Switchgear from
ASCO Power Technologies
is ideal for prime power, emergency and automatic standby power, and utility paralleling. This cutting-edge system is designed to be the "brain" for any organization's on-site power switching and controls equipment. It provides sophisticated engine control, load demand and bus load optimization controls, and communications capabilities, including unsurpassed power system monitoring and protection. Every brain requires a heart, and the heart of this system is the ASCO Digital Paralleling Controller. This high-tech controller offers a wide range of capabilities, such as complete generator control logic, data trending up to 16 parameters and peer-to-peer networking. It also provides a
12-in. touch screen for easy viewing and navigation. The PCS switchgear design supports reliable operation. Dependable master controls bring generators to life and provide load management. Other design elements include master PLC redundancy, two manual paralleling provisions, best battery circuitry, priority load control, manual load shed bypass, multiple (Master OIP type) touch screens and firewalled communications.
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 Designed for dense data-center environments, the
HP
R5500 UPS offers industry leading power density of watts per U-space. More true power in a smaller form factor provides more performance while saving valuable rack space for server and storage equipment. The HP R5500 UPS has 1500 watts per U, 4500 watts total in just 3U. This line-interactive UPS uses a digital signal processor rather than a transformer and provides voltage regulation without using the battery. With two independently controllable load segments, an optional rack-to-tower conversion kit, and no-cost HP Power Management software bundled in the box, it's easy to customize this UPS to unique situations and manage systems quickly and remotely. Option cards and Extended
Runtime Modules (ERMs) add networking capabilities and load segmentation, while increasing system back up time. The two load segments provide the flexibility to configure scheduled startups and shutdowns, in addition to independently control separate loads. Working in conjunction with HP Power Management Software, the HP UPS R5500 can be configured to prioritize and extend the runtime of critical devices. By shutting down a load segment that is connected to less critical equipment, the runtime for more critical equipment is extended, providing additional protection.
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BNP Media
2401 W. Big Beaver Road, Ste. 700
Troy, Michigan, 48084-3333
U.S.A. |
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