As the demand for data and bandwidth continues to escalate at an astronomical pace, power distribution at the server rack is paramount. Enterprise, cloud, hyperscale, colocation, and edge facilities are all experiencing unprecedented data processing and storage levels. Increasing adoption of 5G, AI, the IoT, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and a host of evolving technologies will bring an even higher utilization rate of data center infrastructure. According to the International Data Corp.’s Global DataSphere, 64.2 zettabytes (ZB) of data was created or replicated in 2020 (1 ZB is equal to 1 trillion GB). IDC forecasts worldwide data will grow 61% to 175 ZB. This tremendous growth puts increased pressure on data center infrastructure, especially when it comes to power availability.
Power protection systems, energy storage, power distribution units (PDUs), static transfer switches, cooling systems, power sensors, and remote power panels (RPPs) all play a vital role in ensuring power is available 24/7. Rack PDUs (rPDUs) are an integral component for distributing power to the large number of servers in the rack. Despite their ubiquity, rPDUs should not be taken for granted. At a glance, one might dismiss them as surge strips on steroids, but rPDUs are essential building blocks of every data center's physical infrastructure. Depending on the rack and cabinet design, single- or three-phase rPDUs can be installed horizontally or vertically to provide power to an entire rack of servers. However, not all rPDUs are created equally.